Confederate military logistics letters from Atlanta, Georgia

Confederate military logistics letters from Atlanta, Georgia

The Military Actions of the Confederacy in the Civil War

These letters were sent between four Confederate officers during the early months of 1864. Henry Constantine Wayne and Albert Cowell had to discuss the huge confusion on where to send the soldiers that were sick. This was a major problem during the Civil War. Disease was everywhere, and very easy to get. The worst was Dysentery, infection of the intestines resulting in severe diarrhea with the presence of blood and mucus in the feces, which was incredibly hard to not get when dealing with people so close cornered for large amounts of time, with little to none sanitation. It is no doubt that these two Confederate officers had much confusion about where to send the sick soldiers, there was so many, about 50,000 soldiers died in the Confederacy just from Dysentery. The next biggest disease that was detrimental to soldiers in the Civil War was Typhoid. One in every three people that contracted the disease died. This led to 35,000 Confederate soldiers deaths. Many of the diseases spread could have been stopped due to proper sanitation of the medical tools doctors used. But because doctors back then did not know better they often would work from person to person without cleaning the utensils, which spread disease extremely easily. Not only were the soldiers at risk of death being at the hospital, but the nurses that would take care of them were always as well at risk of contracting these deathly diseases. Officer H C Wayne, through the confusion, was finally told by his primary commanding officer to send his sick soldiers directly to the Ford Hospital.

Source: Confederate military logistics letters from Atlanta, Georgia, ms 3581. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Confederate States of America.

Hargrett Manuscripts

Hargrett Manuscripts

1864

The Confederacy of the United States

https://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-diseases

Letters

English

Manuscript

Confederate Commanding Officers