PART I During and after the Civil War surgeons began looking closely at a medical condition that affected some soldiers; what we today know as PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). It was sometimes first referred to as “melancholy” or “nostalgia” during the war. Then when surgeon Jacob Mendes Da Costa observed symptoms that he classified as a heart issue, which came be to known as “Da Costa’s syndrome,” an idiom…

The average soldier was a white, native-born, single, protestant, male farmer between about 18 and 38 years of age. He stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed about 145 pounds. The tallest recorded being Captain David Van Buskirk (pictured right) of the 27th Indiana Infantry who stood 6’10” and 1/2 inches tall. Union soldiers were known as “Billy Yank” while their Confederate counterparts were called “Johnny Reb.” The…

As the armies melted away from Gettysburg the horror was just beginning for the town and surrounding community. Nurses and volunteers flowed in from as far as New Jersey even before the fighting had ended. One such volunteer was Cornelia Hancock. Hancock was born on February 8, 1840 in southern New Jersey and was one of five children of a Quaker family. By 1863 her brother and “every male relative”…

This final post in the short series of Nathanial Rollins who served in the Iron Brigade (2nd Wisconsin) Chronicles the days after the battle concluded and during which he started his time as a Confederate prisoner. Rollins would refuse to be paroled and spent the rest of the war in various prisoner of war camps. For more on this series see: 1, 2, 3. July 3d: This morning at about…

[This is a continuation of Nathaniel Rollins’ diary entries for Gettysburg, here and here] As the sun crept over the fields and mounds outside of Gettysburg it became apparent to the Confederates that the Union army was dug in on the high ground. The Union army had established strong positions in a giant U-shaped defensive line stretching from Culp’s Hill to Cemetery Ridge. After some initial probing it became apparent…

They woke early and made breakfast before heading out towards Gettysburg. The 2nd Wisconsin lead the way as they left Marsh Creek Camp. The oldest and most famous of the five Iron Brigade regiments, the 2nd Wisconsin was one of the first 3-year enlistment regiments to arrive in Washington in 1861. They marched for some time until the outskirts of Gettysburg was reached where they began to hear the cannon…

Captain Nathaniel Rollins of the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry kept a daily diary throughout the Civil War. Parts of the diary are available here at SoldierStudies.org. Rollins diary is informative, at times passionate, and also revealing of the typical Civil War soldier. During his correspondences he provides a comprehensive portrait of the daily life of a soldier in the Iron Brigade. During the battle of Gettysburg Rollins was taken prisoner and…

A new series of letters is being patiently added to the archive. Today the first in what will be many additions from William H. Clark, who was a Captain in the Twenty-First Massachusetts Infantry. Here’s part of the letter: Dear Father, I have received three letters from home since I have been here though two of them were quite old (having made a voyage to Newburn in quest of me),…

This was an interesting find today during some Google Book browsing. The Romance of the Civil War was published in 1903 and edited by Albert Bushnell Hart and Elizabeth Stevens. However, the title is a bit misleading. When I first found it I expected the “romantic” nature of late 19th century writing to bring forth an expected confined and yet allusive narrative that would live up to the title. Well,…