True stuff from the book

My original concept for the book was to intersperse the story with non-fiction informational sections explaining some matter mentioned in the story. I purposefully inserted social and cultural practices into the story to help ground the reader in the era. Rather than simply mention them in the story, I felt it important to explain a bit about the more important ones. However, the story gradually began to take over, and breaking up the flow of the narrative seemed counterproductive. The graphic below shows an early version of that concept.

I was still set on including a non-fiction informational section, so I ended up sticking it in the back matter of the book.

Below is the Learn More section of the book word for word.

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Hattie’s War touches on a number of important topics and issues from the Civil War era. This section provides an overview and background on a few mentioned in the story. Where possible, they are ordered as they appear in the text.

A Good Death

In the mid-1800s, changes in religious attitudes offered the promise of a joyous and eternally peaceful afterlife for those who lived according to the “will of God.” For the righteous believer, death was no longer feared but celebrated as a new beginning. A “good death” happened at home, surrounded by loved ones. Proof of a good life and good death often meant making amends, apologizing for wrongdoings, asking forgiveness, and most importantly, offering inspired words of wisdom that many believed only came at life’s end.

The enormity of death and suffering during the Civil War upended this comforting notion of a good death. Soldiers died swift and often terrible deaths far away from family and loved ones. Could a soldier killed on the battlefield achieve a good death and all that came with it? This uncertainty was a genuine concern for families and soldiers alike.

Along with expectations of a good death, mourning death became highly formalized. Grieving women wore “widow’s weeds,” black dresses that could be simple or ornate. Mourning garments included accessories such as shrouds, hats, jewelry, and even undergarments. Depending on the relationship to the deceased, mourning garb could be worn for up to two years.

Widow’s Pension

The Civil War left an estimated 200,000 women widowed, often with no means of support. In 1862 Congress passed legislation granting widows an $8 per month pension. Later legislation provided $2 per month for each child under 16.

Veterans unable to perform manual labor were considered “totally disabled” and eligible for pensions of $8 per month. A veteran with a partial disability received a reduced sum. The loss of a finger was classified as 1/4th disabled, eligible for a $2 per month pension.

By the turn of the century, more than one million veterans and widows were receiving pensions. Pension expenditures represented almost half of the federal government’s budget.

In 1958 the government was still providing pensions for 3,042 widows of Union veterans. That same year, special legislation gave 526 widows of Southern soldiers and two surviving Confederate veterans pensions. The last Union veteran, Albert Woolson, died in 1956, leaving Confederates John Salling and Walter Williams to draw the highest Civil War pensions paid by the United States Government.

Remarkably, four widows of Civil War veterans survived into the 21st century. All four were born in the 20th century and married in their teens or twenties to veterans well into their 80s or 90s.

 

The Battle of Gettysburg – July 1-3, 1863

The Battle of Gettysburg is the most well-known of all Civil War battles. It is widely considered a turning point in the War but did not bring the War to an end, as fighting raged on for two more bloody years. Today, the battlefield in Adams County, PA, is the most visited of the War’s many protected sites.

The three-day battle began on July 1, with Union troops severely outnumbered by Confederate forces, suffering heavy losses. The first day of the battle ended with a decisive Confederate victory as Union troops retreated to Cemetery Hill south of Gettysburg.

General Lee made several tactical errors on July 3, including ordering the infamous “Pickett’s Charge.” Under the command of General Longstreet, 12,500 Confederate troops attacked well-fortified Cemetery Ridge. More than 60 percent of Longstreet’s troops were killed in the disastrous assault. Defeated, Confederate troops withdrew from Gettysburg on July 4.

Over 165,000 soldiers fought at Gettysburg. The estimated casualties (dead and wounded) were more than 51,000—the most of any battle in the War.

Willard Insane Asylum

A movement to find humane solutions for housing those with severe mental and physical disabilities began in the mid-1800s. Until then, “undesirables” were usually placed in almshouses. New York State Surgeon General, Dr. Sylvester D. Willard, proposed a state-run facility to house the chronically insane. In 1865, Willard Asylum for the Insane in Ovid, New York, was established. The asylum’s first resident, Mary Rote, was described as “demented and deformed,” having spent the previous ten years in an almshouse chained to a bed, nude.

