Medical Care Influenced by Civil War and Crimean Italian Unification Wars that Immediately Preceded the U.S. Civil War
The objective of this study is to examine how medical care influenced the Civil War and Crimean Italian Unification Wars that Immediately Preceded the U.S. Civil War. The work of Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Pearce (2002) reports that the Napoleonic wars at the start of the19th century "introduced some important developments in the military medicine. Most significant was the work of the military surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey, who with courage, skill and determination, evolved a system to immediate treatment in the field." (Pearce, 2002, p.89)
Reports on Medicine During the Crimean War
Pearce states that Larrey wrote in his 'Memories de Dhirurgie Militaire et Campagnes as follows:
"…at Aboukir there were 1900 wounded, and many amputations were performed in the field of battle amid a shower of bullets." (2002, p.88)
Pearce reports that Larrey "instituted early evacuation of the wounded by means of 'ambulances volantes' reported as "light, two-wheeled well-sprung vehicles, each drawn by two horses, although of course, Ambroise Pare had used carts and wagons n 1552 to evacuate the wounded after the retreat from Metz."(Pearce, 2002, p.88) Larrey, who was surgeon-in-chief to the Imperial Guard, is reported to have nearly convinced Napoleon that military medicine "was an essential part of warfare." (Pearce,...
Pearce reports that no anesthetics were used in amputations and those surgeons did their work by the light of the
moon since they had no lamps or candles. (Pearce, 2002, paraphrased)
II. The Use of Chloroform
It is reported that Chief of the Medical Staff of the British Expeditionary Army, had successfully used chloroform before the
war but did not actually support its use or the use of the knife. The winter of 1854-55 was a hard one, the army lost many of its clothing stores, this combined with high casualties for the British Army, and the incompetence of medical service care resulted in a fatal outcome for many individuals. Pearce reports that the medical department was "a ramshackle affair, which, despite being responsible to three distinct ministers in
London, was not responsible for its own supplies" and the supplies were instead controlled by two sections of the Treasury generally at odds with one another.
III. U.S. Civil War and Medical Service Provision
The U.S. Civil War (1861-1964) is reported by Pearce (2002) to have "once again focused attention in the lack of…
