PTSD Among General's of the War

Timmy and I visiting Brigadier General William F. Brantley

       My wife has been after me to get busy publishing blogs again and I've been struggling for subjects. If you know me, you probably think there must be something wrong. I have lots of blog subjects, but not the motivation. I guess if she "nags" me enough, I'll finally get busy. This blog was inspired a few minutes ago by my youngest son Timmy. He was watching youtube when out of the blue, he asked me if General Robert E. Lee (his personal hero) had PTSD. I immediately replied without giving it much thought. I told him I didn't think General Lee had PTSD, but that was a particularly bloody war and I'm sure some had it. Like today, I'm not sure it was as prevalent among officers as the true combat soldier himself. 

       That statement isn't exactly accurate either. If you look at the Confederate officer, he went into combat with his men. The Civil War (especially in the South) wasn't like the military today. Redd Foxx once said that he backed up so far once that he backed into a general. That wouldn't happen in the Civil War, especially in the Confederate army. Marine Lieutenant General Chesty Puller summed up Confederate leadership in one quote, "In the Confederate Army, an officer was judged by stark courage alone, and this made it possible for the Confederacy to last four years." Truer words were never spoken. Let's take a look at what is known about these incredibly brave men.

       There were 426 Confederate general's commissioned by President Davis (not all were confirmed). Out of those 426, 77 were killed in combat, not to mention how many were wounded. Some were wounded numerous times. Brigadier General Thomas Benton Smith was so severely wounded that he remained in a mental institution for the remainder of his life. Nineteen Confederate generals died during the war, Archer, Jones, and Winder had heart attacks, Bowen, Grayson, Hogg, Nelson, Smith, Villepigue, Wilson, and Bowen all died of fever, Wharton, Van Dorn, and Walker were murdered, Donelson, Floyd, and Twiggs died of old age, Cocke committed suicide in 1861 and Baldwin broke his neck in the fall from his horse. Another named Frost deserted to Canada during the war.

       One Confederate general resigned following the Nashville Campaign from effects that could be construed as PTSD. Major General Henry D. Clayton of Alabama asked to be relieved because of "chronic stress." He'd seen a lot of suffering and death by this point of the war. As a division commander at Franklin, he lost a lot of good men. He never regained his health to the point of returning to the army before the surrender occurred just four months later.

       I made a quick attempt at answering Timmy's question by looking at the post-war careers of these commanders. If you subtract 77 killed, 1 mentally unfit, 19 who died during the war, that leaves 338 commissioned Confederate generals. Here is what I was able to reveal. Three of those surviving generals committed suicide, but it's impossible to tell if it was because of their war experiences. Buford killed himself over personal and financial problems, Cosby committed suicide because of constant pain from an old war wound (he was 89 years old), and the other was Scott of Louisiana who drank himself to death (this one technically isn't a suicide, but he died in a New Orleans coffee shop). 

       Out of the remaining generals, eight were murdered, the only one that may have had something to do with the war is General Hindman (we will never know the true reason of his murder). Brantley, Liddell and Grimes were murdered in what appear to be family feuds. Parsons was murdered by Jauristas in Mexico. The rest were murdered in lawyer related issues. 

       That leaves the generals who turned to religion. This category is also difficult to establish because some became religious while others were religious before the war. Lowrey and Pendleton were pre-war ministers. General Leonidas Polk who was killed at Pine Mountain was a pre-war Episcopal bishop. Others became religious leaders following the war. Capers (Methodist), Colquitt (Methodist), Evans (Methodist), Hawthorne (Baptist), and Gano (Church of Christ). Many more became religious following the war, but whether it was because of what they'd been through is difficult to determine. 

       In answer to Timmy's question about PTSD, I can't prove they had it, but I can't prove they didn't. It was a different time period and people acted differently back then. Death became an everyday part of life in that war. It's as one old veteran once told me, you've made up your mind your not going to survive and every day that you do has been a blessing. Maybe that was their mindset. 

       By the way, the one general that did exhibit signs of PTSD, Alabama Major General Henry D. Clayton, following the war he resumed his law practice, became a circuit judge, became the president of the University of Alabama, and raised a son who became a prominent Alabama congressman, Henry DeLamar Clayton, Jr.