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UnCivil Wars
Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North
In the popular imagination, Civil War disability is virtually synonymous with amputation. But war affects the body in countless ways, many of them understudied by historians. In Bodies in Blue, Sarah Handley-Cousins expands and complicates our understanding of wartime disability by examining a variety of bodies and ailments, ranging from the temporary to the chronic, from disease to injury, and encompassing both physical and mental conditions. She studies the cases of well-known individuals, such as Union general Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, alongside many cases drawn from the ranks to provide a more comprehensive view of how soldiers, civilians, and institutions grappled with war-related disability in the Civil War–era North.
During the Civil War and long after, the bodies of Union soldiers and veterans were sites of powerful cultural beliefs about duty and sacrifice. However, the realities of living with a disability were ever at odds with the expectations of manhood. As a consequence, men who failed to perform the role of wounded warrior properly could be scrutinized for failing to live up to standards of martial masculinity. Under the gaze of surgeons, officers, bureaucrats, and civilians, disabled soldiers made difficult negotiations in their attempts to accommodate impaired bodies and please observers. Some managed this process with ease; others struggled and suffered. Embracing and exploring this apparent contradiction, Bodies in Blue pushes Civil War history in a new direction.
204 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2019
96 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 11, 2023
*Full disclosure the author is a colleague and friend.*
Sarah Handley-Cousins' book *Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North* is a sobering and significant book. It's an excellent study of an underexplored aspect of the Civil War. The author does a great job of showing the unromantic aspects of the war, namely the physical human cost. I've often lamented the fact that casualty and death count give "meaning" to battle significance; this book shows what those wounded men endured.
Rather than focus on the cold medical facts of war wounds, the book delves into the experiences of the soldiers both in and following the Civil War. Each chapter almost stands alone as a focused look at one aspect of disability and wounded soldiers in the war. The empathy exudes from the pages, inviting readers to connect with the men who served in the Union army and the cost they paid with their bodies.
This book taught me a wide range of things that I didn't even realize I didn't know about the war. As a lifelong scholar of the war, I never realized just how little I had read about wounded soldiers. The evident connections between soldiers and their loved ones, particularly in the final chapter, was quite powerful. As someone who grew up with a picture of General Chamberlain on my bedroom wall, reading a chapter on his wound and post-war agony was eye opening and heart wrenching. A significant portion of the book connects masculinity to mens' bodies, showing how a disabling wound or inability to work radically changed these mens' lives. Whether serving in the "Invalid Corps" or applying for pensions after the war, the "fitness" of men for service seemed to be directly connected to their self and community-based sense of value.
This is a significant book for Civil War historians. I would certainly consider it for a graduate level course in Civil War and Reconstruction. I would also recommend it to researchers interested in the Union war effort and "War and Society" more broadly. It should be a central reading in literature on the history of disability moving forward.
Sarah Handley-Cousins' book *Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North* is a sobering and significant book. It's an excellent study of an underexplored aspect of the Civil War. The author does a great job of showing the unromantic aspects of the war, namely the physical human cost. I've often lamented the fact that casualty and death count give "meaning" to battle significance; this book shows what those wounded men endured.
Rather than focus on the cold medical facts of war wounds, the book delves into the experiences of the soldiers both in and following the Civil War. Each chapter almost stands alone as a focused look at one aspect of disability and wounded soldiers in the war. The empathy exudes from the pages, inviting readers to connect with the men who served in the Union army and the cost they paid with their bodies.
This book taught me a wide range of things that I didn't even realize I didn't know about the war. As a lifelong scholar of the war, I never realized just how little I had read about wounded soldiers. The evident connections between soldiers and their loved ones, particularly in the final chapter, was quite powerful. As someone who grew up with a picture of General Chamberlain on my bedroom wall, reading a chapter on his wound and post-war agony was eye opening and heart wrenching. A significant portion of the book connects masculinity to mens' bodies, showing how a disabling wound or inability to work radically changed these mens' lives. Whether serving in the "Invalid Corps" or applying for pensions after the war, the "fitness" of men for service seemed to be directly connected to their self and community-based sense of value.
This is a significant book for Civil War historians. I would certainly consider it for a graduate level course in Civil War and Reconstruction. I would also recommend it to researchers interested in the Union war effort and "War and Society" more broadly. It should be a central reading in literature on the history of disability moving forward.
