Of Maggots and Infection

By Robin Oliveira

During the war, the removal of the wounded from a battlefield involved not only the negotiation of a truce, but also tortuous rides in lumbering ambulances to makeshift hospitals in barns, commandeered houses and open fields. These trips were sometimes followed by a train ride in a cattle car to a nearby city, such as Frederick, Maryland or Washington City, where the wounded soldier, if he lived through the transportation nightmare, would be ensconced for months in a hospital.

Naturally, infection set into open wounds, followed quickly by an invasion of maggots (fly larvae), whose biological imperative as scavenger was an unwelcome terror to soldiers already brutalized by pain and fever. In the North, surgeons evacuated the maggots from the wounds with a variety of caustic agents, including turpentine, carbolic acid and the like, while the Southern physicians, lacking many of the resources of the North due to the blockade, allowed the maggots to remain.

This apparent neglect, however, in fact prevented infection, since the maggots dined both on the dying tissue and the infesting microbes (that the surgeons did not know existed), thereby keeping the wound clean, allowing new tissue to grow and the patient to recover. The Southern surgeons noted the beneficial effect and shared the information with their colleagues as communication allowed.

Today, in some hospitals, maggots are introduced to complicated wounds and achieve the same beneficial results that the observant Confederate surgeons noticed over a hundred fifty years ago. While the South suffered a higher ratio of deaths, in this one area, it was luckier to be a wounded Southern soldier rather than a Northern.

For further reading:

Doctors in Gray: The Confederate Medical Service by Horace Herndon Cunningham

Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care during the American Civil War by Frank R. Freemon

Grappling with Death by Maust Roland

Robin Oliveira, author of My Name Is Mary Sutter, grew up just outside Albany, New York in Loudonville. She holds a B.A. in Russian, and studied at the Pushkin Language Institute in Moscow, Russia. She is also a Registered Nurse, specializing in Critical Care and Bone Marrow Transplant.

IMAGE: Wounded soldiers in a Civil War hospital, 1862

Congratulations to the following W & M winners of this book:

Laura, Sue, and Gwen

General Henry Wager Halleck’s Half-Hearted War

Crossing the Bridge With John Brown

Cowboys and Indians: North African Style

Urbano

I’m really looking forward to reading Mary Sutter’s story and have been hearing fantastic reviews. Please enter me in the draw.

I’d also like to ask Robin Oliveira what was the most surprising or interesting discovery she made about the medical practices of the era while researching for this novel.
http://www.huffenglish.com/ Dana Huff

What a fascinating fact. It makes sense that pouring those caustic agents on a wound would not be good for it, but using maggots seems to defy sense: one tends to think of them as “germy.” Amazing that the opposite was true. I am still not sure as a wounded soldier that I could have stomached the idea of having maggots in my wound. Yuck!
Laura Seeber

I know that using maggots to fight against infection has come back into favor lately, but I did not really grasp the measures it took getting a wounded soldier out of the way of harm and medical care. This is a book that I really would find fascinating. I know that they used yarrow frequently to heal wounds closed but sometimes the yarrow was so effective that the surface of a deep wound would heal closed but underneath still required attention. My mom who is a former nurse, published writer, book reviewer, avid reader and just recovered from eye surgery would love this one too. Regardless of whether I should win it or not. Thanks for the opportunity for some great reading!
librarypat

I have seen this book reviewed on several other sites. It sounds most interesting and has gotten good reviews. To my knowledge some native american tribes used maggots to clean wounds. It makes sense. When they finish earting the infected tissue, you remove them befor they attack the health tissue.
More women would have been in medicine earlier and probably were, helping their husbands and fathers, if society had not deemed it improper and women too “weak.” It is a shame so much talent was shut out.
http://aseaofbooks.blogspot.com/ gwendolyn b.

I’ve heard of the “maggot technique” being used with livestock, but I didn’t realize it had been used with people. I think the process would send me over the edge. I’m really looking forward to reading this book – I’ve read a lot of reviews for it and they’ve all been positive. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
http://pricillaspeaks.blogspot.com Patty

Thanks for the opportunity. I have heard great things about this book
Sue

I’ve been researching midwives and medicine of the 19th century and would love to read this book. Martha Ballard’s diaries give some insight to early midwifery, but I’m intereested in seeing what this author has devised. Please enter my name in the draw for this book.
Linda H

Although I’ve been known to faint at the sight of blood, I enjoy reading medical research. Please enter my name in the drawing.
http://www.wondersandmarvels.com Editor

As always, we appreciate your continued enjoyment of the site! The winners of this book are: Laura, Sue, and Gwen! Congrats!
Lynne Z

Do not necessarily think of maggot-therapy as a thing of the past. During my nursing sojourn, a patient came into the hospital from out in the sticks with a severe leg wound. I noticed movement under the soiled wrappings. My eyebrows shot up when I found an entire mound of maggots on the man’s leg. His wife said, “Don’t you give me no trouble now, my granny and my mama say this here’s the best country cure.” And – yes – I removed every one of those “suckers”.
Laura S

Thank you so much! This is going to be morbidly enjoyable!
Laura S.

Just wanted to say…I’m only about 70 pages into the book (the spousal unit has been ill) but it pulled me in in the first 5 pages and it’s very good so far!
Laura S

Finished. A very enjoyable read. Liked it!