Amputation during the Civil War
Madison Thacker
Webb
US History
22 May 2014
Amputation during the Civil War When people picture the Civil War amputations, they often picture piles of limps stacked around a battlefield and a surgeon as a butcher. However, this picture is not true to the real nature of battlefield medicine. Amputation was the most common surgery throughout the Civil War. The Civil War leads to advancement in amputation and quality of life for those who had amputation. Artificial limbs also came into the picture helping former soldiers lead a better quality life.
New technologies lead to amputations being needed. New developments also lead to the possibility of survival for soldiers. New weapons developed during this time such as the minie ball that caused a shattering effect. Minie balls were made of soft lead and hollow at the base. The mine ball, when fired, would expand. When a minie ball hit soldiers their internal bones would shatter. Doctors created hospitals on the battlegrounds to try to increase the rate of survival for soldiers. For soldier amputation was the only solution. Soldiers would have to under go amputation to avoid gangrene. Gangrene is the death of body tissue due to bacteria or a lack of blood circulation. The only treatment for gangrene is removal of the damaged tissue. Three-fourths of surgeries performed during the Civil War were amputations. Over 70,000 soldiers lost a limb during the Civil War. In fact, Philadelphia’s South Street Hospital earned the nickname “Stump Hospital”, because of all the volunteer amputee veterans. Amputation was done by quickly cutting off the limb in a circular motion. It wasn’t very common for one to die due to loss of blood. Doctors then would cut skin flaps and sew them to form a rounded stump. This was known as the “fish mouth” method. It was not common for soldiers to need multiple amputations on multiple parts of the body. Surgeons also used the flap method, where the bone was dissected and flaps of deep tissue
Webb
US History
22 May 2014
Amputation during the Civil War When people picture the Civil War amputations, they often picture piles of limps stacked around a battlefield and a surgeon as a butcher. However, this picture is not true to the real nature of battlefield medicine. Amputation was the most common surgery throughout the Civil War. The Civil War leads to advancement in amputation and quality of life for those who had amputation. Artificial limbs also came into the picture helping former soldiers lead a better quality life.
New technologies lead to amputations being needed. New developments also lead to the possibility of survival for soldiers. New weapons developed during this time such as the minie ball that caused a shattering effect. Minie balls were made of soft lead and hollow at the base. The mine ball, when fired, would expand. When a minie ball hit soldiers their internal bones would shatter. Doctors created hospitals on the battlegrounds to try to increase the rate of survival for soldiers. For soldier amputation was the only solution. Soldiers would have to under go amputation to avoid gangrene. Gangrene is the death of body tissue due to bacteria or a lack of blood circulation. The only treatment for gangrene is removal of the damaged tissue. Three-fourths of surgeries performed during the Civil War were amputations. Over 70,000 soldiers lost a limb during the Civil War. In fact, Philadelphia’s South Street Hospital earned the nickname “Stump Hospital”, because of all the volunteer amputee veterans. Amputation was done by quickly cutting off the limb in a circular motion. It wasn’t very common for one to die due to loss of blood. Doctors then would cut skin flaps and sew them to form a rounded stump. This was known as the “fish mouth” method. It was not common for soldiers to need multiple amputations on multiple parts of the body. Surgeons also used the flap method, where the bone was dissected and flaps of deep tissue
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