{"id":1308,"date":"2025-02-03T17:03:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T22:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvbt.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1308"},"modified":"2025-04-10T10:32:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:32:50","slug":"blog-copy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvbt.org\/blog-copy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sickness Has Thinned the Regiment Very Much: Soldiers and Illness in Central Virginia – Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sickness Has Thinned the Regiment Very Much: Soldiers and Illness in Central Virginia – Part II<\/h1>\n<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n
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“United States Sanitary Commission: Our Heroines” (Harper’s Weekly<\/em>, April 9, 1864)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you wish to read Part I, you may do so here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the often quoted The Road to Richmond: The Civil War Memoirs of Major Abner R. Small of the 16th Maine Volunteers<\/em>, Small included a section at the end aptly titled \u201cConclusions.\u201d In it, he offered some thoughts about different soldier topics such as \u201cDanger and death,\u201d \u201cDefeat and loyalty,\u201d and \u201cSickness and other adversities,\u201d among a number of others. In his brief discussion on sickness, Small noted, \u201cAt first the \u2018Surgeon\u2019s Call\u2019 suggested care for the sick, and certain remedies for nostalgia; but our soldiers became disinclined to heed the call, and shrank from the mysteries of that long, white tent, with its rows of cots so close together that a patient could reach over and clasp the feverish hand of his neighbor. The interior arrangements were horrible in suggesting illness, suffering, and death away from home, between the sick man and eternity there was only a thin canvas which flapped restlessly in the wind as if impatient to open its loose seams and let some tired spirit through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 However, according to Small, as time passed, with experience gained, and battlefield dangers realized, some soldiers evolved into \u2018hospital bummers.\u2019 Small recalled that \u201cMingled with pity was a feeling of indignation at seeing so many able-bodied men fall into line at the head of each company street every morning at \u2018Surgeon\u2019s Call,\u2019 and march to the hospital tent, and swallow with evident relish a blue pill, bitter morphine or quinine, and brandy. Boys of seventeen would watch this funeral procession, so filled with disgust and anger that no discipline could prevent the most extreme profanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Perhaps Small\u2019s less-than-empathetic impressions of soldier sickness and hospitals came from a jaded perspective. Or maybe he was one of the fortunate with a hardy constitution and suffered little from illness. The accounts that follow mostly paint a somewhat different picture of sick Union and Confederate soldiers. Whether dealing with annoying minor illnesses or struggling to survive a deadly disease in central Virginia, there appears to be more concern for one\u2019s health and the wellbeing of comrades than Small exhibited. Covering the two later war periods of November and December 1863, and January to May 1864, this CVBT History Wire shares the voices of the rank-and-file soldiers, their officers, and even those attempting to provide care.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

November and December 1863<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Issuing Rations of Whisky and Quinine”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this image depicts a scene during the last winter of the war at Petersburg, officers in the Army of the Potomac often attempted to take measures to keep their soldiers healthy.   (Harper’s Weekly, March 11, 1865)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the Battle of Gettysburg, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac moved back into the Old Dominion, and for the next three or four months maneuvered both north and south while fighting a few smaller engagements. Eventually establishing their camps on opposite sides of the Rapidan River, most soldiers hoped the active campaigning was finally over for the year. However, static camp conditions often resulted in growing sick lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Capt. Charles Mattocks, 17th Maine, wrote in his journal at Warrenton on November 5, 1863, after returning from a trip north that, \u201cBy some very mysterious plan of Providence I have got [a] cold.\u201d Depending on its severity and without proper treatment a cold in the nineteenth century could develop into something much more serious. But Mattocks, perhaps knowing he could rely on the care of those around him if needed also noted, \u201cI am glad to be back in the \u2018bosom of my [army] family\u2019 once more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Falling ill in his Orange County camp before the Mine Run campaign, the army sent Pvt. M. Benson Lassiter of the 38th North Carolina Infantry to Richmond to recover. In a letter home on November 15, Lassiter mentioned that he had \u201cbeen unwell for some time but I am some better than I was a week ago. . . .