 

Tragically, women were often committed to asylums for reasons other than mental illness. In the nineteenth century, displaying independence and ambition was contrary to the “natural order” for a woman. Rejecting a domestic, submissive role as wife and mother was proof of “moral insanity” and needing correction. Defying a husband often was all the proof necessary for commitment to an asylum.

One popular theory held that a woman’s sex organs caused her troubling behavior. The theory justified such horrific procedures as surgically removing genitalia and ovaries, injecting ice water into the vagina, or applying leeches and caustic chemicals to the genitals. These ghastly procedures exemplify the extent Victorian-era culture would go to keep women in their proper place.

Homosexuality has long been considered both a crime and a psychiatric condition. Well-meaning, although ineffective, treatments to “cure” or “convert” homosexuals emerged in the 19th Century and are still in practice today. The American Psychiatric Association finally declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973. Yet, sodomy laws prohibiting sex acts between persons of the same sex are still in place in 14 states, even though a US Supreme Court ruling in 2003 invalided those laws.

Willard Asylum for the Insane changed its name to Willard State Hospital in 1890 and became one of the largest facilities of its kind in the United States. The hospital closed in 1995 after 126 years.

Earl Phelps, Hattie’s son, died at Willard State Hospital in 1957 from heart failure, according to his death certificate. He likely had dementia and suffered from depression.

The Battle of South Mountain – September 14, 1862

The Battle of South Mountain was the first battle fought on northern soil. South Mountain is a heavily wooded and rocky extension of the Blue Ridge Mountain Range in Northern Maryland. Fighting was fierce in the mountain’s harsh terrain, with artillery, musket, bayonet, and fists employed as weapons, resulting in heavy casualties.

After suffering defeats at Second Bull Run and other battles, South Mountain was the first significant victory for the beleaguered Union Army. However, General McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac at the time, failed to take advantage of the victory by not pursuing and destroying Lee’s army. Confederate forces regrouped at Sharpsburg, Maryland, leading to the infamous battle at Antietam four days later.

Union forces numbered 28,000 with 2,325 casualties (443 killed, 1,807 wounded, and 75 missing). Confederate forces numbered 18,000 with 2,685 casualties (325 killed, 1560 wounded, and 800 missing).

Dealing with the Dead

Unfortunately, both sides were unprepared to deal with the staggering number of casualties. Many Union and Confederate soldiers remained unidentified as a result. Bodies often remained unburied, laying where they fell, sometimes for days or even weeks. Burials, when they occurred, were hastily done in shallow or mass graves.

With no organized means of tracking and accounting for the dead, civilian organizations stepped in to fill the void. The US Sanitary Commission became the biggest relief organization, raising some 25 million dollars for relief aid. Women played significant roles in the Commission’s work, raising money, staffing field hospitals, and providing food, lodging, and care for soldiers returning from service. Recognizable names such as Dorthea Dix, Clara Barton, and Louisa May Alcott were vital organization members. Clara Barton later founded the American Red Cross and oversaw the retrieval and reburial of 20,000 Union troops after the War.

Since fighting occurred on American soil, often not far from cities and towns, it was not uncommon to find family members and others searching for the bodies of loved ones on the battlefields.

 

 

The War became a boom to many new industries. Embalming the dead became more common. Casket makers hyped radical new methods to ship bodies to grieving loved ones, even claiming to use ice-cooled caskets. Unfortunately, con artists were also ready to take advantage of the grieving.

America’s First Modern War

By today’s standards, the Civil War seems “old-fashioned.” In reality, it was America’s first modern war employing weapons capable of causing injury and death on a massive scale.

