- Joined
- Mar 20, 2010
- Location
- Ohio
An estimated 61,000 men perished in Civil War prisons. This thread will discuss medical situations that were more or less exclusive to the prison camps. Civil War prisons were poorly managed, horribly overcrowded, and, riddled with disease. Both sides possessed their share of shameful conditions; due mainly to inadequate planning, nutritional ignorance, and nonexistent sanitation. Ultimately, the sheer number of confined men, proved absolutely unmanageable. Every problem that existed in the regimental camps, increased exponentially in the prisons. The hundreds of thousands of men imprisoned simply exceeded either side's ability or will to manage. Leading causes of death included diarrhea, dysentery, scorbutus (scurvy), and various diseases exacerbated by starvation and filthy living conditions.
http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/medicine/cwsurgeon/statistics.cfm
http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07112005-193458/unrestricted/Cloyd_dis.pdf
http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/medicine/cwsurgeon/statistics.cfm
http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07112005-193458/unrestricted/Cloyd_dis.pdf