Being in Tennessee and Kentucky has piqued my interest in family history. leading me to sign up for an ancestry.com account. My first question was which ancestors had survived (or not) the civil war.
I quickly noticed two, father and son, who had dates of death in early 1862 in Kentucky. One was my 4-great-grandfather John W Sartin, great grandfather to my own great grandmother Rose Elizabeth Davis Jeffress, the second was his son and my 3-great-grandfather Alfred Fleming Sartin.
They lie n two different cemeteries in Tompkinsville KY only about 40 miles from where we are currently staying so we made a quick trip down.
We found Alfred in the Old Soldiers Cemetery.
Alfred was born December 21, 1827. He enlisted October 25, 1861 when he was just short of 34. Alfred and his wife Jane had 4 children at the time, with a 5th born just three months after his death.
He died in January 1862 at Camp Boyle in Columbia KY of the measles.
Next to Alfred lies his brother Jefferson Lafayette Sartin.
Jefferson was born in 1838 so was only about 23 when he enlisted. He died at Camp Boyle of measles on December 15, 1861.
We drove out of town to the Old Mount Herman cemetery.
My 4-Great Grandfather John W Sartin, born in 1798 he would have been 63 when he enlisted.
After witnessing the death of two of his sons in December and January he succumbed to the measles and died at Camp Boyle in June.
A third son lies next to him: Andrew Jackson Sartin. Andrew made it through the war and died a veteran in 1895.
Researching measles and the Civil War led me to the following posts and excerpts:
Kentucky - History - Civil War, 1861-1865
Ditter family. Letters, 1861-1863. 14 items
In a letter to his father dated 14 Oct. 1861 from Camp Dick Robinson (Ky.), Ben Ditter of the 31st Ohio Infantry writes that Confederate forces in southeastern Ky. under "old Zollicofer" have fallen back. He predicts an advance on Cumberland Gap in order to link up with Tenn. Unionists. He describes a visit to a nearby town where he was surprised at the number of sick soldiers, noting that measles was spreading through the camp. In a letter dated 10 Nov. 1861 he reports that their advance on the Gap led the enemy to briefly threaten Somerset, Ky. In a letter from Somerset dated 15 Jan. 1862, he describes recent fighting near "Zollie's camp."
______________________________________________________________
Measles Epidemic Kills Thousands
Measles killed around 11,000 soldiers during the Civil War, not as many as dysentery and diarrhea but a sizable number. With so many people gathered in such small areas this disease was able to spread rapidly. About 1 in 20 people who got this disease died. Men from rural areas were especially vulnerable, lacking immunity to the childhood diseases to which their urban counterparts had been exposed. Before the Union 17th Kentucky, left camp at Calhoun, Kentucky where they enrolled, an outbreak of measles “raged through the camp like some attacking army.” According to the unit’s historian, more than 20 men died in those first few months, before they even faced combat at Shiloh. They would lose more men to measles than they would in the battle.
In the winter of 1861 newly recruited soldiers suffered heavy losses from measles and other diseases. Near Bowling Green, Kentucky, starting in September 1861, the 1st Mississippi and 3rd Mississippi Infantry lost 104 men to measles alone over the next three months. They were among the over 300 Confederate Soldiers who died of measles, typhoid fever, pneumonia and other diseases at Camp Alcorn in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The 12th Iowa, most of whose men were wounded, killed, or captured at Shiloh, had already suffered from measles and other diseases in St. Louis. The 12th Iowa Volunteer Infantry was organized in Dubuque in October and November 1861, left Iowa late in November 1861, and went into quarters at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, for two months. Like its predecessors at the Barracks, the 12th suffered greatly there from diseases. Seventy-five members of the regiment died of measles, pneumonia or typhoid contracted there. At Camp Nelson, Arkansas, during the fall of 1862 an epidemic of measles and typhoid fever ran rampant through the troops there. Approximately 1,500 Arkansas and Texas soldiers died of disease during a two-month period and were buried in unmarked graves in the surrounding hills. During the winter of 1861-62 the Confederates had suffered through a severe measles epidemic at Fort Donelson, weakening their garrison. After General Grant’s troops captured the Fort they burned the Confederate winter quarters to remove possible contagion.
______________________________________________________________
We visited Camp Donelson, which will be another post. Measles was never mentioned.
So for those who don't believe that measles is a "big deal" and is a mild childhood illness, think again.
