Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Disease
In chapter 15 of Battle Cry of Freedom it mentions how disease was a bigger health threat than enemy weapons. I didn't realize that it was so bad! I guess when I picture battles, I imagine a "movie-style" setting in which there are nothing but healthy men who are geared up and ready to fight. You don't think about the large number of soldiers who are left back at camp suffering from diarrhea, typhoid, or pneumonia. I guess it makes sense, given their lack of adequate knowledge about harmful microorganisms and sanitation. I was surprised at the line on pg. 485 that said that "twice as many Civil War soldiers died of disease as were killed and mortally wounded in combat." No wonder people were hiring substitutes to go to war for them!
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It kind of makes you grin inside that the armies-especially the south did away with the substitutions and went after EVERYONE as they were so desperate toward the end. I guess if it were not for wars, the medical advances would be somewhat retarded.
ReplyDeleteI was really surprised too when I first heard of the fact of more soldiers dying because of illness than because of battle wounds. I first stumbled upon that when I read A Soldier's heart by Gary Paulsen. Paulsen, in his typical rough style was kind of graphic as he described this, but it was certainly new and shocking information to me. I have noticed some hint to it in Killer Angles as they talk about suffering from the Soldier's disease.
ReplyDeleteI think Mike has a great point, of medical research taking huge steps forward because of war. I think that the same can be said for the type of warfare technology being used. Many new ideas were advanced in order to speed along the progress, and hopefully the resolution, of the war.
I was trying to explain to my student about the fact that most soldier's died of disease and from their wounds and they had a hard time understanding why. I explained the fact that they didn't know about microoganisms and the fact the yellow fever was spread by mosquitoes.
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