December 22, 1861 (Sunday): "The Men Sicken and Fall Like Leaves"

Governor Thomas E. Bramlette

                                                                        COLUMBIA, KY, December 23, 1861.

                                                                                    (Received December 25, 1861.)

General GEORGE H. THOMAS:

   The enemy is closing in upon us; his pickets are near us in three directions, viz, Grider’s Ferry, on the Glasgow road, and Someret.  A skirmish took place this evening at Grider’s Ferry between 4 of our cavalry and 1 Home Guard against 15 of the enemy.  The firing was across the river; 2 or 3 of the enemy and 1 horse killed; no injury to our men.  The enemy fled, but returned with reinforcements, and I have ordered four companies of cavalry to sustain our men.

  In direction of Somerset, about 25 miles from this, 500 of the enemy have been encamped for two days.  In direction of Glasgow some 200 have been encamped for several days, 20 miles off.

   Haggard’s cavalry are not in condition for service.  His horses are not shod, and it seems impracticable to get it done here.  Wolford’s cavalry is too remote for any available use, imbedded in the Green River hills.

   Typhoid fever is striking our men a heavy blow; 233 of my regiment now down, and dying daily.  My loss is greater here than during all the preceding service.  Unless we are moved the regiment will soon become greatly weakened.  While marching we never have any sick; when we stop the men sicken and fall like leaves.  Safety to human life, aside from the defense of the country, demands our moving.  If we cannot get to move upon the enemy, it is our earnest desire that he will move on us, and the sooner the better for us.  We would rather die in battle than on a bed of fever.

       Respectfully,

                                                                                    THO. E. BRAMLETTE,

                                                                                  Colonel, Commanding Post.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 7, Part 1, Page 513.

Union accounts list 81,360 men dead from typhoid fever during the war.  Poor sanitation in camps caused contamination of drinking water leading to typhoid fever.  With a full strength regiment consisting of 30 officers and 930 men, the loss of 233 to typhoid would have been a crippling operational blow.  Bramlette, a lawyer before the war,  would become Governor of Kentucky in 1863.  His post, Columbia, was roughly half way between Lexington and Knoxville.