Death and Dying in

Civil War North Carolina

A Surgeons Perspective

Ailments & Diseases

army itch
asthma
bronchitis
cardiac
disease
constipation
consumption
diarrhea
dysentery
measles
meningitis
parasites

pleurisy
pneumonia
scarlet fever
scurvy
smallpox
tetanus
tonsillitis
typhoid fever
typhus fever
venereal
disease
yellow fever

Medical Supplies
Spiritus Fermenti
Alcohol Fortuis
Chloroformum
Purifictatum
Calomel
Dovers Powder
Tincture Opii
Iodinium
Liquor Morphiae
Sulphatis
Collodium
Quinine Sulphas
Creasotum

AILMENTS & DISEASES AT

THE FOSTER HOSPITAL
Meningitis
During the Civil War, the infection was referred to as
inflammation of the membranes of the brain,
inflammation of the brain or cerebrospinal
meningitis. The infection itself could have been
caused by a variety of organisms which could be
passed easily given the environment in which the
soldiers lived. The symptoms of meningitis as related
by surgeons of the period, included nausea, chills,
extreme pain, and neck muscle spasms as well as tiny
hemorrhagic blisters or lesions in the skin. The only
treatment described as successful in the majority of
meningitis patients treated was quinine, which
alleviated symptoms more than the other remedies
did. Despite the lack of a successful treatment besides
quinine, the surgeons do state that cerebro-spinal
meningitis needed to be treated early. If meningitis
was not treated during the first few days of symptoms,
attempts after the first week proved to be futile and
ineffective.

AILMENTS & DISEASES AT

THE FOSTER HOSPITAL
Small Pox
Smallpox was an ancient disease. For
millenniums, descriptions of smallpoxs
telltale pustules had followed the routes of
trade, empire and war. W.W. Brown, a 7th
New Hampshire surgeon, wrote that the
disease, when uncomplicated, requires no
medication except an occasional anodyne to
allay nervous irritation and procure rest.
Many stricken with smallpox were already
suffering from other ailments. With their
immune systems compromised, smallpox
struck a deadly blow. Treatment typically
consisted purging the patient by way use of
emetics, applying iodine or bromine to
sores, giving Dovers powders, a
crystallized combination of ipecac and
opium for pain and if the oozing pustules
invaded the mouth and throat, a small dose
of potassium chlorate as a gargle.

AILMENTS & DISEASES AT

THE FOSTER HOSPITAL
Yellow Fever
Yellow fever was well known by 1861 because so
many had friends or relatives who had been stricken
during the previous fifty years. All along the Gulf of
Mexico, and the South and Middle Atlantic coasts, the
fearful host appeared during summer seasons. The
initial treatment addressed the visible symptoms,
which included the jaundiced face, dangerously high
fever, severe headaches, muscle aches, dehydration,
fatigue, nausea and vomiting. The treatment of these
symptoms included giving lots of water, cooling the
victim, oral administration of Peruvian bark, calomel,
sugar of lead, quinine, nitre and tartarized antimony.
Doctors who saw their patients continue to decline
after four to five days observed the most horrific
symptoms: Violent vomiting of black fluid, bloody
urine and gums, disorientation turning into delirium,
burning sensations inside the head, convulsions,
slowing pulse rate, then coma and finally death.
There was really nothing that could be done other
than to try to reduce the pain using laudanum
(opium).

Case Studies
Ailments & Diseases

Injuries

chest and abdominal wounds

contusions
facial wounds
fractures
head wounds
injuries of the lower extremities
joint injuries
neck injuries
paralysis
spinal injuries
sprains
sunstroke

Surgical Instruments

Surgical Procedures
amputations
ball extractions
blood-letting
ligations
reconstructive
operations
removal of foreign
bodies tracheotomy
trephining

Case Studies
Injuries

Death in the Civil War

Death in the Civil War

Death in the Civil War