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    Women Doctors in the Civil War
    Women Doctors in the Civil War
    Women Doctors in the Civil War
    Ebook36 pages56 minutes

    Women Doctors in the Civil War

    By Charles A. Mills

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    About this ebook

    A quick look at women doctors and medicine in the Civil War for the general reader. Technologically, the American Civil War was the first “modern” war, but medically it still had its roots in the Middle Ages. In both the North and the South, thousands of women served as nurses to help wounded and suffering soldiers and civilians. A few women served as doctors, a remarkable feat in an era when sex discrimination prevented women from pursuing medical education, and those few who did were often obstructed by their male colleagues at every turn.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCharles A. Mills
    Release dateJan 22, 2016
    ISBN9781524229207
    Women Doctors in the Civil War
    Author

    Charles A. Mills

    Chuck Mills has a passion for history. He is the author of Hidden History of Northern Virginia, Echoes of Manassas, Historic Cemeteries of Northern Virginia and Treasure Legends of the Civil War and has written numerous newspaper and magazine articles on historical subjects. Chuck is the producer and cohost of Virginia Time Travel, a history television show that airs to some 2 million viewers in Northern Virginia. He lives on the banks of the Potomac River on land once owned by George Washington.

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      Book preview

      Women Doctors in the Civil War - Charles A. Mills

      Introduction

      ––––––––

      Technologically, the American Civil War was the first modern war, but medically it still had its roots in the Middle Ages.  American physicians received minimal training before the Civil War, and were poorly trained by modern standards, and even by the standards of European medicine of the day.  European doctors went to four year medical schools and received laboratory training.  In America, most doctors received their training by serving as apprentices in lieu of formal education. Younger doctors who had actually attended medical schools trained for two years or less, and received virtually no laboratory instruction.  Germ theory, antiseptic medical practices, advanced medical equipment, and organized hospitalization systems were virtually unknown in America prior to the Civil War. 

      Of the approximately 600,000 soldiers who died in the war, fully two-thirds died from disease.  It is estimated that some 300,000 men died from sickness caused by intestinal disorders alone, mainly typhoid fever, diarrhea, and dysentery.  The fault lay with the shocking filth if the army camps themselves.  A Federal inspector reported in late 1861 that Union camps were, littered with refuse, food, and other rubbish, sometimes in an offensive state of decomposition; slops deposited in pits within the camp limits or thrown out of broadcast; heaps of manure and offal close to the camp. Confederate camps were no better.  Bacteria and viruses spread through the camps.  Typhoid fever, caused by the consumption of food or water contaminated by salmonella bacteria was devastating.  Poor diet and exposure to the elements often developed into pneumonia, which was the third great killing disease of the war, after typhoid and dysentery.  Tuberculosis was a common disease among the troops.  Camps populated by soldiers from small rural areas, who lacked immunity to common contagious diseases were stricken by outbreaks of measles, chickenpox, and mumps. Additionally, epidemics of malaria spread through camps located near swamps.

      Approximately 110,000 Union and 94,000 Confederate soldiers died of battle wounds.  Most of the wounded were treated within the first forty eight hours.  Emergency medical care on the battlefield consisted of bandaging a soldier’s wounds as fast possible, and giving him whiskey

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