How the Civil War Revolutionized Dying in the United States
How the Civil War Revolutionized Dying in the United States
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| Photo found at Amazon.com |
The Civil War revolutionized the way we view and manage mortality in the United States. As a profoundly religious place, most Americans concerned themselves more so over the fate of our otherworldly existence, rather than the practicality of how the dead or dying are handled. It wasn’t until we lost over 620,000[1] people within the four years that the Civil War raged on, that Americans decided that change was needed.
The antebellum United States had never been faced with such a wide concern spread over things like sanitation, a system for identification of war casualties, or the transportation and disposition for the dead. While disease has always been a part of post- European America, the conditions soldiers had to endure, accounted for more deaths than combat.[2] These are just a few things I will touch on in this research paper.
I will highlight the tour of Abraham Lincoln’s body and how it sold the general public on the idea of embalming. I will also dedicate some time on the emergence of embalmers, common funeral practices we still use today, national cemeteries, and the pioneers who set the standard for death care in the modern United States.
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| TPSNVA.org |
To date, the United States has not seen a higher mortality
rate in any war, than what was experienced during the Civil War. While exact
numbers would be impossible to find, it is estimated that over 620,000 lost
their lives in that conflict, from either battle or disease. For this time
period, that is estimated to account for 2% of the United States population.[3] In today’s population, per
capita, this would be the equivalent of us losing 6 million people. It’s
baffling to imagine.
Putting that type of perspective on this tragic event, it’s not hard for one to imagine the high price that came with the Civil War. Not only did soldiers die, but many suffered life long effects of the war from injury, illness and poor mental health.
Because the United States federal government and its citizens were ill-equipped to handle such a high toll for the dead. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason as to disposal, nor identification of the deceased. During the early stages of the war, the idea was more to simply “get rid” of the dead before they began to smell. There was still some thought as to the smell of decomposition causing illness, known as, “miasma”. This belief had been around since the early-mid-19th century London when death and dying ran rampant. According to an excerpt in A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service, “Sanitary reformers quite mistakenly believe that the stench (miasmas) from poorly interred decaying bodies was poisoning the metropolis”.[4] This way of thinking wasn’t much different for the Civil War era. Diseases were running rampant through camps. They didn’t need to complicate the issue with the noxiousness of the dead lingering in the air.
Putting that type of perspective on this tragic event, it’s not hard for one to imagine the high price that came with the Civil War. Not only did soldiers die, but many suffered life long effects of the war from injury, illness and poor mental health.
Because the United States federal government and its citizens were ill-equipped to handle such a high toll for the dead. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason as to disposal, nor identification of the deceased. During the early stages of the war, the idea was more to simply “get rid” of the dead before they began to smell. There was still some thought as to the smell of decomposition causing illness, known as, “miasma”. This belief had been around since the early-mid-19th century London when death and dying ran rampant. According to an excerpt in A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service, “Sanitary reformers quite mistakenly believe that the stench (miasmas) from poorly interred decaying bodies was poisoning the metropolis”.[4] This way of thinking wasn’t much different for the Civil War era. Diseases were running rampant through camps. They didn’t need to complicate the issue with the noxiousness of the dead lingering in the air.
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| TPT/PBS |
For this reason, mass graves
were used to quickly and efficiently dispose of the overwhelming about of
corpses the war had produced. There was not much thought about what would count
as appropriate in regard to the disposition of war casualties. Dying amidst the
chaos of war essentially meant dying hundreds of miles away from home, amongst
strangers, alone and without much dignity. The anguish this caused for
families, never knowing what came of their loved ones, was a harsh reality. For
this reason alone, is the key reason the mortal-cost of the Civil War will
always be an unknown.
