CPP Curiosities: How Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War Changed American Death Practices

Greetings, fellow historio-medico aficionados, and welcome to our latest installment of , our semi-regular segment devoted to unusual or thought provoking topics in medical history. We're excited to have another great article from Amanda McCall. This time around, Amanda explores the history of embalming and how the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln helped reshape funerary practices in the United States.

Amanda, the virtual floor is yours!

Every community throughout time and geography has to address the question of how to best care for their dead. Factors such as spiritual beliefs, geography, and resources might impact the preferred method of death care. Many would argue there have been historical events that have also altered the course of death care, and in the United States the Civil War is a prime example of that.  

The Civil War presented Americans with a time-sensitive and unique problem: how to return deceased soldiers’ bodies in a recognizable state. Before the Civil War, death was a close and personal event. The family would care for and prepare the body, which would be displayed in the family home for others to pay their respects, followed by a burial in a local cemetery. However, when soldiers started dying vast distances away from home, getting their bodies returned to their loved ones in a timely manner became a challenge that had to be solved as quickly as possible. Not being able to care for and bury their dead compounded the tragedy of losing them, especially at what was normally quite an early age. So how would they accomplish this?  

The idea of using chemicals to keep human tissue from decaying was not a new one. At the time, scientists and physicians were experimenting with the preservation of organic tissue, mostly to create educational specimens.  However, it had never been used on the scale necessary to preserve an entire body. In 1838, a French chemist named Jean Gannal introduced the first method of embalming an entire human body using the major arteries as the primary method of embalming fluid distribution. As a sidenote, physicians and morticians were notoriously secretive about their personal recipes for their embalming solutions, so most took the specifics of their creation to their graves. We do know that Gannal used a solution that was mostly comprised of arsenic, which is an extremely toxic heavy metal, but also possesses certain antimicrobial properties. 

Following Gannal’s discovery, an American medical student named Thomas Holmes began experimenting with his own method of embalming based on Gannal’s ideas. Holmes’ continued interest in embalming allowed him to quickly start applying his technique when he joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Holmes’ embalming technique achieved tentative success and his name became linked with the procedure. Today, Holmes is considered the “Father of Modern Embalming.” 

Following Holmes’ innovations, the practice of embalming quickly gained popularity. Embalming services for soldiers and their families practically appeared overnight. Some services were offered by people who had been properly trained while other practitioners hoped to make a quick buck. Holmes himself purportedly embalmed over 4,000 bodies. By 1865, the number of prospective embalmers advertising their skills in the war camps became so overwhelming that Union Commander Ulysses S. Grant withdrew all their permits and ordered them behind the camp lines. Grant reasoned that the constant presence of people eager to embalm their remains was understandably affecting soldiers’ morale.  

Despite its growing popularity during the Civil War, many historians argue President Abraham Lincoln played the largest part in cementing embalming as the preferred death care option in the United States. Col. Elmer Ellsworth, a close friend and former law clerk to the President, happened to be the first official casualty of the war. Lincoln’s affection for Ellsworth led the President to request his fallen friend be laid in state in the White House so that others could pay their respects. Embalming Ellsworth would make this request easier. Lincoln even commented on how good his friend looked after being embalmed. A couple years later, when Lincoln’s son Willie died of typhoid fever, Lincoln chose to have him embalmed as well. When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, Edwin Stanton, President Lincoln’s Secretary of War, organized a huge farewell tour to bring the beloved president home to Illinois. This train journey would take weeks, as there were planned stops along the way to allow citizens to pay their respects, and if the President was to make it home in an acceptable condition, he would need help. The same physician who embalmed Willie stepped forward to prepare Lincoln’s body for the approximately two-week trip home for burial in Illinois. There are conflicting rumors about how well Lincoln’s body held up over this journey, but one thing is certain: his embalmed body made a strong impression on everyone who saw it. President Lincoln’s willingness to embrace this new funeral practice made its introduction to common usage that much easier. 

The Civil War played a large part in moving the momentum of death care in a new direction. The necessities of the war pushed scientists to discover a new way to prepare the dead, and after seeing a well-respected president embrace the procedure, the public did as well. I think it’s safe to say embalming would not have grown as popular as it is without President Lincoln or the Civil War.  

Sources:

•  National Museum of Civil War Medicine (February 20, 2016).
• Walsh, Brian.  Smithsonian Magazine (November 1, 2017).
• Wightman Fox, Richard.  Slate (February 12, 2015).

Thanks, Amanda, for another fascinating piece. If you want to read more from Amanda, among the other topics she's examined include , , and .

Until next time, catch you on the strange side!