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historyarch · 2243 days ago · link · · parent · post: Living Hell - Lecture from historian Michael C.C. Adams about what the US Civil War was actually like
Wow, that was a powerful presentation on the misery of the Civil War. Professor Adams evidently researched his subject well to glean the details of how hard life was. More soldiers died due to disease and deprivation than from battlefield wounds. After hearing this lecture, that detail comes as no surprise. It also makes the administration of Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond all the more impressive. Professor Adams highlighted the shortages Confederates faced and yet Dr. James McCaw who ran Chimborazo maintained an extremely low mortality rate of less than 10%. Not surprisingly, he insisted on clean facilities, sheets, bandages, etc and good hygiene. That may sound obvious to us now, but back then it was unusually forward thinking.