- Joined
- May 12, 2010
- Location
- Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
Thanks for posting. I learned much from all the posts by other members.
There was an excellent book published on the subject in 1997.I wonder very much about my great-great-grandfather. He clearly suffered from something after the war, but it does not appear to have been a physical ailment, and he lived for his last years at a state hospital, but was (physically) healthy enough to attend family reunions and G.A.R. stuff. Records are unclear and family records are not revealing... which causes me to suspect that it was something mental or emotional.
CMWinkler,
It is amazing what a supposedly fragile body can endure in physical injurty and punishment, that the mind cannot be forced to bear.
Thanks for posting this story.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
This is another of those morbidly interesting - and relevant - topics.
I wonder how many dependents suffered PTSD in the CW.
I think John Winn's three sisters and little brother suffered PTSD after the CW. Their father had died a few years before the war leaving his wife in a very fragile position and with five children. John, being the oldest, went to Richmond for work and then joined the Howitzers. His mother ran a boarding house to support the family but they apparently led a marginal existence. John's mother died during the war leaving the children to be farmed out to distant relatives. After the war John was expected to take care of everybody but he wasn't really able to do it. They almost literally starved. Eventually, his oldest sister married a wealthy man in WV who soon became a Senator and he supported everybody but John (who had moved to Georgia). John's only brother was never able to deal with finding a trade, moved about aimlessly, ended up in an asylum and died there. None of the other sisters ever married or, apparently, had any social life of their own.
I wonder how many other dependents in the CW had similar or even worse experiences and how many of them were mentally damaged by it. Had to be quite a few I'd think.
PTSD is a catch-all for a trauma-induced anxiety disorder; no physical damage is inflicted on the brain
CMWinkler,
It is amazing what a supposedly fragile body can endure in physical injury and punishment, that the mind cannot be forced to bear.
I wonder how many other dependents in the CW had similar or even worse experiences and how many of them were mentally damaged by it. Had to be quite a few I'd think.
I seem to know a lot of hoarders. A disproportionate number survived The Great Depression, or are children of those who did.