63: Wounded and Dying: Nurses, Doctors, and Disease in the Civil War

“I had never severed the nerves and fibers of human flesh.”

This is the story of Civil War medicine. At the start of the war, the wounded sometimes lay on the field of battle for days hoping for help. Some die slowly and painfully from exposure and thirst. Others are robbed as their life expires. The divided nation has new, deadlier guns, but medical treatment has changed. It’s a deadly combination.

Both sides step up. The Union’s new “Ambulance Corps” sets a new standard for battlefield first aid as the newly created US Sanitary Commission improves policy. The CSA’s “Infirmary Corps” and regional organizations make similar improvements. North and South, women save countless soldiers as they enter a new medical profession: “nursing.”

But most surgeons don’t believe “refied ladies” should be working in this professional role. Some intentionally make life downright miserable for these female patriots. Luckily for the wounded, these women don’t break easily.