April 19, 2020
Bodies in Blue is full of incredible information and insights about a time of our history where you honestly only think of amputations as being the only things our soldiers went through during and after the Civil War.
Well-researched and scholarly written, Bodies in Blue gives tremendous details on soldiers' wounds to the medical doctors wanting to do research to the soldiers' other disabilities. Yes - there are areas that could have used some tightening in the book.
Historical photos convey a ton of history and I would have liked seeing more historical photos in this book to enhance the history and stories even more. On many of the people mentioned in the book, I wanted to put a face with them. (Note: I understand that illustrations or photos may not exist of some of them.)
This is a must-read if you love Civil War history and especially medical history.
Well-researched and scholarly written, Bodies in Blue gives tremendous details on soldiers' wounds to the medical doctors wanting to do research to the soldiers' other disabilities. Yes - there are areas that could have used some tightening in the book.
Historical photos convey a ton of history and I would have liked seeing more historical photos in this book to enhance the history and stories even more. On many of the people mentioned in the book, I wanted to put a face with them. (Note: I understand that illustrations or photos may not exist of some of them.)
This is a must-read if you love Civil War history and especially medical history.
December 28, 2024
Absolutely loved this read & recommend it to all y'all who are interested in gender, masculinity, the body, disability, and constructions of citizenship in the post-Civil War U.S.
Handley-Cousins is concerned that many historians of the Civil War have asked questions based on the medical model of disability: they often over-emphasize medical innovation and technology, in a way that suggests illnesses and disabilities are “medical problems to be solved, as abstract casualty numbers” (134). She is also skeptical of historians who present disabled Civil War soldiers as activists who learned to take pride in patriotic sacrifices, or “red badges of courage,” because this interpretation neglects the internalized and externalized stigma soldiers grappled with (3). To flip the script, Handley-Cousins offers a social model of disability: she asks how “soldiers, civilians, and institutions grappled with disorders that did not easily fit into existing cultural narratives of manhood and sacrifice” during and after the Civil War. To forefront men’s perspectives of their disabilities, Handley-Cousins chooses to set aside questions of source accuracy and authenticity, to instead “take soldiers and veterans at their word about their own embodied experiences” (6). She also carefully avoids retrospective diagnosis, for instance, by refraining from the term “PTSD” and instead describing symptoms of trauma (116). This approach maintains historicity and also beautifully emphasizes that folks with disabilities are the foremost producers of knowledge about their own bodies.
Handley-Cousins is concerned that many historians of the Civil War have asked questions based on the medical model of disability: they often over-emphasize medical innovation and technology, in a way that suggests illnesses and disabilities are “medical problems to be solved, as abstract casualty numbers” (134). She is also skeptical of historians who present disabled Civil War soldiers as activists who learned to take pride in patriotic sacrifices, or “red badges of courage,” because this interpretation neglects the internalized and externalized stigma soldiers grappled with (3). To flip the script, Handley-Cousins offers a social model of disability: she asks how “soldiers, civilians, and institutions grappled with disorders that did not easily fit into existing cultural narratives of manhood and sacrifice” during and after the Civil War. To forefront men’s perspectives of their disabilities, Handley-Cousins chooses to set aside questions of source accuracy and authenticity, to instead “take soldiers and veterans at their word about their own embodied experiences” (6). She also carefully avoids retrospective diagnosis, for instance, by refraining from the term “PTSD” and instead describing symptoms of trauma (116). This approach maintains historicity and also beautifully emphasizes that folks with disabilities are the foremost producers of knowledge about their own bodies.
July 21, 2019
The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!
January 19, 2025
Read for comps
July 28, 2021
Handley-Cousins gave amazing perspectives regarding Union soldiers and their likely internal struggle of having to worry about being considered "whole" and masculine after being disabled fighting for their country.
There were many anecdotes regarding soldiers who had non-visible disabilities such as a Chamberlain who had been hit by a Minié ball, which injured his urethra severely. He had infections in his penis and enlarged testicles his entire remaining 50 years of life. He did not have a fully functional penis. He had an infection once when he was going to have to go in for a medical examination to prove he should get a raise in pension. They refused to give it. Other men went so far as to graphically prove their need of a pension from a disability that debilitated them, that they kept private; another gentlemen stuck a rod through his wound that he had to have a tube in for life to prevent draining. The image was included in his pension file.
