I think chronic diarrhea should read "dysentery" since even in Vietnam soldiers in the field had dysentery about half the time until they just fell out and could not carry the combat load or hump the bush. I had bouts of dysentery many times but there were meds for it in Vietnam to stop you for total dehydration. Also, we did not have typhoid or small pox and all the rest of the killers. The fact your relative died from disease in the civil war is a hard fact. All my relatives got sick or were injured during the civil war, but all lived until the end somehow. I think because they were sent to rear areas in Mississippi to work as carpenters or shoemakers saved their lives. All were in the infantry or Cav. Units and all were privates. I think just drinking camp water or eating camp food was a bigger risk than battle. Did any of your relatives live to file for confederate pensions?

John