Amputations

Amputation. The most common surgery performed during the Civil War. 3 out of 4 operations were amputations. Usually, when a soldier was struck in an appendage by a Minie Ball, if it hit the bone, the bone would splinter. It would usually carry skin and dirt into the wound. The surgeon's only option was usually amputation.

The survival rate for amputations done in the first 24 hours after an injury was very good, with only 25% mortality. When amputations were done after the first 24 hours, the mortality rate doubled to 50%. Naturally, surgeons tried to ship patients through as quickly as possible.

The surgeon usually had an operating table of a couple of boards between barrels. He usually had a rag soaked with chloroform, which was liberally doused. Today it is recognized as a dangerous procedure. Somehow, surgeons knew enough to periodically remove the rag or sponge Therefore, few deaths resulted from chloroform poisoning. It is generally a myth that most operations were performed without anesthesia, with only a bullet to bite. Surgeons usually used the following procedure.

First the surgeon would cut off the blood flow with a tourniquet. After that he would take a scalpel and slice through the outlying tissue and flesh. Then he would use a hacksaw-like tool called a capital saw to saw through the bone. It had replaceable blades. After the bone and flesh was all sliced off, the surgeon would take silk sutures in the North, and cotton sutures in the South, and sew the major arteries and veins together. The limb would be dropped on a pile that got thrown out after the day. Time was of the essence, so the soldier would be carried off of the platform and another soldier would be placed on the platform. This would take about fifteen minutes.

Amputation saved many more lives than it killed. It was remarkably effective considering the medical knowledge of the time.

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