Non-Combat Injuries

[river444]

Cousin Albert Gallatin McNutt Paxton died after falling from his horse and cousin Wesley Paxton drowned.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

I had two Confederate Relatives in the 60th Tennessee, John Gray of Company E fell from a 3-story hospital window in Alabama while ill with malaria. They were on their way to Vicksburg. After being examined he was discharged for disability and sent home.

John H. Cox of Company G was discharged at Vicksburg with "an injury to the spine". It always seemed to me that if it was combat-related, the record would have said so. So I've always assumed it was probably from a fall

Union teamster, William A. Blakely of the 1st Tennessee Cavalry wasn't discharged, but the 1890 Veteran's Census says one reason for his disability was "being mashed by a wagon". Probably had a wagon fall on him, but that could have been combat-related.

 

[lupaglupa]

John Gray of Company E fell from a 3-story hospital window in Alabama while ill with malaria.

Wow. Talk about adding injury to insult. Was he hallucinating?

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

Wow. Talk about adding injury to insult. Was he hallucinating?

Most likely, I've always assumed that was the case. He lived out his years with my maternal grandmother's parents and she could remember him from when she was a small girl. She didn't know the details of his injury but recalled he was always conscientious of not being injured again. For instance, he would hire someone to do his plowing. Grandma said he wouldn't go around horses or mules, afraid he would be kicked.

 

[huskerblitz]

I had an uncle, while on a night march to Jackson after the fall of Vicksburg, strike his right knee on a fallen tree and badly bruise his knee, which disabled him for a time. He also suffered a sunstroke during the campaign, which caused issues for him.

 

[Leroy1862]

I was doing some research on the Kentucky militia, and I found a unit with ~50 total casualties and 2 combat casualties

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

I was doing some research on the Kentucky militia, and I found a unit with ~50 total casualties and 2 combat casualties

Wow. Wish you had access to the details of that.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

On Sept.8, 1864, my 4 x 2nd cousins, Union Capt John W. Isbell, and his brother, Benjamin of Co.F 4th Tennessee Cavalry, "died of accidental gunshot wounds to the head". Needless to say, it was undoubtedly suicide.

Getting A Letter Through The Lines | Questions? Ask Here! No Stone Left Unturned!

How difficult would it have been for someone to send a letter from Wilkes County, NC to the Colonel of the Union 4th Tennessee Cavalry in 1863-64? The author of this letter was most likely a pre-teen (8 in the 1860 census). He states the soldier in question (Private Benjamin Howard Isbell) is...

civilwartalk.com

 

[dfostermem]

The percentage of fit to fight as opposed to on the rolls is pretty impressive. Most units had a good number who couldn't actually take the field at any one time.

@dfostermem I almost never says someone I'm researching fought in a particular battle unless I have a record showing they were wounded there. That's the only standard of proof that can be verified!

Even then there is always a chance he shot himself going into battle and then claimed it as a war wound. I never would have considered that but Thomas Henderson seemed to have trouble with gun safety!

 

[dfostermem]

On Sept.8, 1864, my 4 x 2nd cousins, Union Capt John W. Isbell, and his brother, Benjamin of Co.F 4th Tennessee Cavalry, "died of accidental gunshot wounds to the head". Needless to say, it was undoubtedly suicide.

Getting A Letter Through The Lines | Questions? Ask Here! No Stone Left Unturned!

How difficult would it have been for someone to send a letter from Wilkes County, NC to the Colonel of the Union 4th Tennessee Cavalry in 1863-64? The author of this letter was most likely a pre-teen (8 in the 1860 census). He states the soldier in question (Private Benjamin Howard Isbell) is...

civilwartalk.com

I wouldn't assume suicide unless you had some other information. Thomas Henderson's gun went off while he was riding and the ball went through his thigh and took off his ankle. I don't have a good explanation for how he did that but I would imagine that the gun could have been just as easily oriented so that the barrel was up and the ball going through his head. Did they both die at the same time? If so, that sounds like two brothers messing around. Anyone ever hear to brothers dueling each other?

