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Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care during the American Civil War
This unusual history of the Civil War takes a close look at the battlefield doctors in whose hands rested the lives of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers and at the makeshift medicine they were forced to employ.
A medical doctor and a credentialed historian, Frank R. Freemon combines poignant, sometimes horrifying anecdotes of amputation, infection, and death with a clearheaded discussion of the state of medical knowledge, the effect of the military bureaucracy on medical supplies, and the members of the medical community who risked their lives, their health, and even their careers to provide appropriate care to the wounded. Freemon examines the impact on major campaigns--Manassas, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Shiloh, Atlanta--of ignorance, understaffing, inexperience, overcrowded hospitals, insufficient access to ambulances, and inadequate supplies of essentials such as quinine.
Presenting the medical side of the war from a variety of perspectives--the Union, the Confederacy, doctors, nurses, soldiers, and their families-- Gangrene and Glory achieves a peculiar immediacy by restricting its scope to the knowledge and perceptions available to its nineteenth-century subjects. Now available for the first time in paperback, this important volume takes a hard, close look at a neglected and crucial aspect of this bloody conflict.
A medical doctor and a credentialed historian, Frank R. Freemon combines poignant, sometimes horrifying anecdotes of amputation, infection, and death with a clearheaded discussion of the state of medical knowledge, the effect of the military bureaucracy on medical supplies, and the members of the medical community who risked their lives, their health, and even their careers to provide appropriate care to the wounded. Freemon examines the impact on major campaigns--Manassas, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Shiloh, Atlanta--of ignorance, understaffing, inexperience, overcrowded hospitals, insufficient access to ambulances, and inadequate supplies of essentials such as quinine.
Presenting the medical side of the war from a variety of perspectives--the Union, the Confederacy, doctors, nurses, soldiers, and their families-- Gangrene and Glory achieves a peculiar immediacy by restricting its scope to the knowledge and perceptions available to its nineteenth-century subjects. Now available for the first time in paperback, this important volume takes a hard, close look at a neglected and crucial aspect of this bloody conflict.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 28, 2018
As a modern physician, this book was simultaneously fascinating and nauseating. There was little to no understanding of communicable disease and really the only treatment available for GSWs was amputation. While the text can be a bit dry (this was the author’s dissertation after all) Freeman does a good job of bringing the subject matter to life through anecdote and the occasional witty aside.
January 30, 2018
This was an excellent read on the state of medicine during the Civil War. Although it was written as a medical dissertation, it is surprisingly readable and VERY informative.
November 9, 2021
a little too heavy on the praising the confederacy train, but still informative
May 1, 2014
This book promises the reader they can almost smell the pus of wounded soldiers. While it has it's moments of gory details, they are far enough apart that it doesn't come across as a horror novel.
Uneducated doctors gained experience during the civil war by treating the wounded as guinnie pigs. Amputation was treatment. Everyone watched as chloroform on a rag was placed over the mouth, and a carpenters saw hacked through flesh and bone. Little was known about sanitation, so nearly every wound became infected. Amputation was endured a second time to rid the body of infection.
Perhaps it was passed on in a diary, but one of the memorable moments involves a patient about to die. His body badly damaged from war, his amputation infected. Knowing he only has seconds left on earth, asks the doctor to lean in closer. Death had made him weak and he needed to whisper something. As the doctor leaned in, the soldier punched him, lay back with a smile of satisfaction on his face, and died.
With very few drugs on hand, and those few in short supply, its a wonder any man survived becoming ill or injured. Opium for diarrhea, Mercury for constipation. Morphine was scarce. Ether and Chloroform were heaped on in a hurry so operations could ensue. If either were unavailable, the soldiers were simply wide awake during amputation. When men were injured during battle, it was the musicians job to carry the body off the field. If a doctor was unavailable, the man was taken by wagon to the nearest railroad. He was then placed in a boxcar with no food or water or treatment, waiting sometimes for days until the train would leave the station. If the wounded were still alive when the train got to the next town, they were taken to the nearest hospital. So many towns were inundated with walking dead, they couldn't handle them all. Infections spread rampantly. Yellow fever and malaria killed many who would have otherwise survived injury.
With no formal education, men who were appointed doctor did their best to diagnose and treat the patients. Nurses were usually a volunteer church group with only experience in carrying for sick family members. Doctors felt like woman had no place in the hospitals, and nurses felt like doctors were going about treatment all wrong. Doctors gave limited information on how to treat the patients, and nurses didn't follow the directions. A mutual disrespect grew and outlasted the war.
Floating hospitals were introduced because someone thought the movement of the ship and fresh air would cure a fever. No amount of fresh air could have cured a soldier with malaria, or diarrhea and so a vaccine was ordered for the troops. Since demand was high and in short supply, the idea was born to spread the vaccine from one body to another. After receiving the injection, the site was allowed to form a crust which was scraped off and used on the next person. Needless to say, far more things were spread than the vaccine.
