Status Updates From This Republic of Suffering:...

•personal efforts to communicate info about soldiers’ status
•dog tags, pre-written letters, bible inscribed with name and address

•sanitary commissions size far exceeded Christian commission; more importance on modern warfare realism rather than sentimentalism
•sanitary commission created Hospital Directory which acted as communication agency for families about soldiers’ conditions

•acknowledgement of the importance of information, whether a soldier is dead or alive
•wrong and confusing info in casualty lists

-embalming and the entire funeral industry started during civil war
-embalming as a way to “defy death” and grieve

-burials became impersonal due to higher volume of bodies as the war went on, often times the burden of finding and shipping the bodies back home fell on kin

-poor planning and organization of burials
-a lot of times responsibility for burying the dead fell on the victor side