![]() Surgeons often had limited amounts of supplies and had to try to treat as many patients as possible. Often in homes, churches, barns, and other local buildings that were taken over to be converted into rudimentary hospitals, surgeries took place on dining tables or doors removed from hinges. Photo of soldiers convalescing outside a hospital in Fredericksburg, VA in May 1864.įield hospitals were located near the front lines and served as an initial treatment center for those soldiers evacuated from the battlefield. In 1861, there were two types of hospitals that surgeons operated in: field hospitals and general hospitals. At the beginning of the Civil War, both the Union and the Confederate Medical Departments were unprepared for the number of causalities unleashed. Soldiers’ experiences in a Civil War hospital varied depending on its location and what kind of hospital they were treated in. While the traditional focus has often been about the battles, often overlooked is the daily life in hospitals where soldiers spent weeks, and sometimes even months, recovering. The vast majority of these men were treated in hospitals scattered throughout both sections of the country. Over the course of the Civil War, at least 600,000 soldiers died from wounds or sickness.
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