Teaching the Civil War

Educational Resources

Lesson plans, resources, videos, tools, tips, and strategies for teaching the American Civil War.

Medicine During the American Civil War

Soldiers, civilians, and young people all died during the American Civil War. Many soldiers died from wounds received on the battlefield, but epidemics of disease also ravaged cities and military camps.  Of the estimated 700,000 Civil War soldiers who died during the war, nearly 465,000 died from some disease.   Civil War medicine was pushed beyond its comprehension due to widespread disease and new lethal battle tactics, but this also led to the development of brand-new medical techniques and procedures.

Wounded Soldiers

There were approximately 1.5 million casualties during the Civil War which includes both Union and Confederate dead, wounded, and missing, and it was about 2% of the national population at the time. Read More

Hospitals

Northern and Southern medical departments were ill-prepared for the number of wounded men coming from the battlefield and hospital  systems to provide care had not been developed. Read More

Sanitary Commission

The Sanitary Commision was a private relief agency that supported sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army during Civil War Read More

Dealing with the Dead

There were approximately 1.5 million casualties during the Civil War which includes both Union and Confederate dead, wounded, and missing, and it was about 2% of the national population at the time. Read More

Embalming

Embalming was a relatively new practice in America that became common during the Civil War when it was used to preserve the bodies of dead soldiers so that they could be buried at homes far from the battlefield. Read More

Medical Equipment

Along with amputation instruments, Civil War-era medical equipment included items such as retractors, bullet extractors, forceps, lancets, tourniquets, bone gougers, and other implements. Read More

We love hearing from you, take a moment and send us a note