How did they treat a rattlesnake bite in the 1800s?

Answer 1

In the 1800s, the standard snakebyte treatment was to cut the wound and suck blood out of the wound to extract venom. Other methods were to give the patient a lot of alcohol, apply a poultice of tobacco, and use hartshorn or its active chemical, ammonia. In practice, none of these methods were really effective, but most survived both the bite and the treatment, because most snakes aren't venomous, and most venomous snakes generally do not inject venom when they do bite. Venom is important for the snake to catch food, and they don't waste it on things they aren't going to eat.
Found this diary account from way back when:

Rattlesnake bites received instant and odd treatments. A pioneer woman of the Texas Plains wrote about a her sister being bitten. Immediately, the mother grabbed a baby chick, ripped it open and put the warm meat against the wound. As the meat cooled she used another chick handed her by the sister. She said the poison from the wound turned the chick flesh green. When there were no more chicks, she made a tub of mud and kept the leg in that. When the father got home, they gave the little girl some whiskey. She recovered from the bite in a few weeks and suffered no ill effects.
There were a number of "remedies" for snake bite in the 1800s, before the advent of antivenenes.

• Frontiersmen believed that to put gun powder on the bite and set it alight would burn the venom right on out.
• Ammonia was a common remedy through the 1700s and 1800s. many people took to carrying a small bottle of ammonia when they ventured into rattlesnake country, which they could apply to the bite.
• A very painful but common remedy was to get a knife and cut out as much of the wound and (hopefully) the poison as possible.
• A poultice was sometimes applied, which could be made of a variety of materials, such as bark and gunpowder.
• There was even a belief that drinking a great quantity of whiskey would counteract the snake poison: what they didn't realise was that alcohol only speeds up distribution and absorption of snake venom.

For more details on the nature of poultices, and apothecary remedies, see the link below.

Answer 2

If someone got bitten by a venomous snake, another pioneer would take a

knife and cut an "x" at the bite location. They would then suck out the

blood and hopefully the poison. Sometimes this worked and sometimes this

didn't.

If it didn't work the victim would most likely die. If they happen to be

lucky enough to survive, the body part that was bitten would normally have

to be amputated. If they were bitten on their core, death was almost

certain.