SanitaryCommissionPage

WELCOME TO THE

OHIO VALLEY

CIVIL WAR ASSOCIATION

U.S. Sanitary Commission

& Civil War Medicine

During the Civil War one out of every four soldiers who fought on either side never returned to their homes again. Approximately 600,000 soldiers died during the war and nearly two-thirds died from disease. There were also about 60,000 amputations performed, and miraculously, nearly 75% of the amputees survived! It’s an amazing number considering the fact that most surgeons were under qualified, that little was known about how to stop a disease from spreading or how to cure it, and that proper sanitary conditions did not exist. However, as more and more wounded soldiers required treatment, surgical and medical techniques rapidly improved and a better understanding of medicine and disease came to be learned. Surgeons, assistants, nurses, hospital stewards, and other volunteers cared for the sick and wounded soldiers. They employed their skills at hospitals of all kinds including field hospitals, established hospitals, hospital steamer ships on the river ways, and makeshift hospitals that were set up in people’s homes. Most of the positions in the medical field were filled by men, but women proved that they could perform at this level as well. Nearly 10,000 women served in some capacity at hospitals during the war.