Nearing the end of the Civil War many people began to act in identifying the soldiers who had perished during war-time. Among those were Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse, and Dorence Atwater, a Connecticut Soldier who worked at an Andersonville Prison within the hospital.[5]
Nearing the end of the Civil War many people began to act in identifying the soldiers who had perished during war-time. Among those were Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse, and Dorence Atwater, a Connecticut Soldier who worked at an Andersonville Prison within the hospital.[5]
Barton, known as the “Angel of
the Battlefield”, was a nurse who served and traveled with the Union throughout
war-time. She spent her career there, tending to the injured and dying. Seeing
death day-in and day-out, she saw firsthand the injustice that was being
brought to the dead. It was during this time, she kept a close record of those
she tended to in these war-stricken areas. This included information such as
their names, regiments, and status.[6]
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| Clara Barton |
By 1865, Barton returned home to Washington D.C. where
she used this information to contact families who were looking for their loved
ones. Her efforts were recognized by President Lincoln, and she was appointed
as General Correspondent for the Friends of Paroled Prisoners. Her job was to
locate the missing and to update families on their status. By the end of her
career, she responded to thousands of letters, giving closure to over 63,000
families.[7] Because of this effort, it
marked the first time the United States Government made a collective effort in
identifying war casualties.
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| Dorence Atwater |
Following Barton’s lead,
Atwater began to collect records of Union interments of fallen soldiers.[8] Unfortunately at times,
these records were inaccurate, and newspapers would find themselves having to
retract statements about the dead. Ultimately Atwater was imprisoned for
stealing these records and “misusing” them. But there is no doubt, that his
efforts helped many.
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| Pinterest user, Ryan Crowley |
Other organizations of
volunteers emerged, such as the U.S. Sanitary Commission, who devoted their
time to tracking down the missing.
Eventually, because of people like Barton and Atwater,
the United States Government created a new regulation called the General Order
No. 33 of 1862, which specified that field commanders were ultimately
responsible for the identification and disposition of the dead, as well as the
collection of their personal effects.[9] Unfortunately, this was not
well-received, and it was ignored by many commanders who felt that it was low
priority.
Aside from the identification of the dead, Civil-War families still faced other challenges, even if they were able to locate their deceased loved ones. Most families had to travel hundreds of miles to retrieve their beloved. By the time they had received word that their family member or friend had passed, their loved one had been deceased for some time. Thus, came the emergence of the Civil War embalmer, or the embalming surgeon.
Embalming was a “new” practice in the United States at this time. When a friend of the President, Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth passed away, Lincoln gave Thomas Holmes (known as the Father of Embalming) permission to embalm him.[10] Lincoln was extremely impressed by this process, as were others who witnessed his preserved body.
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| Abraham Lincoln, Smithsonian Magazine |
Not long after the Civil War began, President Lincoln and his wife lost their only son Willie to typhoid fever. Seeing his friend Colonel Ellsworth suspended in a wonderfully “life-like” state, he decided to have Willie embalmed as well.[11] After being interred, the President went to visit his son’s remains on at least two occasions.[12] He marveled at this new technology and how well preserved his son remained.
This began the Revolution of embalming. It wasn’t until
Lincoln himself passed away in 1865, even as the war raged on, did Americans
get to see for themselves how embalming could help them get their loved ones
home in a dignified state.
Refrigeration at this point was the only means available to slow decomposition. Word began to spread, and embalming tents popped up across battlefields everywhere.
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| Dr. Burr, Civil War Embalming Surgeon, http://scalar.usc.edu/ |
After the President was assassinated, his body was also embalmed and put on a funeral train back to his hometown of Springfield, Illinois.[13] His body was on display for all to see, and they were astonished by the well-preserved condition of it. This made spectacular headlines everywhere. Journalists raved about the wonders of this new technology.
What had once only been done for the elite, and in tents on the battlefields of the Civil War, was now available in cities and towns across the United States. Embalming was a thriving business that could benefit grief-stricken families, who could now bring their loved ones home, even over hundreds of miles without a problem.
At this time, the role of embalmer was not synonymous with the funeral director. After the Civil War, the solitary role of the embalming surgeon vanished, and the role of the undertaker began. The name “undertaker” came from the idea of the type of men who would “undertake” all types of roles. Men such as carpenters, liverymen, and cabinet makers began to see the opportunity for money-making, by capitalizing on the areas the sole embalmer lacked.[14] These seemingly “common-for-the-times” businesses soon began to hyphenate their roles and business descriptions.
From embalming, coffin-making, providing horses and a carriage to transport the deceased, and providing a space for services; the role of undertaker was all-encompassing, much like the modern Funeral Director.
