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HIST 2111 Final

Dr. Traille

July 23, 2014

Disease and Medicine during the Civil War

The Civil War was by far the most deadly war in American History. The main cause of

death in the Civil War, however, was not combat related death but death by disease. Two-thirds

of the deaths during the Civil War were caused by diseases (Billings, 175). Some of the reasons

disease was the biggest killer in the Civil War were: poor personal hygiene of the soldiers, bugs,

living in close quarters with other soldiers, and the lack of modern medicine, to name just a few.

Despite the lack of knowledge in medicine, advances were made in the field throughout the Civil

War. Amputations became common and led to the survival of many soldiers. Even with the

advances in medicine, however, diseases still plagued the soldiers.

The most common diseases that were seen during the Civil War were: Dysentery,

Typhoid Fever, and Malaria (Billings, 176). The disease that caused the most deaths amongst the

soldiers was Dysentery. Dysentery is a disease that was mainly caused by the ingestion of

contaminated water, which was often contaminated because an outhouse was placed beside the

drinking water source (Civil War Diseases). Bugs were also a major contributor to the large

number of soldiers that contracted diseases. Typhoid fever was contracted mainly by body lice

(Billings, 176). Body lice were found all around camps because of the poor hygiene. Several

diseases were also transmitted by mosquitos such as: Malaria and Yellow Fever. Pneumonia was

another common disease found on the battlefield. It mainly infected weaker people that were

injured during battle and one out of six people that contracted it died (Civil War Diseases). Bugs

were a large part of the disease outbreak and there was not much knowledge of bugs transferring

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HIST 2111 Final

Dr. Traille

July 23, 2014

diseases from person to person during this time. Not only was little known about bugs, however,

little was also know about poor hygiene contributing to disease outbreak.

Soldiers during the Civil War did not have access to showers and they often cooked, ate,

and washed clothes out of the same pot (Billings, 175). Soldiers not being able to shower or

bathe led to the easy transmission and contraction of diseases amongst soldiers. When combined

with unclean eating utensils the risk of contracting/dying from diseases grew even more. Soldiers

also lived in close quarters with each other during the war and this led to the easy spread of

diseases through soldier camps. The clothing worn did little in the way of helping prevent

disease because it too was often unsanitary. Once a soldier was infected with a disease they were

often sent to a battlefield hospital to try and be diagnosed/cured of the disease.

The lack of medicine during the time led to massive outbreaks of diseases with little to no

idea of how to cure them. With 98 doctors registered to the Union army and only 24 registered

for the Confederacy it is obvious why two-thirds of the soldiers that died in the Civil war died

from disease (Billings, 177). Many soldiers could not get any treatment at all and not only were

there very few doctors to the thousands of soldiers there was also little known about diseases of

the time. “The biggest problem facing American medicine, however, was the absence of basic

knowledge about disease” (Brinkley, 277). This meant that even when soldiers saw doctors,

many of them still died and sometimes the doctor’s naivety caused the soldiers more harm than

good. Doctors practiced very unsanitary procedures when operating on soldiers. One instance of

this was that doctors used the same utensils on all their patients for all their amputations and

operations which could lead to the spread of diseases throughout patients. This also increased the

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July 23, 2014

chance of death because the soldier was already weakened and contracting a disease while weak

often led to death. Diseases that could be easily cured in today’s time led to thousands of deaths

during the Civil War. There was such an astounding number of deaths from disease and other

factors that soldiers often times didn’t trust doctors to operate on them. Civil War medicine was

very primitive compared to medicine now and once a soldier was infected with a disease they

often died. Despite the major lack of knowledge of medicine during the Civil War many

advances were made in the field.

Doctors often conducted amputations and these operations saved some soldier’s lives if

they were done in a timely fashion. However, even if the amputation was successful there was

still a chance of death if the wound got infected. Around 30,000 amputations were conducted due

to injuries to the extremities on the Union side alone and about three-fourths of these patients

survived (Billings, 178). Amputations were very painful and chloroform was often used as an

anesthesia. However, amputations were only effective on injuries sustained to the extremities.

Injuries that were inflicted around the torso led to a much higher chance of that soldier dying.

“Most wounds suffered by Civil War soldiers were to the arms and legs” (Billings, 178). This

meant that there was a chance that they could be saved if they did not die right away and a

surgery could be conducted in a timely manner.

There were many factors that led to the deaths of so many soldiers by way of disease

during the Civil War. Poor hygiene and unsanitary living conditions were major contributors to

the outbreaks. The cramped living space of the soldiers insured that once one person got infected

with a disease that others would also contract it. Bugs also played a large part in the outbreaks by

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HIST 2111 Final

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July 23, 2014

transmitting diseases from one person to another. However, once a disease had been contracted

by a soldier doctors were looked to in order to keep a soldier alive. The lack of doctors and poor

knowledge of the practice of medicine led to many patients dying anyways. The lack of

knowledge of diseases and how they were spread also contributed largely to the hundreds of

thousands of deaths caused by disease. Despite this lack of knowledge of medicine and disease

many soldiers were saved by way of amputations and advances in medicine were made during

the Civil War. Diseases were a devastating factor in the war accounting for two-thirds of the

deaths during the most deadly war in American History. However, there was some good that

came out of the field of medicine during the Civil War and amputations helped save thousands of

soldiers lives.

Nicholas Wilson

HIST 2111 Final

Dr. Traille

July 23, 2014

Works Cited

Billings, John D. "Civil War Curriculum - Medicine." National Museum of Civil War

Medicine (n.d.): 175-80. Print.

"Civil War Diseases." Civil War American Civil War. Civil War Academy, n.d. Web. 22 July

2014. <http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-diseases.html>.

Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. New York:

McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.