Dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid, malaria. These diseases thinned the ranks of Civil War soldiers when they weren't being killed in combat. Over a four-year period, disease claimed the lives of twenty percent of Confederate soldiers, and ten percent of the Union forces. A Civil War soldier was ten times more likely to die of disease and eight times more likely to die from a battlefield wound than an American soldier in World War I.

Civil War-era medical care was, of course, insufficient to stem the rapid spread of diseases, or to save many soldiers who had been wounded on the battlefield. It wasn't just limited medical knowledge or resources that led to such widespread death, however. Relatively small numbers of hospital personnel also contributed to the shocking losses. In 1861, the U.S. Army had only 113 surgeons, 24 of whom resigned and went to the South, and there were no general military hospitals at the time. Four years later, more than 15,000 army surgeons served in the Union and Confederate efforts, and some 350 hospitals had been erected.

To aid nursing efforts, many women formed voluntary associations, including the U.S. Sanitary Commission, the Western Sanitary Commission, the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity, and the Christian Commission, and stepped in to help. In the North, 3200 women served as Army nurses; in total, three times that number served as nurses in the war.

Explore this topic further:

Primary Source Documents
Union and Confederate women share their experiences.

Historian Video
Historian Catherine Clinton discusses women in the war.

Essay
Read about three women who served during the war in very different ways.