[
49]
Died of disease.
(not including deaths in prisons.)
| Class. | Enrolled. | Died. | Per cent. |
| Volunteers | 2,080,193 | 167,510 | 8.0 |
| Regulars | 67,000 | 2,552 | 3.8 |
| Colored Troops | 178,975 | 29,658 | 16.5 |
| | | | |
| Total | 2,326,168 | 199,720 | 8.5 |
Deaths from all causes.
| Class. | Enrolled. | Died. | Per cent. |
| Volunteers | 2,080,193 | 316,883 | 15.2 |
| Regulars | 67,000 | 5,798 | 8.6 |
| Colored Troops | 178,975 | 36,847 | 20.5 |
| | | | |
| Total | 2,326,168 | 359,528 | 15.4 |
The number of deaths from disease was remarkable, being more than double the number from battle.
Without including the deaths in Confederate prisons, or those caused by accidents, drowning, sunstrokes, suicides, executions, murders, or other causes, there were 199,720 of the
Union Army who died of disease — in camp, in hospitals, or at home — before their term of enlistment had expired.
Part of this extraordinary loss was due to the severity of the campaigns.
The extent of territory marched over was immense; some of the campaigns were made under a tropical sun, and some of the battles were fought amid the snows of winter.
The Ninth Corps fought on the
Carolina Coast, and then moved a thousand miles westward to the fever-smitten camps at
Vicksburg.
The Twelfth Corps, after fighting for two years in
Virginia, moved to
Tennessee, from whence it fought its way through
Georgia to
Atlanta; marched from
Atlanta to the
Sea, and thence northward to its old battle grounds, having encircled half a continent.
Men from the woods of
Maine encamped two thousand miles distant along the bayous of
Louisiana.
Men from the prairies of the
Northwest toiled and battled among the everglades of
Florida, and along the
Gulf.
Human endurance was often tested to its utmost, and the restless, moving armies left in their wake a line of countless graves.
And, yet, some of the greatest losses by disease occurred in regiments that were not subjected to the exposure of active service; regiments, which performed garrison duty only, and were provided with comfortable quarters and good food.
The greatest loss by disease occurred in some black regiments which were doing garrison duty, and were stationed in the same district from which they had been recruited and where they had lived all their lives.
Then, again, certain regiments among the white troops suffered from disease, unaccountably, more than others.
The Vermont Brigade, while encamped in
Virginia, in 1861, lost scores of men by disease, while the regiments in adjoining camps were entirely exempt; and, yet, these Vermonters excelled in physique, cleanliness and intelligence.
The most striking feature of the mortuary statistics is that the regiments which incurred the greatest loss in battle are the ones which suffered least from disease.
While, throughout the whole army, the deaths from disease were double those from bullets, the hard fighting regiments seldom lost even a like number.
One-fifth of the deaths from disease occurred in regiments that never were in battle.
In connection with this matter one must bear in mind, also, the ratio of mortality in civil life.
Assuming the average age of the soldiers to be 23 years, the tables of the
Life Insurance Actuaries indicate that three-fourths of the deaths from disease were due to the exposure of a
