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{ 107 } ChaPTer nine August The trenches at Petersburg became filthy by August. Officers tried to enforce cleanliness, but the men always dropped bits of food on the floor. “Vermin abounded,” recalled the inspector of Hagood’s staff, “and diseases of various kinds showed themselves.The digestive organs became impaired by the rations issued and the manner in which they were prepared. Diarrhoea and dysentery were universal; the legs and feet of the men swelled until they could not wear their shoes, and the filth of their persons from the scarcity of water was almost unbearable.” Thomas Jackson Strayhorn of the 27th North Carolina enjoyed a short rest outside the works, but the thought of returning to “those dirty ditches” haunted him. “I hope we will not have to go into those trenches any more; they are so dirty and hot you can get no air at all scarcely.”1 Insects of all kinds increased in number as the summer progressed, but worst of all were the flies. Their population exploded with the accumulation of horse dung, offal from slaughtered cattle, and the bodily filth of the troops. “They seem to fairly spring out of the ground when you move,” noted Henry E. Taintor. “They run your face and hands so that it is impossible to keep still an instant.” A Fifth Corps soldier was impressed by their appetite, often mistaking their bite for the sting of a bee. “We have to keep constantly in motion as their capacity is so great that they can scarcely be driven away from one[;] they drive the horses and mules perfectly crazy.”2 Living amid freshly turned dirt caused the men’s clothes to become “packed full of dust” and their skin to be “caked with dirt.” Most soldiers along the Petersburg lines suffered to some degree with what William R. Ray of the Iron Brigade called the “ground itch.” A few days out of the trenches and a good wash took care of such complaints, but soap was in short supply in Lee’s army. The quartermasters had issued it three times since early May, but only enough each time for three days’ use. “The great want of cleanliness which is a necessaryconsequence of thesevery limited issues is now producing sickness among { 108 } August the men in the trenches, and must effect their self respect & morale,” Lee reported on August 9. He urged President Davis to purchase soap at any cost, but the authorities failed to solve the problem.3 Continual duty in theworks wore the men down physicallyand emotionally. L. S. Wright of the 56th North Carolina noted how his comrades were “giting mity pore and pale and look very bad.” Wright was so exhausted that he found it difficult to write a letter home, “my mind is so confused.” The trenches became a kind of prison for him, as the Yankees “kill sum of our men and I am allway in a dred . . . to cum out of they brest[works] for fear of being kild.”4 Material shortages continued to plague the Confederates. An inspection of Pickett’s division on the Howlett Line indicated that 27 percent of the men present for duty did not have jackets, 29 percent had inadequate trousers, 25 percent had poor or no shirts, 29 percent were without underwear, 28 percent needed shoes, and 36 percent had no socks.Therewere lesser shortages of many other pieces of clothing and equipment, but nearly everyone had weapons and gun accoutrements. Some Confederates in other divisions who did have shirts, like Younger Longest of the 26th Virginia, wore the same one for four weeks before they had an opportunity to give it a wash.5 The Federals never suffered material shortages as severe as those of their counterparts, but they endured onerous duty in the works. Ord instructed his brigade commanders to mix quinine with the daily whiskey ration to combat disease, and officers received orders to provide shade for reserve troops. Tenth Corps brigade commander Louis Bell applied for a leave of absence, explaining to his wife that “what has chiefly used me up is the constant anxiety and watchfulness required in the front, want of sleep, and weary care.”6 The weather continued hot and dry for most of August, but it rained a lot in mid-month. An especially hard shower fell on August 15 and created havoc with the earthworks and the men’s living quarters. The storm flooded trenches and collapsed 100 yards of...

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