- Medical knowledge at the beginning of the Civil War is considered to be extremely primitive. At the beginning of the war, physicians knew nothing about infection and did not try to prevent it. No antiseptics were used. The same equipment used to saw off one man's leg was used on another. Patients received no antibiotics and infection ran rampant in cramped conditions. A soldier faced a greater risk of dying under a physician's care than he did on the battlefield. During the course of the war, more than 600,000 Americans were killed or suffered grievous injuries on the battlefield.
- The American Civil War began in 1861 and concluded in 1865. On February 9, 1861 shortly before Abraham Lincoln would be inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States, the Confederate States of America was formed and Jefferson Davis became the first and only president of the CSA. On April 12, 1861, shots were fired on Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina marking the beginning of the Civil War. The war ended in April of 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant.
- Treatment for injuries relied primarily on two types. A soldier who received a serious injury to the torso died most often from the injury or an infection related to that injury. A physician would often look at the injury, leave a nurse to pack the wound and move on. Injuries to an arm, leg, hand or foot were dealt with by amputation. Surgeons became proficient at the art of amputating the limb, with procedures taking 10 minutes or less. Chloroform, when available, would be used to sedate the patient and the limb removed. The use of chloroform to reduce a patient's suffering numbered among the key advances in medical care. By the end of the war, 75% of amputation patients survived the procedure as surgeons learned to stem blood loss, keep the wound cleaned and the patient chloroformed during the worst of the pain.
- The Sanitary Commission, formed in 1861 published reports to reduce the spread of disease by improving sanitation in the camps. The work of the Sanitary Commission would provide a guide for the formation of the American Red Cross. Dorothea Dix served as Superintendent of the Army Nursing Corp. Her nurses, under her guidance, offered care to Union and Confederate soldiers alike. Her nurses maintained patient records and death lists, often assisting patients to write letters home. It was the first time in American medicine that such specific attention was paid to paperwork. Her humanitarian efforts and single-minded zeal did not endear her to congressional leaders, but advanced nurses and their devotion to patient care.
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While comparing medical care during the Civil War to modern medical care finds the former lacking. A report from the University of California in Davis, California details the following advancements in the field of medicine. Among the items listed by the report as medical advancements is the publication of the Medical and Surgical History of the War, the first American medical academic accomplishment, based on detailed reports and records of patient care. Pavilion-style hospitals with sanitary conditions and wounded management in field hospitals for mass injuries would be modeled on Civil War successes in order to avoid Civil War failures.
Female nurses were prominent figures in the Civil War and would continue to contribute to American medical care. Immediate patient care and triaging patients to have the most seriously wounded seen first developed from surgical practices during the war. Finally, physician training expanded to include prevention of infections, quality of care and anesthetic treatments.
