How to Make a New Leg: A Brief History of Lower Extremity Amputations and Prosthetic Reconstruction

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"There stood the surgeons, their sleeves rolled up to the elbows, their linen aprons smeared with blood, their knives held between their teeth while they were helping a patient on or off the table. As the wounded man was lifted on the table the surgeon examined him and resolved upon cutting off the injured limb. Some ether was administered and the surgeon snatched his knife from between his teeth and the cutting began. The operation accomplished, the limb cast upon a nearly pile, and the surgeon would look around for the next patient. And so it went on hour after hour"
Captain Carl Shurz
on visiting his injured men after the Battle of Gettysburg