Death and Dying in Civil War North Carolina

“A Surgeon’s Perspective”

Ailments & Diseases• army itch• asthma• bronchitis• cardiac disease• constipation• consumption• diarrhea• dysentery• measles• meningitis• parasites

• pleurisy• pneumonia• scarlet fever• scurvy• smallpox• tetanus• tonsillitis• typhoid fever• typhus fever• venereal disease• yellow fever

Medical Supplies• Spiritus Fermenti• Alcohol Fortuis• Chloroformum

Purifictatum• Calomel• Dover’s Powder• Tincture Opii• Iodinium• Liquor Morphiae Sulphatis• Collodium• Quinine Sulphas• Creasotum

AILMENTS & DISEASES AT “THE FOSTER HOSPITAL”

MeningitisDuring the Civil War, the infection was referred to as “inflammation of the membranes of the brain”, “inflammation of the brain” or “cerebrospinal meningitis”. The infection itself could have been caused by a variety of organisms which could be passed easily given the environment in which the soldiers lived. The symptoms of meningitis as related by surgeons of the period, included nausea, chills, extreme pain, and neck muscle spasms as well as tiny hemorrhagic blisters or lesions in the skin. The only treatment described as successful in the majority of meningitis patients treated was quinine, which alleviated symptoms more than the other remedies did. Despite the lack of a successful treatment besides quinine, the surgeons do state that cerebro-spinal meningitis needed to be treated early. If meningitis was not treated during the first few days of symptoms, attempts after the first week proved to be futile and ineffective.

AILMENTS & DISEASES AT “THE FOSTER HOSPITAL”Small Pox

Smallpox was an ancient disease. For millenniums, descriptions of smallpox’s telltale pustules had followed the routes of trade, empire and war. W.W. Brown, a 7th New Hampshire surgeon, wrote that the disease, “when uncomplicated, requires no medication except an occasional anodyne to allay nervous irritation and procure rest.” Many stricken with smallpox were already suffering from other ailments. With their immune systems compromised, smallpox struck a deadly blow. Treatment typically consisted purging the patient by way use of emetics, applying iodine or bromine to sores, giving “Dover’s powders,” a crystallized combination of ipecac and opium for pain and if the oozing pustules invaded the mouth and throat, a small dose of potassium chlorate as a gargle.

AILMENTS & DISEASES AT “THE FOSTER HOSPITAL”

Yellow FeverYellow fever was well known by 1861 because so many had friends or relatives who had been stricken during the previous fifty years. All along the Gulf of Mexico, and the South and Middle Atlantic coasts, the fearful host appeared during summer seasons. The initial treatment addressed the visible symptoms, which included the jaundiced face, dangerously high fever, severe headaches, muscle aches, dehydration, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. The treatment of these symptoms included giving lots of water, cooling the victim, oral administration of Peruvian bark, calomel, sugar of lead, quinine, nitre and tartarized antimony. Doctors who saw their patients continue to decline after four to five days observed the most horrific symptoms: Violent vomiting of black fluid, bloody urine and gums, disorientation turning into delirium, burning sensations inside the head, convulsions, slowing pulse rate, then coma and finally death. There was really nothing that could be done other than to try to reduce the pain using laudanum (opium).

Case StudiesAilments & Diseases

Injuries• chest and abdominal wounds• contusions• facial wounds• fractures• head wounds• injuries of the lower extremities• joint injuries• neck injuries• paralysis• spinal injuries• sprains• sunstroke

Surgical Instruments

Surgical Procedures

•amputations•ball extractions•blood-letting•ligations•reconstructive operations•removal of foreign bodies •tracheotomy•trephining

Case StudiesInjuries

Death in the Civil War

Death in the Civil War

Death in the Civil War