Reconstructed Rebel
Captain
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2021
Homesickness covered a range of ills in the civil war, as it no doubt does in all wars, when recruits are taken far from home for the first time. A writer in the Twenty-seventh Indiana thought the affliction could be fatal. A surgeon in the 77th New York felt clean clothes and ample hot food could enact at least a temporary cure. My dad recounted the sobbing he heard after "lights out" at the Great Lakes Naval Station for the first few nights after his arrival in WW2. Homesickness is another of those universal experiences that most everyone gets a taste of at some point in their lives, but for the soldier who cannot be sure he will ever see home again, the pain can be especially sharp.
No experienced soldier will be surprised to learn that we had a violent and sweeping epidemic of homesickness at Camp Hamilton. Besides the conditions above mentioned, we had been away from home about the right time for this to supervene. There was more of it here and it was much more accute in form than at any other time. There were cases that eventually resulted in death. Many others were so homesick as to lose temporarily, not only all hope, but all pride and ambition. Some had to be forced to wash their clothing and persons. A few, who before had been rather high spirited, suddenly lost their mental balance.(1)
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Sixty eight members of company "B" were boys from the farms and country villages, many of whom were strangers to the outside world and its ways.. These boys were sometimes afflicted with homesickness, a malady that would not yield to doses of quinine and had to run its course. They found trouble in adjusting themselves to changed conditions and modes of living. It required an effort to change from mother's comfortable bed, her bread and butter, pies, dumplings and doughnuts and many other good things often dreamed of but never found on the quartermaster's bill of fare. … The soft side of mother earth (very soft at times) with cartridge box or knapsack for pillow, with snakes, lizards and bugs as occasional bedfellows was a trying experience for boys not far past the spanking age. ….The sudden change from quiet home life to the activities and excitement of military service was not fully realized until a gun was placed in the hands and military discipline exacted. At home when dad called in the morning to get up, curry and feed the horses and get out on the plowing job, the boy promptly answered "y-e-s," then with a snort and a yawn he just rolled over and slept on. Dad would sometimes stand for several of these repeated calls, but with Uncle Samuel, it was different. The reveille was the first and last call. Uncle never called reveille twice on the same day. All he did was extra duty for the sleeper with a promise of a lot more extras if the offense was repeated. He was an expert at breaking boys into habits of prompt obedience, with no apologies, excuses or back talk allowed. (2)
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In the corner near our little room lay a fair- faced boy of sixteen. The surgeons had given him up to die. When we looked into each other's faces I asked the question, " Can I do anything for you?"
The tears came welling up into his great brown eyes; and after a moment's struggle, he burst into tears, sobbing like a child. I laid my face down on the pillow and cried too. No one laughed and called him babyish. Poor boy! sick and homesick, and needing so much care and love, and yet getting so little ; lingering on the borderland, with no hand to help, and no voice to cheer him. No wonder he cried aloud; great stalwart men, stricken down in the midst of the fight, wounded, sick, and sore, understood it ; and tears were on many a bronzed face as, taking his thin hands in my own, I cried with him.
As soon as he could command himself he said, "If only I could go home, mother could nurse me up in a little while."
"You shall go home. I'll get you a furlough as soon as you get well enough," I answered hopefully.
From that hour there was a marked improvement in that patient's symptoms, and many other overcharged hearts were relieved by this outburst of feeling.(3)
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We thought of the pleasant gatherings and well-loaded tables at home, and turned from these pleasant pictures of peace and plenty to the soldiers' fare, heavy marching, hard-tack, salt pork and coffee. I do not wonder that our hearts for a few hours were a little homesick at the contrast.(4)
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Thanksgiving could only be a hard day's march in the rain or mud, with rations of hard bread and pork; and so, many kind hearts pitied the soldiers as they thought that we were deprived of the luxuries which they were enjoying. But we, too, enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving. In the morning, throughout the corps, there was brigade inspection; we put on our good clothes and presented ourselves to our generals, looking our best; then as we marched back into the various camps, we found dinner smoking in many a cook-tent, and the odor of roast meats rising throughout the whole corps like an odor of sweet incense….As evening approached, the voice of singing was heard from all the camps, and groups were gathered under the shadow of the chestnut trees, where many pairs of government shoes were shuffling to the music of violins. Throughout the limits of the corps, good humor and mirth prevailed; the sick forgot their pains, and the homesick ones, for the time, looked bright, as they yielded to the general feeling of happiness.(5)
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Quoted from the following sources:
(1) https://archive.org/details/twentyseventhind00brow/page/56/mode/1up
(2) https://archive.org/details/footprintsthroug00gask/page/15/mode/1up
(3) https://archive.org/details/undergunswomansr00witt/page/n7/mode/2up
(4) Army Life: A Private's Reminiscences of the Civil War by Rev. Theodore Gerrish
(5) Three Years in the Sixth Corps. A Concise Narrative of Events in the Army of the Potomac, from 1861 to the Close of the Rebellion, April, 1865 by George Stevens, Surgeon of the 77th Regiment New York Volunteers.
