Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

[MissMia]

I've been wondering for a while--

Are there any memoirs or documentation on men who returned back to civilian life w/out major injuries? I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already, but I'd appreciate any info or comments y'all may have on the subject!

[Hank Trent]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

Are you looking for any sort of particular information? Statistically, I think something like over half the soldiers had no major wounds; not sure how counting chronic illnesses like diarrhea would affect the number.

I portrayed a man last fall at Bummers who would fit the bill, Pvt. Jasper Culver of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry. From my AAR: he was captured at Chickamauga, spent several months in prisons in Richmond and Danville, then was transferred to Andersonville in March, spent almost eight months there through the worst of the summer, escaped in November with two comrades, and walked eighty miles to join Sherman's army near Atlanta. Although his three-year enlistment had ended the previous month while he was still in Andersonville, he immediately reenlisted in the 21st Wisconsin, continued to participate in the march to the sea, and was finally mustered out in the spring of 1865. He testified at Wirz's trial, moved to Nebraska and then California, left a still-unpublished memoir, and lived to be over 80 years old. He was a storekeeper in Nebraska after the war, as I recall. He got smallpox while a POW in Virginia but recovered, and I don't know that he was ever wounded; certainly not seriously enough to disable him.

Another example is another man I protrayed, Pvt. Timothy Reed (Reid), who enlisted at age 41 in the 20th North Carolina. Not many older soldiers made it through the whole war without a medical discharge. He was heir to a gold mine in Cabarrus Co., NC, but had lost most of the money, and was out prospecting in California when the war broke out. He returned home to enlist, fought throughout the war, and surrendered at Appomattox--don't know that he was ever wounded. He'd lived with relatives or other miners before the war and had never married, but he married after returning home from the war. Not sure how much information I still have on him.

There are the well-known officers, of course. Don't think Robert E. Lee was ever seriously wounded, for example. I also portrayed a little-known officer in his post-war life, Col. Sanders Bruce of Kentucky, who went on to compile a major US stud book for thoroughbred horses and run a sporting newspaper in New York after the war and lived just barely into the 20th century.

There are going to be so many random data-points like that. Are you looking for a particular pattern? Survivor's guilt? PTSD or lack thereof? etc.?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[KPavia]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

My wife has two ancestors who served in Illinois regiments that served throughout the entire war and weren't wounded. I can't give the specifics because we don't have the documentation with us but they enlisted in either 1861 or 1862, served and fought, and returned home and lived to ripe old ages. One family story that has been passed on is that one of the veterans, in his old age, developed dimentia of some sort and would reenact his experiences by himself in the attic of his home.

[Jeremy Bevard]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

General Rufus Dawes went most fo the war without an injury. He started out in June 1861 as a Captain in the 6th Wisconsin of the Iron Brigade. One year later he was promoted to Major and in less then a year promoted to Lt Colonel of the regiment. He was the one leading the 6th as they charged the railroad cut at Gettysburg. After fighting at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, ect he decided to leave the army in August 1864. The regiment suffered 357 fatalities with 16 being officers this does not include the many wounded. Dawes returned home without a scratch. In his book Service with the 6th Wisconsin Volunteers (1890) he talks about how it became a joke in the regiment and brigade that he could not be harmed. If something needed to get done send Dawes since the Rebels can not harm him.

[ndnchf]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

My GG Grandfather, Sgt. William Henry Harrison, 37th North Carolina Infantry, Co. C enlisted in 1861 and was paroled at Appomatox in 1865. He was in and out of hospitals with various illnesses - dysentary, influenza etc., but never seriously wounded. While not mentioned in his service records, according to my grandmother, the only wound he sustained was tip of his nose being taken off by a minie' ball. He lived to a ripe old age.

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

Good morning, Ma'am,

My GGG Uncle, Robert Kite, was a 1st Florida Mounted Militia Veteran, Third Seminole War Mounted Vet, 1st Florida Cav (CS - 1861 enlistment), who saw considerable action at and up to Snodgrass Hill, captured in the pits at the base of Missionary Ridge on Nov 25, 1863, survived the reminder of war in harsh confinement at Rock Island, paroled at Port Hudson and returned to settle in Waldo, Florida where he appears to have led a productive agrarian life, developing and cataloguing a variety of Florida orange "the Kite Orange" in 1885 with University of Florida Ag program (a variety which I believe now to be extinct). He survived until 1903 and along with all of his / my CS veteran kin are buried in Sante Fe Cemetery between Starke and Waldo, Florida.