\u201d He noted that he was unable to do duty, but hoped \u201cit will not be long until I can go back to camp. I am anxious to see the boys and you know how bad I dread to stay in the Hospital.\u201d Lassiter felt he had improved since arriving in Richmond. \u201cI think I am clear of the chills & fever, but the Doctor says that is not all that ails me,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Officers found that in addition to battle wounds and resignations, a sickness in the chain of command could change one\u2019s responsibilities drastically. The previously mentioned Capt. Charles Mattocks, wrote in his journal on Nov. 30, 1863, during the severe cold and wet weather of the Mine Run Campaign that \u201cLt. Col. Merrill went to the rear sick<\/em> this afternoon. So I am now 2d in command by seniority.\u201d With the emphasis he placed on \u201csick,\u201d Mattocks was probably being sarcastic. Regardless, depending on an officer\u2019s level of experience, sudden changes in one\u2019s role could be anxiety-inducing and frustrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 If sick while on campaign, soldiers could easily become prisoners. Early on December 2, the 53rd North Carolina\u2019s Louis Leon and his battalion of sharpshooters moved carefully toward the Federal earthworks, where they thought they saw a section of artillery. Given the order to \u201cCharge!\u201d they \u201cdid so with a rebel yell, and as we got upon their breastworks, lo and behold, there were no Yankees, and the cannon we saw were nothing but logs.\u201d Following closely, Leon and his comrades netted \u201ca great many of their sick and stragglers\u201d as prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Assistant Surgeon Daniel Holt, 121st New York Infantry Holt understood the unfavorable consequences to soldiers’ health when exposed to the elements.(From History of the 121st New York State Infantry, by Isaac O. Best, published 1921) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon returning to camp from the Mine Run Campaign, Daniel Holt, the assistant surgeon for the 121st New York Infantry wrote his wife. Holt complained about the conditions that the soldiers had to live in and the exposure to the elements that the campaign inflicted upon them. \u201cYou hear about men becoming toughened to it:\u2014so they do, to considerable of an extent, but it is done at the expense of health in nine cases out of ten. Were it designed that man should endure all the rigors of a Northern Winter without covering sufficient to ensure a proper degree of warmth, God would have given us scales and coats of hair and fur such as cover the horse and beaver, and envelope like a blanket the thick hide of an elephant or rhinoceros: but instead not a living thing on the face of the earth has a less protected natural body than man. For a while we can be brought to bear extreme low and high degrees for temperature and have the power of throwing off attacks of disease, which if inflicted upon more sensitive persons would surely produce death; but not long even upon the most thoroughly trained subject can the elements be brought to bear in vain. Nature true to herself at last must give out and then both alike are brought to grief.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Seeing comrades healthy one day and sick to the point of dying the next was a disturbing experience for soldiers. Not knowing exactly how volatile a sickness might be produced worry in both the patient and those who cared about them. The 27th North Carolina\u2019s Lt. James Graham wrote his father from camp near Orange Court House just before the Mine Run Campaign. He explained, \u201cI was at brother Joe\u2019s camp day before yesterday and I found him in bed. He had been unwell for a week or so and was afraid that he was going to have Camp fever, but the doctor told me that he was getting better.\u201d Graham saw his brother five days later and wrote home informing his folks that, \u201cHe has gotten well.\u201d A couple of weeks later Graham mentioned to his mother in a letter, \u201cWe are back in our old Camp and have almost recovered from our colds which we caught on the last march [Mine Run Campaign] or rather \u2018freeze out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Exposure to the bitter elements during the Mine Run Campaign likely precipitated the complaints that Col. Robert McAllister shared with his wife and family in a letter on December 6 that limited his leadership abilities. He explained, \u201cI am now very well but I had a bad cold on the march and was quite sick. I improved before we returned to camp. I was so hoarse that I could not give an order, and I had command of the Brigade the day of the intended charge [at Mine Run].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Writing to the New York Sunday Mercury<\/em> newspaper, a soldier only self-identified as \u201cJ. J.\u201d from the 14th New York National Guard (84th New York Infantry), explained that the extreme low temperatures during Mine Run took the lives of some soldiers. J. J. penned that \u201cOn the night of the 30th November, five men from the Fifth Corps froze to death, and four sick men died in the ambulances, very likely from the intense cold.