There were over 620,000 casualties of the American Civil War. Only a third of them were due to combat injuries or the infections that almost invariably followed wounding. The number one killer was disease - primarily those which caused diarrhea. Contaminated water was often the only water these guys had to drink. Given that they were marching and fighting dressed in heavy woolen clothes in hot weather, they either drank what was available or they died.
It was not unusual for scores of men to fall by the wayside due to dehydration. But drinking contaminated water - and remember, nobody knew germs were the cause so nobody boiled or otherwise tried to de-contaminate the water - carried a variety of nasty microscopic thingies that literally could make a guy sh*t his guts out. Terms like "blood flux" will give ya an idea how bad it could get: the poor slobs would literally poop until they bled.
If you came to me, the regimental surgeon, I could stop your diarrhea for awhile. I'd give you a big dose of laudanum (alcohol and opium) or a straight opium pill. It would NOT cure you of the bug causing your diarrhea, but it would temporarily stop you from shi(TT)ing your brains out - and save your life.
Poor diet, exposure to the elements, a dreadful lack of knowledge on the part of medical men of the day all contributed to the appalling rate of morbidity and mortality during the Civil War - and it wasn't limited to the soldiers -all of Nineteenth-century society suffered the same.
As a re-enactor who portrays a Civil War regimental surgeon, I have a large collection of books on the topic. One that you might find to your liking was written by C. Kieth Wilbur, MD and it's title is "Civil War Medicine". It is paperback and only 120 pages. Heavily illustrated, it's available by special order at your local Barnes and Noble - or you can order it online from Wal-mart, of all places. You'll want the ISBN for ordering, and that is 0-7627-0341-5
Cover price is $14.95
Hey! Check out weekend activities near you this summer: you'll find a Civil War re-enactment somewhere nearby. Go watch: we love to have spectators visit us, and we'll give ya a memorable show. Watch us mow down them durn Rebs with our muskets and cannon, then come to the surgeon's tent and watch me try to put those bodies back together!
2007-11-16 03:05:49
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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The style of bullet used in the Civil War changed partway through which significantly changed the reasons people died. They went from a normal ball to a bullet shaped projectile that would get lodged into bone rather than just breaking it. It would also pierce internal organs much more frequently.
The answer is still B, but doing a bit of research would give you some great info about this which would give you a much better understanding of the whole situation.
2007-11-16 03:04:52
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answer #2
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answered by Showtunes 6
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By the infections from the wounds they suffered.
2007-11-16 02:51:00
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answer #3
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answered by thefredmauroner 1
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interior the aftermath of the 9/11 assaults and usa's next invasion of Afghanistan, the Bush administration grew to become lots extra concentrated on suffering with worldwide terrorism. Their frequent targets weren't the terrorists themselves, however the governments who supported them. Of optimum priority to Bush exchange into Iraq, which had long been accused of having a covert weapons of mass destruction application and probable even planned to . The rhetoric that got here from his administration exchange into that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein could be keen to dispense its arsenal to anti-American terrorist agencies, going so some distance as alleging ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda. not one of the information supplied with the aid of intelligence agencies implicated Hussein in any of this, and the Bush administration went out of its thank you to discredit any information to the alternative. i think of George W. Bush's intentions have been effective. He observed Saddam Hussein as a very ruthless tyrant who should not be allowed to rule a rustic - and rightly so. Saddam Hussein stepped forward a pervasive cult of character around himself, finished and tortured a countless variety of harmless human beings on the mere suspicion of dissidence, committed genocide against the Kurdish human beings interior the north with the aid of employing chemical gasoline, brutally repressed the Iraqi Shi'ite community, invaded 3 neighbouring countries with out provocation (Iran, Kuwait, and temporarily Saudi Arabia), released missile assaults against Israel for no different reason than to benefit community help, and backed terrorist agencies against his political competitors. thousands of hundreds (if no longer tens of millions) died on the palms of the Hussein regime in Iraq. yet Bush's justification for invading the country exchange into defective and the conflict as an entire exchange into sick-conceived. they did no longer evaluate the Sunni-Shia conflict that could tremendously much quite engulf Iraq afterwards, and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld did no longer make any attempt to plot out the placed up-invasion component to the conflict. the effect exchange right into a bloody sectarian conflict that keeps to on the present time.
2016-10-16 23:18:35
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answer #4
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answered by stinnette 4
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D Islamofascism. People don't die from weapons proliferation, lack of proper healthcare or nostalgia for the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, they die BECAUSE THE TERRORISTS DID IT! Dammit, those terrorists are everywhere, in every country in history! No matter whose Civil War it is, or which country you're talking about, we gotta go kill 'em! LETS ROLL!
2007-11-16 03:12:30
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answer #5
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answered by Micah Levantale 1
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definitely it was B because of the lackof medical of proper medical care for their wounds and sanitary conditions were non-existent.
2007-11-16 02:58:21
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answer #6
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answered by Dave aka Spider Monkey 7
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B
I'm a history major.
2007-11-16 02:47:32
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answer #7
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answered by dpenn_2s 2
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An Old Mick is correct. He knows his Civil War.
I strongly suggest you take him up on his suggestion, although my hope is most certainly misplaced.
Prove me wrong -PLEASE!!
2007-11-16 04:18:45
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answer #8
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answered by Sprouts Mom 4
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B, mainly gangreen
2007-11-16 02:47:45
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answer #9
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answered by cpm_2007 2
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none of the above - dysentary and other diseases like measles, pneumonia, etc. (these killed more soldiers than gunfire)
2007-11-16 03:47:00
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answer #10
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answered by teacherhelper 6
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