"Although the care for the sick and wounded was much better than in previous wars, the sanitary conditions were poor. Sterilization would not come along until after the Civil War. Army surgeons would work on a wounded soldier, and when finished, would simply wipe off the instruments with a dirty, bloody towel and move on to the next wound. If anesthesia were not available for an amputation, the wounded soldier would be held down, and sometimes given a "pain bullet" (a lead bullet to bite down on during the procedure). Clara Barton is the best-known nurse during the war, but the poet Walt Whitman also served as a nurse. The Civil War also produced Dr. Mary Walker, one of the first women surgeons."

Part of a Civil War exhibit at Greenfield Village in Michigan during the Civil War Remembrance event.

~ harui