Remembering the Dead

[Cavalry Charger]

Can anyone tell me how the families at home grieved and remembered the dead when the mortal remains of so many soldiers were never returned home? What was the response in homes, villages, towns in the aftermath of battles? Were there memorial services? Were they for individuals or multiple soldiers who may have died in the same battle? Did family members visit battlefields, and how soon after the battle/war were they able to do that?

 

[huskerblitz]

There are two great sources for this.

Drew Gilpin Faust's This Republic of Suffering covers this topic. The video below was based on this book. I highly recommend both.

Death and the Civil War

 

[lelliott19]

Can anyone tell me how the families at home grieved and remembered the dead when the mortal remains of so many soldiers were never returned home? What was the response in homes, villages, towns in the aftermath of battles? Were there memorial services? Were they for individuals or multiple soldiers who may have died in the same battle? Did family members visit battlefields, and how soon after the battle/war were they able to do that?

Stay tuned to the medical forum @Cavalry Charger and be on the lookout!

Our own CWT resident psychologist @amweiner is working on a piece about just this topic! I'm not sure exactly when it will post. I will be away for a few days for work, but perhaps someone else will @tag you when its up? If amweiner sees this, I'm sure he will let you know when he posts it.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

There are two great sources for this.

Drew Gilpin Faust's This Republic of Suffering covers this topic. The video below was based on this book. I highly recommend both.

Death and the Civil War

Thank you so much! I have heard of this title, but not looked into it yet, so appreciate the link.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

Stay tuned to the medical forum @Cavalry Charger and be on the lookout!

Our own CWT resident psychologist @amweiner is working on a piece about just this topic! I'm not sure exactly when it will post. I will be away for a few days for work, but perhaps someone else will @tag you when its up? If amweiner sees this, I'm sure he will let you know when he posts it.

He's a step ahead of me then We know the men were buried as best could be at the time, but what about the folks at home? I haven't seen much consideration given to this topic as far as published works go. The closest I've come is "The Aftermath of Battle - Burial of the Civil War Dead", but that mainly concerns the soldiers themselves, not their families. I will keep an eye out for @amweiner's piece. Thanks.

 

[amweiner]

Stay tuned to the medical forum @Cavalry Charger and be on the lookout!

Our own CWT resident psychologist @amweiner is working on a piece about just this topic! I'm not sure exactly when it will post. I will be away for a few days for work, but perhaps someone else will @tag you when its up? If amweiner sees this, I'm sure he will let you know when he posts it.

I am just about finished @lelliott19! Been trying to hit as many of these facets of loss as possible without getting carried away. I will certainly give you a heads-up once I get this posted within the next few days.
Adam

 

[amweiner]

@Cavalry Charger, one thing I did find was that family members would often come to battlefields as quickly as possible to look for loved ones. At times, this was while the wounded and dead were being attended to, and one can only imagine the fear and heartbreak they experienced.

 

[lelliott19]

I am just about finished @lelliott19! Been trying to hit as many of these facets of loss as possible without getting carried away. I will certainly give you a heads-up once I get this posted within the next few days.
Adam

Thank you so much Adam! Looks like you and I aren't the only ones interested in how the folks back home responded and dealt with the death of their loved ones on the battlefield. I have a feeling this will be something everyone will want to read!

Ill be sequestered out in the boonies on a training assignment for work so I wont be much use for a few days. Please be sure to tag @Cavalry Charger and Ill catch up when I return.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

@Cavalry Charger, one thing I did find was that family members would often come to battlefields as quickly as possible to look for loved ones. At times, this was while the wounded and dead were being attended to, and one can only imagine the fear and heartbreak they experienced.

I'm often reading about the need for metal coffins, and the inability of these to be sourced, meaning the dead had to be buried where they were. I assume this was the only way of transporting bodies unable to be preserved at the time (embalmed) with the inclements of weather and the time it would take. Such things seem very foreign to us now.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

Thank you so much Adam! Looks like you and I aren't the only ones interested in how the folks back home responded and dealt with the death of their loved ones on the battlefield. I have a feeling this will be something everyone will want to read!

