Non-Combat Injuries

[Old Soldier]

Non-combat injuries - I would guess there were many. The dead do not survive 'injuries' and I would not, however, count disease as an 'injury' either. All that marching has a distinct effect on feet, legs and joints - especially amongst the older men from sedentary jobs, especially with much of the issued footwear - or marching barefoot.
There is also the dreaded hernia from lifting weighty items incorrectly, trapping hand, foot or finger under the boxes being manhandled as well as being on the receiving end of case or barrel on a crane or falling off the wagon. Yes the old iron-shod wheels were a source of a number of injury types too, for those driving, unloading or even walking beside those wagons.
Falls are another possibility - especially from ... you guessed it .. wagons - as well as off horses and crossing rocky uneven ground. There is also the possibilty of finding your nearest friend accidently removing a few teeth with his rifle butt as you cross a fence or the bayonet in the gluteus maximus from the guy behind. Many will have been recovered from, but some ...
If you have never soldiered, you have no idea!

 

[1SGDan]

Anyone who has experienced the pain of kidney stones will probably grimace at the thought of dealing with them while serving in the Civil War!

It was a serious problem in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite constant guidance to drink water the stones developed quickly and were very painful. My 142 soldier unit had three hospital cases during my first tour in Iraq.

 

[damYankee]

It was a serious problem in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite constant guidance to drink water the stones developed quickly and were very painful. My 142 soldier unit had three hospital cases during my first tour in Iraq.

I can testify! Last March I had a kidney stone that resulted in a burst kidney, which led to severe A-Fib with high heart rate which resulted in heart surgery in July, so yeah,
I can testify.

 

[damYankee]

Treatment for kidney stones in the good old days would have included beer and a horse back ride.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

I saw once in a Florida infantry regiment's roster that a man was wounded "by a wagon running over his foot" or something like that. Ouch.

I think I read that too. I'm going to have to go back see if I can find that role again. You got me curious.

 

[seabird]

My 3x gg (66th OVI) filed a pension record increase request in the early 1890s a few years before his death that he was still suffering from rheumatism acquired during the war on the march to the sea. The sworn affidavits from Co F affirm that he first got sick during that period, one of his buds said "i'd tell him to catch up to the regiment, he'd say if i've got the rheumatism you've got the diarrhea"

Thanks to those of you that replied or reacted to this! I should note that of the 2 guys he got from Co F to testify for his pension application in 1896 (the year before he died... but he was already living in the Old Soldier's Home in Sandusky and probably knew he wasn't long for this earth so I think he did it for his wife's sake), one of them was 15 when he enlisted alongside my 3xg who was 25. Also recently learned that his 18 year old nephew enlisted alongside him and was discharged about a year into the war and died at home a few months later of disease.

In fact so far in my research of my veritable galaxy of Civil War ancestors (both sides in 3 of 4 directions basically, something like 10 direct male ancestors that I've found so far and a metric **** ton of them if I include uncles and cousins and whatnot) almost all of them that died during the war were because of disease. Pretty glad my patrilineal ancestor only got "the rheumatism" despite being at Port Republic, Gettysburg, Antietam, etc all the way to Bennett Place and marching over 11,000 miles between late 1861 and being discharged in July 1865.

For what it's worth, I have a GGG grandfather who was a teamster. He was pensioned at $8 per month for chronic diarrhea hemorrhoids, and heart disease. He tried to get it raised to include kidney disease later in life that he blamed on a fall off his horse at Cold Harbor. Even with a country doctors note, that didn't fly.

Yeah I mean it read to me kinda like that too, old guy (he was 63 at the time of the pension request, and turned 30 before the war was out) trying to get his buddies to speak up for a pension increase. Also I believe his wife divorced him for cause of abuse etc around the same time (1890s) on some kind of pension play that they had agreed on, I guess he knew he wasn't long for this world and was trying to get her more money on widow pension. How did you find his actual pension pay? I have his increase application (which my granddad originally requested like 30 years ago) but haven't been able to find the rest of his files although I'm also several months into waiting to see if my NARA record requests work.

 

[lelliott19]

although I'm also several months into waiting to see if my NARA record requests work.

If not, contact @Bob Velke . His service, Gopher Records, can provide records from NARA usually faster than NARA and more complete searches of the records.

 

[milhistbuff1]

If not, contact @Bob Velke . His service, Gopher Records, can provide records from NARA usually faster than NARA and more complete searches of the records.

Ask for the complete bundle since a medical issue is involved.

 

[seabird]

Thanks for the tip. I actually have NARA responses from my requests about a couple ancestors but several more pending (and those took like 4-5 months). I think there's more info out there that I just don't know how to request properly so I might drop him a line. Kinda trying to do stuff on the cheap though with this economy

 

[BCS1973]

How did you find his actual pension pay?

