This is for Nick (More than you bargained for) :)

         The Civil War doctors didn’t have the same understanding of medicine as we do now. Most people say that they didn’t have the germ theory this isn’t completely true. The microscope was invented in 1925 and the first micro-organism was discovered in 1676. The doctors didn’t connect these micro-organisms with infections. Doctors kept there tools clean because they cost lots of money. Doctors wiped there tools with cloths but didn’t sterilize them. If a soldier was shot in the stomach or chest they were usually left on the battlefield because they had a much smaller chance to survive or recover. If a soldier was shot in a limb they were carried to a field hospital. Field hospitals were either barns, sheds or houses seized from the unfortunate people whose home had become a battlefield. The reports of the houses after the battles that had been used as field hospitals that had to be emptied of all furniture and all the floors and walls had to be scrubbed of all the blood. The beds had to be buried in the backyard. A soldier in a field hospital with a limb wound would have their limb amputated. The soldier would be knocked out with either chloroform or alcohol. If the soldier was given the correct amount of chloroform he would feel no pain but he would still be conscious. For example “stonewall” Jackson recalled he could hear the sound of the saw sawing through his arm but didn’t feel any. Sometimes the chloroform wasn’t enough or was too much. If it was too much the solider would die of chloroform poisoning. If not then the solider would feel all the pain. If the solider survived he would be mover outside into the sun or shade. The soldier’s limbs were dumped into pits then eventually buried. There was not much time to give water to the wounded in the middle of a battle so some of the soldiers were died from the heat. The lucky soldiers were put in fancy hospitals where they were checked regularly. More Soldiers died from Infection then bullets and cannon fire. Soldiers who were left on the battle field through the night if there was a battle were bothered by wild hog that eat the dead and tried to eat the wounded. During the battle of the wilderness the battle started a forest fire. One of the soldiers said “I looked at the wounded man and was that he had a loaded pistol by his side. He would he use the gun if the fire reached him. The pistol would save him from the slow painful death of burning alive. ” Many of the wounded men on both sides in this battle were burn alive. They called for help and for men to drag them away from the hungry flames.

 

 

The reason so many soldiers were injured and killed was because almost all the generals went to West Point together where they all studied Napoleon’s strategies. Less soldiers would have died if we had been still using the same weapons Napoleon’s army had used. Old tactics new weapons. The problem was that the armies had upgraded to Minnie balls instead of muskets balls. A Minnie ball was more accurate. They were also using different guns instead of using flintlock muskets they were using percussion cap riffle. With a flintlock you had to load and ram the cartridge then you had to pour gun powder into the flash pan and hope when you pull the trigger the sparks from the flint would jump onto to the gun powder. With the Percussion caps rifle you ram the cartridge down the barrel then take the cap and put it on the hammer then pull the trigger.

 

 

Me codename,

Zoe codename,

Leo,

Out

o.-