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.

 

[debwallsmith]

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.

Yellow fever and malaria were endemic. Can these diseases be blamed on unsanitary conditions? Probably not as they were problems both before and after the war. Ditto the "childhood diseases". Scurvy was common and was a result of a poor diet. Pneumonia and respiratory illnesses resulted from living in cold conditions and close quarters. However, typhoid and dysentery were definitely related to a lack of hygienic conditions.

 

[rebelatsea]

I read somwhere many moons ago that arrangements were made to collect urine for the production of nitre by the CSA.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

I read somwhere many moons ago that arrangements were made to collect urine for the production of nitre by the CSA.

......and I believe that it was the ladies in certain community support organizations that were doing it.

 

[atlantis]

......and I believe that it was the ladies in certain community support organizations that were doing it.

Do soiled doves count as a community support organization?

 

[debwallsmith]

......and I believe that it was the ladies in certain community support organizations that were doing it.

If I remember correctly, communities were encouraged to save the contents of chamber pots as well a collecting the manure, hay, etc from barns. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2021/08/19/enslaved-women-of-the-confederate-nitre-works/

 

[atlantis]

......and I believe that it was the ladies in certain community support organizations that were doing it.

Southern women stepped up and provided huge support for both the army and navy.

 

[debwallsmith]

I read somwhere many moons ago that arrangements were made to collect urine for the production of nitre by the CSA.

There was actually a Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau.

 

[atlantis]

If I remember correctly, communities were encouraged to save the contents of chamber pots as well a collecting the manure, hay, etc from barns. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2021/08/19/enslaved-women-of-the-confederate-nitre-works/

And it was effective, a very impressive effort but the whole southern war effort in support of the army and navy is impressive when you consider how they started from scratch.

 

[rebelatsea]

There was actually a Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau.

My bad, I had forgotten that ! Did they collect horse products as well ?

 

[James Brenner]

A somewhat related question …

At Civil War sites, have traces of mercury been found at the latrine locations?

Mercury treatments were widely used in the 19th century to treat constipation and STDs. For example, at least one of the Lewis and Clark camp sites was discovered due to the mercury found in the soil. So, if mercury has been found at a CW Camp - large or small - what does that say about diet, medical treatment, soldier habits, etc.?

 

[debwallsmith]

My bad, I had forgotten that ! Did they collect horse products as well ?

My understanding is they collected products from every possible source - it's called "night soil" elsewhere in the world.

 

[debwallsmith]

A somewhat related question …

At Civil War sites, have traces of mercury been found at the latrine locations?

Mercury treatments were widely used in the 19th century to treat constipation and STDs. For example, at least one of the Lewis and Clark camp sites was discovered due to the mercury found in the soil. So, if mercury has been found at a CW Camp - large or small - what does that say about diet, medical treatment, soldier habits, etc.?

What does it say? That troops were being treated for constipation or diarrhea, typhoid, general inflammations, syphilis, dysentery . . . the list goes on. So it doesn't say much about anything other than calomel and/or blue mass were being used as treatments.

 

[Old Soldier]

A somewhat related question …

At Civil War sites, have traces of mercury been found at the latrine locations?

Mercury treatments were widely used in the 19th century to treat constipation and STDs. For example, at least one of the Lewis and Clark camp sites was discovered due to the mercury found in the soil. So, if mercury has been found at a CW Camp - large or small - what does that say about diet, medical treatment, soldier habits, etc.?

It means they were still being looked after. Medical practice has changed somewhat since the 1860s.

In 1862 soldier Carleton Burgan suffered severe facial disfigurement due to mercury poisoning after having an infection treated with , calomel (mercury(I) chloride) a common medicine that contained mercury. The calomel treatment caused an ulcer to form and spread across the patient's tongue, mouth, cheek, and eye; ultimately killing his upperjaw. There was no standardization of dosing, the most popular being the 'heroic dose' - 4 times a day!

Calomel continued to be used well into the 1890s and even into the early 20th century, although its use persisted longer in the American South and American West. Eventually calomel's popularity began to wane as more research was done, and scientists discovered that the mercury in the compound was poisoning patients.

 

[Old Soldier]

My understanding is they collected products from every possible source - it's called "night soil" elsewhere in the world.

'Night soil' was the 'proper' name for human waste collected at night. At night, so it would not be seen or smelt so much. It was collected by nightsoilmen which sounds so much better than 'sh!tshoveller'. Hygiene and waste disposal was far more ... primitive than we are used to today, especially those who have not served in the army. We always had to 'do it ourselves' in many field locations especially away from barracks on exercise. These were tactical locations without the facilities previously described and had to be tactically invisible, usually at night, away from defense works and pathways carrying full battle kit and rifle. Woe betide the soldier caught 'at it'.

 

[atlantis]

You can't look at that picture of that poor boy and not feel for him and the countless others who suffered.

 

[James Brenner]

What does it say? That troops were being treated for constipation or diarrhea, typhoid, general inflammations, syphilis, dysentery . . . the list goes on. So it doesn't say much about anything other than calomel and/or blue mass were being used as treatments.

Well, I was hoping for replies that were a bit more insightful and informative. Still, statements of the obvious are helpful.

 

[Old Soldier]

Well, I was hoping for replies that were a bit more insightful and informative. Still, statements of the obvious are helpful.

When a bunch of men from different backgrounds are put together there is a vast difference in habits, living with people, routine and living conditions. The job of the training sergeant is to get them all following the same routines and discipline. As you will have read, the main priority was to get their weapons drills up to par with the regular army, but training goes far deeper than just that.