But others were discussed in the book as "othered" by their fellow soldiers during the war; after being injured they were in the "Invalid Corps" later renamed Veteran Reserve Corps on March 18, 1864. Their fellow soldiers would jeer at them and called it "Cripple Corps;" they were compared to Black men (Black face), women, drunks, and fools in songs/poems.
They essentially had to hide their disabilities (physical or mental) to be considered "masculine" heroes.
Other incident addressed in the book were regarding surgeons disinterring graves or stealing corpses' body parts to sell to Army Medical Museum or P.T. Barnum (infamous circus leader)'s museum as spectacle.
There was a total lack of disrespect for men on both sides of the war who were injured physically or mentally (though this book addresses Union men).
There were many anecdotes regarding soldiers who had non-visible disabilities such as a Chamberlain who had been hit by a Minié ball, which injured his urethra severely. He had infections in his penis and enlarged testicles his entire remaining 50 years of life. He did not have a fully functional penis. He had an infection once when he was going to have to go in for a medical examination to prove he should get a raise in pension. They refused to give it. Other men went so far as to graphically prove their need of a pension from a disability that debilitated them, that they kept private; another gentlemen stuck a rod through his wound that he had to have a tube in for life to prevent draining. The image was included in his pension file.
But others were discussed in the book as "othered" by their fellow soldiers during the war; after being injured they were in the "Invalid Corps" later renamed Veteran Reserve Corps on March 18, 1864. Their fellow soldiers would jeer at them and called it "Cripple Corps;" they were compared to Black men (Black face), women, drunks, and fools in songs/poems.
They essentially had to hide their disabilities (physical or mental) to be considered "masculine" heroes.
Other incident addressed in the book were regarding surgeons disinterring graves or stealing corpses' body parts to sell to Army Medical Museum or P.T. Barnum (infamous circus leader)'s museum as spectacle.
There was a total lack of disrespect for men on both sides of the war who were injured physically or mentally (though this book addresses Union men).
December 11, 2025
A must-read for lovers of Civil War era history and disability history alike, Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North examines the often overlooked aspects of disability during this period of time. This book provides a glimpse into the impact of disability on soldiers, their families, and the ableism these individuals faced when attempting to balance a stoic outwardly image with their new post-war reality. Bodies in Blue: Disability in the Civil War North goes beyond the familiar images of empty sleeves and wartime heroism and delve deeper into the personal and social complexities surrounding a disabled identity in the nineteen century.
The author handles sensitive topics with care and respect while maintaining a voice that is both informative and resourceful. As a disabled individual myself, I appreciated how well-informed and knowledgeable the writer was on disability-related issues and disability culture. I learned so much traversing through these pages and could not recommend this book more.
The author handles sensitive topics with care and respect while maintaining a voice that is both informative and resourceful. As a disabled individual myself, I appreciated how well-informed and knowledgeable the writer was on disability-related issues and disability culture. I learned so much traversing through these pages and could not recommend this book more.
July 23, 2022
Dr. Handley-Cousins has written a nuanced and meticulously researched history of disability and gender in the Civil War. The stories that she has uncovered in the archives and woven into her narrative are gripping - sometimes sad, sometimes cringe-worthy, and even sometimes funny. The book seems to be primarily written for academics. But Handley-Cousins’ writing is compelling and beautiful, making the book accessible to a broader audience. I highly recommend “Bodies in Blue” for anyone interested in the effects that the Civil War had on broader understandings of disability and manhood in America.
November 7, 2019
Interesting topic and a lot of great, forgotten stories from this part of history. However, it was sooooo repetative. The author beat his points to death with the same examples over and over. The book could have been at least 30 pages shorter and contained the same amount of information.
July 31, 2023
I loved this deep examination of disability through a social lense. This is one of the first times that I've felt that the case studies really add to the research done. They were all so well researched and emotional and it really showed the impact of the theories discussed.
September 26, 2023
An interesting perspective on wounds in the civil war both mental and physical. However, the content is extremely repetitive. I struggled to get through this book due to the repetition of content and phrases.
July 24, 2019
Bodies in Blue is a important book that anyone interested in the war or injured soldiers should read. It is well researched and well written.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews