Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Risk Factors: Measuring and Rating Health, Illness, and Mortality
The Provost-Marshal-General's Office managed recruiting for the Union forces during the last two years of the Civil War (1863-1865), standardizing the medical exams and making other improvements to ensure better fitness in new troops. This process generated over a million detailed medical records, which after the war were compiled and analyzed to provide a valuable statistical profile of the physical and medical condition of American men. The published report included this map showing the prevalence of phthisis pulmonalis (tuberculosis of the lungs) in the various U. S. regions, based on exams of drafted men. Maps-Plate VI of J. H. Baxter, Comp., Statistics, medical and anthropological, of the Provost-Marshal-General's Bureau, derived from records of the examination for military service in the armies of the United States during the late war of the rebellion. Vol 1. Part 2, Charts and Maps.
Rights:
The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain.