Civil War amputees

Jackson’s loos of left arm during the Battle of Chancellorsville (May 1863), and his terming the missing limb “a blessing,” set the tone for society coming to see an empty sleeve as a symbol of worthy sacrifice for the Confederacy, not a marker of shattered masculinity: “no amputation in the Confederacy did more to commend amputees to the public” (B. Miller, 63-64). Yet, throbbing stumps weeping a full brew of pus and blood were hardly an advertisement for the kind of glorious, sanitized war the public wanted to remember” (Jordan, 108). “The public wanted amputees to view their empty sleeves as a fulfilling honor, as something to be congratulated for, so that they could forget about the war (and disabled veterans) and get on with business” (109-110).