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Insects and the Civil War by Gary L. Miller ~ totally random, but intensely interesting. also, check out these articles about a reenactor's talk on lice and louse-bourne trench fever being a cause of defeat during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia.
what i love most about this site is that it's a good reminder that even the best reenactments are never going to quite replicate the conditions under which these armies waged war. in the movie Gettysburg they try to dirty up some, but the truth of the matter was that the whole army was itchy and sick to their stomachs most of the time. some scholars have even gone so far to suggest that Lee's loose bowels contributed to the defeat at Gettysburg (let's face it: how well can you command an army when you're running behind a bush every fifteen minutes?)
the site contains some first-hand accounts of the filth, the flies, and the disease they caused, though miller wonders that typhus wasn't even more rampant. while it's true 100 men died every day during the summer of '64 at Andersonville, they were dying from the combination of heatstroke, diarrhea, and malnutrition. you would think the conditions were ripe for typhus and plague, but apparently those pathogens just weren't around at the time ~ if they had been, the epidemic effect on the armies could have forced a much different outcome for the war. while the majority percentage of the more than 620 thousand deaths during the war were the result of disease, an epidemic could have easily wiped out three times that many.
anyway, i thought the site was pretty interesting and tells some amusing anecdotes ~ overall a really good resource.
: D
what i love most about this site is that it's a good reminder that even the best reenactments are never going to quite replicate the conditions under which these armies waged war. in the movie Gettysburg they try to dirty up some, but the truth of the matter was that the whole army was itchy and sick to their stomachs most of the time. some scholars have even gone so far to suggest that Lee's loose bowels contributed to the defeat at Gettysburg (let's face it: how well can you command an army when you're running behind a bush every fifteen minutes?)
Longstreet: But General it'll never...!i shouldn't make fun, but c'mon, it's pretty funny ~ in a human misery sort of way.
Lee: Hold that thought Jim, I'll be right back!
the site contains some first-hand accounts of the filth, the flies, and the disease they caused, though miller wonders that typhus wasn't even more rampant. while it's true 100 men died every day during the summer of '64 at Andersonville, they were dying from the combination of heatstroke, diarrhea, and malnutrition. you would think the conditions were ripe for typhus and plague, but apparently those pathogens just weren't around at the time ~ if they had been, the epidemic effect on the armies could have forced a much different outcome for the war. while the majority percentage of the more than 620 thousand deaths during the war were the result of disease, an epidemic could have easily wiped out three times that many.
anyway, i thought the site was pretty interesting and tells some amusing anecdotes ~ overall a really good resource.
: D
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