Civl War Essay, Research Paper
During the Civil War, weapons and medicine were a big part of surviving and winning the war, for both the north and south. The new weapons were creating massive losses in the north and south. There was also poor drinking water, and un-sanitized tools for the hospitals, which caused disease throughout the wounded men. The medicine could not keep up with the epidemic of wounded and disease.
During the start of the Civil War, weapons were the main production to win the war, but the medicine has not been created that would be effective for the casualties. The North had a major advantage at making weapons over the south, because of all the factories and industry. One disadvantage was that its medical knowledge was very low for the war. The south however, had more staff and medicine knowledge but had lack of weaponry.
The North was mainly into producing weapons and not medicine, this cause major havoc during the war. They were always understaffed and during that time, medical procedures were very primitive. During the whole Civil War, about 224, 580 men died from disease. Most of the time, surgeons had to work in terrible conditions. There was always a lack of water in hospitals. The instruments were stained with blood from hundreds of soldiers, which spread disease though the wounded and through the camp. Even if a soldier had no sign of disease, he would still develop an illness I from the tools and equipment. Some of the disease that was seen in the wounded was small pox, measles, malaria, pneumonia, and camp itch, which were caused either by insects or skin disease. The problems were inadequate physicals before entering the army, ignorance of the doctors and troops, troops that came from rural areas, poor hygiene in camps, insects and other animal threats, which caused disease, poor clothed, and poor food and water for the army. Even small disease could turn into a high risk one in matter of days. The bullets, such as the mini ball, caused high rates of amputations. It shattered bones without them being able to be saved by the doctors. The untrained medical crew made a lot of careless mistakes. They imputed on to many number of troops, which should have been. There were stacks of removed limbs from the troops. The medicine advanced a bit after time. Sanitation was stricter and death rates from disease were lower than at the start of the war. The total number of loses in the Union was 364,511.
The Confederate Army had about as much knowledge about medicine as the Union, but had better sanitation and had a better staff than the north. The total number of death from disease was 164, 000,which is about half of what was in the north. The wounded were transported from the battle with horses, but there was a still unsanitary condition in the hospitals and camps. The south however didn?t have much production of medicine. They did produce a number of medical supplies them selves, but a number was still smuggled in from the north by people.