ALS to Edwards Pierrepoint seeking help to get him released from Ward's Island Insane Asylum

Egan, Thomas W. [Civil War General]

Published by New York, 1885

About this Item

A Civil War example of severe PTSD. The Northern general and war hero, Brevet Major General Thomas Egan, was severely wounded four times during the war. His marriage broke down, his only child was taken by his ex-wife to England and he degenerated into alcoholism. After being arrested for public intoxication in early July 1884, he was sentenced to Ward's Island Insane Asylum.* This letter is his appeal to Pierrepont to secure his release. The return address is "Wards Island Insane Asylum, Hospital Ward 2", which is heartbreaking. Egan's argument in the letter refers to Dr. Alex E. Macdonald (sic) 'the person that pronunce(d) Guiteau sain (sic) that murdered President Garfield .(not legible) that Mr. H was insain won't you for the Lords sake see Mayor Grace or the commission (?) and have me discharged shurley (sic) I deserve better of my country a record second to no soldier on Earth which Genl Grant will certify." Dr. Alex Macdonald was a prominent American physician and psychologist. In 1885 he was a resident physican at the New York City Asylum for the Insane on Ward's Island, and would become superintendent the next year. Mr. H may refer to Allan McHale Hamilton who was an expert witness regarding Guiteau, Garfield's assassin, and pronounced him sane. Dr. R. Gregory Lande fittingly noted "The bullets and bombs stopped in 1865, but the social shock waves were just beginning." As General Egan demonstrated, many disabled veterans endured decades of poverty, chronic pain, and emotional distress long after the guns fell silent. [*"Down Fame s Ladder": Brigadier General Thomas W. Egan s Unending War" by Frank Jastrzembski, Posted on July 29, 2019.] Pierrepont (1817-1892), was an American attorney, reformer, jurist, traveler, New York U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Minister to England, and orator.[1] Having graduated from Yale in 1837, Pierrepont studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840. During the American Civil War, Pierrepont was a Democrat, although he supported President Abraham Lincoln. (wikipedia). He was a resident of Garrison, NY.

Seller Inventory # 28707

Bibliographic Details

• Title: ALS to Edwards Pierrepoint seeking help to get him released from Ward's Island Insane Asylum
• Publisher: New York
• Publication Date: 1885
• Binding: Manuscript
• Condition: Very good condition