Measles also broke out in both armies in the form of widespread epidemics. All told, 67,763 white troops and 8,555 coloured troops contracted the disease, while 4,246 of the former and 931 of the latter succumbed to it. Out of every 1,000 men there succumbed:[[219]]

Small-pox.Measles.
White troops.Coloured troops.White troops.Coloured troops.
1861–21·36 1·97
1862–31·45 1·99
1863–43·2116·521·8812·35
1864–51·758·691·683·75
1865–60·6914·240·110·51

Malaria became particularly widespread; on an average no less than 52 per cent of the white troops and 83 per cent of the coloured troops contracted the disease per annum. It is absurd to say, then, that the negroes are immune to the disease; on the contrary, they contracted it much more frequently and suffered a great deal more severely from it than the whites. The troops in the military districts of Carolina and Arkansas, and also along the great rivers—the Mississippi, Ohio, and Potomac—were attacked by it with particular severity. Out of every thousand men the number that contracted the disease and the number that succumbed to it is shown by the following table:[[220]]

White Troops.Coloured Troops.
No. patients.No. deaths.No. patients.No. deaths.
1861–2404·02·77
1862–3460·13·76
1863–4584·13·19833·715·19
1864–5558·43·34750·08·77
1865–6853·15·42947·07·81

The total loss sustained by the Northern army in consequence of the most important infectious diseases is indicated by the following table:[[221]]

White Troops.
No. troops.Typhoid fever.Typhus fever.Dysentery, diarrhoea.Cholera.Small-pox.Measles.Malaria.
1861 May-June41,5561734 131
1861–2288,9195,7952011,20534393568800
1862–3659,95511,65837810,554969501,3142,480
1863–4675,4135,63212310,661562,1711,2682,152
1864–5645,5067,26612413,740671,1311,0822,155
1865–6101,897894211,630227111552
Annual Average468,275Totals 31,26285037,7942754,7174,2468,140
Coloured Troops.
1863–445,1741,251602,0037760568699
1864–589,1431,680413,23510775334782
1865–656,61765071,5261380629442
Annual Average63,645Totals 3,5811086,764302,3419311,923

In the prisons the mortality on both sides was terrible. Regarding the conditions among the Confederate prisoners that were interned in the Northern States we are informed by the following table. The average number of men in the prisons was 40,815, and of this number 19,060, all told, died; taking the entire war into account, this gives a mortality of 230.7 per 1,000 per annum.[[222]] The figures are divided among the various diseases as follows:

Deaths (all told).Annual rate per 1,000.
Typhoid Fever, Typhus Fever1,10913·6
Malaria1,02612·6
Small-pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Erysipelas3,45342·3
Diarrhoea, Dysentery5,96573·0
Scurvy3514·3
Bronchitis1331·6
Inflammation of the Lungs and Pleurisy5,04261·7
Other diseases1,72921·3
Wounds and uncertain maladies2520·3
Total19,060230·7

The conditions among the Northern prisoners confined in the Southern prisons were still worse. In the Andersonville prison, where in the six months between March 1 and August 31, 1864, an average of 19,453 prisoners were confined, 7,712 died; this means an annual rate of 792.8 per 1,000 men. The following table indicates the proportional mortality of the individual diseases:[[223]]

Cause of death.Deaths (all told).Annual rate per 1,000.
Typhoid Fever, Typhus Fever19920·5
Malaria11912·2
Small-pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Erysipelas808·2
Diarrhoea, Dysentery4,529465·6
Scurvy999102·8
Bronchitis909·2
Inflammation of the Lungs and Pleurisy26627·4
Other diseases84486·7
Wounds and uncertain maladies58660·2
Total7,712792·8