In the case of my particular ancestor it was listed in multiple locations in the file. His widow actually files for a pension after he died and the combined pension file was over 150 pages long.

 

[lupaglupa]

It's not unusual to see information on pensions printed in the local paper. You might try looking there.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Not relatives, but profoundly ironic. Three members of US general Hazen's brigade who had emerged unscratched from the vicious Round Forest fight at Stones River were killed in their sleep by an inept tree felling for firewood,

 

[milhistbuff1]

Thanks for the tip. I actually have NARA responses from my requests about a couple ancestors but several more pending (and those took like 4-5 months). I think there's more info out there that I just don't know how to request properly so I might drop him a line. Kinda trying to do stuff on the cheap though with this economy

That's an improvement, took me 9 mos. to get mine. Didn't know of Gopher at the time.

 

[CWdiaryPA]

Non-combat injuries - I would guess there were many. The dead do not survive 'injuries' and I would not, however, count disease as an 'injury' either. All that marching has a distinct effect on feet, legs and joints - especially amongst the older men from sedentary jobs, especially with much of the issued footwear - or marching barefoot.
There is also the dreaded hernia from lifting weighty items incorrectly, trapping hand, foot or finger under the boxes being manhandled as well as being on the receiving end of case or barrel on a crane or falling off the wagon. Yes the old iron-shod wheels were a source of a number of injury types too, for those driving, unloading or even walking beside those wagons.
Falls are another possibility - especially from ... you guessed it .. wagons - as well as off horses and crossing rocky uneven ground. There is also the possibilty of finding your nearest friend accidently removing a few teeth with his rifle butt as you cross a fence or the bayonet in the gluteus maximus from the guy behind. Many will have been recovered from, but some ...
If you have never soldiered, you have no idea!

True, if one has never soldiered, they can't know. Afa injuries & recovery, whenever I read these men's accounts I feel for them an instinctive hunger. They lacked food continuously, and without nutrition & REM sleep, the lack of those two essentials would have much contributed to an earlier demise, plus pain & suffering on the way to the grave.

Never in the military myself, but did take part in a cross-country peace march in '86, walking 15 to 20 miles day after day on easy terrain, mainly paved roads. The hunger takes over your consciousness, at least it did for me, & fatigue, plus bone pain that was inescapable. It started feeling like I was at an animal level, always turning over in my mind how I could get relief from pain. And I'm a wee thing, female. Can't imagine the hell a still growing 6'0 boy/man would have experienced.

Sometimes I think we neglect to remember these men's felt sense of their bodies, & how little control they had to get better or heal. So many were on sick rolls for a reason. And their hiding injuries, etc., because they don't want to let down friends or hurt cohesiveness of the unit.

 

[Bob Velke]

Thanks for the tip. I actually have NARA responses from my requests about a couple ancestors but several more pending (and those took like 4-5 months). I think there's more info out there that I just don't know how to request properly so I might drop him a line. Kinda trying to do stuff on the cheap though with this economy

FYI, I have had a lot of success getting access to records that have been sitting in NARA's queue for months waiting to be processed for an online duplication order. If you place an order with us, we'll enlist a supervisor to cancel that NARA order and we can usually copy them the same day. And FYI, our prices are at least 40% and sometimes as much as 80% less than what NARA charges. And we scan them in color while they simply make b/w photocopies.

They don't usually charge your credit card until they're ready to ship the records. If that's the case, then we won't scan them, of course, so you don't pay twice. When you order with us, we don't even ask for your cc info. We won't ask you to pay until/unless we've scanned the records.

 

[BCS1973]

FYI, I have had a lot of success getting access to records that have been sitting in NARA's queue for months waiting to be processed for an online duplication order. If you place an order with us, we'll enlist a supervisor to cancel that NARA order and we can usually copy them the same day. And FYI, our prices are at least 40% and sometimes as much as 80% less than what NARA charges. And we scan them in color while they simply make b/w photocopies.

They don't usually charge your credit card until they're ready to ship the records. If that's the case, then we won't scan them, of course, so you don't pay twice. When you order with us, we don't even ask for your cc info. We won't ask you to pay until/unless we've scanned the records.

@hands @Bob Velke did precisely this for me and got my records months earlier and without the additional surcharges for going beyond a certain number of pages (I believe it's 50).

 

[Bob Velke]

@hands @Bob Velke did precisely this for me and got my records months earlier and without the additional surcharges for going beyond a certain number of pages (I believe it's 50).

Thanks. NARA charges $80 for the first 100 pages and $0.70 per page thereafter. That can easily add up to $200 or more with a large file.

We charge a flat fee of $50 no matter how many pages there are. And if you create a free account on our site, you get an additional 10% off.