Dangers of the Civil War

The Dangers of the Civil War 1861-1865 Cory Lyons History 10 May 29, 2015 Part 1 The Opening: War is dangerous, and most people do not know the horrors of it unless they were there. We make it out to seem like it’s all just heroes, bullets, guns, and the occasional fist fight but what happened with the deaths and injuries off the battlefield? Looking behind the scenes of the Civil War brings a whole different perspective of how people died in this war. In the Civil War bullets were killers but something else got to the soldiers and hit them silently and that something was disease. Diseases killed two soldiers for every one killed in battle. This was not something that they had signed up for. Post battle injuries had an effect on the country’s population as well. When researching the topic I assumed the medical training and doctors of the war would be standing by to help soldiers in need, yet my assumption was not correct. Diseases and injuries were terrifying and all soldiers feared them. I believe that disease and injury had just as big of an effect during the war as bullets and combat on the battlefield because of deathly diseases spreading throughout the soldiers, injuries getting worse as time went on, and the poor training of the medical corps. This topic matters because although the war was in the past and long before our generation, these people went to war to keep the United States together and to end slavery. We should remember the tragic events and horrible conditions they suffered through and died from just for the Nation’s freedom and equality today. Part 2 The Search: In my research I realized that the amount of primary sources for Civil War diseases is low, but when you find one, they are filled with information that you can use towards your writing. I was getting very frustrated trying to find book sources because there are limited books on the topic of Civil War Diseases. I would find sources on the internet. I tried to find books online which I could then read summaries or specific chapters from books. I used Google books where I could get the beginnings of books to use in my writing. A eureka moment I had is finding the book Civil War Diseases which gave me a great range of things to work with like Civil War hospitals all the way to germs spreading throughout the soldiers camps. Another breakthrough I had during my research process was finding the website civilwar.org which really gave me a lot of information about specific diseases and injuries. Part 3 What I Discovered: Disease was a huge part of the Civil War.(Source B) For every person killed in battle during the war two people were killed of disease. People may know that disease had a huge impact during the war but, what specific diseases had the biggest effect on soldiers during the Civil War? Dysentery was the number one killer during the Civil War tallying up the most deaths out of all the diseases with 95,000 deaths.(Source C) The victims of dysentery had to suffer through severe diarrhea with passage of mucous and blood. Other diseases that had a gigantic impact on the soldiers include (Source A) Typhoid Fever, Ague, Yellow Fever, Malaria, Scurvy, Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, and Small Pox were the main diseases. Some other smaller yet still serious diseases include Chicken Pox, Scarlet Fever, Measles, Mumps, and Whooping Cough. These diseases took the lives of many men who were not expecting disease to control their fate in the war. We know the names of the diseases but what were some of the symptoms of these diseases that were unbearable for both of the armies. (Source D and E) The soldiers would develop headaches, rashes, and delirium to go along with the typhoid fever. People that had gotten Malaria would have to endure a series of shaking and vomiting which left them feeling horrible. Ague was a cycle of sweats and chills that was followed by an extremely high fever. All diseases were similar to these and revolved around them with minor differences but were all awful and scary. The diseases during the war spread through the soldiers and camps like wildfire. There were many different ways to catch the illnesses.(Source A and B) The most common way to get sick during the war were “generally from poor hygiene, not showering.” Just from being dirty the dirt, mud and sweat would pile up on the soldiers and bad germs came with you everywhere you went.(Source I) Some other common ways to catch diseases was from “garbage in camps, filth in sink, overcrowding, weather, certain diet, bugs, lack of surgeons, and dirty water.” All of these things contributed to making soldiers unhealthy. The filth that the soldiers lived in was bottom line disgusting and inhumane. Another huge way to spread diseases was through various insects. Bugs such as “ticks, mosquitoes, lice, and maggots.” These things would crawl, fly, and live on the soldiers where they would spread infected blood and germs that would spread throughout all of the armies in the war. (Source F) Not only did disease have a huge impact on soldiers but, lingering injuries that could potentially get infected and harm the soldiers also was a humongous part of the dangers in the Civil War. (Source H) People made it out of battle alive with damage to their bodies.(Source G) These injuries were mostly gunshot wounds. The gunshot wounds would get infected from the lack of hygiene and they would cause trauma to the soldiers. In the occasion in which a limb was unable to function or it was in horrible condition they would have to be amputated.