Measles and the aftermath

[NH Civil War Gal]

My book, "Soldier Boy's Letters to His Father and Mother, 1861-5" by Chauncey Herbert Cooke came this week.

He is or was a very healthy young man from Wisconsin who got measles, along with many others, while in the initial camp at Madison, Wisconsin in the Fall of 1861. By March of 1863 he and the others are in Columbus, Kentucky. Now, in between times, in all his letters (and he writes wonderful letters) he talks about how the measles as affected his "wind" when marching or running. He has a hard time keeping up. When they were in Madison, about a man a day died on average as he writes - and they had terrible food too, which didn't help. Now, in Columbus, KY he writes, "I should have mentioned that while the health of the boys is good in the main, we have some 20 in regimental hospital. Nathan Mann of our company and Orlando Adams of Mondovi are not expected to live. These poor fellows are victims of the measles and were sick with me in the hospital at St. Cloud, Minnesota."

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

And I found that measles can cause this - I suspect a great number of soldiers suffered from lung scarring and pneumonia complications that they never quite got over. Then being put in harsh camp conditions, weakened immune systems, exposed to other germs, they died like flies on either side.

• Other Respiratory Complications:
  Besides pneumonia, measles can also cause other lung issues, such as bronchiolitis obliterans (a lung disease characterized by scarring of the small airways) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD).
  
  

 

[RedRover]

I've seen occasional references that the men who survived the measles were frequently rendered unfit for full service, and at least on the US side, frequently later discharged for disability.

Col. Henry Bunn of the 4th Arkansas Volunteers recalled the measles was quite the scourge, and besides the deaths, numbers of men were more or less permanently affected by it...

 

[Caddo Militia]

A great uncle, Sgt. Bryant M. J. Pullen (1834-1862) enlisted in the 25th Georgia Infantry on April 12, 1862. Less than 3 months later, on July 2, 1862, he died of measles, leaving a wife and 2 children. Another one of the thousands who died of the disease during the Civil War.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

I've seen occasional references that the men who survived the measles were frequently rendered unfit for full service, and at least on the US side, frequently later discharged for disability.

View attachment 545716

Col. Henry Bunn of the 4th Arkansas Volunteers recalled the measles was quite the scourge, and besides the deaths, numbers of men were more or less permanently affected by it...

View attachment 545715

I had a GGG uncle in the 10th Arkansas Volunteers. They hit measles in winter camp at Union City, TN. Was wondering if the 4th was in the same camp.

 

[RedRover]

I had a GGG uncle in the 10th Arkansas Volunteers. They hit measles in winter camp at Union City, TN. Was wondering if the 4th was in the same camp.

Col. Bunn of the 4th was writing about "Camp Walker" in modern Arkansas, about Siloam.

Confederate Veteran

www.google.com

Here are some references to the measles a the Union City camp...

Confederate Veteran

www.google.com

The 9th Tennessee veterans recalled of Union City camp, drill and measles...

History of Tennessee

www.google.com

The 12th Tennessee at Union City same... camp of instruction and measles...

The Military Annals of Tennessee

www.google.com

The measles were already making an appearance in the Tennessee camps within only a couple weeks of the State's joining the Confederacy...

The War of the Rebellion: v. 1-53 [serial no. 1-111] Formal reports, both Union and Confederate, of the first seizures of United States property in the southern states, and of all military operations in the field, with the correspondence, order and r

Official records produced by the armies of the United States and the Confederacy, and the executive branches of their respective governments, concerning the military operations of the Civil War, and prisoners of war or prisoners of state. Also annual reports of military departments, calls for...

www.google.com

A Confederate surgeon recalled that the measles made havoc of the Confederate army. Sickening large numbers... killing many, and ruining the health of many more...

The Confederate conscription act did not require "able bodied" men, and men of all conditions were gathered and sent to the armies from the spring of 1862. William Watson of the 3rd Louisiana says these men were taken off by measles, etc. in crowds... most of the conscripts doing little more service than filling a hospital bed, and in many cases a grave.

There was no relief from the measles during the war.
It is said that out of the roughly 200,000 Confederate troops still in service in 1865, a large number were yet subjected to the measles...

 

[lupaglupa]

My great-great-grandfather volunteered very early in the war with the 1st Mississippi Infantry. He was part of a large group of Confederate soldiers sent to a camp in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Measles broke out in the camp and that winter over 300 men died, out of about 1,200 stationed there. The town was swamped by the sick men. Every decent sized building was made into a hospital, every able-bodied adult became a nurse or joined a burial squad. The reminiscences from the local people are heart rending to read. My great-great-grandfather fell ill but survived, one of the lucky ones.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

We have forgotten how debilitating measles really are. We read in the CW accounts about the men having measles and x number of men died. We don't think about the future deaths of men in hospitals, like Chauncey Cooke documents are still actually related to the initial measles. The men never really recovered, had poor food, worked (marched) past their strength and certainly exposed to the elements. Chauncey Cooke, after he was "recovered" and trying to find his regiment spent the night under a tent flap between two barrels with a coat on (on the ground) "with the cold west wind pouring over his face the whole night." It's a wonder he survived his bout with measles.

The reason he was looking for his regiment was he couldn't keep up because he was so debilitated from them. It's a wonder he lived through the rest of the war.

I remember reading a Southern woman's diary from Virginia about the boys coming up from the Deep South into Virginia and getting measles and dying. She couldn't understand why they stayed so debilitated from them and couldn't get better. She said "they didn't seem as hardy as our Northern bred Virginia boys." I suspect there were slightly different strains going around and again the food and nursing care.

Chauncey was lucky in that he was in a hospital and kept warm but he writes that for three weeks "he was a mighty sick boy" and he and others cried to have their mother's care for them because while they did receive care, he recognized they weren't getting the care that a mother would give.