One of the elements of the American Civil War that people don’t know is, yes, early in the war disease was a big killer, but by the end of the war in the North the American Red Cross was established and soldiers were able to recover from battlefield wounds in safe and sterile hospitals.

A great example is Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain recovery from a gruesome bullet wound at Petersburg. He was hit in the right hip and torn through his Lower body and out the left hip. The division doctor actually recorded him dead, but he was promoted to Brigadier General by Grant as a result. He was evacuated to first a field hospital than five months of recovery at a hospital. He returned to Command before the end of the war and was the General who actually accepted Lee’s surrender of his army at Appomattox. He was in charge of the collection of arms and ordered his troops to salute their defeated foe in an act of chivalry.

So while early in the war medical care was terrible, there was a revolution in battlefield medicine by the end of the war.