Many people research their family histories. One Durango woman’s quest led her to a relative whose experience is included in a story about post-traumatic stress disorder in Civil War soldiers in January’s issue of Smithsonian magazine.
Marti Bourjaily found Edward Leard on her family tree, a young volunteer who fought with his infantry regiment in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, including Antietam and Gettysburg. Suffering a mental collapse at the end of the war, he died at St. Elizabeth’s, formerly the Government Hospital for the Insane, at the age of 54.
Bourjaily found a connection to her own father in the story because he had been wounded at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, self-medicating his PTSD with alcohol and ranting about the war during Bourjaily’s childhood.
“I want to reach out to this man and tell him how sorry I am that he had to go through hell,” she told the magazine.
Herald staff
On the Net
Visit http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ptsd-civil-wars-hidden-legacy-180953652/?no-ist to read the full story about PTSD in Civil War soldiers.