Civil War PTSD

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Eireann

The psychological fallout of the war is a facet I haven’t studied enough. Drew Gilpin Faust illuminated some of this as it related to death, but the PTSD trauma cases in the post-bellum era aren’t as well documented. This little article implies that there are scholars making inroads. I can’t wait to add some new books to my wish list!

“But there was at least this term, ‘soldier’s heart,’ which was the idea that these people weren’t the same as they used to be,” Gabriel said.

A student of Gabriel who was a double major in psychology and history wrote a paper on the subject several years ago.

The paper outlined cases of soldiers being put in insane asylums.

“There was also this belief that, if they prayed and focused on positive things, that they could be rehabilitated, but that was very hit and miss,” Gabriel said.

via During Civil War they called it ‘soldier’s heart’.

A Terminal Case of the ‘Slows’

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Eireann

Another good Disunion article, this one offering a neat take on Lincoln’s visit to the Army of the Potomac after Antietam: Where Lincoln arrived worried that the troops would follow McClellan into revolt against Republican policies (to wit, the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation), the support they showed him led him to believe he was both the de facto and de jure Commander-in-Chief. McClellan’s ouster was assured from that point.

Hoping to bestir his inert commander, in early October Lincoln visited Antietam and the army he sarcastically referred to as “General McClellan’s bodyguard…”

After returning from Antietam, Lincoln was convinced that “I am now stronger with the Army of the Potomac than McClellan,” and he had Halleck order his general to “cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him south.” But move the general would not. He bombarded Washington with excuses: exhausted troops; unknown terrain; a river too deep to cross or not deep enough to keep the Confederates from Washington; insufficient numbers of wagons; broken cannons; the enemy’s superior numbers; and too few boots and blankets. When he reported that his horses were “absolutely broken down from fatigue and want of flesh,” Lincoln displayed a rare flash of temper: “Will you pardon me for asking,” he telegraphed, “what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?”

In the words of his secretary John Nicolay, Lincoln kept “poking sharp sticks under little Mac’s ribs.”

via A Terminal Case of the ‘Slows’ – NYTimes.com.

The Plankton Belt

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Eireann

This is a strange little blog post that I’m linking to, despite being too mind-blown to comment on. It reminded me of articles I’ve read discussing how geology decided the battle of Gettysburg, or weather patterns having a huge historical impact. Who knew plankton had such longlasting effects on American society?

All of which is to say, when you cover politics, sometimes, without realizing it, you are also telling rock tales. Geology, every so often, peeks through.

via Obama’s Secret Weapon In The South: Small, Dead, But Still Kickin’ : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR.

The Rams of Memphis

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Eireann

Another Disunion piece worth reading. I couldn’t find room for the Ellet story in my podcast schedule, sadly, so I’m glad to see a good account written in the Times. (Shelby Foote did a great job with it too, as you’d expect.)

The two met in mid-March, setting aside their differences and personalities, as each of them shared enormous dismay over the state of the Navy. Ellet convinced Stanton not just of the value of rams, but that if the Union didn’t build them, the Confederacy would. Stanton authorized Ellet to build and lead a ram fleet to be kept under Stanton’s personal control — not so much because Stanton wanted his own private navy, but because Welles wanted no part of the endeavor. It was a highly unusual arrangement, especially given Ellet’s lack of a military background.

Ellet moved efficiently, quickly assembling a fleet of five steamers, plus several smaller ones and coal barges. He outfitted the ships with as few guns as possible, as he wanted lightweight boats capable of achieving maximum ramming speed. Ellet also began to put together crews, preferring river men. He obtained permission from Stanton to bring his brother Alfred from his post as a captain in the 59th Illinois Infantry to be his second in command. Alfred joined him in May, bringing with him two more Ellets: Alfred’s son and nephew, Edward and John. By the beginning of June, several more of Ellet’s family would be on the fleet, including Ellet’s teenage son, Charles Rivers Ellet, who came on as a medical cadet on June 1 – his 19th birthday.

via The Rams of Memphis – NYTimes.com.

