Tag Archives: Angelo Crapsey

Mental Illness and the Civil War

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Civil War Soldier Angelo Crapsey, 1861, Who Committed Suicide in 1864 After a Period of Mental Illness, courtesy Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Civil War Soldier Angelo Crapsey, 1861, Who Committed Suicide in 1864 After a Period of Mental Illness, courtesy Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Societies have always observed that participating in wars/battles could affect both the soldiers and civilians caught up in the violence, and not only through physical wounds. After America’s Civil War, people called this change in veterans the “soldier’s heart” phenomenon. At the time, observers believed the negative changes were caused by actual physical changes in the heart that had occurred during war, or that the affected soldiers had longed for home so much that the fixation or focus  had affected their minds.

Lunatic asylums had been available to the public for over two decades by the time the Civil War ended, but many families were ashamed to send relatives to them. When soldiers returned from the war, however, families sometimes faced overwhelming problems trying to care for them. If the soldiers were badly wounded, for example, physical care would be demanding and expensive, and mental problems in addition might make giving home-care nearly impossible. Some soldiers returned home with alcohol or morphine dependencies which could also make them difficult to nurse. And, many families–particularly in the South–were too impoverished to provide adequate care for their loved ones.

Milledgeville Lunatic Asylum, GA, Received its First Patient in 1842

Milledgeville Lunatic Asylum, GA, Received its First Patient in 1842

Some of these issues may have driven families to place their veterans in an asylum. At the time, treatments for the insane consisted primarily of rest, occupational therapy, and adequate care for any existing physical problems. Receiving these things would have helped many patients, as would the relative peace that came from the stability and routine found in an asylum. Little besides some light labor and observance of the rules would have been expected from these patients, and many soldiers possibly welcomed the change and the chance to rest from the uncertainty and stress of the battlefield. Asylum cure rates during this period after the war could be around 30 to 40 percent–high, but possibly accurate.

Soldiers Could Be Traumatized When They Saw Friends and Comrades Die, photo courtesy Library of Congress, 1861

Soldiers Could Be Traumatized When They Saw Friends and Comrades Die, photo courtesy Library of Congress, 1861

Though many families continued to resist asylums and could not get beyond the stigma of insanity, others who used the asylums possibly saw a benefit. At the very least, many families may have felt that under post-war circumstances, they could have provided no better care, themselves.

When Johnny Came Marching Home

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Soldiers Could Never Escape the Suffering Imposed by the Civil War, courtesy Library of Congress

Soldiers Could Never Escape the Suffering Imposed by the Civil War, courtesy Library of Congress

People today understand the after-effects of war on veterans better than previous generations did (though that doesn’t diminish its trauma). Soldiers in previous eras were much more on their own, since medical personnel didn’t recognize the emotional damage and scarring they often suffered. Civil War soldiers in particular faced a changed war environment that greatly contributed to their later trauma.

These young men suffered death and injury on the grandest scale experienced in American history. They endured horrific wounds inflicted by new weapons and then went on to suffer just as intently afterward from assembly-line-style amputations. Many soldiers saw the ground seem to crawl and shift with wounded, struggling bodies after a great battle, or heard cries for help they could never forget. They often carried this trauma back to the battlefield and then home.

ivil War Soldier Angelo Crapsey, 1861, Who Committed Suicide in 1864 After a Period of Mental Illness, courtesy Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Civil War Soldier Angelo Crapsey, 1861, Who Committed Suicide in 1864 After a Period of Mental Illness, courtesy Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Physicians did recognize that some symptoms occurred specifically to soldiers they saw: heart palpitations, sweating, and/or rapid breathing, and other symptoms of panic attacks. These manifestations were identified by Jacob Mendes Da Costa and called “Da Costa’s Syndrome” or more commonly, “soldier’s heart” or “irritable heart.” Some physicians sympathized with men suffering from it, while others thought they were merely shirking their duty. At home, men who suffered from the after-effects of war trauma were similarly misunderstood.

The Government Hospital for the Insane (later known as St. Elizabeths) had been built specifically for soldiers, sailors, and the indigent of Washington, DC, but many other asylums also saw an influx of veterans who could not cope with their post-war trauma. Most did not get much help beyond the security of three meals a day and a bed to sleep in, along with occupational therapy–usually in the form of work–to help them pass their days.

Brevet Brigadier General Newell Gleason Was Committed to the Indiana State Hospital for the Insane in 1874 andCommitted Suicide in 1886 Some Time After His Release, courtesy Library of Congress

Brevet Brigadier General Newell Gleason Was Admitted to the Indiana State Hospital for the Insane in 1874 and Committed Suicide in 1886 Some Time After His Release, courtesy Library of Congress

These veterans were often traumatized one last time by family members and a society ashamed by the idea of mental illness and the “weakness” of the man suffering from it.