"Invisible Wounds: Mental Illness And Civil War Soldiers"

An enduring mystery of the Civil War, and perhaps any armed conflict, is how two soldiers, faced with unspeakable battlefield trauma, can diverge so greatly in their ability to cope with life when hostilities end. Some do well; others descend into insanity.

Butte College history instructor Dillon Carroll probes what he calls this "hidden history": "Soldiers, doctors, and civilians all grappled with war trauma--the long collateral damage of combat--in ways previously unknown to historians." 

His newly-published book, an extraordinary scholarly study that reads like a novel, examines the coping mechanisms of soldiers (they were not merely victims), the responses of then-prevalent "insane asylums," and how families connected battlefield experience with the decaying minds of their loved ones more swiftly than the doctors.

"Invisible Wounds: Mental Illness And Civil War Soldiers" ($45 in hardcover from LSU Press; also for Amazon Kindle) draws on hundreds of sources, including letters, diaries, and medical records (especially from the Government Hospital for the Insane, known as "St. Elizabeth's"). 

What emerges is a nuanced and measured cultural history of what may well have been PTSD in an age before the advent of brain science and psychiatry (which replaced the work of "alienists" who tried to figure out the causes of a soldier's alienation from society).

Alienists explained madness, without obvious physical causes (like syphilis), as the result of immorality (including "intemperance, masturbation, overwork, domestic difficulties, excessive ambition, personal disappointment, excessive religious enthusiasm, and overweening jealousy or pride").

Not every combatant suffered ongoing mental debilitation. "Black soldiers ..., imbued with a sense of purpose and a desire to strike back at the trauma of slavery, were less susceptible to this than white soldiers."

Almost thirty years after Appomattox, Carroll writes, some "survivors of the war's battles and their aftermath were still suffering with nervousness, kept awake by insomnia, and, when they did sleep, awakened by terrifying nightmares. The boom of the cannon, the gurgle of the dying patient, and howl of the bloodhound haunted the repose of many Civil War veterans."

Carroll's analysis of first-person accounts helps readers understand "why"--and why coming to terms with the hidden wounds of war is so difficult.

Local novelist's major debut

Young Jeremiah Wakefield joins the Union Army from New York farming country in 1862. His new wife, eighteen-year-old Rosetta, "independent as a hog on ice," follows him into the 97th New York State Volunteers, Company H, dressed as "Ross Stone." That's not what Jeremiah planned; he envisioned a quick end to the Civil War and the pay he would receive enough to buy a farm when he returned to Rosetta.

But she would never be a simple housekeeper. Once Jeremiah's shock of recognition subsides as Stone is introduced into the company, he offers a place in his tent to the new recruit. Some of their friends from Flat Creek are there as well, but soon lighthearted jibes and days of tedium give way to battle. Narrated by Rosetta, "I Shall Be Near To You" ($24 in hardcover from Crown; also for Amazon Kindle) by Erin Lindsay McCabe marks the debut of a compelling talent.

McCabe earned a teaching credential at Chico State University and has taught composition at Butte College. In an author's note she says that "the fictional Rosetta's experience as a soldier is an amalgamation of the experiences of the more than two hundred women who are known to have enlisted. ... Many women joined up to be with fiances, husbands, brothers, fathers. Not only did these women manage to pass the Army's physical exam (often just a handshake), some of these women even managed to conceal their identity until the very moment they delivered their babies in the ranks. ..."

McCabe's story is shattering, bringing the reader into the midst of war, confusion reigning, the smells of dying, the sights, even the taste, but most especially the sounds. The sounds of Rosetta's own thoughts, the din of battle, the screams of pain. "Sergeant bellows, 'Fire at will!' through the noise, but all I can do is keep low. ... I don't know where any of my boys are, but I have got to do this thing. I get to my knees and then it is time it is time it is time to make my run across moldering logs and branches and dead leaves and men." Heartbreaking and unforgettable.

McCabe will be signing copies of her book Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Lyon Books in Chico.

The Civil War comes to Nevada City in a riveting new novel

Though Richard Hurley's career in computer-based multimedia took him to the Sierra foothills, his love of history never left. Along with with co-author TJ Meekins, whose work took her to the Tahoe National Forest in Nevada City, the two have produced a compelling historical novel and bittersweet love story that will have readers turning pages far into the night.

"Queen Of The Northern Mines: A Novel Of The Civil War In California" ($16.95 in paperback from Bear River Books, bearriverbooks.com) spans a short but eventful four years, from November 1860, centered mostly in the area of Nevada City (then called "Nevada," the "Queen" of the title). The authors interweave the stories of Virginian Will Stafford, the handsome 28-year-old attorney, with that of Chinese mine owner Ah Tie, Austrian musician Peter Kessel, and Nisenan Maidu orphan Nutim.

The book was named a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association. The cover, "Portrait of Sophie Gray," from the artist John Everett Millais (1857), beckons the reader to settle in to a story of love found and love lost, a story of divided loyalties, both personal and political, and to a tale that mixes the absurd (think E Clampus Vitus) with the unutterably sad (war's devastation).

Will arrives in Nevada (the town) having helped dispatch a group of highway agents intent on plunder; he finds work (and friendship) with a judge, and he finds his attention drawn to the Missouri House, whose caretaker, 31-year-old widow Molly Hatfield ("richly endowed with wisdom and beauty") sparks a decided personal interest. Complicating matters, Molly's daughter Ida, 15 years old, is also smitten with the young lawyer.

People have come from all over the country (and the world) to have a go at the Northern mines. There is decided Yankee sentiment in Nevada, and Rebel sentiment in Grass Valley. When Will returns to Nevada, wounded, from fighting for the Confederacy in his home state, he must face a profound reality. If Jefferson Davis is to survive, he must have California gold. A new shipment from the mines is on its way, and Will must decide the meaning of honor, friendship and love.

Does a uniform lift him above being a mere highway agent?