Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of

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Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine

A landmark chronicle of Civil War medicine, Bleeding Blue and Gray is a major contribution to our understanding of Americaâ€™s bloodiest conflict. Indeed, eminent surgeon and medical historian Ira M. Rutkow argues that it is impossible to grasp the harsh realities of the Civil War without an awareness of the state of American medicine at the time.

At the outset of the war, the use of ether and chloroform remained crude, and they were often unavailable in the hellish conditions at the front lines. As a result, many surgical procedures were performed without anesthesia in the compromised setting of a battleground or a field hospital. This meant that â€œclinical concerns were often of less consequence,â€ writes Rutkow, â€œthan the swiftness of the surgeonâ€™s knife.â€

Also, in the 1860s, the existence of pathogenic microorganisms was still unknownâ€“many still blamed â€œmalodorous gassesâ€ for deadly outbreaks of respiratory influenza. As the great Civil War surgeon William Williams Keen wrote, â€œwe used undisinfected instruments from undisinfected plush-lined cases, and still worse, used marine sponges which had been used in prior pus cases and had been only washed in tap water.â€

Besides the substandard quality of wartime medical supplies and techniques, the combatantsâ€™ utter lack of preparation greatly impaired treatment. In 1861, the Unionâ€™s medical corps, mostly ill-qualified and poorly trained, even lacked an ambulance system. Fortunately, some of these difficulties were ameliorated by the work of numerous relief agencies, especially the United States Sanitary Commission, led by Frederick Law Olmsted, and tens of thousands of volunteers, among them Louisa May Alcott and Walt Whitman.

From the soldiers who endured the ravages of combat to the government officials who directed the war machine, from the good Samaritans who organized aid commissions to the nurses who cared for the wounded, Bleeding Blue and Gray presents a story of suffering, politics, character, and, ultimately, healing.
Country USA
Manufacturer Random House
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2005-04-19
UnitCount 1
Format Deckle Edge
EANs 9780375503153

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Random House
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2005-04-19
UnitCount	1
Format	Deckle Edge
EANs	9780375503153

Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine

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