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The Republic of Suffering - Coggle Diagram
The Republic of Suffering
Scale of Death
Estimated 620,000-850,000 deaths
Exceeded the death toll of WWII or Korean War
Exceeded death toll of all other American wars combined up through WWI
Main Causes of Death
Disease and wounds
1/3 of all deaths were caused by wounds
Number of victims leads to military hospitals
Epidemics of diseases like measles and mumps
Soldiers from rural areas now exposed to new diseases
Amputation of limbs
Death becomes Public
Battlefields covered in mangled corpses
Military hospitals
Identifying and removing bodies was a public effort
Changing cultural understanding
Men now died rapidly from disease or injury instead of in the home
Results in absnece of remains or even not being able to identify the dead
Creation of national cemeteries
New Work
Massive casualties
New military structures to bury the dead
Volunteers managing the dead and wounded
Civilians traveling to recover loved ones
Creation of funeral industry
Private companies taking on responsibility of preparing and shipping the dead
Identifying the dead
New formal procedures to try to maintain records (national cemetaries)
For Confederate dead, the women often organized to rebury their dead