Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

[davidf]

I am doing research on a particular soldier from the 16th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Company I, named Michael Donahue. I figured that to get a complete perspective on this guy, besides looking at his war record, I would look at his civilian life as well.
My searches for books on life in Michigan during this time have resulted in not finding much at all. So I thought that maybe some of you here on the forum may have done research for first person impressions for soldiers from Michigan, and that some of you might know of books, articles, writings, etc that might help me explore life in Michigan at this time, in particular from Detroit (where my guy was from).
All I really need is the name of some sources to just get me started, and usually I can get going for there. I am not asking anyone to do my work for me. Thank you in advance with anyone who might be able to help me.

David Fictum

[tooch14]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

David,

In doing a google search, I did not come up with much. However I came across a book titled "A Distant Thunder:Michigan in the Civil War" by Richard Bak. It might be worth a look. From what I can see, different people from all different walks of life give their thoughts on the war and events leading up to it. https://www.huronriverpress.com/displaybook/000123/. Sorry I couldnt be of more assistance.

[Jeremy Bevard]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

Tomorrow I will try to remember to post specifics but maybe this will be a start for you. There is a old book on google called along the lines of The History of Detroit. Detroit was already a big city (for the time and area) and ones experience would be influenced on the part of the city he lived in. There are also many primary records out there from Michigan troops. Many diary and letter collections were complied after the war from Michigan. These will offer glimpses into their homes while providing great info for the soldier side.

[erik]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

David,

You might try to get a book titled "If I am found Dead: Michigan voices from the Civil War". ISBN-13:978-1-58726-283-8 The Ann Arbor Media Group.
The book actually includes letters and journal entries by a fellow named Salter of the 16th Mich.
This along with the previous reference should get you started.

Erik Simundson

[Jeremy Bevard]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

Thanks Erik, that was the main one I wanted to post but the name would not come to me. That same book also has entries from James Vernor who was in the 4th Michigan Cav. He came home to open a drug store in Detroit on Woodward. There he invented and first sold Vernor's Ginger Ale.

The other is The History of Detroit and Michigan by Silas Farmer, 1884. Let's see if this link works to it on Google books.
http://books.google.com/books?id=RH9...page&q&f=false

[davidf]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

Thank you Jeremy, Erik, and Terence. Its strange that other search phrases don't bring up these results.

I think I'll take this opportunity to tell you about this man I am researching and the project I am using him for.
Michael Donahue was a private in the 16th Michigan. In early September of 1863, he was tried a a military court martial for being absent without leave and cowardice on three counts, at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Donahue pleaded guilty to being absent without leave from July 1-4, 1863 around the battle of Gettysburg (remember that the 16th Michigan was part of Vincent's brigade and helped defend Little Round Top on July 2nd), but pleaded not guilty to all the charges of cowardice and the charges of being absent without leave at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Donahue tried to present a case that he was helping a wounded man to the rear during the battle of Fredericksburg and could not get back to the regiment until after the battle, and that he was excused from duty because of a severe case of night blindness during the time of Chancellorsville. The court found Donahue guilty of the charges of absence without leave and cowardice relating to Gettysburg and Fredericksburg, but not guilty of the charges related to Chancellorsville. As a result, his pay was docked by $10 every month, his head was shaved, he was drummed through camp wearing signs saying "coward" and "shirk"; and when his term was expired, he would be dishonorably discharged.
All of that information was taken from a copy of his court martial transcript. I have looked up a few sources, such as the official war records relating to the 16th Michigan, and some of the official records that the state of Michigan has published on what the 16th did during the war. I have several books on request that, once I receive them, should give me more leads on filling in his story. I will also be making a trip to the national archives to look up his service record (and possibly pension record, but would someone who was dishonorably discharged have a pension record?).
I am using the case of this court martial for my thesis for my history degree at Gettysburg College. At Gettysburg, we have capstone courses, and fortunately the theme for the one I am in is Civil War themed, "Cowardice at Gettysburg." Every student in the class are doing projects in which we look at various court martial cases relating to Gettysburg. We are each going to write a thesis that utilizes "microhistory" to explore interesting and significant themes revealed by our case we are studying. In the end, the class will explore a variety of issues relating to the life of soldiers during the Civil War. There is even the chance of publication as a result of these cases. For me, its a great opportunity to learn things to help with first person impressions. Maybe some of the things I learn about Michael Donahue can be applied to first person impressions.
Hope some of you found that interesting.

[Jeremy Bevard]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

If I remember right the 16th Michigan was down the slope a bit on Little Round Top and something like half the Regiment broke for the rear along with their commanding officer. The other half stood their ground. Of course, they were in some pretty desperate fighting and took fire from several direction in the location. I believe the half that stayed accepted the other half back including their commander. The 16th took something like 50-60 casualties that day afternoon.

Another book that could be of interest is Forgotten Valor: The Memories of Orlando Wilcox. He write about the early year in Michigan and Chicago before the War early in the book. For Country Cause & Leader: The journal of Charles B. Haydon is a great one with some glimpses of home in the beginning and some throughout.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

and that he was excused from duty because of a severe case of night blindness during the time of Chancellorsville.

