Status Updates From Weirding the War: Stories f...

I often think that the 19th century was pretty much the worst time in America to be going through any kind of mental wellness issues. Despite all the traumas of war and what we now recognize as PTSD, doctors would commit soldiers to asylums based on things like
‘inconstancy on the part of his wife’, rather than because parts of their body had been shot off

"Ascribing violence and erratic actions to drunkenness allowed a cover of sorts for ailing veterans. Rather than admit that Southern men were
emotionally devastated by their experiences in battle, a concession that would likely have impugned their masculinity...drinking in excess remained within the boundaries of acceptable male behavior; falling to pieces in consequence of soldiering, a form of cowardice, was not."

“Prior to his military service, Leonor wrestled with the morality of slavery and declared he would love an independent life without any connection to the institution. Amputation shifted his internal perceptions about slavery and forced him to now remain dependent on other men for his health and welfare”.
With so many disfigured and disabled Southern soldiers after the war, I wonder how many did the same

Didn’t realize what an interesting life the painter James Whistler lived. Born in the North and educated at West Point (he was an awful student), General in the Confederate army, exiled permanently from America after the war, arms dealer in Chile, finally world renown painter.

“Thomas Jefferson famously reasoned in ‘Notes on the State of Virginia’ that the way blacks perspire made them ‘more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold, than the whites’.
The belief that Americans of African descent were better suited to hot climates became a staple justification for enslaving them; the idea that they could not endure the cold was simply its converse”

“There are fewer coroners reports for the war years than any other 4 year span…but the cases that do survive are suggestive: no more self-hangings, no more spousal abuse, no more dead babies…when men left certain sections of the South, they took Death with them and practiced it in new ways, primarily on themselves”

“The Old South is often remembered as a violent place, but if you asked the coroner before the war, he’d tell you it was more fair to call it a self-destructive place. Looking out his window, what he mostly saw was white men drinking themselves and their dependents to death”

“If you were a white male who died under suspicious circumstances in South Carolina between 1840 and 1870, you most likely died of a combination of alcohol and stupidity. If it was winter, you passed out and died of exposure. If it was spring or summer, you fell off your horse and broke your neck. The reality is sad enough. Sadder still is the price your dependents paid for your right to drink yourself stupid”

“Other troops couldn’t bring themselves to eat rat, even after killing and frying it, although one officer claimed that it tasted better than chicken. Not like chicken, but better than chicken”

“North Carolina’s white men generally had a lower degree of Confederate patriotic fervor than soldiers recruited from Deep South states with a higher percentage of slave owners…84% of South Carolinians ‘avowed patriotic convictions’, only 46% of North Carolinians did”

“Confederate women rebuffed suitors who did not support the Southern cause even at the cost of their own happiness. Despite her strong attraction to Union lieutenant Simmons, with whom she enjoyed discussing literature and debating politics, Tennessean Myra Inman rejected his proposal of marriage in 1864. “He loves me. I dislike him. He is a Yank,” she flatly declared in May 1864.”

“According to the ledger recording all funds remitted by each Confederate State, Schenck’s district remitted only $3,610.24 in the year 1862. It also shows he was paid $319.58 to cover the cost of expenses incurred while executing the duties of his office. “There is no evidence, in other words, that the full $20,000 worth of confiscated real estate was ever deposited into the Sequestration Fund in Richmond."

The Confederate government appointed a person in each district responsible for seizing property owned by "alien (Northerners)" or "disloyal confederates" and a grand jury to hear each case. As one can imagine, the guidelines for what "disloyal" meant were vague and this single individual could decide at their own discretion what property they wanted to seize. Which they often did.

“The authors of the Sequestration Act understood that the primary
difficulty with enforcing the law would be locating Northern-owned property. Business, tax, and legal records would be useful in shedding light on the whereabouts of some of it but the Confederate government would rely heavily on information provided by ordinary citizens.”
Can't imagine petty squabbles between neighbors resulted in any false reports

I had never really considered that “trophy seekers” in wars often prevent friends or relatives from being able to identify their loved ones. Sometimes a ring, a photo, or other personal item stolen off of a body is the only way to distinguish someone’s identity.

I'm skipping around in this book and have read 4 of the essays so far. Very interesting; I may put it down for awhile, but I'll be back. The section on PTSD/mental illness after the war was particularly interesting and useful to me (regarding some casual research I'm doing.) 4 stars so far.

I'm skipping around in this book and have read 4 of the essays so far. Very interesting; I may put it down for awhile, but I'll be back! Loved the section on PTSD/mental illness after the war, and its legacy.