The topic of Civil War medicine often suggests negative images: squalid environments, senseless and excruciating amputations, ignorance, and chaos. According to historian Kelly Hancock, these conditions were more prevalent during the first two years of the war, when neither the Union nor the Confederacy was prepared to deal with the magnitude of casualties. By the end of the conflict, however, great strides had been made as surgeons, administrators, and military professionals learned on the job.

Hancock, director of programs at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, explores the tragedy and triumph of Civil War medical practices, discussing the reasons that made disease the deadliest foe; the treatment of the wounded; field surgery; the development of the hospital system; and the advancements that came out of the Civil War, including the growth of nursing schools for women.

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