Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War

Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War explores the experiences of men whose lives were saved by sacrificing limbs during the war and disabled veterans in the post-war period. Over three million soldiers fought in the American Civil War. More than half a million died and almost as many were wounded. Hundreds of thousands were permanently disabled by battlefield injuries, or surgery, which saved lives by sacrificing limbs. These men remained a stark reminder of the costs of the conflict for long after the war, becoming symbols of the fractured nation.

Image: Soldiers at Armory Square Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1860s Courtesy National Library of Medicine