How a Civil War Amputation Was Performed

May 22, 2009 11:52 AM

How a Civil War Amputation Was Performed NSFS [not safe for the squeamish]
posted by marxchivist (22 comments total)

I know it says NSFS, but I got an erection anyway.
posted by zach4000 at 12:10 PM on May 22, 2009 [5 favorites]

Once again I saw the title of this post and thought, "Sounds like a Marxchivist post..."
posted by zzazazz at 12:13 PM on May 22, 2009

Wow, I didn't know that battlefield surgeons had anesthetic in the Civil War. Now I feel better.
posted by RussHy at 12:13 PM on May 22, 2009

I don't know if I'm ready to read the whole article; I skimmed it, and that might be enough for the morning. Maybe later in the day. We have an account from my grandmother's grandfather, who was assistant to a surgeon during the civil war. He wrote of amputating legs without painkillers, and of the pile of legs lying in the grass outside the doctor's window. I read his letters home when I was a kid, and still have an image of those legs burned into my mind. War has horrified me ever since.
posted by kanewai at 12:15 PM on May 22, 2009

Related: 1800's surgical kit unboxed
posted by neat-o at 12:15 PM on May 22, 2009 [6 favorites]

Needs more banjo music.

...what?
It was ubiquitous back then. Everywhere. Like Muzak. People would play it when they were reading letters home from soldiers even.
posted by Smedleyman at 12:21 PM on May 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

I know it says NSFS, but I got an erection anyway.
posted by zach4000

I think you're looking for this post.

Thanks for the link neat-o. I thought about padding this out with other Civil War medicine sites, but then I figured this would stand on its own for one of my standard fourteen comment posts. Having said that, here's a decent site on Civil War Medicine and lots o' links here.
posted by marxchivist at 12:21 PM on May 22, 2009

Reminds me of Robert Liston, who gave the world the Liston Knife, and who once chopped some poor bastards leg off so fast he took his knackers with it.
posted by permafrost at 12:22 PM on May 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

who once chopped some poor bastards leg off so fast he took his knackers with it.

I know I shouldn't laugh, but: "Robert Liston is the only surgeon in known history to have performed an operation with a 300% mortality rate." (Killed patient, assistant, and spectator in surgery.) With friends like Dr. Liston, who needs enemies?
posted by Hylas at 12:41 PM on May 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

We've really come an amazingly long way in terms of surgical technique in a comparably short period of time. Reading about what battlefield surgery was like less than 150 years ago and comparing it to what its like in the 21st century is absolutely mind blowing.

Of course, to be fair, we've gotten much better at killing each other, too.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:54 PM on May 22, 2009

I just listened to Radio Lab's rebroadcast of the "Where Am I?" show, and there's a part where they talk about Civil War amputations. And in true Radio Lab fashion, there is a sound effect they use. I think it was imitating the sound of a saw going through skin and flesh and it was quite the gruesomest noise I've heard outside of a horror film. I probably should not listen to Radio Lab while I run, considering the faces I was making during that whole portion.
posted by bibbit at 1:12 PM on May 22, 2009

I know I shouldn't laugh, but: "Robert Liston is the only surgeon in known history to have performed an operation with a 300% mortality rate." (Killed patient, assistant, and spectator in surgery.) With friends like Dr. Liston, who needs enemies?

Dr. Liston was a large man who cut a broad figure in the operating room and was proud of his reputation as a fast surgeon, a reputation that was well respected in this preanesthetic era for obvious reasons. Legends of his operating techniques are numerous, including the carved notches Dr. Liston made on his amputation knife following each procedure.

why isn't this man the subject of a major motion picture or musical comedy?
posted by geos at 1:48 PM on May 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

why isn't this man the subject of a major motion picture or musical comedy?

This is an excellent idea. Let me propose some titles:

The 300%
Fingers: A Love Story
Bob The Knife
Fully Conscious
2 Fast 2 Fingerless
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:15 PM on May 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Dr. Liston was a large man who cut a broad figure in the operating room

Anyone want to run with this one?
posted by scratch at 6:34 PM on May 22, 2009

A lot of it is awkwardly written, but it's very interesting material. Thanks for posting!
posted by agregoli at 7:54 PM on May 22, 2009

I will never, EVER complain about Novocaine again...
posted by futureisunwritten at 8:35 PM on May 22, 2009

Dr. Liston was a large man who cut a broad figure in the operating room

Anyone want to run with this one?

i'm a steppin' razor don't you watch my size i'm dangerous ...
posted by pyramid termite at 9:07 PM on May 22, 2009

And the rest of that paragraph (on Robert Liston) goes: "There is, however, apparently no precise source for these stories, so they might well just be regarded as urban legends."
posted by Herodios at 9:25 PM on May 22, 2009

This article has succeeded in making me want to read more. I wish there were illustrations, pictures, or letter-written accounts.
posted by Malice at 11:10 PM on May 22, 2009

One of the things that stuck with me from Ken Burns' Civil War was the bit about the dead soldiers on the battlefield with their clothes torn up. At first people thought they'd been robbed after death, but it was the soldiers themselves clawing at their clothes, because if they were shot in the torso they'd die. If they were shot in a limb the limb would most likely be sawed off.

Killed patient, assistant, and spectator in surgery.

Then he realized exploding knives were a bad idea.

MetaFilter: A lot of it is awkwardly written, but it's very interesting material.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:45 PM on May 22, 2009

If you're ever in Frederick, MD, you should check out the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, which is quite well done.
posted by me & my monkey at 12:19 AM on May 23, 2009

I live next to the Botanical Gardens in Boston and there's a statue right on the corner of Beacon & Arlington St that really, if you live near Boston and you haven't seen it... it's the most unintentionally hilarious thing ever.

The statue is commemorating the discovery of the anaesthetic properties of ether and shows a doctor subduing a patient.

Only, it looks like he just killed the dude and is pulling rags out of his rib cage.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:20 AM on May 23, 2009