Abstract:
This document provides a detailed account of Pvt. Barzilla Allen's service and ultimate fate during the Civil War. He enlisted in the Confederate cause in early 1862, leaving his family in Georgia, including his pregnant wife, Rachel. By early summer 1862, his unit was encamped near Charlottesville, Virginia, where infectious diseases were rampant. In June 1862, Allen was afflicted with measles and was admitted to a hospital in Charlottesville. Despite contemporary efforts to improve conditions based on the then-prevalent belief that diseases were caused by "foul odors" rather than unsanitary conditions. The exact location of his final resting place is unknown, though he was most likely buried in an unmarked grave at the Confederate Cemetery at the University of Virginia, which contains over 1,000 unidentified soldiers, or possibly in Maplewood Cemetery, another Charlottesville cemetery with over 100 unmarked Confederate graves.
