top of page

Bandages, Bone Saws, and Germs: Medicine in the Civil War

A soldier wounded in battle first went to a dressing station just beyond the musket fire. There he was stabilized if possible and sent on foot to the regimental field hospital 3-5 miles away. The more seriously wounded were transported by ambulance. At the field hospital surgeons performed quick and dirty operations to try and save the soldiers. Those who survived were sent by river or rail to general hospitals to recover with the help of hospital stewards and nurses. But the general unsanitary conditions were a bigger killer than bullets. Roughly three out of five soldiers died of disease.

bottom of page