\u201d It was so cold that some soldiers mentioned that the water in their canteens froze solid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“General Stuart’s Head-Quarters on the Rapidan”.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This image of Confederate winter quarters in Orange County provides a view of how soldiers attempted to deal with cold weather. Despite their best efforts, sickness flourished in winter camps. (Illustrated London News, April 30, 1864)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pvt. Samuel Pickens of the 5th Alabama Infantry noted a different, but common, kind of illness\u2014and an ironic twist\u2014in his diary entry for December 10. He concluded that day\u2019s thoughts by writing, \u201cI find myself in very low spirits & home-sick at seeing John [a Pickens family enslaved man] start home to spend Xmas there\u2014when that inexpressible pleasure is denied me. Oh! what w[oul]d I give to be as free to go there as John is!!\u201d Homesickness (sometimes referred to by doctors as nostalgia) was an emotional and mental malady that plagued thousands of soldiers, especially around traditional times of family gatherings or anniversaries. Pickens does not mention beyond his written line whether he fully caught the irony of a soldier bound to military service feeling he had less liberty than an enslaved man who was allowed to travel between the army in central Virginia and home in Alabama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 A few days later Pickens expressed that by necessity the war had changed his thoughts and habits. On Dec. 15, he noted that he and two comrades \u201ctook a wash in [a] creek, mountain run, this evening. Water very cold. Before [the] war [I] would never have thought of doing such a thing as bathing  [in a] creek in [the] middle [of] Dec[embe]r.\u201d The following day Pickens penned, \u201cJack is laid up to-day with fever\u2014no doubt brot on by his exposure yesterday [bathing in the cold creek].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 On December 12, 1863, artilleryman Pvt. George Perkins, Sixth New York Independent Battery, jotted, \u201cMy right ear began to grow very sore \u201d in his diary, describing what appears to be an annoying earache or ear infection. The next day the pain was more intense, so Perkins \u201cWent to the doctor at sick call who prescribed a roast onion be bound on.\u201d On December 14, with the roast onion prescription apparently not working, he wrote, \u201cEar still very sore, excused from duty by the Dr.\u201d Perkins was also excused on the following day. Finally, on December 16, he noted, \u201cMy ear much better. The Dr. marked me for light duty.\u201d However, by Christmas Eve, Perkins was ailing again. That day he \u201cCould not do my guard duty being ill. Felt Feverish. Went to Dr. and got excused from duty and received some cathartic pills [a cure all medication]. Felt miserable and feverish all day.\u201d He \u201cfelt no better\u201d on Christmas. On December he was \u201cWorse.\u201d Perkins received another doctor\u2019s excuse from duty. He \u201cTook pills and salt,\u201d and apparently did not have an appetite. His undescribed illness, which may have been a mild case of influenza or typhoid caused him to \u201cLay abed [a] portion of the day.\u201d Over the next few days, Perkins seemed to finally recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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January to May 1864<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brig. Gen. Robert McAllister McAllister, born in 1813, suffered from intermittent health issues during his Civil War military career. (From Sketch of General Robert McAllister by J. Watts de Peyster, published 1875)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Col. Robert McAllister, 11th New Jersey Infantry, wrote his wife about the recent sickness he and one of his Black camp servants endured at Brandy Station early in the new year. \u201cI feel very well now, have very little diarrhea, and am in hopes I will soon be entirely clear of it. It is so unpleasant to have. Morris White has been very ill but is now better and will soon be about again. He took ill very sudenly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Having returned to his Brandy Station camp after a 10-day furlough, Pvt. Joel Molyneux of the 141st Pennsylvania promptly wrote home to his brother. In doing so, he reported about some of his ill comrades, but also his own good health: \u201cI found our boys in the same place. William Rogers is sick with a bad cold. Wm. Bedford is not as well as he might be near, and James Pardoe was complaining of feeling unwell. I must say this country agrees the best with me, for before I got back I felt like myself again, which I did not scarcely any of the time while at home.\u201d On January 17, Pvt. Molyneux wrote to his sweetheart, \u201cAm sorry to report our friend Will Rogers as being quite sick. [He] Has been unwell ever since I have been back. He has the symptoms of typhoid fever, but trust it can be broken before it goes much farther. Was over for to see him last evening, but found him asleep. He is at the hospital. The doctor thought him not dangerous.