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Bandages & Bloodshed
America At War
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Colonial Medicine
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Revolutionary War
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Field doctors were known to suck on infected wounds to clean
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Civil War
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The invention of the roller bandage helped treat wounds and fractures more
easily and quickly. ( Click on photo at right to see the bandage and its uses.) |
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and the
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Simple wounds were cleaned with soap and water before they were covered with tree sap to
secure strips of linen to the wound. Simple wounds were also covered with a plaster made from flannel that was dipped in canthard (crushed green blister beetle) or with a poultice made from a hot milk and bread mixture dipped in oil or lard. |
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Infections were burned from wounds with the flame from a candle.
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WWII
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During the Civil War, more than 50% admitted to hospitals with wounds died.
That number fell to 8% in WWI and to 4% in WWII. |
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Dried blood was sprinkled on wounds to encourage clotting. Glues were used to
seal wounds |
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Penicillin and other antibiotics were used to treat wound infections. Click
on medical bag (right) to hear about WWII medics. |
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In 1941, many physicians used human fibrinogen and cattle thrombin to stop
blood loss and glue skin grafts |
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Florence Nightingale learned that more battlefield wounded survived if a
doctor cleaned his instruments in hot water between surgical procedures. |
