# How were chest wounds treated during the American Civil War?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-chest-wounds-treated-during-the-american-civil-war/601617>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 2, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-chest-wounds-treated-during-the-american-civil-war/601617 "2011-11-02T13:13:24Z")\
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**Author:** ![YoDoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e68b1a/32.png) [@YoDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoDoc)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-chest-wounds-treated-during-the-american-civil-war/601617/11 "2011-11-03T08:54:15Z")

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I’m an Army Medic. Guys survive crazy injuries all the time. A lung shot isn’t the worst thing ever. Many things, already mentioned, probably contributed. A slow moving projectile, the relative sterility of the chest cavity, the luck of not hitting a major artery, and sheer determination are what saved him.

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