Civil War- Knowledge Check #5

Why were casualty rates so high during Civil War battles?

• Poor battlefield medical treatment
• Space lasers
• the evolution of trench warfare
• the invention of the machine gun

What was the biggest concern for wounded soldiers in the field hospital?

• Food
• Infection
• Clean sheets
• Staying warm
• Sharp needles

What was the main type of surgery that doctors performed?

• Appendectomy
• Artery bypass
• Amputation
• Tonsillectomy
• Kidney transplant

True or False: Doctors didn't wash their hands or clean their instruments between surgeries.

• True
• False

What did most soldiers in the Civil War die from?

• Gunshot wounds
• Stab wounds
• Shrapnel
• Starvation
• Disease

What medicine do we use today to stop infections that they didn't have during the Civil War?

• Antibiotics
• Advil
• Tylenol
• Aspirin
• Laxatives

Which of the following medical advances arose from the Civil War and was pioneered by Dr. Jonathan Letterman?

• The modern ambulance system
• Germ Theory
• The use of quinine to battle infection
• The use of anesthetics in surgery

Myth or Reality? "Biting the bullet."The now-common phrase comes from tales of Civil War soldiers who, in the absence of anesthesia, had to bite on bullets for pain.

• Myth
• Reality

In the pre-anesthetic days of the Civil War, soldiers were often given no more than a swig of whiskey before surgery.

• True
• False