Muzzle-loaded firearms, a holdover from earlier conflicts, were widely used in the early years of the War. A Civil War musket rifle (Springfield and British Enfield) was almost 5 feet long and weighed about 9 pounds and required 11 separate movements to fire a round. After The Battle of Gettysburg, 37,574 rifles were found lying on the battlefield, with 24,000 still loaded, some with more than one round. In the chaos of battle soldiers forgot they had already loaded rounds into their unfired weapons. A rifle loaded with more than one round would likely explode if fired. The development of breech-loading weapons, loaded from the rear like today’s rifles, increased range, and accuracy along with the ability to fire rounds quickly with fewer steps. Toward the end of the War, breech-loading weapons were more widely used.

Similar to improvements made in rifle design, cannons acquired greater range and improved accuracy. Artillery pieces used three types of ammunition: solid projectiles or shot, fused hollow shells containing black powder and sometimes lead balls or shrapnel, or canisters (cans) filled with iron or lead balls that burst apart, spraying their deadly payload. At the Battle of Gettysburg, an astonishing 30,000 artillery rounds were fired during the three-day battle by the Union forces alone.

New military technologies such as ironclad ships, reconnaissance balloons, land mines, hand grenades, and submarines equipped with torpedoes all played deadly roles. Trains moved soldiers and supplies faster than horse-drawn vehicles and were not hampered by poor weather conditions. The telegraph, still in its infancy, played a significant war role for the first time. Temporary telegraph lines setup in the field allowed commanders to communicate and coordinate troop movements over great distances. However, communication on the battlefield was still done by traditional means: drum, flag, and bugle.

Volunteer Armies

At the start of the War, the U.S. Army consisted of only 16,000 troops —most stationed west of the Mississippi River. In 1861 after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to bolster the Army’s meager forces. Across the North, prominent community members began raising regiments among farmers, common laborers, and factory workers. Raucous recruiting rallies were common in almost every community, stoking simmering patriot fervor. Incentives, known as “bounties,” promised $75 to $100 or more once the war ended or the enlistment term expired.

At the start of the War, many soldiers in the officer corps were Southerners. Of 820 West Point graduates on active duty at the outbreak of the War, 184 enlisted in the Confederate Army, with another 99 returning from retirement. Consequently, the North lacked trained and experienced officers. It was not uncommon for the newly recruited to be appointed officers simply due to their civilian status (minister, doctor, mayor, etc.). The resounding Union defeat at The First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, is widely believed the result of porly trained and inexperienced troops and officers.

Eventually, both sides resorted to a draft. The South was the first to draft in April 1862. All healthy Southern white men between the ages of 18 and 35 were required to serve three years. Later the age was raised to 50.

In March 1863, Congress passed draft legislation requiring all able-bodied men between ages 20 and 45 to enroll for military service, with selection done by lottery. Once drafted, it was possible to avoid serving by paying a $300 commutation fee or by hiring a substitute.

Soldier’s Letter

Letter writing was a significant activity for soldiers during the war. For many soldiers, this was the first time away from home and family. Recognizing the importance of letter writing to troop morale, the Army created traveling post offices using tents and wagons. Soldiers assigned to postal detail traveled along with the troops, collecting and distributing letters in the camps and on the battlefield. Soldiers could mail letters without stamps simply by writing “Soldier’s Letter” on the envelope.

When coins became scarce during the war, postage stamps were authorized to use as currency in 1862. Later, large stamps were printed on thicker paper in 5, 10, 25, and 50-cent denominations. This practice continued until 1876.

Spiritualism

The Spiritualist movement gained widespread popularity in the mid-1800s. While never officially gaining formal recognition as a religion, thousands adhered to its basic beliefs while maintaining close ties to their religious traditions. The main tenet of the movement was a belief in an afterlife, a “spirit world” where the dead could be spoken to under the right circumstances. A practitioner known as a “medium” acted as an intermediary between the living and the spirit world.

With the outbreak of the Civil War and the massive scale of dying, the idea of speaking to or hearing from the dead was a comfort to many. Spiritualism gave the grieving a chance to communicate with a loved one who died far from home and offered reassurance of the “good death,” so important to many in the era.

Séances were the cornerstone of Spiritualist practice. Séances were a regular occurrence in private homes and public settings. Unfortunately, the séance became the perfect vehicle for fraud, with con artists and charlatans finding ways to trick believers into thinking they were hearing from a loved one from the great beyond.

Women were at the forefront of the movement’s rise. Sisters Maggie and Kate Fox are generally credited with drawing attention to Spiritualism in 1848, when they were fourteen and eleven years old. Legend has it that the sisters heard knocks on furniture and walls while in their bedroom at night. Many believed the girls had the ability to speak to the dead. Public interest in Spiritualism took off due to the sisters’ widespread popularity.

However, Emma Hardinge Britten, a well-known entertainer, catapulted the movement into the mainstream with her lively performances, lectures, and books on the subject.

First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, following the death of her son Willie, was known to have held as many as eight séances in the Whitehouse Red Room. This photo of Mrs. Lincoln was taken by William Mumler, a spiritual photographer, who claimed that his technique captured not only his subjects but also their departed loved ones.

The author’s great-aunt was married to a “spiritualist minister” whose last name coincidently was Howell. They regularly participated in Spiritualist events at the Lily Dale Assembly in western New York State, not far from Seneca Lake.

Death and Disease

Estimates suggest that more than 400,000 soldiers perished from causes other than battle injuries during the War, mainly from infection and disease. Overcrowding and poor sanitary practices created conditions ripe for the spread of disease among the troops.

Latrines and horses contaminated drinking water. An army of 50,000 troops could easily have 15,000 horses and mules capable of producing 30 pounds of excrement per animal daily. Dysentery, easily spread by contaminated water, was the most common disease killing nearly 100,000 troops. Other diseases included: typhoid fever, tuberculosis, typhus, measles, pneumonia, and malaria.

When treating the wounded in the field, surgeons reused saws and other instruments in amputations without cleaning or sterilization. In a time before antibiotics, poor sanitary practices, like simple handwashing, increased the chances of infections and caused many unnecessary deaths.

Lack of able-bodied troops due to illness often postponed battles. General Robert E. Lee wrote to his wife in August 1861, “Soldiers everywhere are sick. The measles are prevalent throughout the army. . .battle infected troops still hobble readiness. Those on the sick list would form an army.”

Documenting the War

The Civil War was the first war documented by first-hand accounts of journalists, sketch artists, and photographers in the field. Reports from the battlefield became a regular feature in print publications of the day.

Sketch artists Alfred Waud and Edwin Forbes followed troops documenting the everyday life of soldiers as well as action on the battlefield in simple pencil drawings. Later, illustrators, such as Frank Leslie, created detailed depictions published in Harper’s Weekly and The New York Illustrated News based on the work of sketch artists. After the War, well-known painters, including Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, and Alexander Pope, created moving and realistic works inspired by these first-hand accounts.

 

For the first time, photographers played an important role in documenting the War. However, since cameras required long exposures (four seconds), most of the thousands of photographs taken of the War were of the aftermath of battles. Graphic imagery brought home the harsh reality of the War’s savagery to average citizens, challenging romanticized beliefs about the virtuous nature of warfare.

Mathew Brady is the best-known of the War’s photographers, but dozens of others made significant contributions, including Alexander Gardner and Timothy O’Sullivan. Gardner’s photographs of dead soldiers taken in the days after The Battle of Antietam in 1862 are widely considered the most powerful war images ever made.

A photographer’s wagon was a common sight, following the troops from camp to camp. Thousands of soldiers’ portraits were made during the War, intended as keepsakes for loved ones back home.

The Battle of Antietam – September 17, 1862

The Battle of Antietam is considered one of the most significant battles of the War. By the Summer of 1862, the War was not going well for the Union Army under General George McClellan. In early September, General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia moved into Maryland, the first time Confederate troops occupied Union soil. Their defeat at Antietam sent them into retreat and signified a turning of the North’s fortunes.

President Lincoln had been waiting for a Union victory to support his desire to free the slaves. Within days Lincoln issued the “preliminary” Emancipation Proclamation declaring that as of January 1, 1863, slaves in rebel territories, although not in slave-holding Union border states, “Shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Further, the Confederate government had long sought the support of Britain and France in the war effort. Both countries were on the verge of joining the War due to shortages of Southern cotton and other materials. Once news of the South’s defeat and Lincoln’s preliminary decree reached Europe, both countries withdrew their support and remained neutral.

 

 

The victory at Antietam also provided a political victory for Lincoln and his fellow Republicans in midterm elections, repelling a Democratic push to end the War. Other key outcomes included boosting troop morale and the replacement of General McClellan with General Meade.

Fraternizing with the Enemy

Union and Confederate troops had friendly interactions with surprising frequency throughout the War. Although fraternizing was strictly forbidden, common language and interests made it easy to communicate for those who wanted to do so. For example, in the dead of night, soldiers on picket duty (guard patrol) might strike up a conversation with enemy pickets across a field or river with little risk of being discovered. Discussions often involved sharing news, telling stories, or trading goods. Confederate soldiers typically traded tobacco for Union coffee and sugar, commodities each side was eager to acquire.

When encamped within close range, regimental bands on both sides might be heard trading songs in friendly competition. Sing-alongs of such popular songs as “Home, Sweet Home” might be sung in unison, bringing tears to many soldiers’ eyes.

However, once troops faced off on the field of battle, everyone forgot these friendly breaks and returned to the bloody business of war.

Thanksgiving Holiday

Thanksgiving’s designation as a national holiday started during the Civil War. On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln, in gratitude for the pivotal Union Army victory at Gettysburg, announced that the nation would celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on November 26.

 

The fourth Thursday of every November would be forever considered the official U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving. The idea of a national celebration first began in 1789 when President George Washington called for an official “day of public thanksgiving and prayer.”

The fourth Thursday of November remained the annual day of Thanksgiving from 1863 until 1939. Then, as the country was trying to emerge from the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the third Thursday, hoping to boost the economy by providing a few extra days to conduct business between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In 1941, at the insistence of Congress, the fourth Thursday of November was set permanently as the official Thanksgiving holiday.

Elixirs and Patent Medicines

In the 1800s, cures for all manner of ailments were being offered to the public with no oversight as to their effectiveness or safety. Newspapers contained countless advertisements for tonics, tinctures, salves, and elixirs, also known as patent medicines, with no requirement to list ingredients.

Clark Stanley, known as the “Rattlesnake King,” promised his rattlesnake oil could cure all sorts of ailments. He mesmerized crowds at fairs by killing rattlesnakes and squeezing out their juices. The phrase “snake oil salesman,” still in use today, became synonymous with people pushing unproven remedies.

For many, these drugs offered relief due to their sedative effects rather than providing specific treatment for medical conditions. Cocaine Toothache Drops were marketed as a relief for teething children. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup contained morphine and alcohol. The Bayer Company (still in business today) sold a children’s cough medicine that contained heroin. Mariani Wine, a cocaine-infused wine, promised relief from malaria, depression, and loss of appetite. Vapor-OL promised relief from hay fever, asthma, and bronchitis by smoking opium through a vaporizer.

Opium has been used medically for centuries. Opium, in its various forms (laudanum, morphine, heroin, and paregoric), was a common ingredient in many medicines. During the Civil War, the Union Army issued nearly 10 million opium pills to soldiers, plus 2.8 million ounces of opium powders and tinctures. An unknown number of soldiers returned home hopelessly addicted. Others, suffering horrific war wounds, found relief in opioids.

 

By the turn of the century, one in every 200 Americans suffered from opioid addiction. “Female complaints” were often the target of such remedies. Estimates suggest that sixty percent of those addicted were women.

In 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which ushered in federal oversight of the patent medicine industry by banning foreign and interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products. In addition, the act required that active ingredients appear on a drug’s packaging and purity levels established. A similar series of bills passed that same year to protect the public from unsanitary conditions and unscrupulous practices rampant in the meatpacking industry.