Struck Down by Fever

St. Paul's Church in Alexandria while in use as a hospital in 1862. William was cared for here until transferred to Fort Schuyler.

Commentary

 

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia was under military occupation during the Civil War. The occupation of the church sanctuary occured in February 1862 after the arrest of the rector for refusing to say a prayer for President Lincoln. Immediately thereafter, the St. Paul’s sanctuary was closed and was used for the duration of the War as a hospital for Union soldiers.

Where went the 107th

The objective of the march into Virginia was to reinforce the Union lines along the Rappahannock River across from Fredericksburg, Virginia. For those that stayed on their feet, the walk would last for five days.

From near Antietam, Maryland to Fairfax Station, Virginia is about 60 miles. From there to the Fredericksburg area is a little over 40 miles further. 100 miles in five days means the army was walking 20 miles a day - not exactly a record. However, for a large army with all its baggage and the need to fortify a new camp each day - remember Virginia was enemy territory in large part - this was a pretty good pace.

Fairfax Station in 1862. Train and tracks can be seen in the right rear

As indicated in the previous post, the regiment reached Frederickburg on December 16, 1862. This was the day after General Burnside had ordered a retreat back to the east bank of the Rappahannock. The retreat recognized the thrashing Union forces had received from Lee's army entrenched on the heights behind Fredericksburg. 

The 107th Regiment would spend the next month at Fredericksburg. Near the end of January it would participate in the Mud March. After that fiasco, the regiment remained in camp at Stafford Court House until the end of April. Stafford was about 10 miles north of the Union lines on the Rappahannock River.

Camp Fever

'Camp fever' was the term used for all of the continuing fevers experienced by the army, especially typhoid fever. Camp fever was the cause of one quarter of disease deaths among soldiers. 

Ambulance similar to the vehicle that carried the sick William to Fairfax Station.
The activity portrayed is actually an ambulance crew drilling to get it right.

Typhoid fever is a disease that is characterized by diarrhea and a rash along with many other symptoms ranging from severe headache to delirium. It is caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhi.

This bacteria is spread by food or drink that is contaminated with fecal matter. Cooks with this disease readily pass it on to others. After the bacteria is ingested it travels to the spleen to multiply. Then the disease manifests as a fever and diarrhea which can lead to dehydration.

During the years of the war, Union records show that almost 30,000 soldiers died from this particular disease. The squalid conditions of many camps as well as lack of understanding about bacteria and disease transmission led to this high number of deaths. Fecal matter as well as dead bodies contaminated streams, causing the disease to spread.

Treatment at best consisted of the few trained doctors giving a mixture of mercury and chalk to the afflicted. America at the time lacked the proper medical professionals to handle such a large scale illness assailing so many. Opium, morphine and quinine were also used to treat the diseased.

Civil War Money

I am not completely clear as to the origin of the "Sherming Company Dollar". It probably represents one of the many ways the populace tried to deal with the currency chaos brought about by the Civil War.

US government paper dollar first issued in 1862

In 1862, day-to-day commerce became strained by a shortage of coins. At the time, paper money was not backed by gold or silver. Only faith in the central Government gave the bills any value and the Civil War put significant strain on any faith that had existed. Coins were worth more than their paper equivalent and were consequently not spent on goods that could be bought with paper.

The financial issues resulting from coin hoarding became worse when financiers found they could use paper money to buy silver coins, sell the silver coins to foreign markets for gold, and then buy paper dollars for gold at discount prices. The coin shortage could be life-threatening for a society where one cent bought a newspaper, the average salary was twelve to fifteen dollars a week, and a private in the army earned about thirteen dollars a month.

People tried many different unofficial methods to alleviate the coin shortage. Among those methods, some businesses issued promissory notes and others issued Civil War tokens.