Sanibel Journal

This past Spring, I had the honor and pleasure of getting to know my great-great-grandfather, William McAdams, as I studied and transcribed letters that he wrote while in the Union Army during the Civil War. I frequently wonder what he’d think of things the way they are now:   how much farming has changed since his days, how big our cities have become, how quickly and easily we travel.   Except for his 3 and a half years in the Army, he stayed at home or nearby.   Home was a busy, multifaceted, yet simple farm on the prairie of central Illinois, near a town called Kansas.   William McAdams, Sr. I know that he would be perplexed, to say the least, to know that monuments to Confederate officers stand in places of honor in many public squares, and that schools and military bases are named for Confederate generals.   Throughout his letters, he referred to the enemy as “rebels,” “Secessionists,” and “Secesh.”   He considered them to be treasonous...

Uncontrolled infectious diseases – including epidemics – killed two thirds of the 660,000 soldiers who died during the American Civil War. [1]   Two thirds!  I was astounded by this number until I read the Civil War letters written by my great-great-grandfather, William McAdams. [2] Just as the novel coronavirus epidemic has cancelled and delayed many events, these Civil War-era epidemics stopped or delayed a number of major campaigns, thus making the Civil War last perhaps two years longer than it would have otherwise.   Pneumonia, typhoid, dysentery, yellow fever, and malaria were the predominant diseases that plagued the soldiers.   Historians sometimes call this collection of Civil War era diseases “the third army.” William McAdams, a 25-year-old farmer and leader of his community near the town of Kansas, Illinois, was bright and optimistic as he enlisted in the 59 th Illinois Volunteer Infantry of the Union Army in late 1861.   He was elected b...