On Wednesday, April 8, 1863, Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill recorded that the sickness in the 13th regiment seemed to be increasing.

“The scarlet fever and typhoid pneumonia are prevailing to a great extent in our Regiment. There was 86 cases and one death yesterday.”

Seven more deaths followed in the next week, and more sickness, including, on Saturday, April 11, Minutemen of Attala diarist Mike M. Hubbert who was diagnosed with typhoid pneumonia.

Hubbert, who had entered the regiment as a private, then became a musician, and, finally, a commissary sergeant, died on April 18.

“Died 9:30 a.m. from illness,” Hill wrote. “Buried in Fredricksburg city cemetery at 4:00 p.m. by his company with the Honors of War escorted by the Regimental Band.

“[The 13th’s] Chaplain Dr. Thomas Sterling West Officiated. Buried at SW City Cemetery, Fredricksburg.”

Hubbert’s brother Mat, a corporal in the Minutemen of Attala, had died in May, 1862, of pneumonia.