What Hygiene Was Like Among Civil War Armies

What was hygiene like during the Civil War? By contemporary standards, it was pretty grim for both Union and Confederate troops. Confronted by unsanitary living conditions and the ever-present risk of disease, many soldiers were unwittingly locked in a fight not only for the nation but their own health as well. The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865, before the advent of antiseptics or a full understanding of how diseases spread.