Ill be sequestered out in the boonies on a training assignment for work so I wont be much use for a few days. Please be sure to tag @Cavalry Charger and Ill catch up when I return.

Thank you @lelliot19. We'll miss you

 

[huskerblitz]

I'm often reading about the need for metal coffins, and the inability of these to be sourced, meaning the dead had to be buried where they were. I assume this was the only way of transporting bodies unable to be preserved at the time (embalmed) with the inclements of weather and the time it would take. Such things seem very foreign to us now.

At times this was actually set up in advance with those able to pay. But some of that was determined by who held the field after the battle. Immediate burial was a practical matter.

 

[amweiner]

Thank you so much Adam! Looks like you and I aren't the only ones interested in how the folks back home responded and dealt with the death of their loved ones on the battlefield. I have a feeling this will be something everyone will want to read!

Ill be sequestered out in the boonies on a training assignment for work so I wont be much use for a few days. Please be sure to tag @Cavalry Charger and Ill catch up when I return.

Consider it done! Have a good training adventure and be safe.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

At times this was actually set up in advance with those able to pay. But some of that was determined by who held the field after the battle. Immediate burial was a practical matter.

I am also wondering about how the families coped with the aftermath of battle. With so many bodies unable to be retrieved, how did they mourn their dead? What happened in the homes of their families, and in the towns where they came from? I can't even imagine what that would be like, but it is not unheard of, even up until some of the most recent wars where soldiers still lie buried on foreign battlefields.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

You see a lot of letters published in local papers, along with resolutions from home chapters of secret societies. I have one published in the local paper for Sam Huson- a letter to his parents written by his friend who buried him on the field at Shiloh.

Penn Yann, NY chartered a train to bring men- fathers mostly, to Gettysburg. They gathered their dead sons, scooped up their wounded and brought them home. 120th NY, 126th- some others had been in some hot engagements.

Are you asking about various ways they mourned their soldiers? Victorians did far better than we do, allowing grief in their fellow man to be recognized and encouraged. We're allowed a few days before some statute of limitations decrees we'd better be ' over it '. In general, they immersed their world in black- clothing, shrouded mirrors, creped doors, images of the deceased on jewelry, ribbons and photos of the dead. Black lasted months, then sober hues more moths until a full year passed. Talk about healthy. By then you'd been forced to address your grief and life without this loved one.

Few ways they remembered soldiers- tons more, these are from the top of my head.

Mourning jewelry, a locket

John, a soldier from the 18th OVI's home memorial. Templates could be purchased.

She is not holding a photo of a soldier- have a few where the widow is

Here is one.

No idea why this type of image was helpful to mourning the lost loved one, it just was

Widow, probably, in full mourning in front of a house plunged into mourning- it is all in memory of the lost loved one.

This always seems so eerie- template for a soldier's home memorial

I almost never post post-mortems on the grounds that it seems extremely intrusive, taking advantage of a family's pain to get a look at a dead body. Relaxing for a moment out of respect for someone's idea of comfort- this soldier must have lost his mother or a wife or sister. Knowing she was there, meeting him helped the family through losing him, too.



One town in the South ( rats, forget which one ) lost so many men, the mayor forbid wearing black. It was too, too depressing, he said- and apparently really was. The town's population seemed decked in black and was giving him and each other the willies.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

You see a lot of letters published in local papers, along with resolutions from home chapters of secret societies. I have one published in the local paper for Sam Huson- a letter to his parents written by his friend who buried him on the field at Shiloh.

Penn Yann, NY chartered a train to bring men- fathers mostly, to Gettysburg. They gathered their dead sons, scooped up their wounded and brought them home. 120th NY, 126th- some others had been in some hot engagements.

Are you asking about various ways they mourned their soldiers? Victorians did far better than we do, allowing grief in their fellow man to be recognized and encouraged. We're allowed a few days before some statute of limitations decrees we'd better be ' over it '. In general, they immersed their world in black- clothing, shrouded mirrors, creped doors, images of the deceased on jewelry, ribbons and photos of the dead. Black lasted months, then sober hues more moths until a full year passed. Talk about healthy. By then you'd been forced to address your grief and life without this loved one.

