The Sick

Disease caused by infection and unsanitary conditions caused hundreds more deaths during the Civil War than cannonballs and firearms. Each camp was supposed to have a "sink" or large trench to substitute as a toilet. Each night, the men were supposed to pack six inches of dirt on top of the sink. However, some armies did not dig a sink and other men chose to go in open areas rather than expose themselves to the foul odors of the "sinks." Typhoid fever and malaria resulted from the flies and mosquitoes that gathered around the waste areas and transferred bacteria onto the food.

Diarrhea or dysentery were the most common illnesses at camp. In many cases they were symptoms of tuberculosis or malaria; however, food rations were scarce and often poorly cooked, so cases of food poisoning were common as well. Medical officers would often prescribe an astringent. Soldiers who were really sick were led to a cot in the hospital tent or sent to the pavilion hospital; those who were only slightly ill had to tend to the seriously sick or wounded and clean the bedpans and urinals.

The weather also affected many soldiers. Combined with an unbalanced diet, cold or rainy weather exposed men to viruses and bacteria. Men who contracted a cold often ended up with pneumonia, the third leading killer after typhoid and dysentery.

The Wounded >> >

Source: Shotgun's Home of the American Civil War
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