what was the most common cause of death for soldiers in the civil war
Cause of Death The Stonewall Jackson Monument on the Manassas Battlefield. By Rob Shenk â CC BY-SA 2.0. Four days later he begins to complain of chest pains and difficulty breathing. His surgeon and doctor, Hunter Holmes McGuire, diagnoses pneumonia in the right lung. Pneumonia was one of the most common causes of death during the Civil War. Doctors of the time sometimes relied on methods that were fast going out of favor. Stonewall was given mercury for its strong laxative properties and to induce vomiting.