Salah

Today I've been pondering - what was life like for Civil War vets? Do we have any record of how hard it may have been for them to adjust to civilan life after the War? Did suicide, alcoholism, or domestic violence rates in the country rise after the War? I read today that the American divorce rate increased 150% between 1865 and 1885.

One particularly wonders about those men who came home physically broken. What kind of pensions did amputees receive, and what kind of work might they have found?

Some trivia on the topic:

John Lincoln Clem was the last Civil War soldier to retire from active duty. He started his military career as a drummer boy in a Federal regiment in 1861, and ended it as a major general in 1916.

Walter Williams died in Texas in December of 1959, supposedly at the age of 118. He claimed to have served in the Confederate Army, but no documents have surfaced to substantiate this claim. If it is true, he was probably the last Civil War vet to die. The majority died off in the 1920s and 30s.

JoeGlidden

My 4th Great Grandfather, Otis McOmber, joined the 76th New York Infantry in August of 1863. His company was cut-off from the rest of the regiment during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5, 1864. He was sent to Andersonville Prison and his pension application highlights the travel from the battlefield down to the prison. That application highlights the long walks, sleeping on the ground with no tents or blankets in the rain and cold nights. The food in the camp was impossible to eat, bread with bugs in it made from corn ground from the kernels and the cobs. Meat was old and poorly stored and water was contaminated from human waste.

He had developed bloody flux, rheumatism, scurvy and large sores on his legs (many which stuck with him and refused to heal until the day he died). I do know a little of his life after the war. He was a carpenter and farmer by trade but the injuries and illnesses he developed made it impossible to work for very long because the rheumatism cause such pain throughout his back and legs. He also developed a horrible shaking in his arms and head which became extremely violent towards the time of his death. He lived long enough to become the oldest surviving Civil War veteran in his county of residence.

His father, Van Rensselaer McOmber, joined the 8th NY Cavalry at the age of 54 (which he lied about upon enlistment). Somehow he managed to make it into the service listing himself as 21 years old. When the regiment became surrounded at Harper's Ferry Va. in September of 62, Van Rensselaer and his comrades were forced to flee the area by cover of night, over 40 miles at a constant gallop. He developed rheumatism and kidney disease as a result of that action. He was discharged due to disability in the Winter of 1862 and returned home. His pension records a life of hard drinking well before the war started, but one doctor listed him as "a hard drinker and pretty well used up." He died in May of 1864 after he drowned in a nearby river while swimming.

On my father's side, my 3rd Great Grandfather, Joseph Kilmer, enlisted with the 10th New York Heavy Artillery. His left hand was crushed while moving artillery pieces, he also sustained injuries to his right hand and a hernia in both sides. It made any hopes of post-war employment nearly impossible.

Jake10

Part of the reason for that divorce rate increase was the absence of other men in some communities. We need to keep in mind that some towns lost most of their young men, leaving many available ladies who started competing for the returning veterans, be they married or single.

tjadams

This sent my sprockets into action and instantly I thought of the
movie "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" <1994> starring
Diane Lane & Donald Sutherland.
It may have been just a movie, but a real life widow was
Alabama born Alberta Martin who died 2004, she was 97. She was
21, with a son, and widower, when she married 81 year old William Jasper Martin
who had fought for the CSA. They even had a son!