Civil War Soldiers Cleaning up before town

[ammonite7]

I think this is a toughie.  The Eight Texas Rangers have just arrived at Camp Pratt on Spanish Lake in Louisiana from a week's journeying (days of tramping across  Louisiana mud and creeks).  They are covered in mud and soon will board a steamboat for further travel to New Orleans.  There are approximately five companies of 117 men each who haven't

Comments

[rick_day]

Not being an expert of this particular camp, I would venture there were bath houses available either in a nearby town or within camp, which included laundry. Obviously, labor was provided by slaves.

Also, with the abundance of hot water on the steamer, there would be ample showers and laundry facilities, again dealt with by slave labor.

Even if not true of this Camp, it is plausible, and a great scene for a chapter of bonding, back story fill in, etc...

[duckodeath]

Also, I'm pretty sure there would have to be plenty of fresh water around for the horses to drink even if the men never drank anything that wasn't fermented or distilled.

[surgicalsteel]

I can't give you specific details, but in the third chapter of A Practical Treatise on Military Surgery by Frank Hastings Hamilton, it's stated that 'The code under the Jewish dispensation, enforcing ablutions and purifications, was obeyed as a religious rite: it has been quoted as a system well suited to a camp.' That's in a chapter which starts with 'Cleanliness is the life of an army, while filth and dirt are amid its disease-generating causes.'

That's a Civil War-era surgical text - it was one of the surgeon's jobs to make sure the men employed proper hygeine. So while I can't give you specific details, I think it's safe to assume that there would've been some sort of sanitary facilities in camp which might have roughly followed 'the Jewish dispensation.'

That text's available on Google Books, BTW.

[okaasan59]

If you google "laundry in the Civil War" you come up with links that say that the armies actually employed laundresses, usually one for every company of 20 men or so. Considering Camp Pratt had nearly 7000 men at one time, I'm sure there would have been laundry facilities for the officers. The enlisted men would probably have had to make do with dunking their head in a barrel of clean water. And since I live near Spanish lake, I can say that traversing it at night would be hazardous, but during the day it would be easy enough to watch for alligators or snakes. It's a large lake so only small areas would be subject to getting "scummy."

Also wanted to add that more recent photos show the lake as it is since flood control projects and surrounding construction have severely limited the flow of fresh water to the area. It was much more of a clean lake back then.

[ammonite7]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I think I can move forward enough from what I have learned from you all.

I am surprised about that Civil War surgical text you mention. Everything I have read about medicine and surgery during this period states that surgeons didn't even wash their hands before surgery. No one knew about cleanliness and its relation to septicemia at the time. They did often pour buckets of water over those about to be operated upon, but it was mainly to clear away the dirt and blood so the surgeon could see what he was doing. Often the water used wasn't even clean, and it was luck only when the patient received pure spring water.