Camp sanitation

[atlantis]

Sickness killed many on both sides the first year, the union seem to learn and improved camp conditions. Question did the confederates improve conditions to cut down death by disease. This was a huge loss of fighting strength as many who died had been healthy men of prime service age. Have read accounts of local company gg grandfathers unit hit heavy, measles I think, not long after deployment.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

As best I can tell in what I have read, the strictness with which camp sanitation was enforced varied somewhat depending on the particular officer in charge and his own beliefs. Most commanders insisted on keeping more permanent camps clean as a matter of appearance though, and free of bad smells (miasma) which was thought to cause disease.

This helped, but the problem for both sides was that no one had any understanding of how certain diseases were spread. I just finished a diary of a soldier who is excused from duty because he has the mumps, but because he is bored waiting for the swelling in his face to go down, he spends his time visiting men in other companies and even the neighboring regiments.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Sickness killed many on both sides the first year, the union seem to learn and improved camp conditions. Question did the confederates improve conditions to cut down death by disease. This was a huge loss of fighting strength as many who died had been healthy men of prime service age. Have read accounts of local company gg grandfathers unit hit heavy, measles I think, not long after deployment.

I have often wondered what the most common protocol was for digging latrines and/or designating specific areas for excretion of human waste. Is there any information about this?
I wonder if a different military unit camped on the same ground at a later date what issues they had with the prior latrine areas.

 

[milhistbuff1]

I have often wondered what the most common protocol was for digging latrines and/or designating specific areas for excretion of human waste. Is there any information about this?
I wonder if a different military unit camped on the same ground at a later date what issues they had with the prior latrine areas.

Seizing Destiny by Conner and Mackowski might cover some of this.

Also, Earl Hess' latest may contain comparisons to Conf. practices. Civil War Camps and Soldier Health: Sanitation and Military Effectiveness in the Union Army

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Seizing Destiny by Conner and Mackowski might cover some of this.

Also, Earl Hess' latest may contain comparisons to Conf. practices. Civil War Camps and Soldier Health: Sanitation and Military Effectiveness in the Union Army

Thanks for the clues, @milhistbuff1.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Thanks for the clues, @milhistbuff1.

I do have one of Mackowski's books, "A Season of Slaughter-Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse," which I read in 2018. I'm going to take a look at it and see if Mackowski said anything relevant in this book.

 

[atlantis]

Interesting findings by Hess.

 

[milhistbuff1]

Thanks for the clues, @milhistbuff1.

Your welcome!

I do have one of Mackowski's books, "A Season of Slaughter-Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse," which I read in 2018. I'm going to take a look at it and see if Mackowski said anything relevant in this book.

Curious what A Season has and will add to TBR. Does anyone know if CS had an = to the US Sanitary Commission?

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Your welcome!

Curious what A Season has and will add to TBR. Does anyone know if CS had an = to the US Sanitary Commission?

I don't know.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Does anyone know if CS had an = to the US Sanitary Commission?

I tried looking this up today and it appears that in keeping with the theme of state and individual rights, the Confederacy relied on private philanthropy and local initiatives to supply the needs of the soldiers. Understandably, when compared to the Federally organized US Sanitary Commission, the level of support varied widely depending on the resources available locally.

 

[Old Soldier]

I can remember digging in, in the German forests at night, and 'going for a walk with a spade'. The civil war encampments would be no different, except a lot more organised. Note - no overhead or side cover.

Latrines. Basically a deep trench with poles to sit on over it. Once full - or too smelly, a new one is dug.

There again, they didn't need to have anything to sit on

Levi Wood Baker, History of the Ninth Massachusetts Battery. Lakeview Press: 1888 describes the practices at Union Fort Davis, a second line fort on the Jerusalem Plank Road:

Headquarters 1st Brigade, 3D Division, 5TH Army Corps. July 29, 1864.
General Orders. No. 17.
The following police and sanitary regulations for the command will be strictly carried out ....... The sink holes will be at least one hundred (100) yards from the fort, and will be from six (6) to eight (8) feet deep, four (4) feet wide and six (6) feet long. Every regiment will be furnished with boxes and barrels for each company, to hold dirt, slops, garbage, urine, etc. No refuse matter whatever will be thrown on the ground, but will be placed in the boxes and barrels, which will be emptied into the sink holes twice daily, viz. : between the hours of five (5) and six (6) o'clock in the morning, and six (6) and seven (7 ) in the evening. No officer or man will be allowed to urinate within the walls of the fort in the daytime. At night urinals may be used. Each regiment will have sinks dug at not less than one hundred (100) yards from the fort. These sinks will be at least twenty (20) feet in length, and will be properly fitted up and screened. A thin layer of dirt will be thrown into the sinks and sink holes every morning, until they are filled, when new ones will be dug. A sink for the exclusive use of officers of the brigade will be also furnished. The colonel commanding the brigade, knowing that all officers and men must see the necessity of a strict observance of the above regulations in the present crowded state of the command, expects prompt and cheerful compliance with all measures he may adopt to promote comfort, cleanliness, and prevent disease. This order will be read to each company in the command. By command of Col. Peter Lyle, commanding brigade, BYRON PORTER, Capt.& A.A.G. (pp129-130)

 

[milhistbuff1]

I tried looking this up today and it appears that in keeping with the theme of state and individual rights, the Confederacy relied on private philanthropy and local initiatives to supply the needs of the soldiers. Understandably, when compared to the Federally organized US Sanitary Commission, the level of support varied widely depending on the resources available locally.

