We’ll never know the exact number of
casualties suffered during the American Civil War. See this blog, November 2,
2012: Numbers, Numbers, Numbers. But
one assumption that appears to be ironclad is that more soldiers were felled by
disease than by warfare.
The intent here is not to delineate
all the different reasons for this. Readers interested are encouraged to read
Bell Irvin Wiley’s The Life of Johnny
Reb, The Common Soldier of the Confederacy. Chapter XIII, The Deadliest Foe, helps the reader
understand all the issues. Wiley also wrote The
Life of Billy Yank, which your loyal blogger has yet to read.
Records for Federal Army medical care
seem to be better organized than those for the Confederates, but the most
easily available Confederate records paint a picture that is difficult to
imagine from the perspective of the 21st Century. Still, the picture
is there, painted in words that are perfectly clear.
The story of one Confederate unit
helps to illustrate the point.
Hilliard’s Legion was formed in early
1862 by George Washington Hilliard, a well-known Alabama political figure.
There were originally three battalions of infantry, one artillery battalion and
a cavalry battalion in the Legion. As soon as it was formed, the cavalry arm of
the Legion was transferred elsewhere in the Confederate States Army.
Company B of the third Battalion was
formed independently of Hilliard’s efforts but was added to the Legion on April
7, 1862. In June of that year, Company B was stationed in Knoxville, Tennessee.
June of 1862 was a difficult month for
the men of Company B of the Third Battalion of Hilliard’s Legion. Records
indicate that a strain of the Measles and other illnesses went through the
company, leaving misery and death behind.
According to notes found among the
Muster Rolls for the company, eight soldiers died of disease between June 7 and
June 28 that year. Joseph Graves, James M. Graves, Green B. Knowles and Irwin
Raley all died June 7, 1862. Raley and the Graves all seem to have succumbed to
the Measles, while Knowles was lost to something termed ‘Brain Fever,’ by the
record keepers.
Knowles, at 53, was the eldest of the
bunch by far. Joseph Graves was 23 when he passed on and the other two were
teenagers. All were privates.
Van B. Tomma (age 22) died on June 12
of unlisted causes and Joseph H. Bartlett (23) perished two days later. James
B. Cox was lost to the Measles on June 28.
Both Federal and Confederate armies
suffered from disease during the war. The Legion was not unique. For that
reason, you have to understand the impact that illness had on both sides before
you can really understand the war.
Even non-fatal illnesses impacted the
course of the war. It is more difficult to estimate the impact of illnesses
survived than it is to figure out how many died. Again, from the same Company
B, three men were found on the rolls at Fairgrounds Hospital 2, possibly in
Montgomery, Alabama late in October of (presumably) 1863.
Sergeant R. Blamn and Corporal J.W.
Jernagan were under care because they suffered from chronic dysentery and
Private Thomas Dixon (or Dickson) was struggling with diarrhea, which was a
very common ailment during the war.
Consider this: Shortly after the
Legion was formed and after the cavalry battalion was whisked away, the
Legion’s four remaining battalions consisted of about 3,000 men. When the Legion
marched toward the Federal guns at Chickamauga as part of General Archibald
Gracie’s brigade more than a year later, it was the first combat experience for
the command.
On that date, September 20, 1863, the
Legion had an effective strength of 2,003, according to the Confederate reports.
Thus, nearly a third of the Legion’s original strength was lost between April
7, 1862 and September 20, 1863, all due to non-combat issues.
For the individual soldier, fighting a
war is all about survival. During America’s War Between the States, the fight
to survive extended to non-combat periods in each army’s quarters.
Thanks
for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment