Whether it’s the Civil War then or the pandemic now, human nature is timeless

In trying times like these, it might be reassuring to remember that Americans have endured crises before and found novel and productive ways to cope. The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented, but the families who endured the Civil War would see some parallels between their experiences and ours.

Indeed, social distancing has unintentionally made our society into something the Civil War generation would have recognized: one clearly based on the household.

Maintaining the household was always the chief priority for 19th Century families, but the absence of many fathers, husbands and brothers on the Civil War battlefront made it an even more pressing responsibility. This empowered the women left behind, but it also created a sense of being cut off from the rest of the world — a feeling we can certainly relate to today.

Like us, they knew that monumental events were taking place and decisions were being made that could profoundly affect their lives. However, they had far fewer ways to learn about what was happening outside their immediate communities.

We benefit from a vast technological network designed to bring us information. This flood of data from competing sources can seem overwhelming and make us anxious about our constantly changing landscape. This anxiety would have been even greater for Civil War Americans, who similarly did not know what the crisis would bring but also had more trouble gathering even basic information about it.

Newspapers were their greatest conduit to the outside world, but details were sometimes slow to arrive. Knowing a battle had been fought often wasn’t enough because it didn’t address their main concern. That came later — with the casualty lists. Families could wait days, or even weeks, to discover if loved ones had fallen in combat. For some, due to the lack of forensic science, it took until the end of the war to see if Johnny came marching home.

So, like us, Civil War Americans often found themselves isolated and uncertain.

Fortunately, their households also provided them with distractions and other ways to alleviate those conditions. Without modern appliances and technology, running the household was a laborious task — even more so with some family members off at the front. Kids had other amusements too, like games and toys — some purchased, but others made for them by relatives and friends.

Middle class families also participated in “parlor culture.” They would gather in the parlor — a room set aside solely for cultural pursuits — and read together, sing songs and play piano, or do various other activities that interacted with the broader culture and enriched their minds. In fact, the war itself influenced many of these activities. People bought games that simulated aspects of the war and sang songs that helped emotionally and intellectually make sense of the conflict raging around them.

Households reached outward during the Civil War and tried to help however they could. Basic tasks like knitting had always been prominent features of home life but became something more. Women knitted socks and garments for soldiers, along with other supplies that could be manufactured in the home.

Soldier health also became a focus. Women volunteered as nurses and people gave financial support to national organizations designed to promote mental and physical health in the armies. Mary Lincoln herself visited hospitals to cheer patients, and both she and the president supported organizations that helped soldiers. We can see parallels between these efforts and ours to sew masks and donate gloves for healthcare providers or find other ways to help “flatten the curve.”

Civil War families also provided psychological comfort to their loved ones in the ranks by constantly writing letters and sending care packages. They may not have had the internet or phones, but it’s not difficult to envision this flood of letters — many of which remain with us today in repositories like the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library — as akin to text messages and emails.

For some families, the quantity of these letters far outstripped anything else they sent in their lifetimes — something we can also identify with, as social distancing motivates us to reach out via technology to family and friends we sometimes took for granted.

Human beings crave community and, even in the most trying of times, seek it out. Each Civil War household was a community unto itself, but members of those households also found ways to connect themselves with the broader community around them. Our crisis is of a different sort, but we can find inspiration and comfort in the sacrifices they made and the ingenuity they showed.

Christian McWhirter, Ph.D. is the Lincoln Historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the author of “Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War.”

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