Veterinary Medical Care During the Civil War

lelliott19

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forbes.jpg

Image from LOC

Hungry, tired, and over-worked with bare, bleeding feet........this described the horses and mules about as well as the soldiers.
  • The Museum of Civil War Medicine estimates that 1 million horses and mules died as a result of the Civil War.
  • Only 10% died from battle wounds.
  • Like their human counterparts, poor diet, overwork, and lack of routine care left equines more susceptible to lameness and disease. As a result, many equines were destroyed due to incurable lameness or died from exposure to contagious diseases.
  • On the march, horses were often fed whatever was available - musty hay, moldy grain, and worse. This often resulted in colic and other illness.
  • In March, 1863, Congress authorized for each US cavalry regiment, a veterinary surgeon with the rank of sergeant major and pay of $75 per month.
  • The US Army Veterinary Corps (a formal veterinary corps with its own officers) was not created until June 3, 1916.
  • Harness and saddles rubbed and caused terrible oozing sores. As horses lost flesh, saddle fit also created problems.
  • During the Civil War, the "farrier" provided most of the medical care for equines in military service. Farriers had no professional medical training.
  • Horse shoes and nails were in short supply, especially for the Confederate army. In his memoirs, Edward Porter Alexander (Longstreet's Artillery chief) had this to say about the scarcity of horse shoes and nails:
“I recall some incidents illustrating how poorly our army was provided with even prime necessaries, although we were in our own country. We were so badly off for horse-shoes that on the advance to Knoxville we stripped the shoes from all the dead horses, and we killed for the purpose all the wounded and broken-down animals, both our own and those left behind by the enemy. During the siege the river brought down to us a number of dead horses and mules, thrown in within the town. We took them out, and got the shoes and nails from their feet. Our men were nearly as badly off as the animals — perhaps worse, as they did not have hoofs. I have myself seen bloody stains on frozen ground, left by the barefooted where our infantry had passed....."
 
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Our men were nearly as badly off as the animals — perhaps worse, as they did not have hoofs. I have myself seen bloody stains on frozen ground, left by the barefooted where our infantry had passed....."

As a tenderfoot shoe fanatic, this just pains me to read....

EDIT: Even my doggie was well outfitted like the picture below. My, have times changed :smile:

file_174_dog-boots.jpg
 
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