This segment discusses amputation procedures in field hospitals on Civil War battlefields. A museum staff member provides an amputation demonstration. Artifacts include surgical kits and post-war artificial limbs.
Yes, there were pills one could take, but many of the medications used are now seen as harmful and/or addictive. For an amputee in pain a doctor would take a pinch of morphine powder and blow it into the wound. This relieved much of the pain, but also produced a mass of opiate addicts. Mercury was used to treat many afflictions (venereal diseases in particular). It has properties that shrink blood vessels, so it was also used to stave off blood flow.
They wouldn't have (normally) been given whiskey because the prevailing idea of the day (see humorism) was that alcohol would overstimulate the patient's body, which was not something the doctor wanted to do before inflicting such a shock to the system as amputating a limb. It was prescribed afterwards to strengthen the body post op (known as invalid food). Chloroform was readily used and any shortage produced such a public outcry that there was rarely a deficit.
@SamuelDMorgan my question is was there any type of pain medication or pills back then for after the amputation, or was it just a shot of wiskey when the pain hit?
