Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Civil War Medicine?

Q#1 – What were the main reasons infection was one of the main causes why a soldier died from his wounds?

Q#2 – During the first year of the Civil War, frequent epidemics of which four childhood diseases was rampant in Union Army camps?

Q#3 – Both Union and Confederate soldiers involved in military operations developed which four main illnesses?

Q#4 – What liquid solutions were used during amputations to partially sedate patients?

Q#5 – Today, it is known that if a wound produces pus, it means the injury is infected. During the Civil War, what did doctors think the presence of pus in a wound meant?

Q#6 – For the Union, what was the ratio of casualties dying of disease? What was the ration for the Confederacy?

Q#7 – For the Union, what was the name of the governmental agency that handled most of the nursing care of the armies, together with necessary acquisition and transportation of medical supplies?

Q#8 – Because there were no antibiotics yet developed during the Civil War to deal with diseases, what treatments did many doctors and surgeons prescribe for their patients?

Q#9 – In August 1861, what Union general appointed surgeon Charles S. Tripler as the first Medical Director of the Army?

Q#10 – In February 1861, who appointed David C. DeLeon as Surgeon General of the Confederate Medical Department?

Q#11 – During 1861 and most of 1862, why did the Confederacy employ a policy of furloughing wounded soldiers to return home for recovery?

Q#12 – At the beginning of the war, the Union ambulance service was very ineffective for several reasons: poorly made vehicles, lack of organization, and corrupt and dishonest staff that manned the ambulances and sought to steal from the wounded passengers. What was the name of the individual who made significant improvements in the Union ambulance service?

Q#13 – For both the North and South, approximately how many women volunteered to work in hospitals?

Q#14 – In addition to assisting surgeons during procedures, giving medicines, supervising the feedings, and cleaning the bedding and clothes of patients, with what two very personal tasks did women assist wounded soldiers?

Q#15 – For more than a century and a half, it has been accepted that about 620,000 Americans died in the Civil War. What is the name of the historian who in 2011 published a paper that described the use of demographic methods and sophisticated statistical analysis that produced a number of 750,000 soldiers who died in the war?