Gruesome Civil War surgeon¿s kit takes center stage at 10-day Gettysburg re-enactment Saws, scalpels and flesh hooks hint at the horrors of field hospitals Amputation rates were high as surgeons struggled to treat 51,000 soldiers As the nation prepares to mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, the grisly contents of a surgeon's took kit have acted as a reminder of the realities of the war. With 51,000 casualties to tend to over three days of fierce fighting, the civil war surgeon's weapon of choice was often an amputation saw. A large saw, knives and hooks to pull back tissue were on show at the site of the historic battle, as was a tourniquet to help stem bleeding. Under the knife: Dave Morris, dressed as an army surgeon, displays a Civil War surgeon's toolkit The contents of the surgeon's toolkit could be mistaken for instruments of torture, but they were actually very effective. Despite a lack of sterilization, antibiotics and the sheer scale of casualties, 75 per cent of injured soldiers who went under the surgeon's saw survived. Fortunately, the soldiers did have access to anesthetic, which had been introduced in the 1840s. An inhaler had also been developed by the war, taking over from when soldiers were offered a chloroform-soaked rag. About 51,000 soldiers were wounded in the battle in July 1863, and about 7,500 people died in what is considered a major turning point in the war after Northern forces repelled a Confederate advance. For many decades historians had focused on the battle - which was the inspiration for Abraham Lincoln's famous address - and overlooked the fight for life in the medical tents. This led poet Walt Whitman, who nursed soldiers during the conflict, to comment: 'The real war will never get in the books ... the hospital part'. In 1996 the National Museum of Civil War Medicine opened in Frederick, bringing together a collection of horse-drawn ambulances, surgical instruments, blood-stained stretchers and surgeon's kits with saws and scalpels. The civil war included 'major advances that changed medicine forever,' museum director Burton Kummerow told the Washington Post when the Maryland museum opened. Medical center: A saw, scalpels and hooks to hold back flesh were used to treat 51,000 soldiers at Gettysburg Field hospital: Injured soldiers were taken to George Spangler Farm in Pennsylvania during the battle The grisly surgeon's kit at Gettysburg is part of a display being set up at the site of the famous battle, to mark its 150th anniversary. A farmhouse, which was turned into a makeshift hospital during the fight, has just been restored and opened to the public, according to WFMZ 69 News. About 1,800 soldiers were treated in a barn at George Spangler Farmhouse, which is one of the few Civil War field hospitals to remain. Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to flock to the 6,000 acre Pennsylvania battlefield as part of a ten-day festival starting on June 29. 'I think we're ready,' Bob Kirby, superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park, said. 'We're ready for what the world would like to see.' Memorial: Military reenactments and battlefield tours will mark the Battle of Gettysburg's 150th anniversary Medical historians blame Hollywood for the popular image of soldiers knocking back whiskey and biting bullets as they were operated on without pain relief. 'They had plenty of anesthesia,' Terry Hambrecht, a neurosurgeon who collects Civil War medical artifacts, said. The tools are very similar to those used in medical field operations today ... Given the conditions and the knowledge they had, they did a good job. The Gettysburg Battlefield brings in about 1.2 million visitors a year, but officials are expecting many more in the anniversary year.