"MORE FATAL THAN POWDER AND SHOT": dysentery in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War, 1846-48

Headnote

ABSTRACT In terms of deaths due to disease, the Mexican War (1846-48) was the deadliest of all American wars. Nearly 13% of the entire U.S. force perished from disease. Of the total 12,535 war deaths, 10,986 (88%) were due to infectious diseases (overwhelmingly dysentery, both bacterial and amoebic); seven men died from disease for every man killed by Mexican musket balls. Camp pollution was the greatest error committed by U.S. troops in the Mexican War. The indifference of line officers and recruits to the need for proper sanitation and military hygiene fueled the dysentery outbreaks, and the poor conditions in military hospitals contributed further to the spread of disease. This defect in military culture undermined the health of the army and led to medical disaster. Disease caused an enormous drain on the U.S. Army's resources, eroded troop morale, and influenced strategy and tactics. As we enter the 21st century, dysentery is still a major public health threat, killing hundreds of thousands of people annually-primarily children in developing countries where personal hygiene is poor and disposal of human and animal wastes is indiscriminate.

Dysentery is one of the four great epidemic diseases of the world. . . . it has been more fatal to armies than powder and shot.

-William Osler (1892)

THE U.S. ANNEXATION OF TEXAS on December 29, 1845, the stationing of U.S. troops in disputed territory along the Mexican border, and President James K. Polk's proclamation of the Rio Grande boundary were the major events that precipitated the MexicanWar. From 1846 to 1848, a total of 85,734 officers and men (26,922 Regulars, 58,812 Volunteers) served in two theaters: the Northern, comprising southern Texas and northern Mexico, under Brevet Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor's command; and the Southern, central Mexico fromVeracruz to Mexico City, under Maj. Gen.Winfield Scott.The U.S.Army was victorious, largely due to the superiority of American arms-especially artillery. When the war ended and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848,Mexico ceded to the United States a vast territory encompassing the present states of California,Nevada,New Mexico,Utah,Arizona, and Colorado (Bauer 1974). This acquisition increased ongoing tensions between the North and South over the central question of the westward expansion of slavery. Thus, the roots of the CivilWar (1861-65) "lay deep...