An estimated 620,000 soldiers died during the Civil War, and of those, two-thirds died of disease. Water and lack of sanitation were major reasons for these deaths. Since they were given very few utensils, soldiers often had to use the same pot they used for cooking to wash and boil their clothes for lice. Latrines were often too close to creeks and rivers, the source of water for soldiers, which contaminated the drinking water. Dysentery and typhoid, often caused by bacteria, accounted for about 25 percent of deaths. This tin pail was part of a cooking utensil set used by Matthias Schlinker.