Sing Not War: The Lives of Union and Confederate Veterans in Gilded Age America

352 Pages·2011·3.11 MB·English

by  James Marten

Sing Not War
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Civil War ameriCa • Gary W. Gallagher, editor
Sing Not War
The Lives of Union & Confederate Veterans in Gilded Age America
James marten
The University of North Carolina Press • Chapel Hill
© 2011 the University of north Carolina Press
All rights reserved. Set in Ruzicka with Clarendon display by Tseng Information Systems,
Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America. The paper in this book meets the
guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for
Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. The University of North Carolina
Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-P ublication Data
Marten, James Alan.
Sing not war : the lives of Union and Confederate veterans in Gilded Age America /
James Marten.
p. cm. — (Civil War America)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-0-8078-3476-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Veterans. 2. United States—
History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Social aspects. 3. Adaptability (Psychology) 
4. Adjustment (Psychology) I. Title.
e491.m14 2011
973.7′1—dc22
2010043603
Portions of this book appeared previously as “Not a Veteran in the Poorhouse: Civil War
Pensions and Soldiers’ Homes,” in Wars within a War: Controversy and Confict over the
American Civil War, ed. Gary Gallagher and Joan Waugh (Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 2009); “Exempt from the Ordinary Rules of Life: Sources on Maladjusted
Union Civil War Veterans,” Civil War History 47 (March 2001): 57–71; and “Nomads in Blue:
Disabled Veterans and Alcohol at the National Home,” in Disabled Veterans in History, ed.
David A. Gerber (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000). Used with permission.
15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1
DeDiCateD to
Sergeant Roy Marten, First Armored Division, U.S. Army
Private Rodney Gist, U.S. Army
Sergeant Howard Schlobohm, U.S. Army Signal Corps
Captain Myles Walter, 8th Air Force, Army Air Corps
Major Charles Woodard, U.S. Marine Corps
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Contents Acknowledgments xi
INtroductIoN Toil On, Heroes 1
1 Melt Away Ye Armies • Endings and Beginnings 33
2 Maimed Darlings • Living with Disability 75
3 Saner Wars • Veterans, Veteranhood, and Commerce 125
4 Regiments So Piteous • Soldiers’ Homes, Communities,
and Manhood 159
5 Another Gathering Army • Pensions and Preference 199
6 Sad, Unnatural Shows of War • Veterans’ Identity
and Distinctiveness 245
Notes 287 Bibliography 307 Index 333
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Illustrations
Home Again 35
Disabled veterans on city streets 79
Messenger service stafed by former soldiers 97
The “Confederate Room” at the Maryland Line
Confederate Soldiers’ Home 143
Neighbor’s Home Mail 150
A collectible plate from the soldiers’ home in
Hot Springs, South Dakota 155
Scenes from the Central Branch of the nhDvs 164
A detail from the frieze around the Pension Building 200
Soldiers’ Tribune cartoon after President Cleveland’s
veto of a service pension bill 202
Corporal James R. Tanner as an overly generous
commissioner of the Pension Bureau 217