(Source L and M) Another way these men would suffer after the war was over, or after they were done with their service was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Some soldiers made it out of battle alive, yet in horrible shape. They had Civil War Hospitals near by the battlefields where nurses and doctors would do what they could to help save the soldiers and get them back to health.(Source J) These hospital workers although had a good meaning with helping the soldiers, they had to make it very painful for them. If the injury was severe, the medical technology was not advanced enough for simple surgery. If bullet wounds were very bad they would have to physically remove with their fingers or just amputate the limb. Amputations were very common and 25% of all soldiers who had limbs amputated died. Since there were so many amputations performed the nurses and doctors got the nickname “butchers”. Specific injuries during the Civil War were more likely to happen then others. The most common injuries on the body were small metal bullets to the limbs and fractured bones. A more severe injury that was also rather common was a fracture to the skull which surgically was very hard to fix. Broken Jaws and clavicles could also be quite serious.(Source K) Post battle injuries led to 18,000 casualties during the war. 400,150 out of the 620,000 peopled who died in the civil war died from out of battle causes. Although 18,000 post battle injury deaths seems as if it is nothing compared to the larger numbers it still had an effect and took way to many lives than what was necessary. These diseases and injuries were very serious towards the Civil War. I believe that these could have been prevented if the soldiers focused on hygiene and their own wellbeing rather than not caring as much for their own person. Part 4 Growth as a Researcher: During the process of my research paper, I really developed my ability to find good sources that I can plug into to specific spots of my paper. I also learned how to break things down into sections, focusing on each section one by one until each one was developed thoroughly and with a purpose. A third thing I learned which I find rather important in your writing process is to just relax when you are writing. I did not worry about mistakes or other parts of my paper till the end where I went back and edited it. When you are in the middle of your work just try to let the words flow onto the paper, then go back and make your corrections afterwards. Not only did this speed up my writing but it also got me to get a lot of information into my paper and really beef up each paragraph. Ways I might try to expand my knowledge in writing research papers is getting more sources off of the internet. The books and primary sources I found have just as much evidence as the paragraphs and writings I found in passages on the internet. These sources are a lot rarer to find then internet sources but in many cases they have that specific description that you are looking for that you just cannot find anywhere else. Another thing that I may do differently next time is write up a schedule for myself. If I create my own schedule picking days I have available time to write my paper, it will be better and better with each slot of time I spend writing and editing. A final thing that I believe could be a huge difference in writing my paper is after finishing each paragraph, reading it over to make sure it sounds good to the reader of the paper. I began to do this in the middle of my process and found that it helps tremendously. I can find many spelling and grammar mistakes and I can also find other ways to word each sentence. Part 5: Citations A: John D. Billings, What diseases did soldiers get? (National Museum of Civil War Medicine) available at, http://www.civilwar.org/education/pdfs/civil-was-curriculum-medicine.pdf B: John D. Billings, 620,000 soldiers died during the civil war. Two thirds died of disease. Why? (National Museum of Civil War Medicine) available at, http://www.civilwar.org/education/pdfs/civil-was-curriculum-medicine.pdf C: Author Unknown, Dysentery, available at, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysentery D: Intisar K. Hamidullah, The impact of Disease on the Civil War, available at, http://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_10.06.02_u E: Author Unknown, Syphilis. Available at, http://www.ashasexualhealth.org/stdsstis/syphilis/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwgoKqBRDt_IfLr8y1iMUBEiQA8Ua7XZ8znx5_4dFYrogbJh3e2Q5ecInjUPGc1_XBABHjFQIaArzj8P8HAQ F: Ardianne Noe, National Museum of Health and Medicine, Treatment of War Wounds: A Medical Review. Available at, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2706344/ G: U.S. Army Medical Director, Medicines, Stone River Medical Report, Available at, http://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/cwsurgeon/cwsurgeon/stonesriver H: Alfred R. Waud, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington D.C., Wounded Escaping From the Burning Woods of the Wilderness, available at, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004660365/ I: Melissa King, Demand Media, Hygiene in the Civil War, available at, http://classroom.synonym.com/hygiene-civil-war-22222.html J: The Civil Wars Society “Encyclopedia of the Civil War”, Medical Care, Battle wounds, and Disease, available at, http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwarmedicine.html K: Harold Holzer, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, Civil War Casualties, available at, http://www.historynet.com/civil-war-casualties L: C. Keith Wilbur, PG. 40, Civil War Medicine M: C. Keith Wilbur, PG. 49, Civil War Medicine