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Can someone give me information where I can get information on the very basic initial medical treatment in the civil war, what was done-pain, surgery etc... to the advances with the development of the Sanitary Commission and Red Cross and hygiene. I need to start a project and get a lot of info. I just find a few lines here and there.
Thanks
Hi CW: I typed in "medical care in the civil war" in google and a whole bunch of sites popped up. There's a lot of reading there but you're bound to find something you can use. Take care.
Terry
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
Part of Shotgun's Civil War Pages, best quick reference online.
If you're needing paper references, the best slim reference in print is Civil War Medicine by C. Keith Wilbur, M.D. If you can find it through interlibrary loan, the best one out of print is Civil War Medicine: An Illustrated History by Mark J. Schaadt, M.D.
Don't fall for the myth of the wounds sutured with horsehair being sterile.
Thanks, you will be hearing from me I have 12 pages to write about.
I am taking a civil war course and for a topic I thought something medical would make it easier for me, as I know more about science then history.
If you are near Richmond, Virginia, might I suggest a trip to the Chimbarazo Medical Museum? That's the National Park Service's museum of Civil War Medicine. If you're near Frederick, Maryland, the Civil War Museum of Medicine will give you a better look at the medical practices of the day. There's plenty of books at either museums' bookstore.
Allow me to throw in a plug for Frederick Law Olmstead, the father of landscape architecture. He was the designer of Central Park in NYC and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, among other major works. He was part of the sanitary commission and you may find some links to information through an Olmstead search. The other interesting evolution of medical science came with the treatment for veneral disease here in Nashville. Because of the long "occupation" by federal troops 1862-65, local entertainment provided much opportunity to advance the use of sulphur and other medications. Some of the older posts here have addressed that topic at least superficially.
Ah yes, Larry, but mercury remained the sovereign remedy for "social diseases" until the advent of antibiotics. As the old saw goes... "A night with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury!"
__________________ 'It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag'
You may wish to also reasearch Eli Lilly and Co. It was founded by Col Eli Lilly in 1876. He developed new and improved methods of delivering medicine. Lilly founded an artillary battery and was a cavalry officer.
__________________ Located near Indianapolis, home of Col. Eli Lilly and the Eli Lilly Civil War Museum
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