Anesthesia in the Civil War – Live on YouTube with Kyle Dalton

Join us on Wednesday, June 30 at 1:00 PM on YouTube for a virtual program hosted by the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. You can tune in live by visiting youtube.com/user/nmcwm at the scheduled time.

Membership and Development Coordinator Kyle Dalton will discuss the use of anesthesia during the Civil War. Though many often don’t associate anesthesia with Civil War medicine, it was used in over 95% of Civil War surgery. Kyle will outline the use of chloroform and ether in the 19th century and how it came to be so pervasive in the Civil War in both the Federal and Confederate armies.

Kyle Dalton is a summa cum laude graduate of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where his paper Active and Efficient: Veterans and the Success of the United States Ambulance Corps was awarded the Zeender Prize for best history thesis. In his spare time Kyle writes and maintains a website on the lives of common sailors in the eighteenth-century: BritishTars.com.

Like these programs? Consider supporting our efforts by becoming a member or donating to the Museum! Your efforts ensure that we can continue sharing the story of Civil War medicine in this crucial time. In history, we can find hope amid our struggle against COVID-19.