Continuing with the Alton Prison.
One resident of the Alton wrote during the smallpox epidemic that "A large trench was dug and bodies placed in separate wooden boxes, were hauled to the cemetery six at a time, and dumped into the trench. The wagon would then return and pick up more bodies." ww.4sullivans.com
There is a comprehensive list of Confederates who died at Alton Prison at
altonweb.com/history/civilwar/confed/h.html.
It also listed what they died of. I went through just the letter "H."
small pox-- 17
small pox, buried at small pox island (now underwater)-- 5
rubela-- 6
anemia- 2
chronic diarrhea-- 12
variola-- 7
?-- 14
consumption-- 2
typho pneumonia-- 1
erysihilas-- 3
dysentary-- 2
pneumonia-- 15
typhus fever-- 2
typhois malaria-- 3
dysenteria-- acuta-- 3
typho malaria-- 5
typhoid fever-- 7
inflamation of the brain-- 1
pithsis-- 1
gastritis-- 1
ersipelas-- 1
laryngitis-- 1 (I had no idea this could kill you)
enteritis-- 1
scurvy--1
gun shot wound-- 1 (I wonder about this one)
memingitis-- 1
erysipelas-- 1
debilitas-- 1
Some of these diseases might have been misspellings or alternate names. It depended upon who recorded it.
So, Getting Captured Was Not Such a Great Thing. And, They Talk About Confederate Prisons. --B-R
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
