The "Derangement" and Death of Private Ludwig Salzwedel: A Suicide and Cover-Up in the Civil War

The "Derangement" and Death of Private Ludwig Salzwedel: A Suicide and Cover-Up in the Civil War

As the hot Kansas sun rose over the camp of the Ninth Wisconsin Infantry on June 17, 1862, the German immigrants who formed the bulk of the regiment were abuzz with the terrible news of last evening’s events. Rumors ran rife that a soldier in Company F killed himself during the night. And indeed, fifty-one year old Private Ludwig Salzwedel, a German immigrant to La Crosse, Wisconsin and the father of a family of five, had committed suicide that night.

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An Anecdote of Suicide (?)

An Anecdote of Suicide (?)

Recently at the Society of Civil War Historians conference I was asked if any Civil War soldiers committed “suicide” by purposely placing themselves in harm’s way. Besides the question of whether the deaths of Confederate generals Hill and Garnett were such suicides, I recently found this interesting anecdote in Gregory A. Coco’s The Civil War Infantryman.

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Suicide by Enemy Fire? The Cases of Hill and Garnett

Suicide by Enemy Fire? The Cases of Hill and Garnett

Death is an occupational hazard for the soldier; it is a basic rule of warfare that there will be casualties.  A soldier faces death when they enter battle, and accepts that they must be willing to die for their country, their cause, or whatever motivation has brought them to the front line.  But it there a point where being willing to die becomes wanting to die, and does that desire for death border on the question of suicide?  Let us examine two well known Confederate cases, those of Richard Garnett and Ambrose Powell Hill.  Now, I understand that painting one or both of these men’s deaths as suicides might ruffle a few feathers, but that is not necessarily my purpose there.  I merely want to put the question out there.  Did they want to die? Can suicide result from committing to risky behaviors outside the necessity of the situation, not just intentionally harming oneself?  Were these two cases “suicide by cop” type situations or were these just casualties of war?

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