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

Did anybody have any ancestors or relatives who sustained any non combat injuries while serving in the Civil War? According to his pension file my 4th great grand uncle William R. Price was injured as the result of being kicked in the face by a horse while serving in the 1st Indiana Cavalry.

Horses seemed to be the number 1 cause. A few generals were injured by falling from a horse or having their horse fall on them. I think there was even one after the war who had his buggy roll over on top of him.

My Civil War ancestor four generations back fell from a horse. His nine-month service with the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry ended with a medical discharge as a result.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Even then there is always a chance he shot himself going into battle and then claimed it as a war wound. I never would have considered that but Thomas Henderson seemed to have trouble with gun safety!

On Sept.8, 1864, my 4 x 2nd cousins, Union Capt John W. Isbell, and his brother, Benjamin of Co.F 4th Tennessee Cavalry, "died of accidental gunshot wounds to the head". Needless to say, it was undoubtedly suicide.

Accidents happened

On the 24th, a sad accident occurred at Annapolis Junction. Elderkin Bose and Wallace Smith, both members of Company " A," were playing cards, when Bose playfully accused Smith of cheating, threatening, if he did it again, to shoot him with an old-fashioned pistol that lay near, and which no one supposed was loaded, as caps had been exploded on it with impunity several times in the course of the day. Neither party having any care for the game, but chiefly interested in having a good time, the cards were thrown down right or wrong, just as it happened, when Bose, picking up the pistol and asking Smith if he remembered the threat, pulled the trigger.

Unfortunately, an old charge exploded, and the ball entered Smith's right breast. He simply exclaimed, " Oh, Bose!" when, suffocated by the rising blood, he fell back and soon expired. The agony of Bose was unspeakable! all the avenues of comfort were closed ; and he passed into the wildest possible despair! Smith had been his most intimate friend ; they had mutually chosen each other as companions and were always cheerful and happy when together.

Source: page 95-96

History of the Sixtieth Regiment New York State Volunteers, from the commencement of its organization in July, 1861, to its public reception at Ogdensburgh as a veteran command, January 7th, 1864 : Eddy, Richard, 1828-1906 : Free Download, Borrow, an

xii, 360 p. 20 cm

archive.org

 

[lizkk01]

Not an ancestor of mine, but a soldier in one of the regiments I am researching, the 147th PVI, was killed by a guard. Sergeant Major Isaac D. Whitmer was killed by a guard on March 13, 1865, at Fayetteville, NC, according to the Field and Staff page of the Muster Out Roll for the regiment. I don't have any details of the incident, yet. I planning on doing some digging to find out more about the incident.

 

[Rank and File]

One of my ancestors Milton Young) drowned in Jan '65 in the Tennessee River at age 25

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

One of my ancestors Milton Young) drowned in Jan '65 in the Tennessee River at age 25

That, along with some of the other occurrences that have been posted, is WORSE than an injury!

 

[lupaglupa]

You feel for the parents. At least if your child died in service to their country, there's some glory. But to die stupidly from a mistake or an accident. Somehow that seems worse.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

You feel for the parents. At least if your child died in service to their country, there's some glory. But to die stupidly from a mistake or an accident. Somehow that seems worse.

You are right, @lupaglupa, it's like going from being lost to being hopelessly lost.

 

[lupaglupa]

Dead is dead and to lose a child is a terrible tragedy. But I think somehow a meaningless death would be worse. There's no way to tell yourself the loss wasn't for nothing.

 

[huskerblitz]

In the regiment I research, there were many non-combat deaths. From murder, drowning, falling off trains, accidental shootings.....Just being in the Army was definitely hazardous to one's health.

 

[Chattahooch33]

Wasn't there a federal officer who skinned his shin so badly slipping in a boat that he died?