Deaths During the Civil War - A Tale of Two Regiments
The 13th New Jersey and 107th New York were two new Union regiments formed during the summer of 1862. These units were brigaded together, marched into the Battle of Antietam together, and then encamped together on Maryland Heights across the Potomac River from Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Due to the worsening weather, inadequate shelter, poor food and water, and a piece of ground not favorable as camp site, the men became very sick. But the deaths in both regiments were far different, impacting the New Yorkers much more than the Jerseymen.
Though both regiments suffered terribly, the death toll in the 107th beginning with Corporal Joseph Couse on October 1st would far surpass the death toll in the 13th that began three weeks later with Private Martin V.B. Demarest. In fact, by the time the 13th’s Demarest died, the 107th saw more than a dozen deaths due to sickness and disease. But it would not end there. In October 1862 alone, 22 New Yorkers died from disease compared to just three Jerseymen.
But if both regiments were equally exposed, why was the death rate so much higher among the New Yorkers? There are several reasons. First, the 107th New York was established in a predominantly rural area of the state, and as such, soldiers in that regiment had little exposure to diseases that flourished in the cities of America. An estimated two-thirds of the 107th’s men were farmers or farm laborers before enlisting. In addition, there were also a handful of lumbermen, sawyers, and millers in the regiment, indicating that most of these men lived a rural lifestyle. For many it would be the first time in their lives living day to day among hundreds of other men.
While the 13th New Jersey was hardest hit on the battlefield at Chancellorsville, and the 107th New York at Dallas, both regiments ended the war with about the same number of deaths due to wounds. However, deaths due to disease were 50 percent higher than battle deaths in the 107th New York, but 50 percent lower in the 13th New Jersey.
The 13th New Jersey on the other hand had an unusually small number of deaths due to sickness and disease during the war. Most of the men in this regiment came from urban areas of northeast New Jersey where they lived and worked in often crowded and unsanitary conditions. In fact, the City of Newark itself (where 45 percent of the 13th’s men lived before enlisting) was dubbed the unhealthiest city in America in the 19th century. As Newark rapidly grew during the decades leading up to the Civil War, its commitment to public health severely lagged. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery, all took victims in the city. But it also had one positive benefit: it exposed many of the 13th’s soldiers to the diseases that were not only uncommon in rural areas of the country but would flourish in Civil War campgrounds. Therefore, though hundreds of men were sickened in both regiments, a shoemaker from Newark, New Jersey had a much higher tolerance to disease than a farmer from Schuyler County, New York.
Both regiments left Maryland Heights at the end of October 1862, but disease-related deaths continued. By the time Christmas arrived that year, the death toll due to sickness rose to 32 in the 107th and 11 in the 13th. By the time spring ended in 1863, sickness and disease would claim 44 men in the 107th compared to just 14 in the 13th. By war’s end, when both regiments were mustered out of service in early June 1865, the total number of deaths due to sickness and disease reached 88 in the 107th, about three times as many as the 30 who died in the 13th. Comparatively, both regiments suffered about 60 deaths each due to battle wounds during the course of the war.
