Water Purification Method?

[Sheltowee]

Reading the memoirs of a Union soldier at Harrison's Landing on the Peninsula.

He states-
"The water of the boggy creek was soon contaminated and the sinking of barrels and cracker boxes at its edge had but little effect in purifying it."

The way I read it, wooden crates/ casks were deliberately sank in the water to aid in purification. Sound right?

If so, has anyone heard this before? And is there scientific basis for doing so?

 

[Sowbelly and Hardtack]

@Sheltowee you might find this thread of interest if you are trying to learn more about water purification during the Civil War.

How did Civil War soldiers usually obtain their drinking water when they were on campaign? | Questions? Ask Here! No Stone Left Unturned!

For most of my life I thought that during the American Civil War, soldiers who didn't have ready access to a water well or a spring would use a container to scoop water out of lakes and rivers and just drink the river or lake water right out of the container without treating it. I thought that...

civilwartalk.com

 

[John Hartwell]

"Before leaving Worcester our too kind friends had provided many of the soldiers with 'drinking tubes,' a new thing, patented of course, possessing wonderful properties. It consisted of a small flexible rubber tube, perhaps two and a half feet long, with a mouth-piece at one end and a marvelous patent strainer or filter at the other. Place the strainer in the muddiest of ditch water, insert the mouth-piece between the lips of the thirsty soldier, and by applying the science of suction, from the most stagnant and slimy pool nothing but the purest cool spring water would be drawn into the soldier's stomach. ... I never saw the tubes used save on one march; some half dozen soldiers attempted to use them, but the effort was a failure; and they whirled the tubes into the bushes, with the remark: 'D*mn the things!'"

[The Story of Company A (25th Mass. Vols.), by Saml. H. Putnam, 1886, p. 52-3]​

See:

Mystery Solved But Who Made It???? | Relic Hunting & Collecting

Recently @oddballaffliction posted a "what is it thread". I responded on one of the items but the other one stuck in my mind, I knew I had dug something similar so I went to digging thru my dug stuff and found it. Mr. Oddball mentioned water filter which got me to thinking (Work without tools...

civilwartalk.com

 

[Elliot Crumblemuffin]

Even if I was wanting for some "real" food during my service, I was NEVER wanting too much for water, strangely. Water bottles or water sources just appeared as from the heavens sometimes. NEVER drink water that hasn't been treated, it can lead to conditions far worse than mere thirst and dehydration.

I often think about how an army or navy would cope with the effects of food or water privation during the Civil War. I don't think many current service members are worried about dying from lack of nutrients/minerals or the effects of dirty water. This is very interesting, thank you for sharing! Clean water is just something I took for granted.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Modern armies have gotten pretty good at water treatment and delivery, but that´s a new thing. American Marines on Peleleiu had water delivered in 5 gallon cans that had previously been used for hauling gasoline and hadn´t been properly cleaned out.
During the Civil War, troops boiled water for their coffee. In the pre-bacteria age, they didn´t know about all the unseen things in water that will make you sick, but they knew that if you drank dirty looking water, or water downstream from the latrines, etc, you got sick. This was still the age where disease claimed more lives than bullets.

 

[Sowbelly and Hardtack]

Here's an interesting article of the history of potable water in the American militar.

https://quartermaster.army.mil/qm_fuctional_areas/Potable_Water.pdf