Since he got off on the Chancellorsville charges, they apparently agreed that he could have had night blindness, but knowing more about the causes of night blindness now than they did then, it'd be interesting to see if we'd still think it reasonable that he had it.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[davidf]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

Yea, one thing I am going to have to do is research how severe night blindness can get and what visible symptoms it can have, and if it can lead to other health problems.
Besides his tent mate testifying that he had it so bad that he couldn't recognize him coming into their tent, the Colonel of the regiment (a major at the time of Chancellorsville) had this to say about him:
"He came to me and said that he was not able to go, that his eyes were too bad, that they had been cupping him on the temples. I saw the marks. I told him that he couldn’t remain there, that an arrangement had been made to leave him and that he had better go with the regiment and when he could go no farther he would have to stop. I believe he had been in the hospital sometime before this and had just got out."
Who is they? Couldn't never figure that out. Was this anything to do with the night blindness or had Donahue just been hit the eyes by someone or something? I will have to see what his service records come up with, because I hope that maybe there are doctor reports of some sort relating to this.
Will keep you all updated once anything interesting comes up.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

"He came to me and said that he was not able to go, that his eyes were too bad, that they had been cupping him on the temples. I saw the marks..."

Who is they? Couldn't never figure that out. Was this anything to do with the night blindness or had Donahue just been hit the eyes by someone or something? I will have to see what his service records come up with, because I hope that maybe there are doctor reports of some sort relating to this.
Will keep you all updated once anything interesting comes up.

Since cupping was a common medical treatment, I'd assume that "they" were the surgeon(s) who'd treated him for the night blindness, in the same way we'd say, "I went to the emergency room and they gave me some aspirin," even if it was actually only one individual who handed over the aspirin.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

Vitamin A deficiency will cause night blindness. Considering that people have varying requirements for many vitamins and that A and C were especially likely to go missing in a soldier's diet of few vegetables, it might be interesting to see how many cases there were in that regiment and whether they had had any unusual problems in obtaining Sanitary Commission vegetables and such.

As far as background goes, don't forget to look at the Detroit papers of the time. While they won't tell you everything, you'll get an overall sense of the way local politics were going, as well as the day to day irritations and hopes of the editors and their subscribers if not of the general populace. You will also see advertisements for various merchants, and the classifieds are always entertaining.

[davidf]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

Since cupping was a common medical treatment

Ah, that explains a lot. I didn't know cupping was a treatment. I for some reason thought cupping was something else. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it means, "The operation of drawing blood by scarifying the skin and applying a ‘cup’ or cupping-glass the air in which is rarefied by heat or otherwise. (Also called distinctively wet cupping.)." I do wonder how painful this operation is? Would a malingerer put up with such a procedure? It seems in this case that I am always teetering between a shirker/malingerer of some sort and that Donahue had some legitimate medical issues.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

Ah, that explains a lot. I didn't know cupping was a treatment. I for some reason thought cupping was something else. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it means, "The operation of drawing blood by scarifying the skin and applying a ‘cup’ or cupping-glass the air in which is rarefied by heat or otherwise. (Also called distinctively wet cupping.)." I do wonder how painful this operation is? Would a malingerer put up with such a procedure? It seems in this case that I am always teetering between a shirker/malingerer of some sort and that Donahue had some legitimate medical issues.

There's also dry cupping, where the skin isn't scarrified first. Wet cupping is similar to leaching, while dry cupping is more like blistering. Either one might be performed on the temples for night blindness, depending on the doctor's preference and analysis of the person's symptoms.

Dry cupping is still performed today by, um, alternative doctors, to phrase it politely. Search youtube for Chinese cupping to see videos of how it's done, same as in the 19th century. Look for ones using a small glass globe, where the operator lights a paper afire, puts it in the cup, then applies the cup to the skin, and the change in air pressure creates a bruise or blister. It leaves a temporary red or bruised mark, though people report it's not extremely painful.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[davidf]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

An update. I went to the National Archives and found a variety of files on Michael Donahue. I got his Compiled Service Record, Pension Record, Medical Record, and the 16th Michigan Record books.

For the medical stuff, I could not find any records that doctors actually did the whole hot cupping thing to Donahue. Is there any reason why doctors might not record that they did such a procedure? Would hot cupping ever be used as a way to scare and catch a malingerer? The only thing medically related close to the dates of the battle of Chancellorsville was that he was put in hospital from May 4 to May 23 for "severe diarrhea."

Besides that, most of his pension records talks about how he was wounded in 1864 around the time of the battle of Spotsylvania. Strange thing is that the court martial never seems to come up in any of the documents I have closely read so far, not even the pension records. The court martial said Donahue was to be dishonorably discharged at the end of the war. While Donahue did have his pay docked for the rest of the war, at the end he did get a honorable discharge and was able to get his pension after the war.

Overall, a interesting experience to go and do research at the archives. Will probably go back in March to do more.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Looking for Life in Civil War Era Michigan information

For the medical stuff, I could not find any records that doctors actually did the whole hot cupping thing to Donahue. Is there any reason why doctors might not record that they did such a procedure? Would hot cupping ever be used as a way to scare and catch a malingerer? The only thing medically related close to the dates of the battle of Chancellorsville was that he was put in hospital from May 4 to May 23 for "severe diarrhea."

Only thing I can think is that it was a relative minor, what we'd call "outpatient," procedure, so it might have been too unimportant to mention, if a doctor just did it without admitting him to the hospital or taking him off duty.

Doctors did have to deal with feigned illnesses, and night blindness was one that could be feigned (incontinence of urine was another big one). It's possible a doctor might threaten cupping to see if the patient would back down, but since it was a relatively minor treatment with no long-term side-effects, it might or might not work to get the patient to out himself, similar to threatening to give someone a shot today to cure an illness to see if they'd back down. For information on feigned illnesses and doctors discussing how to deal with it, search google books for "night blindness" and "feigned."

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com