I have each piece of this painstakingly documented, in addition to that of his brother, my grandfather and two uncles who remained in FL in the 2nd Florida Cav Co's J/K, together with another uncle who served in Flroida Brigade - 10th FL INF and was paroled at Appomattox. All having read their parole and Florida Pension Applications, they all seem to have remained unscathed throughout the war (outside of sickness) pursuant to those records. If the need arises for documentation, please do not hesitate to contact me offline.

Christopher Rideout
Tampa, Florida

[MissMia]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

Are you looking for any sort of particular information? Statistically, I think something like over half the soldiers had no major wounds; not sure how counting chronic illnesses like diarrhea would affect the number.

I portrayed a man last fall at Bummers who would fit the bill, Pvt. Jasper Culver of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry. From my AAR: he was captured at Chickamauga, spent several months in prisons in Richmond and Danville, then was transferred to Andersonville in March, spent almost eight months there through the worst of the summer, escaped in November with two comrades, and walked eighty miles to join Sherman's army near Atlanta. Although his three-year enlistment had ended the previous month while he was still in Andersonville, he immediately reenlisted in the 21st Wisconsin, continued to participate in the march to the sea, and was finally mustered out in the spring of 1865. He testified at Wirz's trial, moved to Nebraska and then California, left a still-unpublished memoir, and lived to be over 80 years old. He was a storekeeper in Nebraska after the war, as I recall. He got smallpox while a POW in Virginia but recovered, and I don't know that he was ever wounded; certainly not seriously enough to disable him.

Another example is another man I protrayed, Pvt. Timothy Reed (Reid), who enlisted at age 41 in the 20th North Carolina. Not many older soldiers made it through the whole war without a medical discharge. He was heir to a gold mine in Cabarrus Co., NC, but had lost most of the money, and was out prospecting in California when the war broke out. He returned home to enlist, fought throughout the war, and surrendered at Appomattox--don't know that he was ever wounded. He'd lived with relatives or other miners before the war and had never married, but he married after returning home from the war. Not sure how much information I still have on him.

There are the well-known officers, of course. Don't think Robert E. Lee was ever seriously wounded, for example. I also portrayed a little-known officer in his post-war life, Col. Sanders Bruce of Kentucky, who went on to compile a major US stud book for thoroughbred horses and run a sporting newspaper in New York after the war and lived just barely into the 20th century.

There are going to be so many random data-points like that. Are you looking for a particular pattern? Survivor's guilt? PTSD or lack thereof? etc.?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

Thank you for the reply, Mr. Trent.
Yes, I realized after I posted this that the subject is pretty broad--However, you answered my question, I'm just interested in the individuals lives--its just a subject I haven't looked into much and thought y'all would be more knowledgeable on it.
Due to the high casualty number, its intriguing to reseach a bit more on who returned home intact. Thanks for bringing up the chronic illness issue that most certainly would have affected many...

[Hank Trent]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

To put this in perspective....

It's impossible to be precise due to all the different ways one could include or exclude people, but using the approximate statistics at Wikipedia,

3,164,000 total soldiers both sides
620,000 died
420,000 wounded (rounding up because the CS number has a + after it)

Leaving a total of men not killed or wounded: 2,124,000 or 67%. So this thread would apply to approximately 2/3 of the soldiers who served, if we're excluding illnesses from which they recovered.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[john duffer]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

Only slightly off topic, I once went thru the 24th Wisconsin roster in some detail and almost all that spent any time in captivity were either medically discharged as soon as released or a very short time after trying to return to the ranks. It seems it was pretty rough on them physically and I can't help but believe affected them in later years. 'SHOOK OVER HELL - POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS, VIETNAM, AND THE CIVIL WAR" is a good study of the mental issues carried by many post conflict.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

Actually, I think it would be pretty interesting to study how the war affected veterans who weren't wounded/disabled enough to show up in the statistics, and thought that might be the motive behind this thread. My great great grandfather went through the March to the Sea and I don't think he was wounded, but family legend says he'd get what we'd call anxiety attacks the rest of his life. Then there are the numerous cases of chronic diarrhea that lasted for a lifetime, but not disabling a veteran enough to make him actually an invalid. I'm picturing something like "Shook Over Hell," except about those who didn't wind up in a mental institution, but just coped with less severe problems during "normal" life.

