Soldiers after the war

[ReadingThroughHistory]

Does anyone know the numbers on how many veterans were left permanently maimed by the Civil War? I'd also like to know if there are any good sources on the mental health of the soldiers who experienced the traumas of the conflict, such as how many of them likely experienced PTSD. I'm also curious as to how many of the healthier veterans went out West after if was over, and if it was more of a Northern or Southern thing to do?

Thanks

 

[leftyhunter]

Does anyone know the numbers on how many veterans were left permanently maimed by the Civil War? I'd also like to know if there are any good sources on the mental health of the soldiers who experienced the traumas of the conflict, such as how many of them likely experienced PTSD. I'm also curious as to how many of the healthier veterans went out West after if was over, and if it was more of a Northern or Southern thing to do?

Thanks

View attachment 143448

We have some past threads in Civil War PTSD. At least one if our posters had some in depth research on an ancestor that had major PTSD issues. Maybe one of our Mods can provide a link or you can PM your favorite Mod.
I read one source that Heroin was invented to cure Morphine addiction among Civil War vets. I will try to confirm that is the case. Certainly untold thousands of Vets on both sides suffered from excruciating pain and in the latter half of the 19th Century only Opioids could provide some measurable relief along with serious side effects. Opioids in all forms were not restricted and or made illegal until the 1913 Weeks Act which is the foundation of our "war on drugs".
I have read accounts of gangs of Civil War vets plundering the countryside but I read that years ago so we need confirmation.
It always seems challenging to reintergrate at least many vets into society even today. I am not aware if their was a post Civil War era attempt to do so or if so how it fared.
I do know that in the City of Los Angeles local residents deeded prime real estate to build a Soldiers Home for Civil War vets.
Today there is much controversy about how the present day VA has not adequately utilized the land to house our large homeless vetetan community.
I have dealt with many homeless and or alcoholic/ drug addicted vets on the job and it is really sad.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

Does anyone know the numbers on how many veterans were left permanently maimed by the Civil War? I'd also like to know if there are any good sources on the mental health of the soldiers who experienced the traumas of the conflict, such as how many of them likely experienced PTSD. I'm also curious as to how many of the healthier veterans went out West after if was over, and if it was more of a Northern or Southern thing to do?

Thanks

View attachment 143448

I was right. Goggle history of Heroin and the Narconon article should be on top of the page. Heroin was invented in Germany in 1874 and marketed to doctors in the U.S. has a cure to Morphine addiction. Of course it did not exactly work out as advertised. We never learn from history. I remember in the early 1970s when Meathdon was hailed has the answer to Heroin addiction.
To this day there is no sure fire cure to Opioid addiction. I don't know how civil authirties in the post Civil War era dealt with it. No doubt not much better then they do today.
Leftyhunter

 

[amweiner]

I'm working on a article on drug abuse during and after the War. I'll post it in the next week or so in the Medical Forum.

 

[ReadingThroughHistory]

We have some past threads in Civil War PTSD. At least one if our posters had some in depth research on an ancestor that had major PTSD issues. Maybe one of our Mods can provide a link or you can PM your favorite Mod.
I read one source that Heroin was invented to cure Morphine addiction among Civil War vets. I will try to confirm that is the case. Certainly untold thousands of Vets on both sides suffered from excruciating pain and in the latter half of the 19th Century only Opioids could provide some measurable relief along with serious side effects. Opioids in all forms were not restricted and or made illegal until the 1913 Weeks Act which is the foundation of our "war on drugs".
I have read accounts of gangs of Civil War vets plundering the countryside but I read that years ago so we need confirmation.
It always seems challenging to reintergrate at least many vets into society even today. I am not aware if their was a post Civil War era attempt to do so or if so how it fared.
I do know that in the City of Los Angeles local residents deeded prime real estate to build a Soldiers Home for Civil War vets.
Today there is much controversy about how the present day VA has not adequately utilized the land to house our large homeless vetetan community.
I have dealt with many homeless and or alcoholic/ drug addicted vets on the job and it is really sad.
Leftyhunter

Thank you. I did a search here on the site and found a link to a very good pdf research piece on the matter. I'd love to see the member's research into his ancestor as well.

 

[ReadingThroughHistory]

I'm working on a article on drug abuse during and after the War. I'll post it in the next week or so in the Medical Forum.

Would you be willing to do an online chat about the article, once it's done? That's a conversation I would love to have!

 

[amweiner]

Sure! Anything I can do to help out.

 

[leftyhunter]

Does anyone know the numbers on how many veterans were left permanently maimed by the Civil War? I'd also like to know if there are any good sources on the mental health of the soldiers who experienced the traumas of the conflict, such as how many of them likely experienced PTSD. I'm also curious as to how many of the healthier veterans went out West after if was over, and if it was more of a Northern or Southern thing to do?

Thanks

View attachment 143448

I doubt any historian could ever come up with a definitive number of physicaly wounded let alone PTSD on both sides.
The figure has to be in the tens of thousands. Also keep in mind that there were thousands of counterinsurgency troops and guerrillas on both sides in the Civil War. That alone is going to lead to no small amount of PTSD.
Leftyhunter

 

[amweiner]

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/ptsd-battlefields-and-beyond.132273/#post-1493731

Not sure if this might be of interest.

 

[ReadingThroughHistory]

Sure! Anything I can do to help out. [/QUOTE

That would be fantastic! I hope we can make it happen.

 

[rpkennedy]

I've recommended this book before and will again but I can't praise it highly enough. If you want to know about soldiers after the war, read Brian Matthew Jordan's Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War.

Ryan

 

[jackt62]

I've recommended this book before and will again but I can't praise it highly enough. If you want to know about soldiers after the war, read Brian Matthew Jordan's Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War.

Ryan

I read that book, and it is certainly worthwhile reading on an important subject that seems to get overlooked. I wish there was more available information on how the returning veterans, north and south, whether wounded mentally or physically, carried on in their lives.

 

[leftyhunter]

I read that book, and it is certainly worthwhile reading on an important subject that seems to get overlooked. I wish there was more available information on how the returning veterans, north and south, whether wounded mentally or physically, carried on in their lives.

I don't think we will ever really know. Shell Shock which has the comedian George Carlin argued is a more accurate term then PTSD was not even a defined concept until WW1. By that time there were few CW vets still alive at most likely the troubled ones were already dead. Somehow after 100 odd years after psychologists diagnosed the condition it is very much with us . Arguably some other countries have dealt with it better although I have no data on that. Edit to add here is a more modern and innovate approach to PTSD. ottawacitizen.com/health/Israel+military+.attacking
If the link does not work just goggle it.
Leftyhunter