This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust

In This Republic..., Drew Gilpin Faust writes so elquently, profoundly, and yet directly on the subject of death in the Civil War. I have never read so extensively on this subject before now and was surprised by
some information. Other facts, such as the brutality in killing, did not take me aback. However, I am glad we read this book next to last because it almost sums up the course in that it treats aspects normally (and perhaps necessarily due to time constraints) "glossed" or barely touched upon in the other books.

Of course, just as Tolstoy was fascinated with the psychology of a killer and killling in Crime and Punishment, Faust (who mentions him as well) knows a modern day reader will probably be drawn to such a taboo subject on a war mostly studied briefly and from afar in high school history. Deliver she does, though respectfully, in minute detail. It seems cliche to write, but the title is perfect and each chapter in succession treats every aspect of dying as though she were chronicling a person's life.

The chapters are: Dying, Killing, Burying, Naming, Realizing, Believing and Doubting, Acccounting, Numbering, and Surviving. Faust not only writes about the soldiers, for example, but also on other related topics such as the effects on survivors (i.e:  fellow soldiers and family), black Unionists, letters, God and religion, undertakers, greed, comparisons to other wars and so forth. So profound is her research that there is little left to imagine; It is almost as if the Civil War era were speaking from beyond the grave.

In "Dying," Faust marks the not what she considers to be a Good or bad Death, but what Victorian beliefs were of that time through soldier's letters and other things such as clergymen's assertions on the topic. This topic is especially important because although modern society is not too far removed from those ideas in terms of religion (like Catholicism and ideas on salvation, extreme unction, etc.) we ARE far removed from the time due to technology and distance in other wars of the kind. Really, we were destroying one another - other Americans that mirrored us in many ways other than national origin. In this chapter, she writes about Victorian codes of culture, such as gender, patriotism, and religion as important preparation for soldiers in the event of death. Because of the ideas of that time and the War's unprecedented brutality in casualties, soldiers had to prepare for a Good Death. Death was foremost on the minds of civilians and authors alike, such as Emily Dickinson, Tolstoy, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, which implies a cultural saturation of huge proportions. Faust writes using Latin terms such as hors mori (hour of death) and  ars moriendi (death among memebers of family) to help explain why dying a good death was important to the soldier (most of the time) and his family. I was surprised by the fact that hospitals would have been considered to be for the indigent, not respectable soldier. Dying with family was first, followed by dying among friends in combat who could tell the family what occurred, and then perhaps dying among supporters, depending on whose side you fought for.  Spiritual condition was the reason for this because most people in that time wanted to know whether the soldier would be recieved unto Heaven or doomed to an eternity in hell.
I also didn't know that soldiers purposely executed for defecting from thier units were considered an example of dying a Bad Death because they were 1) shamed and 2) unprepared to meet their Maker. Memento mori, or mementos of death was especially sad to me, but brought joy and finality to a soldier's family as someone's dog tags, for example, would provide closure for a modern family. In this manner, families could somehow extrapolate what a soldier may have been thinking or feeling.

"Killing" was a little harder to read because it is hard for anyone to imagine killing anyone. Faust writes that while some soldiers had difficulty with killing due to religious beliefs, others seemed to go wild after the first taste of blood, so to speak. I was surprised to learn that some soldiers refused to kill even if it meant dying as a result. Others killed with abandon, especially when confronted by a dying enemy who begged for water but recd. a bayonet thrust instead, writes Faust.  Particularly atrocious was the fact that weaponry such as it existed forced a soldier to be too intimate with killing in relation to proximity (not that killing from afar is okay). This was so damaging to the psyche of either side. Recently, an English professor at NEIU told the class that one of his students returned from the war with a vacant look and had "never been the same kid after Vietnam." It must have been hard to shoulder the burden of killing in a society with high regard to religion and moral duty! Blacks were considered unequal and were never taken prisoner, but summarily excuted without mercy as inferiors who could not be equal to a white "secesh" soldier. :( For many, though, killing was the duty of any loyal soldier. I also thought sniping was a recent thing, like during Kennedy's time, and was again surprised at this and the fact that killing while a soldier was taken unawares was considered cowardly. I thought anything went, but it makes sense in conjunction with moral code. It was super hard to read about the stench which ensued - the "efluvia" as they called it, which emanated from soldier's bodies (esp. in places where they lay for many days! Putrid corpses changed color dramatically.

