Humphreys: Intro- Ch. 3

    The complaints we have today can and do not compare to those that individuals had during the Civil War. Lingering pain is something they each had to endure because they did not have adequate equipment of medication to be treated properly. Imagine having severed limbs and not being able to go to the hospital immediately for medical attention, or how it would feel to be in such pain for days while having pneumonia or measles.
     Medicine in the Civil War brought in a need of many changes, while it brought on discrepancies between the soldiers who chose to fight in this war and their families. With women being the primary caregiver of men, at any time before, during, and after this war, males were incapable of taking care of themselves, as well as others. No antibiotics were in place at this time, neither was the access to hospitals in a reach of a campsite, therefore the men of the Civil War were forced to learn how to take care of themselves as well as others. Unable to repair clothes prior to the war, men learned to sew to keep their clothing in tact and up to par for battle. If one man was injured, another had to help keep them in a dry area and provide the best form of treatment possible at the time, using whatever was allotted.
     The wives of these soldiers were very misunderstood with their anger towards the war and their soldier being injured. Because each wife had taken care of their husband for so long, prior to their departure for the Civil War, they felt as though they needed to be around to keep their husband safe. Between anger and many opinions, some women wanted to go out to these campsites to be the nurses for their spouse, while others would have rather their husband return home to them to get personal treatment in one of the most safe places known to them. With Commanders needing their men back for war as soon as their wounds were healed or repaired and the dangers of war zone being so risky, the likeliness of any of them returning home or their wives being able to come out and treat them was very difficult.
     After the reading the first three chapters of "Marrow of Tragedy: The Health Crisis of the American Civil War," I noticed so many different aspects of life in regards to medicine and today's caregivers that have changed. Yes, the women of our households are still the ones looked upon as the nurtures, but each of us, today, are able to get treatment from a doctor or physician in order to treat our problems. Gaining more than just advice, we are capable of getting prescription drugs filled to heal us faster, than those of home remedies. Though remedies are not completely extinct, the use of them is decreasing as the increase of medicine and medical technology expand.