Mosquito Nets In The Civil War

Mosquito nets are made from a fine mesh.

Mosquito nets help keep out mosquitoes and other biting insects while a person sleeps. They were invented during the 18th century and were used widely to protect explorers and soldiers in mosquito-infested areas. In the Civil War, they were widely used throughout the Southern theater of war both because of the high levels of mosquitoes and because of the various biting insects that infested large camps of soldiers on both sides.

Union Soldier's Use of Mosquito Nets

The Union armies were slow to use mosquito nets and did not introduce them as standard issue until 1863. The Union thought that the war would be over during the first year until General Robert E. Lee marched the army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac. In 1862, the Union Army started up the Medical Corp with Surgeon Major's responsible for the health of the troops. Soon the factories of the North were churning out mesh nets for the hospital beds and then for individual soldier's bedrolls. As a whole, the Union nets were stronger and better made than the Confederate nets.

Confederate Soldier's Use of Mosquito Nets

The Confederacy knew the war was going to last for a while and actually started a Medical corp in 1861, before the Union. However, mosquito nets were already in widespread use beforehand because the Confederate soldiers would bring their own nets. The Confederate issue nets were often British-issue nets that were imported. However, once the Anaconda Blockade was put into place the Confederates had to make their own nets. Because the South lacked the North's industrial might, the nets had to be made by individual net makers and were not as well made as the loom-spun northern nets.

Naval Usage

The navies of both sides were already using mosquito nets because of various deployments to tropical areas by the prewar navy. The Confederate navy was made up of former Union ships so the ships took with them all the tools and materials as before, including mosquito nets. Some ships had nets that were big enough to drape over the various decks so that the crew could work without few of mosquitoes.

Civilian Usage

Various communities that suffered from mosquitoes before the war used nets to help keep down plague. However, mosquito net use spread rapidly amongst civilians near the front lines for two reasons. First was that the soldier's camps served as breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Second, the soldiers would spread the mosquitoes as they marched to previously untouched areas. Though a side benefit of the mass production in the North of mosquito nets was the widespread availability of the nets after the war.

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