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Maggots Are Your Friends: Lessons from Civil War Era Medicine
Horrifying conditions caused more soldiers to perish from diarrhea than bullets while poor logistics and primitive food preservation prompted many an infantryman to crave a meal of raw onions. On the other hand, improved medical procedures, and changing cultural attitudes made medicine during the Civil War a study in opportunity. Mangled limbs, wet gangrene, pus laden bandages, and maggots feasting on your flesh may make you squirm, but lessons from the past can benefit and improve healthcare in unforeseen ways. Learn how munitions technology, crowded camp sites, and overall poor nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation contributed to the high death toll but also lead to surprising innovations and advancements that changed American medicine forever.

 

 


Essential Questions:

 Why did two out of every three men killed during the war died of disease?
How did new technologies add to the horror of war?
How did women contribute to the war effort?
Why was the end of the Civil War a major turning point in American history?
What can I learn from the past?
How am I connected to people and events from the past?
How did the Civil War change and shape American culture?
What causes change, and what stays the same?
What patterns develop in the course of history?
How are cause and effect shown throughout history?
How do historical and social events shape the future?

History Standards:  8.1 A,B,C,D   8.2.9 A,B,C,D  8.3.3 A, B, C, D  8.3.9 A, B, C, D

Reading Standards: 1.15 A,G 1.2 A 1.3 A,F 1.6 A, B, D,E

 

 

“It was interesting…. You are good at what you do, you involve everybody, you kept us entertained, but at the same time we were learning things we never knew.  I loved the class yesterday. I wish we had more time.”
         Britany S.