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| Embalming Shack, Civil War |
Aside from the roles that evolved for businessmen at this time, the Civil War also created many common funeral service customs that we still use today. At this point in funeral service history, we see the use of the term “Funeral Home” begin.
People commonly used their own homes for the wakes of
their kin. Because these wakes were considered social events, many people
including strangers were stuffed into the parlors of their homes. Parlors slowly
came to be known as “living rooms”, because they were so well attended by the
living who came to commemorate the dead. It would be the job of the family to provide
comfort, refreshments and sometimes even gifts for guests. Sometimes this would
stretch an already grieving and struggling family beyond their means.
This is where the undertaker saw an opportunity to give peace of mind, but also to capitalize on the burden of families. The idea was to create a home-like environment, complete with a classic parlor that gives all the comforts of a wake at home, without all the work.
The next step to giving peace to families was with the emergence of national cemeteries. The very first was Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia, which was established in 1864. The federal government began to actively impose regulations to how we handled death and dying during active duty. Soon, five other cemeteries were also established in places like Antietam, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Gettysburg and Stones River.[15] As the war continued, soldiers began to exhume their fellow comrades from mass graves and reinter them at these military cemeteries. By 1870, 73 national cemeteries existed across the U.S.[16]
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| Arlington Cemetery circa 1865 |
This changed the way many viewed their military dead, and people began to have their relatives who died in previous wars reinterred into national cemeteries, among the thousands of Civil War casualties. While many were never identified, loved ones took some solace in the hopes that their loved ones were at least retrieved and given a dignified resting place.
Originally, graves were given wooden “headboards” painted
white, with rounded tops. In 1873 funds were raised to purchase headstones for
these cemeteries. The specs for military-issued headstones were- that white
granite slabs were to be 4 inches thick, 10 inches wide, 12 inches below ground,
and 24-30 inches above the ground.[17] This is still the basic
design used today, with some adjustments to their thickness for durability.
Unfortunately, both the retrieval of the dead in mass graves and the issuance of these commemorative headstones were something that was only afforded to Union soldiers, and not the Confederates. Later this would change, and Confederate would also be added to national cemeteries.
Although we may not realize it, things we find to be common practice in everyday life, derive from the Civil War. Death and Dying is only one subject, of many, that can be explored. Civil rights, sanitation, industrialism, health reform, volunteer organizations and the way we use media are just some examples of this. History can be dark, but it’s through these atrocities, we have learned how to become a better nation for future generations.
Works Cited
[1] American
Battlefield Trust “Civil War Facts”
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts
[2]
American Battlefield Trust “Civil War Casualties”
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties
[3]
American Battlefield Trust “Civil War Casualties”
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties
[4] Klicker,
Ralph L. “A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service” Page 114 Buffalo,
New York: Thanos Institute, 2018
[5] Klicker,
Ralph L. “A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service” Page 141, Buffalo,
New York: Thanos Institute, 2018
[6]
MacLean, Maggie “Clara Barton (The Angel of The Battlefield)” The Ohio State
University, OSU.edu
https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield
https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield
[7]
MacLean, Maggie “Clara Barton (The Angel of The Battlefield)” The Ohio State
University, OSU.edu
https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield
https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield
[9] Klicker,
Ralph L. “A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service”, Page 194
[10] Klicker,
Ralph L. “A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service” Page 135, Buffalo,
New York: Thanos Institute, 2018
[11] Fitzharris, Dr. Lindsey “Embalming
and The Civil War”, National Museum of Civil War Medicine http://www.civilwarmed.org/embalming1/
[13]
Walsh, Brian “Embalmed, Thank Abraham Lincoln For That” The Smithsonian
Magazine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-lincolns-embrace-embalming-birthed-american-funeral-industry-180967038/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-lincolns-embrace-embalming-birthed-american-funeral-industry-180967038/
[14] Klicker,
Ralph L. “A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service” Pages 143-144, Buffalo,
New York: Thanos Institute, 2018
[15] Klicker,
Ralph L. “A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service” Page 141, Buffalo,
New York: Thanos Institute, 2018
[16] Klicker,
Ralph L. “A Walk Through Time, A History of Funeral Service”, Page 141
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