This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War

Here, the author explores death among civilian populations impacted by the war. Many people not wearing uniforms or otherwise involved with military efforts still lost their lives due to disease, weapons fire, or unexploded ordnance. It was common for people in cities and towns near battle sites who took in the wounded to catch the diseases they brought with them. Further, army construction led to conditions that were ripe for malaria and yellow fever, which then spread to the surrounding populations. Especially heartbreaking are the stories of children who died from contracting such diseases; one well-known example of this was Abraham Lincoln’s son, Willie, who contracted typhoid fever in 1862 and died because of it.

Additionally, many African Americans who escaped slavery and rushed north contracted diseases from contact with others in their situation, including those living in temporary camps set up by the Union army to shelter escapees. Faust writes that “[m]any who escaped to freedom never lived to enjoy it” (2200-01).

The conditions in the South were especially bad, in regard to the ability to cope with death, disease, and other home-front adversity. One challenge faced by those in the South—in the army or out of it—was hunger and, in many cases, famine.