Seven misconceptions about the Civil War...

[Chris]

You can certainly argue that slaves in the South were certainly better off than they were under their African slave owners, prior to their being sold and shipped to the Americas.

SOme who owned slave here may well have treated them better, some worse. But you make a good point contra the 186 Project which fails to mention who sold those slaves to slavers in the first place.

[bdtex]

"4. MISCONCEPTION: ALL AMPUTATIONS WERE DONE WITHOUT ANESTHESIA.

Plenty of Civil War movies show screaming soldiers having their mangled limbs amputated with hacksaws in a medical tent while wide awake. But despite what Hollywood says, anesthesia is estimated to have been used in around 95 percent of all surgeries during the war, according to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine."

I must confess to being under that misconception until 5-6 years ago. I have a friend with an ancestor who was a surgeon in a Georgia Regiment. I've learned a lot about medical care in the Civil War through sources provided by her and others.

[Mister D]

"4. MISCONCEPTION: ALL AMPUTATIONS WERE DONE WITHOUT ANESTHESIA.

Plenty of Civil War movies show screaming soldiers having their mangled limbs amputated with hacksaws in a medical tent while wide awake. But despite what Hollywood says, anesthesia is estimated to have been used in around 95 percent of all surgeries during the war, according to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine."

I must confess to being under that misconception until 5-6 years ago. I have a friend with an ancestor who was a surgeon in a Georgia Regiment. I've learned a lot about medical care in the Civil War through sources provided by her and others.

In fact, the first opioid epidemic in US history occurred because of Civil War medical treatment.