Category: Social History
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A look at the 1860 Census
Figures are inherently dry, but you can learn a lot from them. Here’s a look at the 1860 census. It gives you can idea of the advantages the North had over the South before the first shots were fired. I was struck by how small (by today’s standards) the “big” cities were, but then the […]
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Civil War Amputation Kit
Amputation of wounded limbs was not new but reached somewhat of a high point in the Civil War. The Minie ball, in particular, was notorious for shattering bone. Doctors soon found that trying to save a limb was counterproductive—it almost always became infected and the patient died. We have all seen gruesome photos of severed […]
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Civil War Smallpox Strains Found
Smallpox, unlike the Minié ball, was an indiscriminate, equal-opportunity killer that killed about 30% of those it infected. Although there was no cure, English physician Edward Jenner had devised a vaccine of sorts. He noticed that milkmaids often contracted cowpox, which resembled smallpox but was much less virulent, and were thereafter immune to smallpox. He […]
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Sad Times
This is a post I wanted never to write. I am sorry to report that a mob has desecrated the Confederate monument at the capitol grounds in Raleigh, NC. It began as a raucous Junteenth celebration and quickly became a riot. The mob brazenly entered the capitol grounds and began attacking the monument, trying to […]
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National Monument to Black Soldiers, Indian Citizenship
President Trump has designated Camp Nelson in Kentucky as a national monument to honor the black volunteers who mustered there for service in the Union army. It also illustrates the limitations of the Emancipation Proclamation. According to the National Park Service, Camp Nelson, which is located just outside Nicholasville, began as supply depot and hospital […]
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Desecrating The Dead
The History Vandals are at it again. When all this started I predicted that it would not stop with the Confederate generals and it gives me no pleasure to be right. This time it’s a grave marker. The city council in Madison, Wisconsin, has voted to remove a marker with the names of Confederate prisoners […]
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Died Of A Broken Heart?
It’s no uncommon in Civil War literature to see someone’s death ascribed to broken heart after losing or breaking up with a loved one, homesickness, or “melancholia.” There might have been more to it than we might think now. It’s not a heart attack, but so-called “broken heart syndrome” still puts patients at high risk […]