Behind the Battles: Causes of Disease

Behind the Battles: Causes of Disease

When studying Civil War history, attention is often given to battles, generals and the politics of the war. Beneath all of these matters was something much different. Diseases of all forms doomed soldiers of both the North and the South. Disease claimed the lives of more soldiers than any combat deaths, wounds, injuries or burns. It is referred to as the "natural biological warfare," and it spread rapidly throughout soldier camps, barracks, and hospitals. Disease became the quiet enemy of both sections. Microorganisms, which caused disease, were invisible, versatile, and quick. This allowed them to thrive in any place susceptible to them. Common diseases during the Civil War included measles, mumps, small pox, malaria, pneumonia, camp itch and intestinal complications such as diarrhea and dysentery. Not only did thousands of soldiers die from diseases, but thousands also became useless from disabilities which led to medical discharges. The manpower that was lost from disease exceeded far beyond that lost to normal battle deaths and wounds. Sadly, the medical knowledge our society has now was nonexistent in the Civil War era. Although techniques slowly improved, there were several simple causes for the colossal spread of disease during the Civil War. This paper will explain three major reasons for disease vulnerability for both the North and the South which were inadequate sanitation, inefficient surgical doctors and procedures, and the neglect towards treatment and prevention.

The most important form of protection against disease in war settlements was good hygiene. The same rule applies today that good hygiene is a major form of protection against disease causing bacteria. Even the simplicity of washing ones hands will aid in killing bacteria. Unfortunately, personal hygiene was severely insufficient and caused several complications among soldiers. Soon after the war began, unending lines of sick soldiers formed. They commonly complained of intestinal complications and loose bowels. Doctors often contributed these complications to the poor diets of the soldiers. They lacked the essential vitamins bodies require to maintain healthy body systems. Their diets usually consisted of preserved meat which had gone rotten and stale hardtack crackers. Both were very commonly invested with vectors. Soldiers lacked the ability to preserve and protect their food for several reasons. While at war, soldiers lacked common household appliances and products that could have easily prevented bacteria from infecting their foods. An example is the lack of refrigeration for perishable foods. This caused fresh foods to become contaminated quickly. The lack of cleanliness among soldiers and the utensils used to cook food led to further contamination as well. Water became a major carrier of bacteria as it was used for several purposes such as bathing, drinking, cooking, cleaning and watering horses. Pediculosis, also known as head lice infestation, was said to exist wherever the practices of bathing and boiling clothes were nonexistent.

Army camp practices attracted insects of all kinds. Mosquitoes, lice, and fleas were largely attracted to the unsanitary conditions. As armies traveled they attracted these insects by leaving behind an accumulation of human feces, garbage and discarded animal wastes. An inspector who visited one of the army camps during the war complained the camp was, "littered with refuse, food and other rubbish, sometimes in an offensive state of decomposition; slops deposited in pits within the camp limits or thrown out of broadcast; heaps of manure and offal close to the camp." Daniel M. Holt, a Union surgeon during the Civil War kept a diary of his experiences. "Every house, for miles around, is a hospital and I have seen arms, legs, feet and hands lying in piles rotting in the blazing heat of a Southern Sky unburied and uncared for, and still the knife went steadily in its work adding to the putrid mess." Both of these examples are first hand encounters that show the true sanguinary conditions that caused severe health problems and attracted insects. By attracting such insects, the soldiers and officers were commonly infected by vector-borne diseases. Many soldiers also came in contact with infected animals such as horses, mules and cattle by means of food or travel. These animals, being exposed to natural elements, were highly susceptible to infections which in turn led to favorable conditions of spreading the diseases to humans.

Surgeon and Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, Chas Tripler, wrote a report on his camp's sanitation. In his report, he stated that his camp was improving its hygiene practices on account of regular sanitation reports, plentiful medical supplies, and enforcing personal hygiene of troops. "A satisfactory progress has been made in improving the sanitary condition of the Army of the Potomac, and there is no reason to fear that this progress will not continue to be made until the health of this army will be such as will leave nothing to be desired." In the same report, Tripler mentioned the statistics for sickly soldiers in his camp. In the month of November alone, the Army of the Potomac had 280 cases of chronic diarrhea, 69 cases of chronic dysentery, 1,331 cases of the measles and 7, 932 cases of varying fevers. This shows that even as sanitation supposedly improved, it was still a major cause of sick and dieing soldiers during the Civil War. Unfortunately, throughout the war, although attempts to improve sanitation occurred, good hygiene never became habit and continued to cause thousands of soldier fatalities. Colonel Charles Smart, Deputy Surgeon General of the Army, in comparing deaths from disease of the war with Spain to the Civil War wrote:

We may at any time find out how diarrhea and dysentery, typhoid fever and malarial disease, swept though our camps and sent their thousands to the hospitals and to their graves. We may also compare the deaths recorded by the medical officers of those days with the deaths recorded by the medical officers of the present time, and should do so we would find overwhelming testimony to the effect that any differences discovered in the percentage of deaths from battle casualties and from disease are not due to the greater prevalence and fatality of disease in the recent struggle, but to the number of sanguinary battlefields of the Civil War.

This further shows that sanitation was a major reason for the wide-spread disease complication. The concerns that many surgeon generals had for quality hygiene of Civil War camps were rarely attended to and quickly caused severe sickness and death.

The Civil War occurred, stated the Union Army Surgeon General, William Hammond, at the "end of the Medical Middle Ages." Very