Scurvy Civil War

Disease impacted the mobility and effectiveness of Union and Confederate armies. Medical personnel and others who encountered the military bands, such as contrabands and civilians, contracted some of these diseases also. Death followed military encampments but also led to changes in military practices and advanced medical knowledge of disease symptoms, treatment, and prevention. The diseases of typhus, scurvy, chronic diarrhea and/or dysentery, malaria and yellow fever impacted the effectiveness of both armies by cutting the number of soldiers available for battle. All involved fought despondency which was enhanced by malnutrition. Leading military physicians reported that the men “do not feel sick and yet their energy, their powers of endurance,

None had regular dietary access to Vitamin C; a nutrient needed to prevent scurvy. As Letterman records in his memoirs “this disease ... and the causes which give rise to it undermine the strength, depress the spirits… of those who do not report themselves sick, and who yet are not well.” Medical records describe other common deficiencies through symptoms yet ultimately list the diagnosis of some variant of scurvy. This was a reflection of the medical understanding at the time; “some complaints were listed according to symptoms, others according to the seat of the disease, and still others according to their real or fancied cause.” For example, a deficiency in vitamin A manifested in night blindness, and niacin deficiency was evidenced through skin sensitivity and diarrhea. Due to this lack of understanding about malnutrition and its various symptoms, physicians diagnosed night blindness, or skin irritation, or diarrhea, rather than

Union soldiers were well fed, barring particular sieges, but faced a lack of fruits and vegetables. Soldiers regularly requested they be sent canned fruits in their letters home. There are stories of both sides stopping mid-march to forage wild fruits such as blackberries. Regardless of the color of the uniform, soldiers on the march lacked vital nutrients. A minority among the Southern medical sphere, Dr. Porcher, recognized “that proper food of suitable quantity and quality was the principal agent in procuring a cure.” At the time, the general consensuses on disease causes were based on the older belief of bodily humors, even neurological issues and environmental influences. Malnutrition led to a less robust immune system which is then more susceptible to newly introduced (to the individual)