The chapter on interment was very interesting for a few reasons. For example, the government eventually had to step in and create a national cementary due to the obvious logistical problems with burying. Also, Faust details how and why some bodies were buried while others (to prove a point to enemies) were left unattended. I cannot imagine living in an area where the air is saturated with such a smell. It is said that once one smells it, one never forgets it. Equally disgusting was the fact that people were often thrown on other's properties (imagine finding 50 soldiers in your drinking well water!) or left for the vultures. Sometimes they weren't buried deep enough and resurfaced and others with more means were buried in caskets. The detail on undertakers cast a sinister undertone even as they scrambled greedily to profit from dealing with officer bodies over lower-ranking officers. It would be unthinkable today to follow soldier units "just in case." I did wonder how caskets were refrigerated though and Faust says the business of burying was so expensive, most were buried without coffins. Some people even visited survivors or graves to satisfy morbid curiousity rather than "helping" (p. 85).

Naming was of course important too. Every single culture I have ever read about names children upon birth and each carries his/her name unitl death. I thought about the "Unknown Soldier" not as someone in Arlington, but as many who were never recognized during/after the war and therefore, suspended in a question mark for all time. How painful for families! I also noted that the disruption of normal life had to cause a disruption in good information. Faust also suggests that some people did less than they could have in naming these soldiers individually. Where they could not be ID'd, some folks were thrown in to a general area and buried among many. Others devised ways of a rudimentary id by way of carved medals bearing their name or pamplets bearing the same from the Commision or other Christian Society. Folks also carried pictures which could help identify and send a body wherever home was. The anxiety survivors experienced had to be overwhelming and isolating as they waited for word that sadly, sometimes did not come. Naming was also important for the practical purpose of claiming money or inheritance.

"Realizing" deals with mourning. Some people died as an indirect result due to injuries from an exploding shell, for instance. Preachers explained when mourning became excessive, while others like slave families, died of starvation. The war did not take just soldiers, but a lot of women and children too. Authors became obsessed with and wrote about the "visions" of death and dying whether by war, starvation or yellow fever. The custom of mourning by showing your sadness in black clothing and veils was also important as an expression. This reminded me of 9/11 not in the scale of what happened, but in the aftermath of grief, where families were united, suicides from depression were occuring, and the nation wasn't "right" for some time. I can understand how some people in the Civil War simply waited anxiously until reunification could occur in "another life." Making sense of something so tragic, so huge, had to be done this way. The opposite would have meant lose of hope and purpose."Doubting and Believing" needs very little explanation then. In this chapter, faust explains what this "universal lamentation" meant. People either turned to religion or questioned it, but we know that God was always central to the question of what war and death meant. Most would have understood from their N/S perspective, that the war came because God wanted to right wrongs and "science" and religion became "unified." Some people gave up in this belief, feeling that God just didn't care or wasn't divine. Still, reunification in another world led to ideas in Spiritualism or the beyond. I know from my research that Stowe was one of those people. it made sense to them or else nothing could. The newspaper with "Voices from the Dead" seemed creepy though. I also didn't realize the Ouija Board came as a result of this! War seemed "glorious" no longer.

The last three chapters, "Acccounting," "Numbering" and "Surviving" deal with the horrendous aftermath of war. Accounting meant making sense of the non-sensical by making the war "purposeful." This is the true meaning of when people say someone should "not die in vain." Death had "exacted a cost" too high and unbearable for all Americans during the Civil War. People had to buried with dignity and women in particular answered this call with grace and solemnity. In Numbering, the losses were related to in terms of money langauge, writes Faist. We had to pay for the war's cost, for example, and redeem "losses" sustained by burying the dead in honor. Not everyone liked having women in their midst in this effort, and said so loudly. I am so grateful to be able to read diaries of this time to know what people like Clara Barton were thinking and feeling. "Surviving" is the last chapter and short for a reaosn. What can a survivor do except to be alive? I suspect many like Mary Todd Lincoln, were depressed enough to wish death for themselves. Still, this was a new americ, writes Faust, one that necessarily and sadly went on to redefine for themselves what war meant. As if speaking to each individual reader, Faust shows her own profound emotion and scholarship dually by writing about what the Civil War did for today's Americans, which is taken for granted unknowingly. Death really is the only end, as she states, and my hope is that we learn from it and use it to understand our past as Americans so we can understand our futures too. I understand war and know we owe so much to veterans past and presnet. What a sad, good book to read right around this annniversary of the Civil War and Veteran's Day!