Civil War, American

Iodine. Iodine has been important for many years, primarily as an antiseptic (see Iodine and iodine compounds). In the American Civil War physicians used it to treat battie wounds. Elemental iodine is not very soluble in water, but dissolves readily when sodium iodide is added, forming triiodide + I I Iodine may thus be used as an aqueous solution but it has generally been used as a tincture of 2% iodine in 70% alcohol. Tests on... 

During the American Civil War, Ericsson designed a steam-driven iron-clad ship, a concept initially rejected by the Navy Board as being too novel. The Monitor, built through the intervention of President Lincoln, but at Ericsson s expense, brought to a sudden end the era of wooden warships. 

Oliver Powder Company. An American company manufg commercial expls, founded shortly after the American Civil War by General P.A. Oliver,... 

In the United States—where the inhabitants were considered filthy, bordering on the beastly —basins, pitchers, and washstands did not become middle-class essentials until after 1850. During the American Civil War, the North adopted Florence Nightingale s nursing reforms to popularize hygiene and keep its soldiers disease-free. 

The American Civil War lasted from 1861 until 1865 The world is round n = 3.14159... 

Gas gangrene Clostridium perfringens Clostridia toxin Activates phosphohpase to break down cell membranes. (Major cause of death in First World War and American Civil War)... 

A description of the trauma caused by war wounds suffered by a soldier injured in the American Civil War is to be found in Walt Whitman s Civil War (Lowenfels, 1989) ... 

In the American Civil War and the First World War estimates of mortality from penetrating wounds were more than 80%. Many deaths were as the result of infection, with gangrene being a particular problem. The penicillin mould was identified in 1928 but it was only in the early 1940s that optimal culture conditions and a purification procedure to produce pure penicillin were established. Large-scale production then commenced in the USA, where adequate facilities and financial investment were available. The objective was to produce as much penicillin as possible to treat injured troops with open wounds so that they could recover as quickly as possible during the invasion of France and subsequent liberation of Europe in 1944-45. 

A little more than a decade later Goodyear died. Within a year of his death, the American Civil War broke out. The Union military used about 27 million worth of rubber products by 1865, helping launch the American rubber industry. 

More effective chemical agents were proposed during Crimean War (1853—56) and American Civil War (1861—65), but the real chemical warfare began in 1915 (qv) (See Vol 2 of Encycl, p Cl66 and also next item)... 

Period of American Civil War. Sometime prior to this, Gen Ro.dman invented caseless propellant, called Mamoth , for use in cannons. It is briefly described in Vol 4 of Encycl, pp D754-R D755-L... 

Gattling Machine Gun or Organ-Grinding Machine Gun. One of the first successful machine guns. It was invented in 1862 by an American R.J. Gattling, and used to some extent in die American Civil War (1861-... 

There are some who have argued that without the use of Cinchona extracts, and later synthetic quinine analogues, world history over the past two centuries would have taken a very different course. It is argued that the use of quinine to treat malaria (and to a lesser extent yellow fever) facilitated colonialisation by western European countries of territories that would have been too hostile for foreigners with little natural resistance to parasitic-induced fevers. For example, the Panama Canal might not have been built without access to quinine. The outcome of the American Civil War has even been speculated upon because the successful blockade of the Confederate ports caused severe shortages of quinine so the Confederate Armies were debilitated by fevers. 

Meanwhile, opium had been joined by other narcotics. Back in 1805 a German pharmacist s assistant had discovered how to isolate its main ingredient, morphine. A preparation of morphine is about 10 times as potent as raw opium. In 1832, another morphine derivative called codeine was isolated. By the 1850s, a more effective way to administer these powerful narcotics was developed—the hypodermic needle. During the American Civil War, battlefield surgeons had one effective way to relieve the pain of a shattered limb or punctured lung—an injection of morphine. Soldiers who survived their wounds after this treatment often became addicted to the drug. Morphine addiction was thus sometimes referred to as the soldier s disease. ... 

The advantage of armor was shown during the American Civil War in the battle (1862) between Merrimac (South) and Monitor (North). Both ships withstood numerous hits by HE shells and were not incapacitated... 

Before the appearance of motor cars and construction of good highways, armored trains were considered very useful. They were employed successfully in American Civil War (1861-5), Franco-Prussian War (1870-1) and Souch-African War (1899 1900) (Ref 1). In Russia, where the roads are generally in a poor condition, armored trains were used in WWI and in Russian Civil War (1918-20). Some of the Russian armored trains were makeshift affairs consisting of an ordinary locomotive protected by sandbags and several flat cars with sandsbags laid along the sides (Ref 2)... 

The start of The American Civil War would appear to have given Winchester and the Henry rifle a golden opportunity, but in fact the Union Army was not disposed to such complicated devices as repeating rifles and bought very few. On the other hand, sales to State Militia units and to homesteaders in isolated areas were sufficient to carry the company thro the war. 

The double action pistol enables the firer firstly to cock the hammer and rotate the cylinder and then to release the hammer - all as a result of one long trigger pull. In most designs the weapon can also be thumb-cocked like a single action revolver. The first double action revolver of significance was produced by Beaumont in London in 1855. This could function as either a double action or single action revolver, and the idea was used in the Adams revolver which became the official Brit service revolver. Colt then gave up his Brit factory in 1857 and returned to the USA. His six-chambered percussion 1860 model in. 44 cal was extensively used in the American Civil War and more than 200,000 were made... 

During the American Civil War, both the North and South maintained concentration camps for prisoners of war and civilian enemy sympathizers a considerable percentage of these inmates died, mostly from epidemics. In the Northern prison camps of Camp Douglas and Rock Island, the mortality rates ranged from 2 to 4%. At the Southern prison camp of Andersonville, there were 13,000 deaths out of a total of 52,000 Union prisoners, i.e., a death rate of 25%.15 As we shall see, the mortality rate at Andersonville was entirely comparable, in terms of percentages, with many National Socialist concentration camps. 

We postulate as a given that in wars throughout history, for example in the American Civil War, epidemics caused more deaths among the soldiers and the civilians alike than did the use of weapons. It took the atomic bomb, deployed in ruthless and criminal manner by the United States against unarmed people, in contravention of international laws, to change this aspect of war. 

Cotton is the single most important crop traded in the world with over 80% of cotton being grown in the southern USAf The American Civil War triggers the globalization of cotton production as US distribution networks are disrupted, prompting other countries to initiate cultivation. 

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