Talk:Medicine in the American Civil War

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what the world. they did what for medicine
in the civil war over 80% of surgerys were amputations, cutting off of limbs. they used opioum and chlorophorm, medicines that cause patience to become uncontios , so the patient could not feel anything. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.122.74.254 (talk) 16:34, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

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Poor description of the background
The paragraph about background isn’t accurate. It ignores changes that had occurred in warfare in other countries. While it is correct that railroads, industry, food preservation, and Minié bullets made a difference, all of these existed before the Civil War. More than 60 years earlier, France was waging total war, marshalling millions of people for military service and production of weapons. Rifles were in use in both Europe and the United States. Dominic Larrey had already made significant progress in battlefield medicine. By 1850, the British Army was armed with Enfield rifled muskets firing Minié bullets. Railroads were quickly replacing canals. Food was available in cans. It is true that further progress had been made at the time of the Civil War. However, the paragraph gives the impression that the Civil War was a sudden leap forward.

The paragraph also incorrectly implies that Civil War armies were bigger. During the Gettysburg Campaign, the Union Army fielded 32,000 soldiers, while the Confederate Army had somewhere between 27 and 32,000. Compare that with the Waterloo Campaign in which the Napoleon had 124,000 soldiers; the Anglo Dutch army was 107,000, and the Prussian army had 123,000 soldiers. One can also consider the Russian campaign of 1812 in which the French had between 450,000 and 685,000 soldiers, while the Russians fielded 508,000 to 723,000 men. At the Battle of Alma The British and French had 56,500 to 58,000 men while the Russians opposed them with 37,500. There were 15,700 allies at the Battle of Inkerman fighting 40,500 Russians. So Civil War armies were not inordinately bigger than in the past.

The first footnote refers to “the several days' battle at Waterloo”. The Battle of Waterloo was a single day event. I don’t know whether the intention was to refer to the four battles which took place over three days, or the entire Waterloo campaign. The second footnote alludes to the intensity of the Civil War but even that is not unique. Parts of Europe were devastated during the 30 years war. England had already had two civil wars (and a “revolution” too).

There are factors which characterize the Civil War and the medical care that was available during that war. But this article’s paragraph about the background is misleading. Humphrey Tribble (talk) 18:54, 19 March 2023 (UTC)