I don't know how many soldiers got malaria but it was common both in the south and Midwest during the Civil War era. I am thinking of diseases you get from drinking contaminated water.....Cholera, dysentery and chronic runs for sure. Being filthy and lice infested gets you typhoid and probably small pox. If you cram many people together you can have all sorts of lung infections that get worse and end with Pneumonia. When I was back in the States at Ft. Lenardwood I got some kind of acute respiratory infection that put me in the hospital for three weeks and this was 1971. If I had been a civil war era soldier I am sure I would have died. This was just from having contact with recruits after I got back from Nam and went to a basic training outfit.

I know at Andersonville the union POW's died of exposure and starvation as well as every disease that would afflict those weakened by malnutrition. Being a POW is now recognized by US military as presumptive for a whole host of diseases and conditions. If you were a POW then it is presumed you are prone to a large number of diseases including mental health issues like PTSD. I have read that half the fatalities in the Civil War were from disease. Is this true?

John