Civil War camps and soldier health : sanitation and military effectiveness in the Union Army / Earl J. Hess.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hess, Earl J., author .

Series:

Interpreting the Civil War

Interpreting the Civil War : texts and contexts

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Army--Sanitary affairs.

United States.

Military hygiene--United States--History--19th century.

Military hygiene.

Medicine, Military--United States--History--19th century.

Medicine, Military.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Health aspects.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Medical care.

Physical Description:

335 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Kent, Ohio : The Kent State University Press, 2026.

Summary:

"The Civil War was a watershed in public awareness of the many health-related issues soldiers faced while living in camps. Sanitarians among civilians and regular army officers attempted to meet those challenges by addressing a range of topics associated with preventive healthcare in the volunteer army. The US Sanitary Commission, a nongovernmental agency sanctioned by the Federal government, created a massive campaign to study conditions in semipermanent camps and advise unit commanders how to avoid unnecessary illness and curb soldier deaths by disease. Commission inspectors, mostly civilian physicians, examined camps from 1861 to early 1864 and filed more than 1,400 reports of their findings. Earl J. Hess delves deeply into 280 of those reports, shedding new and startling light on camp conditions. Addressing camp situation, shelter, clothing, personal cleanliness, garbage disposal, latrines, food, cooking, water, alcohol, morale, recruit examination, smallpox vaccination, regimental hospitals, and officer supervision, the camp inspection returns are unique snapshots of what it was like to live in a Union army camp. The reports reveal that sanitation varied widely from unit to unit and across time periods. Volunteer regimental officers and surgeons were often unable to take sanitary principles seriously, and disposing of garbage and human waste was often nonexistent. Overall, the volunteer regiments did well enough to get by, but they did not achieve high marks for military effectiveness when it came to preventive healthcare. Civil War Camps and Soldier Health is a thought-provoking, impeccably researched volume that enriches our understanding of the sanitation challenges facing the Union army camps as well as how these challenges were recorded and examined by early researchers"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

War and soldier health

Camp situation

Shelter

Clothing and personal cleanliness

Slops and sinks

Food and cooking

Water, alcohol, and morale

Recruit examination and vaccination

Regimental hospitals and officer supervision

Confederate sanitation

After the Civil War.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781606355053

1606355058

OCLC:

1538482700