Introduction

The American Civil War had the highest death toll then any other American war. It has been estimated that about 1.988% of the population or 625,000 people died during the four year period of hostilities between the south and the north. Many things contributed to the excessively high casualty rate. Not only was it because the fighting was American on American. But also there were many other circumstances that contributed to the deaths of soldiers on both sides of the war. The main reasons for the high death rate were the harsh weather, lack of advanced medical care, and the need for sufficient sanitation.

Weather

            To begin with, the weather during 1861-1865 was very unpredictable and completely extreme. The Civil War was fought during the end of what scientists call “The Little Ice Age”. This “Little Ice Age” a period of general cooling and unpredictability that scholars date from 1310 to 1850. Even though the “Ice Age” was officially done in 1850 its effects could be felt until the early 1900’s. Also when the battles were fought in the south the extreme and lack of water created a very hostile environment for soldiers on all sides. Same thing happened when battles were fought in the north. The extreme cold killed off large amounts of men on both sides.

Medical Care

            Secondly, during the Civil War there was an enormous need for doctors. Bullets needed to be cut out. Legs needed amputating among other things. Since most people didn’t get a college education during the 1800’s there was a very small amount of certified doctors. So Union and Confederate soldiers both had trouble when it came to this lack of reliable and certified medical care.

Sanitation

            Lastly, The final reason for the spectacularly high casualty rate was caused by the lack of sanitation in the 1800’s. Very little was known about bacteria, pathogens, or germs and did not understand spread of viruses and disease. Also, in most cases if you had been shot they would actually just amputate the entire injured body part. Another way that there was a huge shortage of rules of sanitation was that when doctors were done using their tools they would not clean off the tool they were using to amputate with. This caused the spreading of bacterias to every person that had a body part amputated. So even if you made it through with just losing your leg or your there was a high chance you would get an infection or a disease from the amputation process, eventually resulting in an unnecessary death.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, the main reasons for the high death rate were the harsh weather, lack of advanced medical care, and the need for sufficient sanitation. All these reasons played major roles in the high casualty rate of confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War.  Looking at research, most deaths that happened during the Civil War were not deaths during battle proving even more that the reasons above were the causes for the true destruction that happened.