death by disease
Staying healthy was by far the biggest challenge for a Civil War soldier. Over 400,000 soldiers died during the war from disease and infection, not battle wounds. Why? Here are the 11 major reasons quoted exactly from the Civil War Preservation Trust
Poor hygiene - Civil War soldiers didn't get a daily shower. Also, they used the same pots to cook food and boil lice infested clothing. Yummy! Garbage in Camp - You couldn't put the trash on the curb every week, could you? Filth from Camp Stinks - Latrines, or toilets made from digging a hole in the ground, were often dug too close to streams which contaminated the water supply. Imagine drinking water from the school toilets every day. Overcrowding - Close contact with other people caused diseases to spread rapidly. Exposure to all types of weather - Extreme hot and cold; rain, sleet, snow; dust and mud ... Exposure to the elements lowers your body's ability to resist disease. Improper and inadequate diet, spoiled food - Staple foods were hardtack for Union soldiers and cornbread for Confederates. Fresh fruit and vegetables were rare. Soldiers received some meat, but, often it spoiled or was too full of preservatives to eat. "Bugs" - Flies, mosquitoes, ticks, lice, maggots, and fleas were abundant and carried disease. Lack of medical knowledge - People didn't know about "germs" and how they were spread. Doctors didn't wash their hands before operating or clean tools after each patient. Lack of surgeons - There were too few surgeons to handle the huge numbers of sick and wounded. Lack of immunity to diseases - Many rural soldiers became sick because for the first time they were in a large group of people and had no immunity to diseases such as chickenpox, small pox, scarlet fever, measles, mumps and whooping cough. These epidemics ran rampant through many regiments. Impure water - If a stream looked and smelled good, it was assumed that the water was good. Not always true!
Poor hygiene - Civil War soldiers didn't get a daily shower. Also, they used the same pots to cook food and boil lice infested clothing. Yummy! Garbage in Camp - You couldn't put the trash on the curb every week, could you? Filth from Camp Stinks - Latrines, or toilets made from digging a hole in the ground, were often dug too close to streams which contaminated the water supply. Imagine drinking water from the school toilets every day. Overcrowding - Close contact with other people caused diseases to spread rapidly. Exposure to all types of weather - Extreme hot and cold; rain, sleet, snow; dust and mud ... Exposure to the elements lowers your body's ability to resist disease. Improper and inadequate diet, spoiled food - Staple foods were hardtack for Union soldiers and cornbread for Confederates. Fresh fruit and vegetables were rare. Soldiers received some meat, but, often it spoiled or was too full of preservatives to eat. "Bugs" - Flies, mosquitoes, ticks, lice, maggots, and fleas were abundant and carried disease. Lack of medical knowledge - People didn't know about "germs" and how they were spread. Doctors didn't wash their hands before operating or clean tools after each patient. Lack of surgeons - There were too few surgeons to handle the huge numbers of sick and wounded. Lack of immunity to diseases - Many rural soldiers became sick because for the first time they were in a large group of people and had no immunity to diseases such as chickenpox, small pox, scarlet fever, measles, mumps and whooping cough. These epidemics ran rampant through many regiments. Impure water - If a stream looked and smelled good, it was assumed that the water was good. Not always true!
Death by doctor
Doctors in the Civil War had very little medical knowledge. Since there were so many more patients than registered doctors, both armies were willing to take anyone who said they could do the job. Those who were untrained carried around a copy of a military surgery manual to refer to while they operated. They didn't understand germs or how they were spread so infection was very common. In fact, doctors actually thought pus, the thick yellowish green liquid that oozes from infected tissue, was a sign of healing and would collect it from one soldier's infection and transfer it to another soldier, immediately infecting him. Doctors didn't wash their hands in between treating patients and bandages were used over and over on different people without being cleaned. As a result of these unsanitary practices, thousands of soldiers died from infection.
If a soldier ended up in a field or tent hospital with a battle wound, there was little a doctor could do for wounds to a soldier's torso, or body, but for wounds to the arms and legs, they would often amputate, or cut the limb off. About three-fourths of the operations performed during the Civil War were amputations and it was actually the patients best chance of survival if performed within 24 hours. The death rate doubled if the operation was delayed more than 48 hours because blood poisoning, bone infection or gangrene would most likely set in. In order to remove the limb, the doctor would move the saw in a circular-cut motion, cutting the limb off quickly to keep the soldier from dying of shock or pain. Three-fourths of amputees survived, living the remainder of their life without their limb.
If a soldier ended up in a field or tent hospital with a battle wound, there was little a doctor could do for wounds to a soldier's torso, or body, but for wounds to the arms and legs, they would often amputate, or cut the limb off. About three-fourths of the operations performed during the Civil War were amputations and it was actually the patients best chance of survival if performed within 24 hours. The death rate doubled if the operation was delayed more than 48 hours because blood poisoning, bone infection or gangrene would most likely set in. In order to remove the limb, the doctor would move the saw in a circular-cut motion, cutting the limb off quickly to keep the soldier from dying of shock or pain. Three-fourths of amputees survived, living the remainder of their life without their limb.