The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-28
HOMESICK SOLDIERS.
Nostalgia Diagnosed by Surgeon
and an Omccre
New York Evening Post.

| Inconsistencies, was the reply. "just
common or garden inconsistencies. The
name is derived from two Greek words. one
Of which means home and the other sick
ness Simple! Isn't it? 1t is one of the
most perplexing diseases that we army
surgeons have to contend with. inasmuch
as it is so ha d tc Diagnose. Its symptoms
are varied and depend greatly on the tenn
permanent OF the man affected. Dangerous?
Certainly. Haven't you heard of the two
| men of the Second Massachusetts. Private
Harvey Atkins and Sergeant Bourse, who
died of the disease in Cuba? Men don't die
| of diseases that arn't dangerous.
THE worst thing about nostalgia is,
however, that it undermines the sufferers
constitution and weakens them so that they
are liable to catch fever or any other in
fictitious or non-infectious disease. They
have no life, no vim, no power of resistance,
nor. in fact. have they the wish to resist
an illness They have absolutely no energy.
l remember in the civil war being struck
by the manner in which strong, healthy
men would waste away when they became
homesick. 1t was like the effects of gaIlop-
ing consumption, and occasionally the
| symptoms were similar. Let one man in a
camp become nostalgia and sooner or later,
| probably sooner, his depressing influence
| will affect the rest, and the doctors will
! have their hands full. Work is no panacea,
| unless It is varied. Give the men something
to think about, something to take their
minds off themselves, and you will greatly
lessen the number of cases.
"Of course, in the war such a remedy was
| impossible. 1t was a case of licking the
men into shape on the shortest possible
notice, and there was no time for anything
| but drill. The forced waits in the hot
! Southern camps till the men were some
what acclimated, with no variation in the
| routine, no doubt gave numbers OF them
| dom hear of it on active service, though; l
mean when the men are fighting they
haven't time to think of themselves. and as
rule they are pretty busily engaged men
| tally as well as physically.
"A man suffering from nostalgia, how
ever. makes a poor soldier He is ener.
| yated, has no pluck ambition. The best
| place for these men is home. Or course,
| we treat nostalgia the same as other dis
eases mean we PRESCRIBE TOT Il aecoT Wnis
| that depends. You are wanting to know
| professional secrets now"
An officer in the army building who has
| seen service in different countries and
fought throughout the civil war was asked
| for his opinion concerning nostalgia
1.-The disease of inconsistencies, he said
| "for 1 firmly believe that it is disease.
! and infectious TOBIAS been discussed so
much lately that anything l can say would
only be a repetition of what other and
| more competent judges have said before
me- will say however, that it is one of
| the nastiest diseases to get into officers
command Your best and bravest men be-
come babies, fainthearted and practically
as useless. One homesick man affects
whole camp. The men who try to cneer
him up become Influenced by his depression,
and so it goes till you have whole COM
pany of men incoming around like hysterical
| school girls. I sometimes think that IL
man would adopt the woman's plan or going
away by himself and having good cry IT
would often effect a cure. Inconsistencies
is bottled up misery seeking an outlet. If
you don't cry it out it will exude in the
form of bad temper, sulks and general Gus
There are one or two points that I have
not seen noted about homesickness. One IS
the cause and the other is the cure. me
| literal definition Inconsistencies does not l
think properly describe the malady.
better description would be blues or
dumps You know how it is when every
thing seems to be up against you don't
you-When your friends have gone back
on you. and your thoughts can be sum-
married. in the expression, What's the use
| of it all? I'm not worth a hang, anyway
When a man thinks he's not worth a hang
| he usually is not Ihar is nostalgla, IL -
not simply that heartbreaking longing Tor
| home and its surroundings that we all or
US. suppose, have. felt at one time or 3r
another although OF course, that zoo, Is
! the evil as stagnation, the cause of it
monotony, and for the cure would pre-
I'm my own experience I have noticed
| that the sufferers young fellows usu-
| ally, those whose spirits have all the Duoy-
| ancy and elasticity that goes with youth
| who are easily elated and just as easily de-
pressed. These boys expect 10 ma camp
life one intending round OF fun and morse
| play, intermixed with a few necessary
drills. But, OH the difference they ma.
| Drill drill, and again drill, from morning
to night; work and nothing but WORK OK 40 NO No
| time, and at night he is usually so cog urea
! that he is only anxious to sleep. This end
| less round of monotonous work, too often in
q unhealthy
| weather, forced into the company OF men
whom he doesn't like. perhaps, and OF
| finishes him. He has probably been useo
| to all the variety of a free civilian life IN
a healthy atmosphere. and in place, wh IeI's
he can choose his cwn companions Do you
| wonder that the change and the dlsap-
pontment depresses him?
| after a few weeks you will find these
men moping off by themselves, or, If in COM
pany with their fellows, they will be lost In
| thought. unconscious of their surroundings.
| Their drill will be lax. they will lose the
| snap with which soldier almost IN
| stinctively responds to a command. That
| is the first symptom. Next they get quar-
relsome and ugly. and then-the sickness;
| A homesick soldier is like an old hat, and
| has Just about as much life. He seems to
enjoy being kicked around His life is
| burden and he glories dismally in the fact.
! He is a damn coward and is proud or IL.
| Sometimes l think they place themselves In
the way of being abused SO, SO that they the can
| they are treated. in fact, homesick man
| does not care whether school keeps or not,
| and is a nuisance to himself, his officers
| and everybody else.
| you can't help being sorry for the poor
| beggars though: they do look so miserable.
! When / used to find it breaking out in my
| command I'd take the men on long marches
| into the country. 1T often did good.
know of lots of men who died from nothing
more or less than homesickness-smply
| fretted away like a bird in its cage, and
| died because they didn't want to live. It's
a nasty thing nostalgia, concluded the
NJ an, who didn't want to speak of 1t, as he
went into his office.
So many cases of this sort or illness have
been reported that the medical men OF the
al my are awaiting the campaign" report
with much interest. During the civil war
it is said that there were more than 5000
| cases of nostalgia reported-5,23, TO be ex-
act-and of these only So died. Nearly all
the cases occurred while the men were in
/ camp and no deaths from nostalgia are re-
ported while the troops were on the march.
Another curious fact learned from the
statistics is that winter is a more "nostaI-
gic'' season than summer More than half
| the cases of the illness reported and 20 per
cent of the deaths occurred during the
months OF November, December, January,
February and March. There were In Iob2
only five deaths reported: in 1863, fifteen; IN
1854 twenty, and in 1865, eighteen.
AS evidence that inconsistencies results
from monotony it is said that there were
only ninety-three cases and three deaths IN
Shermans army as he went marching
through Georgia. In the stationary army
there were during the same period S52 cases
Cow n