You have to get the loner used to living with others - usually thirty to a room or tent, with all their possessions in just one backpack. You have to get the family man - the head of the household (allegedly) - now looking after himself, as well as the 'babies' learning that there is no one to help. Hygiene is important, but hygiene THEN was not as it is today. Baths were almost unknown as were showers. Hands had to be washed but there was often little water available to do that, the latrines rarely had any. Brushing teeth was rare too, the best being achieved with a chewed twig! Country folk tended to be cleaner, but not always. Much depended onthe family and upbringing.

That is why a strict routine was imposed from Day 1 - any deviation was punished in some way. It was followed to the letter. So now we have a bunch of guys living together - good old communal living. Contagious diseases tend to strike after a time, some quite upsetting and some that just appear. This is when you find out what bed bugs are - and what they do to you, just like lice and those inscets that LOVE humans. You also find out what others do when they are in bed - strange sounds in the night! You wear uniform all the time, no choice there either, and probably a strict washing routine both for personal cleanliness and clothes.

Here is where OUR generations differ from those of 1860. OUR doctors tend to know what they are doing, and we denigrate the doctors of those times, but they too knew what they were doing. They just went about it differently according what they knew and what they were told was 'normal'. There were few antibiotics, herbs and tree bark were not unknown as wound dressing. Anesthetics were known about but were either discounted or simply not available. There were no dentists, apparently the only recourse for toothache was a visit to the smith or the farrier, a few shorts, and then get it pulled out.

That is why I explained latrines, etc. It is something quite strange for those of us unused to these very basic measures. I ran into some in my army years, but I have also studied photos of towns and houses in the 19th Century and it is quite amazing just what was photographed that cannot be easily explained today.

Although no particularly relevent timewise, here is a photo taken about 1910 from my part of the world, Whitby Yorkshire - Captain Cook Country, which shows the 'arrangements':

The row of doors at the left are for the privvys used by all whose doors open onto those steps. I tis back to back with the privvys in the other yard. The box on the wall is the communal water tap. This is much improved from earlier days (pre-1860s) as it was strictly one family per floor and those doors on the right used to be the privvy for each dwelling, and each front door was reached by a wooden walkway on a gantry from the steps hence the distance of the 'cottages' from the steps. The tap replaced a pump and trough. (This is not 'Well Yard' as such but a yard called 'Dark Entry'! The privvies were built in the center of the original Well Yard) It no longer exists due to redevelopment 1959-61.

 

[Joe Whitworth]

I metal detected on a property on the Bonnard Line near Fort Duncan. The owner had dug out an old latrine looking for bottles and found quite a few. He discovered when washing them up that reconstituted poop still smells like poop . I know there has to be one for the camp that was by my spring but have never located it while out metal detecting. YMMV

 

[atlantis]

When a bunch of men from different backgrounds are put together there is a vast difference in habits, living with people, routine and living conditions. The job of the training sergeant is to get them all following the same routines and discipline. As you will have read, the main priority was to get their weapons drills up to par with the regular army, but training goes far deeper than just that.

You have to get the loner used to living with others - usually thirty to a room or tent, with all their possessions in just one backpack. You have to get the family man - the head of the household (allegedly) - now looking after himself, as well as the 'babies' learning that there is no one to help. Hygiene is important, but hygiene THEN was not as it is today. Baths were almost unknown as were showers. Hands had to be washed but there was often little water available to do that, the latrines rarely had any. Brushing teeth was rare too, the best being achieved with a chewed twig! Country folk tended to be cleaner, but not always. Much depended onthe family and upbringing.

That is why a strict routine was imposed from Day 1 - any deviation was punished in some way. It was followed to the letter. So now we have a bunch of guys living together - good old communal living. Contagious diseases tend to strike after a time, some quite upsetting and some that just appear. This is when you find out what bed bugs are - and what they do to you, just like lice and those inscets that LOVE humans. You also find out what others do when they are in bed - strange sounds in the night! You wear uniform all the time, no choice there either, and probably a strict washing routine both for personal cleanliness and clothes.

Here is where OUR generations differ from those of 1860. OUR doctors tend to know what they are doing, and we denigrate the doctors of those times, but they too knew what they were doing. They just went about it differently according what they knew and what they were told was 'normal'. There were few antibiotics, herbs and tree bark were not unknown as wound dressing. Anesthetics were known about but were either discounted or simply not available. There were no dentists, apparently the only recourse for toothache was a visit to the smith or the farrier, a few shorts, and then get it pulled out.

That is why I explained latrines, etc. It is something quite strange for those of us unused to these very basic measures. I ran into some in my army years, but I have also studied photos of towns and houses in the 19th Century and it is quite amazing just what was photographed that cannot be easily explained today.

Although no particularly relevent timewise, here is a photo taken about 1910 from my part of the world, Whitby Yorkshire - Captain Cook Country, which shows the 'arrangements':
View attachment 592600
The row of doors at the left are for the privvys used by all whose doors open onto those steps. I tis back to back with the privvys in the other yard. The box on the wall is the communal water tap. This is much improved from earlier days (pre-1860s) as it was strictly one family per floor and those doors on the right used to be the privvy for each dwelling, and each front door was reached by a wooden walkway on a gantry from the steps hence the distance of the 'cottages' from the steps. The tap replaced a pump and trough. (This is not 'Well Yard' as such but a yard called 'Dark Entry'! The privvies were built in the center of the original Well Yard) It no longer exists due to redevelopment 1959-61.

I see a chimney was it heated, on my grandparents farm the outhouse[privy] was just a wood shack hot in the summer cold in the winter.

 

[atlantis]

How does camp sanitation in ACW compare to say Crimean war or Mexican war. Was it a case of building on lessons learned or was it more of a start from scratch, I am struck by the thoroughness of the regulations being issued.