Alan Rothschild

Inventor • Author • Entrepreneur

This is the Reason the Civil War Changed the Field of Military Surgery

by

 

This is the Reason the Civil War Changed the Field of Military Surgery, Alan Rothschild, @patentmodelman, Civil War

The Jewett Artificial Leg was the artificial leg that the state of North Carolina provided to its soldiers after the Civil War.

 

Excerpted from Inventing a Better Mousetrap: 200 Years of American History in the Amazing World of Patent Models

How The Civil War Changed Military Surgery and Orthopedics

The Civil War changed the fields of military surgery and orthopedics. The powerful, destructive and more accurate weapons of this conflict did more damage to the human body than ever before, resulting in not only more injuries, but injuries of a more critical nature. Wartime surgeons had little understanding of sterilization and post-surgical infection, so amputation was commonplace. Wounded soldiers taken from the battlefield were given whiskey, or when available, opium.

If surgery was to be performed, soldiers were given chloroform or ether. If an amputee did not die from blood loss, he was likely to die from post-surgical infection and gangrene. Dressings were often reused and rarely cleaned.

The Impact of Artificial Limbs After the Civil War 

Beginning in 1862, the Federal government provided money to Union amputees with which to purchase artificial limbs. Amputees were given fifty dollars for an arm and seventy five dollars for a leg. In the state of North Carolina, a resolution was passed in 1866 to begin a program similar to the Federal one, to supply legs to Confederate veterans.

This is the Reason the Civil War Changed the Field of Military Surgery, Alan Rothschild, @patentmodelman, Civil War

The patent model of the Jewett Artificial Leg (Patent #35,686, June 24, 1862 by Benjamin B. Jewett of Salem, Massachusetts) is the same artificial leg commissioned by the state of North Carolina for its soldiers after the Civil War.

 

Benjamin Jewett’s Artificial Leg Patent 

North Carolina contracted with Benjamin Jewett to supply the artificial limbs. Jewett’s Patent Leg Company provided two proposals to North Carolina, the first offered exclusive rights to his artificial leg, in the form of two patents for it, for a sum of twelve thousand dollars. The second option had Jewett setting up shop in North Carolina and charging the state seventy five dollars a leg, with an advance of five thousand dollars.

Jewett also requested that the state provide a suitable building for manufacturing the limbs. The state agreed to the second option. Like the Federal artificial limb program, North Carolina’s plan ensured that amputees did not incur out-of-pocket expenses during their stay. Jewett’s Patent Leg was praised in a Civil War report on artificial legs for its “mechanical perfection and simplicity of arrangement.” It was also noted for the ease with which a wearer could take it apart

For minor repairs, Jewett’s Patent Leg Company in Raleigh stayed open until June 18, 1867.

At this point, having served the soldiers that had returned from the war, the shop no longer had enough work to continue on-site manufacturing.

 

For more information on the history of patent models, take a look at my book Inventing a Better Mousetrap: 200 Years of American History in the Amazing World of Patent Models, available now on Amazon. Read an excerpt here.
The Creation of the US Patent Office, Alan Rothschild, @patentmodelman
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