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Chloroform and Ether
Cholorform and ether were invented in 1831 by the American chemist Dr, Samuel Guthrie. In 1847, the Scottish physician Sir James Young Simpson first used this liquid as an anesthetic. However, it had not yet been used on battlefields involving mass casualties yet. The Civil War used chloroform over ether as it wasn't as flammable. This helped knock out soldiers before surgeries and amputations. -
Plastic Surgery Theorized
Plastic Surgery, specifically relating to facial reconstruction, had been theorized in the medical journal known as The Lancet in 1837, but not put into practice much before this time. During the duration of the Civil War, there were over 10,000 cases of gunshot/cannon wounds to the face. This put facial reconstructive surgery at high priority. However, it was only successfully performed on about 30 former soldiers or officers. -
Modern Embalming
French chemist, Jean Gannal, introduced a new method to preserving human remains in which arsenic was injected directly into the carotid artery. This allowed anatomist to prepare humans without worrying about decay. The method made its way to the US during the Civil War. Army Medical Corps colonel became the first Union officer to be killed and to be embalmed. Embalmers soon began to profit from the deaths of soldiers. Lincoln was also embalmed after his assignation. -
Minie Balls (Bullets)
A French army officer named Claude Minie invented a cone-shaped lead bullet with a smaller diameter of a rifle barrel. These bullets allowed soilders to load their riffles quickly. They were also more deadly and accurate than muskets. Armies had to make use of trenches and other fortifications to help hide them from these bullets, and farther away than normal. This changed the ways of battle, specifically the start of the Civil War. -
Anesthesia Inhaler
The anesthesia inhaler was invented just before the Civil War and was used in field hospitals to help ease soldiers pains when surgery was needed, such as amputations. These allowed medical staff to rapidly give choloroform (invented 15 years before the Civil War) to multiple soldiers with as little waste as possible. -
Repeating Rifle
Armies had smaller bullets to use, however, they still had to pause between each shot to reload their riffles. Walter Hunt patented the first repeating riffle called the Jennings Magazine Rifle in Britain, which automatically reloaded bullets into the chamber. It was later patented again in the United States in 1849. Many other rifle's were created soon after this. These rifles increased the speed of shots taken and created more casualties in the Civil War. -
Ambulance to E.R.
Private ambulances were hired at the start of the war, but most retreated due to the vast casualties and danger of the Civil War. The Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, Jonathan Letterman saw a need for a system to get wounded soldiers off the field quickly to reduce death during battle. He created the first "ambulance-to-E.R." system which involved existing soldiers and medical staff. This was in place by the time of the Battle of Antietam with 50 ambulances in total.