Medications "Blue Mass And Quinine"

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Casualties & Medical Care
Medications "Blue Mass And Quinine"
More Civil War soldiers died from diarrhea than were killed in battle. Indeed, more than twice as many soldiers died from various illnesses than were killed as a result of battle. The soldiers lived in unhealthy conditions: they were often poorly fed and crowded together in unsanitary camps. Epidemics would sweep through encampments and take more fearful tolls than the worst battle. Most diseases were little understood and quite often the treatment administered to the sick soldier did more harm than good.

The universal ailment of all soldiers, and the deadliest, had many names. The soldiers would call it "Tennessee trots", "Virginia quick steps", or "the bowel complaint". Doctors labeled it "debilitis", "dysentery", or "diarrhea". Treatments for diarrhea varied according to the doctors' whims and the available medications. A Union soldier admitted to a Philadelphia hospital with the complaint of a three-month case of chronic diarrhea was treated with heavy doses of lead acetate, opium, aromatic sulfuric acid, tincture of opium, silver nitrate, belladonna, calomel, and ipecac. The soldier died after two weeks of treatment. It is no wonder that many soldiers regarded admission to a hospital as a death sentence and would endure a great deal of suffering before resorting to that alternative.

A medication commonly administered to soldiers was a mercury-and-chalk compound called blue mass. Supposedly good for ailments ranging from toothache to constipation, it was a staple of all doctors' medicine chests. Quinine was one the most valuable of the Civil War era medicines. Known to be effective as a treatment for malaria, it was also prescribed for a dozen other complaints and even used as a dentifrice. But the most commonly prescribed medication, North or South, and one thought to be beneficial for the widest variety of ailments, was alcohol, usually in the forms of whiskey and brandy.

Fascinating Fact: The 12th Connecticut Regiment went off to war with 1,000 soldiers. By the time it reached its first battlefield, sickness had reduced its ranks to just 600 men.

http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/CasualtiesAndMedicalCare/medications.html
 
On May 8, 1862; the 31st Alabama Infantry Regiment CSA Vol left their camp of instruction at Camp Goldwaite-Talladega, Alabama with about 1000 men. On June 3, 1862-a bit less than a month later- in Knoxville, Tennessee only 415 men were fit for duty.
 
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