Medicine in the American Civil War

When the war began, the United States Army medical staff consisted of only the surgeon general, thirty surgeons, and eighty-three assistant surgeons.Little was known about what caused disease, how to stop it from spreading, or how to cure it. Surgical techniques ranged from the barbaric to the barely competent.In the Union army, a new medical plan was created under the command of a Medical Director of the Army, field hospitals were created, and a system of resupply to the field hospitals and transportation of the wounded to general hospitals was created

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