With no apparent thought to cleanliness, people relieved themselves in close proximity to campsites. Dirty water was common ( spitting out dead flies was necessary before swallowing) Its just amazing ANYONE survived the civil war. When malaria struck the camp buglar, the next musician would take his place. Taps and revelry were played daily, and soldiers could hear the notes quivering with each shiver of the sick musicians. Jokingly, they told one another the bugal was carrying malaria. If only they knew.
This book gives the reader great incite to the ignorance of early medicine and sanitation. Sketches and pictures show horrific wounds with equally appalling treatment. Another story passed along is a man receiving treatment in a hospital, rooms by chance with a friend from the battlefield. When he asks "what happened to you?" the man simply pulls back the sheet to reveal his lower half hanging on to his upper half be shreads of skin. His entrails, bile, blood, everything sitting on the bed, was covered in maggots. He was just waiting for death.
Thankfully modern medicine has made leaps and bounds, as has cleanliness. This look back in time is informative, interesting, and gives us a great understanding of what people went through just trying to survive.
Uneducated doctors gained experience during the civil war by treating the wounded as guinnie pigs. Amputation was treatment. Everyone watched as chloroform on a rag was placed over the mouth, and a carpenters saw hacked through flesh and bone. Little was known about sanitation, so nearly every wound became infected. Amputation was endured a second time to rid the body of infection.
Perhaps it was passed on in a diary, but one of the memorable moments involves a patient about to die. His body badly damaged from war, his amputation infected. Knowing he only has seconds left on earth, asks the doctor to lean in closer. Death had made him weak and he needed to whisper something. As the doctor leaned in, the soldier punched him, lay back with a smile of satisfaction on his face, and died.
With very few drugs on hand, and those few in short supply, its a wonder any man survived becoming ill or injured. Opium for diarrhea, Mercury for constipation. Morphine was scarce. Ether and Chloroform were heaped on in a hurry so operations could ensue. If either were unavailable, the soldiers were simply wide awake during amputation. When men were injured during battle, it was the musicians job to carry the body off the field. If a doctor was unavailable, the man was taken by wagon to the nearest railroad. He was then placed in a boxcar with no food or water or treatment, waiting sometimes for days until the train would leave the station. If the wounded were still alive when the train got to the next town, they were taken to the nearest hospital. So many towns were inundated with walking dead, they couldn't handle them all. Infections spread rampantly. Yellow fever and malaria killed many who would have otherwise survived injury.
With no formal education, men who were appointed doctor did their best to diagnose and treat the patients. Nurses were usually a volunteer church group with only experience in carrying for sick family members. Doctors felt like woman had no place in the hospitals, and nurses felt like doctors were going about treatment all wrong. Doctors gave limited information on how to treat the patients, and nurses didn't follow the directions. A mutual disrespect grew and outlasted the war.
Floating hospitals were introduced because someone thought the movement of the ship and fresh air would cure a fever. No amount of fresh air could have cured a soldier with malaria, or diarrhea and so a vaccine was ordered for the troops. Since demand was high and in short supply, the idea was born to spread the vaccine from one body to another. After receiving the injection, the site was allowed to form a crust which was scraped off and used on the next person. Needless to say, far more things were spread than the vaccine.
With no apparent thought to cleanliness, people relieved themselves in close proximity to campsites. Dirty water was common ( spitting out dead flies was necessary before swallowing) Its just amazing ANYONE survived the civil war. When malaria struck the camp buglar, the next musician would take his place. Taps and revelry were played daily, and soldiers could hear the notes quivering with each shiver of the sick musicians. Jokingly, they told one another the bugal was carrying malaria. If only they knew.
This book gives the reader great incite to the ignorance of early medicine and sanitation. Sketches and pictures show horrific wounds with equally appalling treatment. Another story passed along is a man receiving treatment in a hospital, rooms by chance with a friend from the battlefield. When he asks "what happened to you?" the man simply pulls back the sheet to reveal his lower half hanging on to his upper half be shreads of skin. His entrails, bile, blood, everything sitting on the bed, was covered in maggots. He was just waiting for death.
Thankfully modern medicine has made leaps and bounds, as has cleanliness. This look back in time is informative, interesting, and gives us a great understanding of what people went through just trying to survive.
March 22, 2012
I love the Civil War and anything to do with it. This book was a decent look at the medical aspects during the war,on the Confederate and Union sides.
A major improvement that would make it amazing is to make it more linear. The book jumped all over the place. I wish the first half consisted firmly on Union medical procedures and the second half with the Confederate. The constant jumping around made it a little difficult to follow. I found myself trying to remember what the previous chapter was about because the one right after it had really nothing to do with the previous.
Either way, the book is informative. I would recommend it to others.
A major improvement that would make it amazing is to make it more linear. The book jumped all over the place. I wish the first half consisted firmly on Union medical procedures and the second half with the Confederate. The constant jumping around made it a little difficult to follow. I found myself trying to remember what the previous chapter was about because the one right after it had really nothing to do with the previous.
Either way, the book is informative. I would recommend it to others.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews