Diarrhea was the leading cause of death in the American Civil War. Soldiers had a code of honor to not shoot at anyone who was pooping.
Of the nearly 750,000 soldiers that died, 95,000 died from diarrhea or dysentery.
For every soldier that died on the battlefield, two died from disease.
Poor hygiene, crowded conditions, lack of medical treatment, and latrines built near streams, created the perfect breeding ground for diseases to proliferate and spread amongst the soldiers.
The second most common disease was malaria, which infected 1.3 million soldiers, killing 10,000 of them.
Others were exposed to chicken pox, diphtheria, measles, mumps, typhoid fever, and smallpox.
STDs such as gonorrhea and syphilis also infected hundreds of thousands of soldiers when Union General Joseph Hooker allowed sex workers into his encampment in order to improve morale.
In doing so, his name became forever associated with what is often touted as the world’s oldest profession.
