Hint.............it wasn't old age (-:
My guess would be from infections …..
Carl,
Were you there (-:
Just kidding but you're on the right track and thanks for the guess.
My 93 year dad, who has spent his entire life living in Detroit(other than the years he served in the Army) remembers, as a young child seeing some of the Civil War veterans at the end of the Detroit parades.
He still has a marvelous memory and the math actually works.
In 1933, when he was 8 years old for instance, the end of the Civil War(1868) would have been 65 years before that.
A man who was 22 years old at the end of the war(born in 1846) would have been 87 years old in 1933.
A few years back, I recorded 4 separate, 1 hour interviews of my dad, getting all sorts of great stories about what it was like growing up in the 1920's/30's in the inner city of Detroit(in poverty).
Life for us in 2018 is a picnic.
He graduated from the University of Detroit and was an Industrial Engineer for Ford Motor Company for 40 years.
Interesting facts related to the Civil War
| Civil War Casualties, Total Killed, All War Deaths |
 |
| Civil War Total Killed, Casualties, Mortally Wounded, Died of Disease, Total Dead from All Causes |
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts
Q. What caused casualties during a battle?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
But this was just deaths during a battle. What caused even more deaths than those from battles?
Diarrhea!
https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/brother-against-microbe/
Dysentery was the single greatest killer of Civil War soldiers. It differed from common diarrhea because it was caused by a bacterial infection that gave a soldier loose and bloody bowels. Both dysentery and diarrhea were commonly called the “flux,” “Tennessee Trots” or the “runs,” and all Civil War soldiers suffered from them at one time or another. As one surgeon put it, “No matter what else a patient had, he had diarrhea.” Bacteria also caused typhoid and cholera. Typhoid was spread by flies that came in contact with feces or contaminated food, while cholera was caused by ingesting tainted food or water.
The graph seems to show casualties of American troops. Does that include the Confederate troops as well?
Yes
the 620,000 figure is OLD and waaaaay under done. The real number is 700-750,000
https://discovere.binghamton.edu/news/civilwar-3826.html
he Civil War stands as the deadliest conflict in U.S. history. Hundreds of thousands died in battle. Poor conditions in military encampments took the lives of many more. The effects of this bloody conflict reverberated across the lives of the 3 million men who fought in the war as well as the generations that followed.
A new analysis of census data suggests that this grisly era was even more costly than experts previously believed. Binghamton University historian J. David Hacker says the war’s dead numbered about 750,000, an estimate that’s 20 percent higher than the commonly cited figure of 620,000. His findings will be published in December in the journal Civil War History.
“The traditional estimate has become iconic,” Hacker says. “It’s been quoted for the last hundred years or more. If you go with that total for a minute — 620,000 — the number of men dying in the Civil War is more than in all other American wars from the American Revolution through the Korean War combined. And consider that the American population in 1860 was about 31 million people, about one-tenth the size it is today. If the war were fought today, the number of deaths would total 6.2 million.”
The 620,000 estimate, though widely cited, is also widely understood to be flawed. Neither the Union nor the Confederacy kept standardized personnel records. And the traditional estimate of Confederate war dead — 258,000 — was based on incomplete battle reports and a crude guess of deaths from disease and other non-combat causes. “It’s probably shocking to most people today that neither army felt any moral obligation to count and name the dead or to notify survivors,” Hacker says. “About half the men killed in battles were buried without identification. Most records were geared toward determining troop strength.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner James McPherson, the preeminent living historian of the war, says he finds Hacker’s new estimate plausible. “Even if it might not be quite as high as 750,000, I have always been convinced that the consensus figure of 620,000 is too low, and especially that the figure of 260,000 Confederate dead is definitely too low,” McPherson says. “My guess is that most of the difference between the estimate of 620,000 and Hacker’s higher figure is the result of underreported Confederate deaths.”
Trying to imagine what it was like living in that time makes one appreciate the awesomeness of this time.
Kings and Queens back then didn't have it as good as alot of poor people in this country have it today.
One thing to keep in mind with regards to the horrific conditions of the Civil War. The life that these people had before serving in the army was crappy already by todays standards. Serving in the army make it much crappier of course but most of these soldiers, before the war, just like most everyone in those days, were facing constant challenges and struggles to survive.
Food was not plentiful, medicine was non existent. Material things, conveniences and comforts were minimal.
If you or me were suddenly transported back in time 150 years and we were suddenly, average US citizens in 1868, it would be hell because we are so spoiled in 2018.
If you were a woman, you couldn't vote. There was almost no technology. One could type pages of things that didn't exist which we consider essential in todays world.
If we leave the house and suddenly realize that we left our cell phone behind.............got to turn around and go back to get it.........even if we're numerous miles away.