Few ways they remembered soldiers- tons more, these are from the top of my head.

View attachment 129886
Mourning jewelry, a locket

View attachment 129885
John, a soldier from the 18th OVI's home memorial. Templates could be purchased.

View attachment 129882
She is not holding a photo of a soldier- have a few where the widow is

View attachment 129889
Here is one.

View attachment 129883
No idea why this type of image was helpful to mourning the lost loved one, it just was

View attachment 129884
Widow, probably, in full mourning in front of a house plunged into mourning- it is all in memory of the lost loved one.

View attachment 129887
This always seems so eerie- template for a soldier's home memorial

View attachment 129888
I almost never post post-mortems on the grounds that it seems extremely intrusive, taking advantage of a family's pain to get a look at a dead body. Relaxing for a moment out of respect for someone's idea of comfort- this soldier must have lost his mother or a wife or sister. Knowing she was there, meeting him helped the family through losing him, too.



One town in the South ( rats, forget which one ) lost so many men, the mayor forbid wearing black. It was too, too depressing, he said- and apparently really was. The town's population seemed decked in black and was giving him and each other the willies.

Thank you so much @JPK Huson 1863 These are fascinating images, and for some reason I particularly liked the one of the woman turned towards the back of the chair, turning away in her grief. I can relate to this photo in so many ways. It seems the wearing of black was a very popular tradition in the past, shared with many cultures, and although a year is a good length of time for others also to recognise your need for support, I know from experience that grief can come in waves, and a year doesn't always cut it. But, as a means of encouraging us to move forward, having a timeline where one must begin to venture out again is probably very practical...if not always easy.

The post mortem photos always 'creep me out', and I agree, they should be kept private.

I am still wondering what sort of services were conducted for the dead when their bodies couldn't be returned home.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

You see a lot of letters published in local papers, along with resolutions from home chapters of secret societies. I have one published in the local paper for Sam Huson- a letter to his parents written by his friend who buried him on the field at Shiloh.

Penn Yann, NY chartered a train to bring men- fathers mostly, to Gettysburg. They gathered their dead sons, scooped up their wounded and brought them home. 120th NY, 126th- some others had been in some hot engagements.

Are you asking about various ways they mourned their soldiers? Victorians did far better than we do, allowing grief in their fellow man to be recognized and encouraged. We're allowed a few days before some statute of limitations decrees we'd better be ' over it '. In general, they immersed their world in black- clothing, shrouded mirrors, creped doors, images of the deceased on jewelry, ribbons and photos of the dead. Black lasted months, then sober hues more moths until a full year passed. Talk about healthy. By then you'd been forced to address your grief and life without this loved one.

Few ways they remembered soldiers- tons more, these are from the top of my head.

View attachment 129886
Mourning jewelry, a locket

View attachment 129885
John, a soldier from the 18th OVI's home memorial. Templates could be purchased.

View attachment 129882
She is not holding a photo of a soldier- have a few where the widow is

View attachment 129889
Here is one.

View attachment 129883
No idea why this type of image was helpful to mourning the lost loved one, it just was

View attachment 129884
Widow, probably, in full mourning in front of a house plunged into mourning- it is all in memory of the lost loved one.

View attachment 129887
This always seems so eerie- template for a soldier's home memorial

View attachment 129888
I almost never post post-mortems on the grounds that it seems extremely intrusive, taking advantage of a family's pain to get a look at a dead body. Relaxing for a moment out of respect for someone's idea of comfort- this soldier must have lost his mother or a wife or sister. Knowing she was there, meeting him helped the family through losing him, too.



One town in the South ( rats, forget which one ) lost so many men, the mayor forbid wearing black. It was too, too depressing, he said- and apparently really was. The town's population seemed decked in black and was giving him and each other the willies.

PS: The woman completely clothed in black is like something out of a modern horror movie...I can see why the Mayor of the town called an end to the mourning early!