It would be hard to research, though, since it would, by definition, be about more subtle things.

Col. Bruce, whom I mentioned above, posed a paradox when I was researching him, because he resigned during the war for heart problems, yet lived to very old age with apparently no further symptoms. Someone provided me a letter later than explained it: he froze during combat and couldn't cope with it, and was considered a coward. Heart problems were apparently just an excuse, or an honest misunderstanding of anxiety-caused physical symptoms.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

Then there are the numerous cases of chronic diarrhea that lasted for a lifetime, but not disabling a veteran enough to make him actually an invalid. Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

General Nathan Bedford Forrest succumbed to this very thing in 1877, thought by some to be most likely a persistent parasitic infestation along the lines of a Giardia lamblia though the period causation was reported to be and still repeated today as dysentery possibly triggered by diabetes. There is an existing historical record of RE Lee, Ewell and many other being debilitated by such things.

CJ Rideout
Tampa, Florida

[Hank Trent]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

It was surprisingly common.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

A new book which addresses the return of Confederate veterans both wounded and not as well as from what I understand families in which the veteran didn't come home is McClurken, Jeffrey W. Take Care of the Living: Reconstructing Confederate Veteran Families in Virginia. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009.

[OlszowyTM]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

FWIW-This is a snapshot of one regiment, 86NY Vols. The 86th was an AoP unit that stayed in the eastern theatre for their entire service as members of the 3rd Corps and later 2d Corps after consolidation in 64. 1st engagement was 2d Bull Run and they hit every major engagement from that point on, including participation as one of the few infantry units at Brandy Station in Jun 63. In no way am I suggesting this is comparative to any other regiment (getting this far with one regt has been research intensive), as the condition of a regiment's members at the close of their enlistments would be impacted by the type of unit, where it was posted and the duration of its service.

There is a disclaimer on the data. What is here is preliminary & the result of of about 5 years of research, including review of pension files, letters and diaries which is not yet complete. As a result of the research, some of the information does not necessarily reflect what one would find if they only used data in Pfisterer or OR casualty reports. For example, some soldiers originally listed as died of disease, when matched against surgeon certificates and other documents show they should more properly be classed as died of wounds and the numbers given below reflect that given the information discovered to date.

577 made it to the expiration of their enlistment terms and many of them were wounded at some point during the war. That includes enlistments from inception thru the end of the war and those transferred to the 86th from the 70th NY in June 1864.

Of those 577, 256 were "original" enlistees (men who enlisted in the regiment prior to its departure from its mustering point at Elmira NY, minus band members discharged in 62) AND made it to the end of their enlistment terms, be it June 64 or May 65 if they veteranized, only 124 went home without being wounded in action along the way.

Deserters = 127
Discharged for disability = 336
Died of Disease= 130 (some as diseases from complications of wounds)
Died of Wounds = 62
Trans to VRC = 107
Hospitalized at muster out of regt = 2
Killed in action = 173
Died as POW = 16
Missing in action = 21 (all but 7 on 1 date 5/10/64)
Transferred to other units = 23 (USCT, Regulars, artillery, other units for commissions etc)
Writ of Habeus Corpus = 1 (under age)
Absent at muster out of regt = 8 (wounded or sick)
Dishonoranble discharges = 3
Status/Whereabouts unknown at time of muster out = 7

[bhutton]

Re: Fought in ACW--and returned home without a scratch?

Came across this book sometime ago 'Without A Scratch' the Diary Of William Holmes Morse, Color bearer of the 5th Maine, I believe he went through 3 years without being hit.