6. The Confederate troops were worse off than their Union counterparts in matters of health
A member of the Confederate Army faced a 1 in 5 chance of succumbing to disease. The diseases which crippled the Confederate Army were of the same nature, and for the same reasons, as those of the Union. Throughout the war the Southern army was ill-equipped to deal with both disease and combat wounds. There were fewer doctors in the South when the war began, and many of the troops were treated by volunteer officers in cases of both sickness and injury. Those who became ill usually resorted to ancient folk remedies or those derived by their ancestors from the Native Americans, using bark, roots, and leaves of various plants to brew teas and create salves which did little against disease.
