

Civil War Medicine, Part 2 of 2

Apr. 17, 2011

Last week, we reviewed the state of the medical profession during the American Civil War and listed some major advancements in the South. Specific accomplishments for the North were as follows:

1. Mobile military hospitals reached a degree of development hitherto unknown.

2. Accumulation of adequate records and detailed reports for the first time permitted a complete military medical history. This led to the publication of the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, identified in Europe as the first major academic accomplishment by United States medicine.

3. Development of a system of managing mass casualties, including aid stations, field hospitals and general hospitals, set the pattern for management of the wounded through the Vietnam War.

4. Development of the first organized ambulance corps and the first use of railroads and ships for transportation of the sick and wounded.

5. The pavilion-style general hospitals, such as Chimborazo in Richmond and Satterlee in Philadelphia, were well ventilated and clean and were copied in the design of large civilian hospitals during the next 75 years, including the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md.

6. The importance of immediate, definitive treatment of wounds and fractures was demonstrated, and it was shown that major operative procedures, such as amputations, were optimally carried out in the first 24 hours after wounding.

7. The importance of sanitation and hygiene in preventing infection, disease and death among the troops in the field was demonstrated.

8. Separate hospitals for smallpox, venereal disease, eye problems, nervous disorders, gangrene, etc., were established, setting a needed precedent.

9. Female nurses were introduced to hospital care, and the first nurse corps was developed.

10. The Catholic orders entered the hospital business.

11. The Sanitary Commission, a civilian-organized soldiers' relief society that set the pattern for the development of the American Red Cross, was formed.

12. Sanitary Fairs for raising monies for relief of the sick and wounded were established.

13. The experience and training of thousands of physicians were upgraded, and they were introduced to new ideas and standards of care. These included familiarity with prevention and treatment of infectious disease, with anesthetic agents and with surgical principles that rapidly advanced the overall quality of American medical practice.

14. The development of the Army Medical Museum, now the National Museum of Health and Medicine of the Armed forces Institute of Pathology, and the Army Medical School.

15. The staining of histopathologic slides and photomicrography were introduced.

16. Hodgen's Splint for femur fractures.

Peter J. D'Onofrio, Ph.D., of Reynoldsburg, earned his doctorate in American history with a specialization in the American Civil War. He has been a re-enactor and living historian since 1978 and is the president of The Society of Civil War Surgeons and editor of The Journal of Civil War Medicine. He can be contacted at

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