No experienced soldier will be surprised to learn that we had a violent and sweeping epidemic of homesickness at Camp Hamilton. Besides the conditions above mentioned, we had been away from home about the right time for this to supervene. There was more of it here and it was much more accute in form than at any other time. There were cases that eventually resulted in death. Many others were so homesick as to lose temporarily, not only all hope, but all pride and ambition. Some had to be forced to wash their clothing and persons. A few, who before had been rather high spirited, suddenly lost their mental balance.(1)
*******************
Sixty eight members of company "B" were boys from the farms and country villages, many of whom were strangers to the outside world and its ways.. These boys were sometimes afflicted with homesickness, a malady that would not yield to doses of quinine and had to run its course. They found trouble in adjusting themselves to changed conditions and modes of living. It required an effort to change from mother's comfortable bed, her bread and butter, pies, dumplings and doughnuts and many other good things often dreamed of but never found on the quartermaster's bill of fare. … The soft side of mother earth (very soft at times) with cartridge box or knapsack for pillow, with snakes, lizards and bugs as occasional bedfellows was a trying experience for boys not far past the spanking age. ….The sudden change from quiet home life to the activities and excitement of military service was not fully realized until a gun was placed in the hands and military discipline exacted. At home when dad called in the morning to get up, curry and feed the horses and get out on the plowing job, the boy promptly answered "y-e-s," then with a snort and a yawn he just rolled over and slept on. Dad would sometimes stand for several of these repeated calls, but with Uncle Samuel, it was different. The reveille was the first and last call. Uncle never called reveille twice on the same day. All he did was extra duty for the sleeper with a promise of a lot more extras if the offense was repeated. He was an expert at breaking boys into habits of prompt obedience, with no apologies, excuses or back talk allowed. (2)
*****************
In the corner near our little room lay a fair- faced boy of sixteen. The surgeons had given him up to die. When we looked into each other's faces I asked the question, " Can I do anything for you?"
The tears came welling up into his great brown eyes; and after a moment's struggle, he burst into tears, sobbing like a child. I laid my face down on the pillow and cried too. No one laughed and called him babyish. Poor boy! sick and homesick, and needing so much care and love, and yet getting so little ; lingering on the borderland, with no hand to help, and no voice to cheer him. No wonder he cried aloud; great stalwart men, stricken down in the midst of the fight, wounded, sick, and sore, understood it ; and tears were on many a bronzed face as, taking his thin hands in my own, I cried with him.
As soon as he could command himself he said, "If only I could go home, mother could nurse me up in a little while."
"You shall go home. I'll get you a furlough as soon as you get well enough," I answered hopefully.
From that hour there was a marked improvement in that patient's symptoms, and many other overcharged hearts were relieved by this outburst of feeling.(3)
********************
We thought of the pleasant gatherings and well-loaded tables at home, and turned from these pleasant pictures of peace and plenty to the soldiers' fare, heavy marching, hard-tack, salt pork and coffee. I do not wonder that our hearts for a few hours were a little homesick at the contrast.(4)
*******************
Thanksgiving could only be a hard day's march in the rain or mud, with rations of hard bread and pork; and so, many kind hearts pitied the soldiers as they thought that we were deprived of the luxuries which they were enjoying. But we, too, enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving. In the morning, throughout the corps, there was brigade inspection; we put on our good clothes and presented ourselves to our generals, looking our best; then as we marched back into the various camps, we found dinner smoking in many a cook-tent, and the odor of roast meats rising throughout the whole corps like an odor of sweet incense….As evening approached, the voice of singing was heard from all the camps, and groups were gathered under the shadow of the chestnut trees, where many pairs of government shoes were shuffling to the music of violins. Throughout the limits of the corps, good humor and mirth prevailed; the sick forgot their pains, and the homesick ones, for the time, looked bright, as they yielded to the general feeling of happiness.(5)
********************
Quoted from the following sources:
(1) https://archive.org/details/twentyseventhind00brow/page/56/mode/1up
(2) https://archive.org/details/footprintsthroug00gask/page/15/mode/1up
(3) https://archive.org/details/undergunswomansr00witt/page/n7/mode/2up
(4) Army Life: A Private's Reminiscences of the Civil War by Rev. Theodore Gerrish
(5) Three Years in the Sixth Corps. A Concise Narrative of Events in the Army of the Potomac, from 1861 to the Close of the Rebellion, April, 1865 by George Stevens, Surgeon of the 77th Regiment New York Volunteers.
Bringing the