Civil War medicine was in a time before the doctors even knew much about bacteriology and were ignorant of what caused disease. Doctors during the Civil War for the most part had two years of medical school, though some pursued higher amounts. We were woefully behind Europe. Harvard Medical School didn't even own a single stethoscope or microscope until after the war. Most Civil War surgeons had never treated a gun shot wound, many had never performed surgery. Medical boards let in many "quacks" who were not qualified.

Adams, George W. Doctors in Blue --Medical History of the Union. Baton Rouge: U. of Louisiana Press, 1952.

Belferman, Mary. "On Surgery's Cutting Edge In Civil War" The Washington Post. June 13, 1996.

The dental profession had gained some standing during the two decades that preceded the Civil War. In the secceding Confederate states, for example, there were about 500 dentists. Jefferson Davis, while serving as Secretary of War under Pierce, was an advocate for a dentistry corps. Perhaps this is why the Confederate Army had a dental program, while a similar idea by the Union Army was rejected by the War department. Confederate Surgeon General Moore was also quite supportive of the idea of Army dentists, leading one to comment that the dentists owed more to Moore "than to any man of modern times".

This page contains a description (warning to those easily disturbed by such: in graphic language) of the most common Civil War surgery, the amputation. A few words about why there were so many amputations may be appropriate here. Many people have construed the Civil War surgeon to be a heartless indivdual or who was somehow incompetent and that was the reason for the great number of amputations performed. This is false.

Many of the civilians hired to drive medical wagons to the relief of the wounded at First Bull Run got into the whiskey carried for medical purposes and were too drunk to be of any use.

Civil War military doctors treated many times more cases of sickness and disease than battle wounds. Soldiers were dirty and croded together in camps that were ill supplied with food and clothes. Every morning at sick call, men would drop out of the ranks and make their way to the regimental hospital. There the army doctor would walk down the line of sick men, stopping to prescribe medicine for each complaint.

Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill, CSA - For years, writers cited the Commander of the Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) as having some type of psycosymptomatic disorder. It always seemed to them that when the action was getting hot or stressful, down went A.P. Hill. In his book A.P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate Warrior, James I. Robertson challanges this idea saying that General Hill suffered cruelly from prostatis, brought on by his "youthful indiscretion" while on furlough from West Point.

Casualties for the American Civil War:
Union dead: 364,511
Union wounded: 281,881
Total Union Loss: 646,392
Confederate dead: 260,000
Confederate wounded: 194,000
Confederate Total Loss: 454,000
Total number of Dead in the Civil War: 624,511

"The surgery of these battle-fields has been pronounced butchery. Gross misrepresentations of the conduct of medical officers have been made and scattered broadcast over the country, causing deep and heart-rending anxiety to those who had friends or relatives in the army, who might at any moment require the services of a surgeon."