Disease And Illnesses During The Civil War

It is widely known that the Civil War was a major event in American history. It is less widely known that disease and illness played a large role within the war, and ultimately affected the outcome. Disease ran rampant throughout both the Union army and the Confederate army killing hundreds of thousands. Both sides lacked the medical knowledge to prevent many of the illnesses, in both terms of treatment and general cleanliness. The death toll brought about by disease, lack of hygiene, and poor treatment similarly affected both sides, but gave the North a slight edge over the South as the war progressed.
When people think of wars, they generally think that most of the deaths are caused by battle wounds, but nearly two-thirds of the 660,000 deaths
Disease was able to spread like wildfire throughout the ranks largely due to the unclean habits practiced by the soldiers. Starting in the training camps and continuing onto active ranks, just the sheer number of people staying in very close quarters led to a germ breeding ground. Not only were soldiers crowded they were almost all unclean. An account from a soldier describes another undergarment “swarm with vermin like a live anthill when disturbed.” (Third Army 581) These vermin were either mites, lice or fleas, which carried and spread typhus and various fevers uncontrollably. Soldiers also relieved themselves very close to their tents, and this build of excrement around camps led them to practically be breeding grounds for diseases, especially diarrhea, cholera and typhoid. They rarely changed or cleaned their uniforms so and open wounds were quickly infected and if an extremity was hit by a bullet, it was almost immediately amputated because it carried the unclean uniform fibers into the flesh. Diet also played a large role in the spread of illness. Soldiers often drank filthy water, one soldier said “not fit for a horse to drink (indeed, I could hardly get my horse to drink it). (Third army 581) They also ate rancid meat which is now commonly known to almost guarantee sickness. The lack of understanding of germs was horrific and this lack of knowledge transferred to the treatment of all these