\u201d Whether Molyneux meant the doctor thought Rogers was not contagious or near death is not clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Army doctors often found themselves in uncomfortable positions. On one hand, they wanted to provide and recommend the best care possible, but on the other hand, they felt pressure to keep soldiers on duty should a sudden need arise. Camped near Orange Court House, the 13th South Carolina Infantry\u2019s surgeon, Spencer Glasgow Welch, wrote on January 30, 1864: \u201cI received a letter from [Pvt.] Robert Land\u2019s wife begging me to give her husband a sick furlough, and I told him to write her that if he could ever get sick again he certainly should go at once.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Soldiers\u2019 concern for their comrades\u2014those both personally close and at large\u2014comes through in accounts like the one left by Pvt. Molyneux in a letter on January 31. \u201cWill R. is able to sit up some, and hope to see him walking around in a few days. I have heard it said that the small pox was breaking out in the army. I have seen no cases of it yet. At Washington, I heard it was raging quite fearfully, but hope it may not be as bad as represented.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 John Samuel Apperson, a hospital steward in the Stonewall Brigade, noted a sad reality in his journal on January 25, 1864. While Apperson felth \u201cThe health of the army is very good. Not more than ten men are rec\u2019d [admitted to the hospital] per day.” He also related that “The mortality [rate of those there] however is very heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Col. McAllister informed his wife in early February 1864 that he was \u201chaving one of my usual billious attacks,\u201d but this time it was not as bad as normal. He blamed his condition on eating \u201csalt fish\u2014salmon and mackeral,\u201d for the last few weeks. \u201cYou know that salt fish always destroyed that regularity which is so essential to my health. When I have fresh meant, I am always healthy,\u201d he reminded her. Apparently, his condition was so bad that he \u201chad to take pills.\u201d However, \u201cThey did not operate until about the middle of the day, after which I felt better.\u201d He hoped he would return to duty soon, but felt certain \u201cthat if I had not taken care of myself and taken the medicine, I would have been quite sick.\u201d McAllister also noted that Helen Gilson, an assistant at the Division Hospital and \u201ca most amiable and excellent lady and a good nurse,\u201d informed McAllister that if he \u201cgot worse she would come and attend to me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Helen L. Gilson  Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Robert McAllister mentioned the caregiving skills of nurse Helen Gilson in his letter on February 5, 1864, from Brandy Station.    (Library of Congress)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter on February 7, Pvt. Molyneux noted that yet another disease making its rounds. Nutritional deficiency issues were common among Civil War soldiers. \u201cThere has been a few cases of the scurvy or something very similar here among the boys, but nothing very serious,\u201d he wrote. Additionally, he mentioned rumors of smallpox and that \u201cThe drs. have been vaccinating the troops all through the army by a general order. I had it tried upon my arm, and it is just about as sore now as there [is] any use being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measles and smallpox threatened both armies during the winter of 1863-64. From his camp on the Rapidan River, Corp. Benjamin Freeman for the 44th North Carolina noted in mid-February 1864, \u201cOne of my messmates was taken with the measles and is sent to the Hospital . . . there is but little sickness now[.] sometimes Small pox brake out in the Regt there was a case of small Pox out of the Co F . . . and Co E.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 During the late winter of 1864, Chester K. Leach, 2nd Vermont Infantry, wrote his wife from Brandy Station that his comrades were all well except one, his older brother William, who was \u201cquite sick & I am rather afraid he is going to have a run of fever before he gets over it.\u201d William told Leach he was not well when they went out on a recent march, so Leach \u201ctold him to go to the Surgeon & get excused & stay in Camp which he did, but when we got back I found him quite sick.\u201d Leach explained, \u201cHe stays in his tent yet but if there was room in the Hospital I think it would be best for him to go there for he could have better care.\u201d Whether William felt he could better care on his own or in the hospital went unstated. A day later Leach provided William\u2019s diagnosis. \u201cThe Dr says he has the Typhoid Fever, & I am afraid he is not going to wear it out. He has very bad spells, when he can hardly breathe, or talk, & wants water to drink all the time,\u201d Leach wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 A few days later Leach provided an update on his brother. \u201cWilliam I must say in no better, & yesterday . . . he was much worse, not resting but very little, & last night or late in the day was taken with Hemorrhage of the bowels, & by his looks & actions . . . I should not have been surprised if he had not lived till morning.\u201d A hospital steward told Leach that William had been resting easier on March 14, but the previous evening \u201cthree pints of blood came from him. . . .