- Peter Bowling
Alcohol use, both medicinal and not, was widespread before, during, and after the Civil War. Alcohol has been a significant part of American culture since its founding and was distilled and distributed in a variety of ways during the war. Besides its recreational use, alcohol had a variety of medical uses and was prescribed as a treatment for different ailments. It was, of course, used recreationally and this recreational use led to abuse, personal harm, and even military confusion and destruction. From the lowest private to the most famous Union general, alcohol use was found everywhere in the Union and Confederate armies. The pervasive presence of alcohol would have effects after the war as well. The stories of alcoholic soldiers returning from the war and Civil War nurses who had seen its debilitating effects helped to spark a new wave of temperance movements that would one day lead to Prohibition. In this paper, I will explore the landscape of alcohol before the Civil War, the use of alcohol during the war, and the effects of Civil War alcoholism in the postbellum decades.
The most popular alcohols before and during the Civil War were whiskey, brandy, cider, and beer. Whiskey, far and away the most popular, was distilled across the country, made from corn instead of the now more common grain. Of the non-distilled drinks, cider made from apples was imbibed more, but an increasing German immigrant population was growing the popularity of beer in the US. Interestingly, because low grade whiskey could have the negative side effect of poisoning, distillers would water down clear alcohol then add other ingredients to mimic the flavor and color of whiskey. For example, “an 1860 inspection of Liquor Samples in Cincinnati found ‘whiskey’ containing sulfuric acid, red pepper, caustic substances, soda, potassium, and strychnine.” (1) Alcohol consumption was so common in America that the average American drank 2.5 gallons of alcohol in 1860.2 Besides buying their own illicit whiskey, soldiers were often sent whiskey in the care packages from their families. Though both armies banned alcohol in their camps and soldiers could not legally buy their own spirits, it was still easily acquired through black market distillers and distributors or in these care packages. The problem became so severe that “every parcel intended for a soldier had to be opened and inspected by officers of his regiment or brigade.” (1) Ingeniously, “one favorite ruse was hiding a bottle of whiskey inside a well roasted turkey.” Regardless of if soldiers were not prescribed alcohol as a medicine, they were most likely drinking alcohol one way or another.
At the time, alcohol was seen first and foremost as a stimulant rather than a depressant. (3) It was believed to “restore nervous energy when men were recovering from shock.” (3) As a result, it was given to soldiers who had been exposed to extreme weather such as freezing rain and burning heat. It was also given to fatigued soldiers due to this believed stimulation. Though a daily “spirit ration” for American soldiers had been abolished in 1832, officers were still permitted to issue whiskey rations to relieve fatigue. (1) Liquor was often prescribed as spiritus frumenti (whiskey) and spiritus vini gallici (brandy) for a variety of acute ailments, such as diarrhea, coughing, cold, wounds, and to stimulate a body to help a soldier recover from a surgery. For example, a private was admitted to a Washington, DC hospital with acute diarrhea and prescribed a daily dose of whiskey. This dose was increased over time, but unfortunately the private died two months after being admitted. Though many people assume that alcohol was used as an anesthetic by Civil War surgeons, the development of ether and chloroform in the early 19th century had alcohol redundant in that area. Whiskey was also mixed with quinine to protect soldiers against malaria, to induce soldiers to drink the quite bitter quinine medicine.
As many Civil War soldiers had seen liquor used medicinally in their home, they believed that alcohol was medicine. When they developed illness during the war, they proceeded to turn to alcohol to treat their afflictions. Naturally, this led to alcohol abuse, which was seen widely across both armies. Drunk soldiers were usually left in the camp to sober up and punished for being intoxicated on duty. If an officer was found intoxicated on duty, they could be discharged without pay, then immediately conscripted back into the army as an enlisted soldier. At one point during the Battle of Fredericksburg, the commanding officer tried to rally his men by liberally distributing spirit rations. Instead of becoming energized to fight, his men became drunk and started brawling with each other. There are countless stories of soldiers, officers, and surgeons becoming intoxicated and causing major damage to themselves and others.
The temperance movement, disorganized and scattered by the Civil War, was reinvigorated after the war’s end. Many of the nurses during the war became temperance advocates, having seen its debilitating effects firsthand. In addition, multiple cities across the country banned the sale of alcohol to returning troops to protect both the veterans and others. A story that spread virally across the country was of a veteran in New Albany, Indiana that became intoxicated, passed out on a train track, and was decapitated by a passing train. Veterans struggled to cope with chronic pain from injuries and mental trauma from the horrors of the war. Their alcohol abuse, which had started as a mental and physical coping mechanism during the war, could persist for the rest of their lives. During the Civil War, the federal government had repealed all state prohibition laws to boost the federal tax revenues. After the war, an increase in European immigrants who brought their drinking cultures shocked the ruling WASPs in America. The Women’s Christian Temperance Movement formed to take up the standard for the national temperance cause once again. By allying with Susan B. Anthony and other well-known feminists, the temperance movement used a combination of progressivism and xenophobia to eventually create the 18th Amendment banning alcohol nationwide. With this amendment, they hoped that the devil of alcoholism that was so strengthened during and after the Civil War could be defeated.
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References:
1. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/forty-rrod-blue-ruin-oh-be-joyful-civil-war-alcoholabuse/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CEvery%20gun%20barrel%2C%E2%80%9D%20wrote,to%20be%20filled%20with%20whiskey.%E2%80
2. https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/roots-of-prohibition
3. https://www.historynet.com/alcohol-usage-during-civil-war/
4. https://www.civilwarmed.org/alcoholism/
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