Thanks, that fits with what i'm finding.

I don't know.

Thanks!

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

No officer or man will be allowed to urinate within the walls of the fort in the daytime. At night urinals may be used. Each regiment will have sinks dug at not less than one hundred (100) yards from the fort.

FWIW - another CW reminiscence I have read comes to mind in which the volunteer writes home - to his brother I think? - complaining that it is a common practice in camp for men to get up in the morning and urinate between the tents because they do not want to walk the distance to the sinks. He finds this most offensive but says that many of the soldiers are guilty of this.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Your welcome!

Curious what A Season has and will add to TBR. Does anyone know if CS had an = to the US Sanitary Commission?

I do not believe so.

 

[Kearny The Magnificent]

I just got my copy of Earl Hess's new book about camps and soldier health today. This is also an area of interest for me.

I don't want to give away too much of Mr. Hess's work. But here is a synopsis of sinks aka latrines in the introduction of his book:

 

[Old Soldier]

While mentioning sinks, latrines, toilets, washrooms, I suspect many will have little idea of what the civilian population had in its place. Many had a similar arrangement, particularly in the country = a large covered 'slurry' pit with a small wooden shed on the overhead cover. Opening the door would reveal a bench with a hole in it. Sometimes it was directly over the pit but some had a ramp or slide. A small bucket of water may have been available, but as commercial toilet paper did not exist yet, people typically used old newspapers, catalogs, corn cobs, or leaves. Needless to say it was outdoors. Quicklime was used every now and then to keep the smell down and to aid decomposition. It was nowhere near the source of water for the house. When enough was enough a new pit was dug, filling up the older one and starting again.

Urban housing was no better off. Many smallrise blocks had a central 'slurry pit' or a built and lined vault and a divided building overhead fitted out like the singles. It was common for 25 to 30 residents to share a single outdoor toilet facility - the 'privvy'. There was not always one toilet for each apartment, one per floor was common. Near rivers, there may have been a central drain with some water flowing through.the vault to take the waste away and empty it into the river downstream of habitation. Inside the apartment or house. chamber pots were used and emptied into the central block or toilet.

In many places there was no opportunity to dig trenches or construct lined vaults. The smaller houses and appartment blocks used the 'night soil' method. In the small shed was a small door in the outside wall which gave outside access to a bucket under the hole in the bench. During the night, the bucket was collected and emptied into a horse-drawn cart which was then emptied either into a slurry pit, into the riveror spead over fields to fertilize the soil.. They also worked on the urban pits using long-handled dippers, buckets, and wooden tanks to scoop out raw human waste from the deep pits (such as 9-foot-deep 'vaults') typically 2 to 3 times a year, hence the nickname of 'honey dippers'.

Flush toilets did not start appearing in most homes until 1890 - 1920. Rich homes first ...

*Water supply. Rural = hand pump or piped tap from spring under pressure. Urban = Either like country or from a water supply company pipe - from ONE tap inside or outside to a row of taps in the yard - usually near the 'privvies'.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

View attachment 592231
I just got my copy of Earl Hess's new book about camps and soldier health today. This is also an area of interest for me.

I don't want to give away too much of Mr. Hess's work. But here is a synopsis of sinks aka latrines in the introduction of his book:
View attachment 592232

Good find - good reference.

 

[Gte0417]

I feel like the Civil War was a chance for us to learn the hard way for many sectors, military, sanitation, logisitcs, etc. The lessons learned in the Civil War helped prevent further futile loss of life and set standards.

 

[Peace Society]

Some men hated the latrines and would still wander off into the woods on their own - or dig around their own tents.
Sanitation of this sort goes a long way back: "Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee." Deuteronomy 23:12-14
In hospitals, cleanliness went a long way toward healing. Sally L Tompkins ran Robertson hospital in Richmond. Because of her insistence on cleanliness, her hospital had the lowest death rate. When a law was passed requiring all military hospitals to be under military operation, she was commissioned a captain CSA.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Some men hated the latrines and would still wander off into the woods on their own - or dig around their own tents.
Sanitation of this sort goes a long way back: "Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee." Deuteronomy 23:12-14
In hospitals, cleanliness went a long way toward healing. Sally L Tompkins ran Robertson hospital in Richmond. Because of her insistence on cleanliness, her hospital had the lowest death rate. When a law was passed requiring all military hospitals to be under military operation, she was commissioned a captain CSA.

Good post, @Peace Society!