\u201d William finally took a turn for the better on March 18, and by March 20 Leach wrote that he had stopped by and found \u201chim on the gain, & I think he will get along now all right.\u201d However, unfortunately, on March 26, Leach wrote his wife, \u201cI have not such news to tell as I could wish I had, but probably before this reaches you you will learn of William\u2019s death\u201d on March 24. Leach had his brother\u2019s body sent home for burial. In the same letter Leach mentioned that \u201c[Samuel or George] Crown has got better of his measles & got back to the Co, but [Charles] Spaulding & Edgar [Montague] are in the Hospital now with the measles. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 On March 5, while working in the field hospital at Orange Court House, John S. Apperson noted, \u201cWe had a very interesting case of diphtheria in hosp\u2019t to-day. The patient came in yester-day. His throat eventually showed some enlargement. To-day the organs of respiration seemed to be impeded in their action so much as to require an operation to prevent asphyxia. Dr. Wilkerson opened the trachea but there was not life or sensibility enough in the parts to produce any evidence that it would be of any use. No coughing symptoms or irriation was produced.\u201d The soldier \u201cdied in a few hours afterwards\u201d and an autopsy found that the \u201cLarynx and appurtenant of the trachea entirely covered with pseudo membrane\u201d that Apperson described as \u201cwhitish with red blotches.\u201d The thick membrane coating prevented the patient from breathing and he suffocated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Camp of the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry Despite the army’s best efforts, sanitary conditions were less than ideal in large camps like those at Brandy Station where thousands of men, horses, and mules lived in close confines. (Library of Congress)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soldiering without adequate rations and proper equipment increased one\u2019s chances of becoming ill. The 48th North Carolina Infantry\u2019s Pvt. Edward Sowers wrote his wife on March 7, 1864, explaining that he \u201chad to march the first day of the month barefoot and I wore the skin off my feet and frose them and my toe nailes will come off and they paine me all most to death you never see sich feet [as] I got.\u201d One can only wonder if these afflictions did not contribute toward his death by disease two months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Describing the conscripts that came into the army during the spring of 1864, Surgeon Thomas Fanning Wood of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry remembered: \u201cBad water, badly cooked food, unventilated quarters (in Winter) always disturbed their bowels and they were in majority upon the sick list. Coming from the country, where most of them had lived with out ever haven seen a town larger than the \u2018store town,\u2019 the cross road village with a hundred inhabitants, remote from railroads therefore uncommunicable with the outside world, the trials which usually come to children, they escaped, and measles and small pox were usually their fate.\u201d Wood recalled that \u201calmost the entire 57th North Carolina (conscripts), to be sick at one time with the measles, and it was so with most of the regiments enlisted from the country as most of them were in N.C.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Similarly on the other side, from his camp near Culpeper, the 7th Wisconsin\u2019s Capt. Henry F. Young wrote to his wife Delia on March 12 that his regiment had received some new recruits and his responsibility was drilling them. \u201cSome of the[m] have the mumps & and others the measles but all are doing well,\u201d Young wrote. However, about two weeks later, Capt. Young told Delia that yet another of his new charges, Henry L. Sprague, \u201chas been sent to the hospital with the mumps.\u201d That spring, Young himself, complained that \u201cThis bad weather has given me the Rheumatism in my neck and right shoulder. It troubles me most at night after i go to bed.\u201d He hoped \u201ca few days of good weather will set me aright again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Soon after returning to camp at Orange Court House, Lt. Lewis Warlick, 1st North Carolina Infantry, wrote his newlywed wife Cornelia on March 29. In his missive he wrote \u201cI have taken severe cold since I returned; for three or four night after my arrival it was very cold and being rather scarce of bedding the consequence was I slept cold therefore I think is the cause of my having such a cold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Starting on April 2, 1864, and lasting almost a month, the diary of the 116th Pennsylvania\u2019s Daniel Chisholm is an almost daily listing of sick misery at Brandy Station. That day he wrote, \u201cMy jaws are swelled up like a lager beer Dutchman\u2019s, I cannot eat with any comfort at all. This has been a very bad day, snow and slush over the shoe mouth. I am afraid I will get [a] cold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 3 \u2013 \u201cMy jowls are very sore. This morning I went over to the Surgeon\u2019s he examined my jaws and pronounced my ailment the mumps, and excused me from all duty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 4 \u2013 \u201cMy jaws are bad, I have an old stocking tied around my neck. I am running around all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 5 \u2013 \u201c\u2018Oh Jeminee.