The “Teachers’ Regiment”

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Eireann

I always enjoy hearing about the backgrounds of the men in the ranks. There’s a great quote describing this heterogeneity,

Almost every known trade, profession, or calling, has its representative in our regiment – tailors and carpenters, masons and plasterers, moulders and glassblowers, pudlers and rollers, machinists and architects, printers, bookbinders and publishers; gentlemen of leisure, politicians, merchants, legislators, judges, lawyers, doctors, preachers – some malicious fellow might ask the privilege of completing the catalogue by naming jailbirds, idlers, loafers, drunkards, and gamblers; but we beg his pardon, and refuse the license. – A. M. Stewart

The 33rd is often referred to as the “Teachers’ Regiment,” because it had its start as a military company comprised of Normal University teachers and students. In August 1861, the “Normal Rifles” became Company A in the newly organized 33rd Illinois, with Normal University President Charles E. Hovey serving as the regiment’s colonel.

This regiment was composed of teachers, which seems to be the one profession not mentioned in Stewart’s list!

The 33rd spent most of the war (save a veteran furlough and regimental reorganization in early 1864) deployed in the South, often in hostile territory. As with most Illinois regiments, the 33rd was ordered “West,” grinding out the months in the humid, swampy, malarial backcountry of Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama. Dysentery and other camp-borne illnesses were an ever-present killer, though the 33rd experienced its share of grisly action and losses to enemy fire.

via Civil War’s “Teachers’ Regiment” faced hard slog during Arkansas campaign.

Surgery’s Cutting Edge

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Eireann

A new Civil War Medicine museum is opening in Frederick, MD. Given the description in this article, it sounds well worth a visit.

In the beginning of the war, wounded soldiers languished for days before they were retrieved. Sometimes their friends would stop fighting and carry them to the rear, knowing no one else would, recounts historian James M. McPherson in Battle Cry of Freedom. Litter-bearers were musicians, other soldiers and anyone who could be spared. Letterman developed a system for evacuating the wounded, establishing ambulances and dedicated personnel for each regiment.The wounded were treated in three stages: “There was a dressing station 60 to 70 yards from the front line” Dammann said, noting that 350 doctors on the Union side were killed in battle. “First aid was done here, tourniquets and splinting. From there, they went back into battle or to a field hospital, maybe in a barn or church three or four miles behind the lines. Here they had operating surgeons, where they did amputations. Wounds of head, chest and abdomen werent treated; they were given painkillers and most died there. From here, they were evacuated, usually by train, to fixed hospitals.” Letterman’s system saved lives, but for every man killed in battle, two died of disease. Many perished from malnutrition, especially in the South.

via washingtonpost.com: On Surgerys Cutting Edge In Civil War.

The Morrill Act’s Purpose

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Eireann

An insight into the Morrill Act, which is one of those Civil War events whose legacy overshadows its purpose.

The Morrill Act was created to make higher education more accessible and to promote “liberal and practical education.”

This was the same year other notable pieces of legislation were enacted such as the Homestead Act and the bill authorizing the transcontinental railroad. The act granted at least 30,000 acres of federal land per member of Congress each state had as of the 1860 Census. This is the land Purdue resides on, which is why it is known as a “land-grant” institution.

According to Purdue history professor John Contreni, who formerly held the position of the “Justin S. Morrill Dean of the College of Liberal Arts” at Purdue, the act was popular but failed to pass in 1861.

The Civil War changed that.

“These initiatives had been discussed for some time,” Contreni wrote in an email. “but were held up by congressmen from the Southern states. In 1862, the country was in the middle of the Civil War, so the Southern states were out of the picture and the legislation was enacted.”

Contreni added the Southern states were included later after the Civil War, but in another way.

