Amputation

    To begin the surgeon would administer chloroform to the patient. Then the surgeon would make incisions through the muscles and skin down to the bone with his scalpel, leaving flaps of skin on both sides. Using his bone saw he would cut through the bone. Then he would throw the limb into a pile of limbs. He would tie off the arteries with rather horsehair, silk or cotton threads. The surgeon would then scrape and sand the edges of the bone until it was smooth, so it would not tear through the skin. The flaps of skin left by the surgeon would be pulled across and sewed closed, leaving a drainage hole. Finally the stump would be covered with isinglass plaster and bandaged. The soldier would eventually wake up thirsty and in pain.

    This method was called the Flap Method. Where two long flaps of skin and tissue were cut and folded over and formed a stump. The other method was called circular method. This method involved skin and tissue rolled up and then pulled down and sewn closed after the limb was cut off.

    Many soldiers were subject to hospital gangrene, especially after amputation.2

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