\u2019 My jaws are still bad, swelled out even with my face. I am still off duty, and yet it rains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 6 \u2013 \u201cMy jaws are still sore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 7 \u2013 \u201cMumps are better, can eat very well and have plenty to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 9 \u2013 \u201cMy jaws are still swelled, but not painful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 10 \u2013 \u201cMy Jaws are a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 11 \u2013 \u201cThis is a beautiful day, mumps about the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 14 \u2013 \u201cMy jaws are better, I have taken the stocking off<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 16 \u2013 \u201cI had a bad head ache to day, laid in my tent nearly all day, as it rains nearly all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, on April 25, Chisholm noted, \u201cI feel first rate, and my mumps are entirely gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quarters of the US Sanitary Commission at Brandy Station The Sanitary Commission worked hard to prevent and treat sicknesses like typhoid fever in the Union camps at Brandy Station. (Library of Congress)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 5th Alabama\u2019s Henry Beck jotted in his diary on April 10, 1864 that he \u201cwas taken sick today. Dr. Hill gave me order to go to hospital for treatment.\u201d Apparently the hospital\u2019s care worked or Beck recovered quickly as he also penned that \u201cAt the request of Col. Hobson, we sang hymns.\u201d Beck also apparently felt well enough to write to his brother. The following day Beck mentioned, \u201cWas on the sick list today,\u201d but still he \u201cWent to see the 3rd Ala. Regt. hold dress parade.\u201d How closely regimental surgeons and hospital staff monitored soldiers who reported themselves as sick seemed to fluctuate from regiment to regiment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Writing to his family on April 21, 1864, from Orange County, Alvira B. Taylor of the 31st North Carolina Infantry explained, \u201cJohn had a very sick day yesterdy he was sick when M H started but had got a little better but soon after he took hemorage of the bowels but the Doctor give him something that checked it.\u201d Taylor included that \u201ct[h]is evening he has not had it any more [but] he is very sick now . . . . I hope he wil get well and go home with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In preparation for the beginning of what would be the Overland Campaign, on May 3, 1864, many of the Union sick in their Brandy Station camps were sent to hospitals in Alexandria and Washington D.C. Daniel Holt, assistant surgeon of the 121st New York penned in his diary: \u201cWent to-day with sick from Division Hospital, on the grounds of J[ohn] M[inor] Botts, to Brandy Station. Had a rough time of it generally. Got down there at 2 P.M. and remained until 11 P.M. Saw all [of the sick] off upon the last train which left the depot. Had a case of small pox with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Spencer Glasgow Welch. Welch served as the surgeon for the 13th South Carolina Infantry. (Find A Grave)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anticipating the upcoming fights and knowing what that would bring, Surgeon Spencer Glasgow Welch of the 13th South Carolina Infantry wrote on May 4, 1864, from Orange Court House that one of his fellow doctors went to Richmond and another had not returned, \u201cso I am alone. I have very little to do, as there is scarcely any sickness.\u201d However, he explained, \u201cIf we get into a battle soon I will have a tight time, but I hope to have someone with me before then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 For Pvt. James Pickens, who briefly served in the 5th Alabama, the Wilderness was his first experience in battle. Pickens, unlike his brother Sam, was not cut out for soldering. He wrote in his diary on May 5, \u201cSam got a permit for me signed by Capt. Williams and Col. Hall, to leave & go to the hospital, as I was very unwell.\u201d The following day James wrote, \u201cGot a signature to my permit from Major Whiting, to pass guard & set out for hospital getting here about or before sun-rise.\u201d At the hospital Dr. Hill advised James to remain there, which was about 2 \u00bd miles from the front lines. There James witnessed the damage of war. \u201cOh the horrors of war! no one knows until he sees for himself how much suffering & distress there is in battle. Would to God the strife were over & that peace again blessed our land!,\u201d he scribbled down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 During the May 6, 1864, Wilderness fight, while attempting to hold off Confederate Gen. James Longstreet\u2019s assault, Maj. Thomas Halsey, 11th New Jersey, penned, \u201cWe had two officers & 19 men wounded. Col. McAllister had two horses shot [from] under him & was slightly wounded himself.\u201d Halsey expressed his wish that all was well at home and hoped that \u201cI may come out all right, as I have so far.