“A corollary to the Morrill Act is what is sometimes called the second Morrill Act of 1890,” Contreni wrote. “This extended the provisions of the act to the states in the south that were formerly in rebellion, except that the act of 1890 gave the states cash instead of land. Many of the country’s historically black colleges and universities were established as a result.”

via Former Dean of Liberal Arts reminds University of Morrill Act’s purpose – Purdue Exponent: Campus.

Great Locomotive Chase

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Eireann

A summary of the Great Locomotive Chase, whose fame is unquestionable but whose story had eluded me until this point, even with a family trip to Kennesaw, GA.* (We missed the park tour!)

*NB, I do not recommend ever visiting Kennesaw, GA.

Andrews, who led the mission, split the men into small groups. In civilian clothes, they made their way to Marietta, Ga., just north of Atlanta. There they bought Confederate tickets on a steam locomotive named the General.

Back then, railroads didn’t have dining cars. The train stopped in the morning for breakfast at the tiny town of Big Shanty (now Kennesaw). It was so small that it had no telegraph lines; Andrews’ men picked it as the place to seize the train because they believed the lack of communication would allow them to get away unpursued.

After the passengers got off to eat, Andrews disconnected the back part of the train, leaving only the General, her coal car and three box cars. The Union men took off with the shortened train while the breakfasting passengers and train crew watched in horror as the General left them behind.

via ‘Great Locomotive Chase’ was grandiose idea, partial success | TribLIVE.

Lincoln’s Great Depression

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Eireann

Apologies, readers, for the prolonged silence on this blog. In Lincoln’s words below, I have been “not very well”. A short bout of depression left me all the more amazed at how Lincoln was able to soldier on, and accomplish as much as he did: I couldn’t muster the strength to write a blog, much less save a country.

The upside to this is that it caused me to seek out an absolutely fantastic article about Lincoln’s depressive states and his friends’ and acquaintances’ observations thereof. Enjoy, and be heartened!

The next day the convention closed. The crowds dispersed, leaving behind cigar stubs and handbills and the smells of sweat and whiskey. Later the lieutenant governor of Illinois, William J. Bross, walked the floor. He saw Lincoln sitting alone at the end of the hall, his head bowed, his gangly arms bent at the elbows, his hands pressed to his face. As Bross approached, Lincoln noticed him and said, "I’m not very well."

Lincoln’s look at that moment—the classic image of gloom—was familiar to everyone who knew him well. Such spells were just one thread in a curious fabric of behavior and thought that his friends called his "melancholy." He often wept in public and recited maudlin poetry. He told jokes and stories at odd times—he needed the laughs, he said, for his survival. As a young man he talked more than once of suicide, and as he grew older he said he saw the world as hard and grim, full of misery, made that way by fate and the forces of God. "No element of Mr. Lincoln’s character," declared his colleague Henry Whitney, "was so marked, obvious and ingrained as his mysterious and profound melancholy." His law partner William Herndon said, "His melancholy dripped from him as he walked."

via Lincoln’s Great Depression – Joshua Wolf Shenk – The Atlantic.

Modern War, Modern Wandering

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Eireann

If you decide to take one of the self-guided tours I linked to yesterday, remember that technology allows us to carry a guide with us. The group mentioned in the article below has created a free, online guide to the Fredericksburg-area battlefields. Isn’t technology wonderful?

Via YouTube, iPods, iPads and smartphones, people can view video introductions to the Fredericksburg area’s Trail to Freedom, which traces the path of thousands of African-Americans who sought refuge behind Union lines. Their mass migration was one of the largest in U.S. history, and helped turn the Lincoln administration and the Northern public toward emancipation.

“The Civil War brought so much anguish and destruction and cost so many lives, there isn’t really a lot to celebrate, except this,” Moncure said. “And Stafford has so much to do with the freedom story.”

via A Civil War story to celebrate – chicagotribune.com.

The Civil War Podcast

Resources and discussion on the War Between the States

Tag Archives: articles