‘An Infinite Blessing!’

“SEE HERE, DOC, if you’re goin’ to take that leg off, you’d better be about it—I’m comin’ to.”

Those were the frustrated and possibly fearful words of a wounded soldier in the aftermath of the July 1863 Battle of Honey Springs. The unidentified soldier was so grievously wounded that army surgeons had opted for amputation. Understandably, he was worried, particularly at the prospect of suffering such a painful operation without the aid of anesthesia. Much to his surprise, the patient was informed that “his leg was already off and the stump ‘done up in a rag,’” Raising himself a little on his elbows to verify the news, the soldier remarked, “Is that so? I didn’t know a thing about it.” Such was the miracle of anesthesia.

We have long been led to believe that surgeons used anesthetics only occasionally during the war, but that is untrue. [For a dramatic anesthesia experience, see P.43.] In fact, anesthetics were an absolutely essential tool in the Civil War medical arsenal. By