\u201d Battle stress and physical exhaustion could potentially increase the sick lists, too. \u201cI am sick, tired, and dirty and my hand trembles,\u201d so Halsy asked to be excused for his \u201chasty scrawl as it is the best I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Capt. William Henry Harrison, 31st Georgia, echoed much of what his counterpart Maj. Halsey noted above. On May 12, 1864, he wrote, \u201cI am by God\u2019s will still unharmed . . . We have done more fighting since May the 4th than we did the whole of last year. The wonder is that I have any body [left] at all. I draw rations for twenty-seven men . . . On the 5th I carried 52 men in the engagement on that day. On the 10th I had 39 left; on the 12th I had 39 and lost 8 wounded and 8 prisoners . . . Several have been unable to do duty at time from sickness and sore feet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 As mentioned in Part I, battle induced stress could create mental health issues as well. Pvt. Richard Allen of the 13th Virginia Infantry wrote from Spotsylvania Court House on May 19, \u201cWe have been in line of battle ever since the 5th of this month. We has had a hard time. There hasn\u2019t been no rest night or day. I never saw such hard fighting in my life as we had down here, and I am afraid the hardest fighting hasn\u2019t come off yet.\u201d \u201cI would be so glad if they Yankees would go back across the river so we could get some rest, for I feel like I am exhausted.\u201d \u201cYou all must write to me. I has lost so much sleep. I am so nervous I can\u2019t write and I can\u2019t compose my mind to write this morning. . . .\u201d Please excuse this bad letter as . . . I did not sleep any last night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Similarly, the 11th Georgia Infantry\u2019s Pvt. John Everett wrote his mother right after the Battle of the Wilderness explaining his mental anguish at not knowing what happened to his brother during the fight: \u201cit Seames to me lik I Can heare Him Calling me. I hear his voice all the time. ma, you will have to Excuse me for not writing along letter, for my tears air blinding my Eys and I Cant Half See and my mind is in trouble. you have no idia how much truble I am in. I dont See any peace at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Caring for the Sick” (New York Public Library)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experiencing sickness and disease in the mid-nineteenth century was usually an extremely anxiety-producing event for both soldiers and their loved ones at home. Even under the best circumstances, with a caring family at hand and a knowledgeable and attentive physician seeing to one’s symptoms, people feared the power of illnesses. It was rare if families or individuals had not observed first-hand the pain, suffering, and death of loved ones due to some sickness. At a time before germ theory, antibiotics, and a much more complete understanding of disease transmission and vaccinations, people usually dealt with illness with time-proven remedies, faith, and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In the Union and Confederate armies that camped in Virginia during late 1863 and into the spring of 1864, thousands of soldiers became sick suffering from everything from the common cold to scurvy to venereal diseases to typhoid fever to dysentery to diphtheria to mental issues, and just about every other ailment. As seen above, soldiers were concerned about their health, that of their comrades, and loved ones at home. They knew all too well how precarious a soldier’s life could be, on or off the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some Sources and Suggested Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James A. Davis. Music Along the Rapidan: Civil War Soldiers, Music, and Community during Winter Quarters Virginia<\/em>. University of Nebraska Press, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank R. Freemon. Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care during the Civil War<\/em>. University of Illinois Press, 2001. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark B. Hall. “Season of Change: The Winter Encampment of the Army of the Potomac, December 1, 1863 to May 4, 1864.” In Blue and Gray Magazine<\/em>, April 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald B. Koonce, editor. Doctor to the Front: Confederate Surgeon Thomas Fanning Wood<\/em>. University of Tennessee Press, 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer Glasgow Welch. A Confederate Surgeon’s Letters to His Wife<\/em>. Neal Publishing Company, 1911.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parting Shot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Done Up” (Public Domain)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur Reg[iment] fought some day before yesterday & yesterday we were fighting all day. We had one of the most terrific battles yesterday I have seen, but we fought behind Breast Works & did not lose many men. I was exhausted last night & this morning at three o\u2019clock had a hard chill. I am now at the Hospital & am some better.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Maj. Thomas Halsey, 11th New Jersey Infantry, May 7, 1864, excerpt from a letter to his wife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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