Alcoholism in the Union Army

[Fludgate]

As part of my research into a Union officer, there is a record to show he was treated for alcoholism at the end of the war.

I don't know how serious this was as this man went on to hold a responsible job for some considerable time.

The horrors of warfare and what this man experienced may well have driven him to hard liquor but I am interested if this was a common problem.

This particular man was extremely brave and held the respect of his comrades and those who served under him. I do not want to besmirch his memory if the medical corps had over reacted and used the term alcoholism for what may have been a short bout of heavy drinking.

 

[Rob9641]

Drinking a lot was very common, both armies, and in the army before and after the war. Part boredom, part to ward off the fear. Read, for instance, Sear's book on Antietam, "Landscape Turned Red," and note the instances of drunken soldiers, and raiding the locals' cider. The famous 51st PA who took Burnside Bridge were motivated in part by the promise they'd get their whiskey ration if they took the bridge. At Gettysburg, Armistead carried a flask at Pickett's Charge and gave his color bearer a swig before they set off.

And not just the Civil War. I know the historian for the Standing Rock Sioux; she was studying the records of the 7th Cavalry and was a bit surprised that of those soldiers who died out there, most died of alcohol poisoning, not Indian fighting. Not the image the 1940s and 50s westerns taught us.