"Her Daily Concern:" Women's Health Issues in Early 19th-Century Indiana

Author: Timothy Crumrin Illness-- which might strike, suddenly, openly, like a summer storm, or slowly, furtively, like a night thief-- was an incontrovertible fact of early midwestern life. This, of course, greatly effected pioneer women, who were, after all, prey not only to illnesses which touched everyone, but also to those peculiar to their gender. Indeed, it can be said, that in the matter of health, women often had the worst of both worlds. That pioneer women were much concerned about this is strikingly evident from their letters and diaries. Nearly all made mention of their health or that of loved ones. Often, letters, like those of...

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A Soldier Gets Sick

From: historyengine.richmond.edu Lewis E. Parsons wrote many letters during the Civil War to his family in Talladega, Alabama. Parsons talks about many different things in his letters to home. He mainly asks questions about the home front, and he also talks a great deal about how war is an awful thing. He describes many different situations that he and his fellow men have to go through during the time of war. One of the situations or problems that these soldiers had to face was being sick or getting a disease. Sickness was a very serious problem that many soldiers had to deal with while they were off at war. Parsons does not talk very much...

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How a American Civil War Invention Is Used Today for Relief From Osteoarthritic Knee Pain

By Pariswiederstein M As an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in knee problems the majority of my patients suffer from osteoarthritis and although knee replacement surgery is generally successful, most patients who are referred to me are not suitable for surgery. These patients are managed with conservative treatment, the main components of which are painkillers and anti-inflammatories, weight loss and exercise. Each treatment has its own advantages and disadvantages. Painkillers can be very effective in reducing the symptoms of osteoarthritis and for long term use in chronic conditions, paracetamol is the safest drug. Adding an anti-inflammatory...

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History of the U.S. Christian Commission

From: nwuscc.org Soon after the start of the Civil War, YMCA leaders became concerned with the religious and spiritual needs of the soldiers in the nearby camps. Vincent Colyer, a member of the New York City YMCA, had begun spending time visiting nearby encampments where soldiers were stationed temporarily on their way to the battle front. Colyer mingled with the soldiers, offered words of encouragement, and handed out religious tracts. Since few camps had chaplains, the chaplaincy then being in its infancy, Colyer's ministrations were welcomed by both the soldiers and their officers. As a result of these activities, and the apparent need...

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Prostitution and Venereal Disease in the Civil War

by Amelia Cotter During the Civil War, medical and ethical advances were helpful in developing a health care system that benefited both prostitutes and soldiers. Low wages during the inflationary war period inspired many women, especially of the lower class, to take up prostitution, including women who were barely older than what we today consider to be children. Dr. William Sanger of the Venereal Disease Hospital on Blackwell’s Island, New York, conducted a survey in 1858 of about 2,000 prostitutes. He found that 80% of them were under age 30, and 40% were under age 20. About 62% of them were foreign-born, with 57% being Irish, 20% German,...

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Civil War Medicine: Pills, Ointments and Bitters for Soldiers

Written by Rachel Walman This Father’s Day, June 16th, 2013, eminent historian Harold Holzer will be here [New York Historical Society] to answer families’ burning Civil War questions. Following his talk, families are invited to play a choose-your-own-adventure style game where they get to walk in the shoes of a Civil War soldier. Are you sitting there wishing you could really be a Union hero? Perhaps the next few paragraphs will change your mind. 3.2 million men fought on both sides of the war. A recent study has suggested that between 650,000 and 850,000 men and women (mostly men) died because of the war. More Americans died during this...

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Rheumatic Diseases Among Civil War Troops

By Alfred Jay Bollet MD Arthritis & Rheumatism, Volume 34, Issue 9, pages 1197–1203, 7 October 1991 ABSTRACT There are extensive existing medical records of Federal Civil War troops. More than 160,000 cases of „acute rheumatism” occurred among these soldiers, and acute rheumatic fever was known to be the main cause. Infectious arthritides were frequent but not understood; gout was rare. „Chronic rheumatism” was diagnosed more than 246,000 times; prolonged rheumatic fever and reactive arthritis following dysentery were probably the major causes. Over 12,000 soldiers were discharged because of chronic rheumatism, many with "lumbago,” which...

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A Union Soldier’s Correspondence about Disease in Hospitals

From: historyengine.richmond.edu John L. Knapp of the 9th Indiana Regiment wrote a letter to his friend Mary Merrick during his stay in a hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In this letter, Knapp commented, “Where there are many people together they are liable to catch disease. More than they do at home. I used to be afraid but I am now all over it now.” These diseases afflicted many soldiers throughout the war. Disease was a major part of the Civil War. Historian Dale C. Smith, who studied medicine throughout the war, stated, “The general hospitals early in the conflict were makeshift arrangements in whatever buildings could be found, an...

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More About Nashville's Civil War Prostitute History: Hospital 15

By Betsy Phillips William Moss Wilson has a cool piece in the New York Times about his great grandfather's great grandmother who ran a brothel in Nashville during the Civil War. (You may remember we talked about Nashville's ill-fated attempt to ship all its white prostitutes to Louisville earlier this year.) One of the cool parts is his discussion of the hospitals specifically devoted to treating Nashville's prostitutes and their soldier clientele. "Two hospitals were dedicated to treating sexual infections in Nashville: Hospital 11, for soldiers, and Hospital 15, also known as the Pest House, for prostitutes. The head surgeon, Robert Fletcher,...

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Definite Iindeterminacy: Blindness in the Civil War

By Vanessa Meikle Schulman "[The wound around his eye] has been constantly open, suppurating and discharging ever since … with loss of strength and increasing blindness in the left eye which is very weak & he is less & less able each year to do any manual labor or care for himself. " Applying in 1882 for an increase to his Civil War pension, Private James M. Greenleaf, who received his facial wound at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862, attempted to convince the government that his eye—unhealed and rapidly losing its sight—was so debilitating as to prevent him from earning a living through gainful employment. To the above statement...

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