James M. Schmidt

Notre Dame and the Civil War is a history of the involvement of Notre Dame's students, former students, and priests in the Civil War. The author, James Schmidt, progresses chronologically from the founding of the university to the memorials that were built for the participant's after death. In addition to the participation of Notre Dame's students and priests, the book also discusses the role of the Sisters from nearby St. Mary's College.

Notre Dame and St. Mary's were established by the Congregation of Holy Cross, a religious congregation that was founded in France during the nineteenth century. Father Edward Sorin founded Notre Dame near South Bend, Indiana, and while famous today, the university during Sorin's time was much different from the Notre Dame that we are familiar with. This is a Notre Dame that educated students from grades K-University and also taught trades to the children of Catholic immigrants across the US at a time of Know Nothing Anti-Catholicism in the US.

ND's greatest contribution to the war was through its priests as chaplains. Many brigades that came from areas heavily inhabited by immigrants were largely Catholic, but there were very few Catholic chaplains in the military. Notre Dame sent five, including Father Corby, who has been immortalized in bronze at Gettysburg. These Priests helped Union soldiers who felt unsupported religiously to have their spiritual needs met so that they could be at ease fighting for their side.

St. Mary's greatest contribution is its nuns who served as nurses during the war. Schmidt explains how difficult it was to find good nurses during this period and how the nuns training in humility and service towards others made them ideal for this role that others had been unable to fulfill. These sisters would also be immortalized in memorials after the war for their roles.

Of course, the war also affected Notre Dame's and St. Mary's students. Schmidt focuses primarily on the students from Notre Dame. Many students fought in the war and some were decorated for their accomplishments. There were also battles fought on campus between students over political beliefs, and their lives were affected by the ongoing war. Of particular interest on campus was the story of the children of General William Tecumseh Sherman, who were at ND and SMC throughout the war.

One thing that troubled me while reading this book was to determine what made ND unique. Surely every university was greatly affected by the Civil War and had many people contribute to it bravely. It took me awhile to realize that ND was unique, and it wasn't because of the Sherman family or the great soldiers who came from there. It was because ND contributed to the spiritual well-being of American immigrants who were fighting for the reunification of a country that was full of discrimination against them. The contributions of these priests and nuns helped to make Catholicism more acceptable among those that they came in contact with. For example, the nuns had a great effect on some of the doctors and patients that they dealt with, and Schmidt makes it quite clear how impressed some of the officers that overheard Father Corby speaking to the Irish Brigade were with him saying that it was one of the greatest sermons they had ever heard.

For this reason, I liked this book in that I did learn something from it. I would have liked to have seen Schmidt make that more clear earlier in the book. I spent half the book wondering if this was not just some sort of celebration of a school that Schmidt loves rather than a serious history that is making a legitimate argument about history. Once that became clear though, I began to really enjoy the book, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more.… (mere)

Notre Dame and The Civil War (In): Marching Onward to Victory by James M. Schmidt is a gem. I do need to admit that I am loyal Hoosier even though I live in another state, love to read Indiana in Civil War history and fiction and I am very proud of Notre Dame. I didn’t go to Notre Dame but I did visit its beautiful campus and it was my pleasure to perform with a group for the university.

Mr. Schmidt’s book is rich with historical photos and wonderful stories of Notre Dame history during the Civil War times. He thoroughly researched and documented the history of Notre Dame from just before it was granted a state charter in 1844 to years shortly after the Civil War.

The profiles of quite a few former students of Notre Dame and priests actions and lives were seamlessly woven into a great story of honor and devotion to the United States. Also the effect of the Civil War on its enrollment and the way the school dealt with it. The role of women from Notre Dame’s sister school, St. Mary’s in the Civil War was also told. I also learned about the Anti-Catholic prejudice in that time and place.

I highly recommend this well researched and very well written book.

I won this book in a contest on the author’s blog and that in no way influenced my thoughts in this review. No renumeration was received for this review.… (mere)

Years of Change and Suffering is a collection of essays concerning views of Civil War Medicine.
Three of the eight essays were my favorites, “A Multiplicity of Ingenious Articles" by James M. Schmidt, "The Firm" by D. J. Canale.M.D., F.A.C.S. and "Haunted Minds" by Judith Anderson, Ph.D. I thought that the illustrations and photos in the book, including the ones on the back and cover were an excellent addition.

As I read the book, I learned more about the true situation of the medical care in the Civil War as compared to the common myths in novels and movies.

Also, since the Viet Nam war was the war of my generation, I did a lot of comparing of the different wars. The book also brought back memories of when my father took a month and drove our family around to see the many of battlefields of the war. Some chapters brought back my own feelings and memories of visiting Gettysburg and Antietam, particularly the enormous depth of the costs of battle.

In the first article that I referred to "A Multiplicity of Ingenious Articles", James M. Schmidt explored issues of the Scientific American and recounted the advice for the soldiers on how to stay healthy and to their officers as to what the soldiers needed health wise. Also, the magazine spread the news of improvements to firearms but also to medical instruments and prosthetics. Included in the essay was an engraving of the different prosthetics at that time. The latter was practically intriguing since I had recently watched a program on the latest advances on prosthetics on the Pentagon channel. I had seen a man who had been outfitted with a simple hook on the show. The engraving in the book shows a gloved hand prosthetic. I wondered if the fingers of the hand in the engraving were jointed so that they could be moved or if the hand was all one piece. In the Pentagon show, the man who had a simple hook for a hand was later equipped with a computerized hand that enable him to drink from a cup. Thus the engraving in the book demonstrates the stage that prosthetics were developed during the Civil War.

In the "Firm", by D. J. Canal, M.D., F.AC.S wrote of Weir Mitchell, M.D. Through strange twists and turns in his life, he became the father of American Neurology. He and his colleagues studied and detailed the neurological effects of gunshot wounds, amputations and partial injuries to nerves. This is a fascinating recounting of how a man's wish did not come true but something much greater and significant instead.

"Haunted Minds" painfully details of how Frank Lang, an infantry soldier and battlefield nurse, exhibited what we today call PTSD. Not surprisingly, there were many soldiers experiencing this, especially the youngest of the soldiers and those who endured the longest times in battle and most exposure to the corpse and those severely injured. This essay brings up the signs and situations of PTSD that were to haunt many Civil War soldiers and those of other wars.

Besides learning the truth behind the development of medicine during the Civil War, this book makes you think about the costs of the war along with the improvements that sprang up during the war. I would highly recommend this book to all who are interested in Civil War, medicine or both.… (mere)