The number one killer during the War of 1812 was infections.
There were many infections such as, typhoid, dysentery, pneumonia, measles and
smallpox, as well as malaria. It was difficult to keep food fresh and often the
men would “flux” a term used in reference to diarrhea. This would make the
soldier’s life miserable. If you amputate
below the elbow you have an 85% chance of living. Otherwise, infection would
set in and death would occur. The amputations were without anesthesia. The
surgeon had to act quickly. The typical
soldier in the War of 1812 didn’t die from cannonballs or bullets, but from
germs. Chris Grimes, our guest speaker brought a variety of tools and
medicinals to treat a variety of health issues that needed treatment. The most
common procedure is lancing boils and abscesses to amputation of limbs. Chris explained how Leeches have been used in
medicine for over 2,500 years. They were more popular
in earlier times because it was widely thought that most diseases were caused by an excess of blood. As recently as the 19th
century, leeches were used to treat
everything from tonsillitis to hemorrhoids. Chris also used a wonderful PowerPoint
presentation to better I illustrate the types of problems that the soldiers
were presented with during this time period and how they dealt with it.
Chris Grimes chatting with Linda Rivenbark, President of our 1812 chapter.
If anyone would like to contact Chris Grimes to be a guest speaker at their 1812 group meeting can reach him at cw.grimes@yahoo.com
or call him at 252-799-1512.
