After the War
The USCT soldiers played a vital role in the Union’s victory, but their lives after the war widely varied. The Holland brothers enjoyed successful careers. Milton Holland, who had worked as a shoemaker before the war, moved to Washington D.C. and became a lawyer. He started several businesses and remained a prominent figure in public life, active in Black political issues in Ohio and Washington throughout his life. He pushed back on harsh legal judgments on Black defendants and helped find homes for Black orphans, even adopting one himself.[1]
His brother William Holland attended Oberlin College in 1867 but returned to Texas to become a teacher in Austin. He was elected as a representative to the Texas Legislature and supported bills that established schools: Prairie View Normal College in 1876 and the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youth in 1887.[2] His time in the legislature was productive, since he was the only Black man and only Union veteran in the Texas Legislature.[3]
While the USCT fought bravely for the Union, the return to post-war life was sometimes difficult. Although Athens held no battlefields, the Civil War left its mark on the community. The county had sent a total of 2,610 men to fight for the Union; more than half of its eligible population had enlisted.[4]
William Holland. Legislative Reference Library of Texas.
Some soldiers who returned home struggled to cope with their wartime experiences. Though they returned to life on the farm, some of the Tablertown veterans had a change in temperament when they returned to daily life, something their families noticed as a consequence of the war.[5]
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Many Civil War veterans required mental health treatment, available at the time through inpatient asylums.[6] The Athens Lunatic Asylum began accepting patients in 1874, and while it treated many types of patients from across the state, over sixty of the former patients buried in the cemetery were Civil War veterans, including some USCT veterans.[7]
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Amongst those were William Buchanan, a Ross County resident, was admitted in December 1882. He had moved to Ohio from Kentucky eighteen years before admission to the asylum; he was a laborer with little education, who considered himself a Baptist. According to his patient records, he experienced “constant restlessness; inability to sleep, walking almost the entire night […] formerly reticent: now talkative; at times seems to be in dark meditation.”[8] Daniel Mischal, admitted in 1890, was a forty-three-year-old plasterer who suffered from paralysis. He was married and had three children. Joseph Campbell, a forty-three-year-old laborer, was injured on a railroad. Israel Johnson, a Washington county resident admitted in 1898, was a fifty-four-year-old married farmer who struggled with his home life and finances, often cited as the cause for illness in male Athens Asylum patients, in addition to religious fixation.[9] Johnson was buried next to a Confederate veteran, Eli Stevens, who participated in Morgan’s Raid as it passed through Nelsonville. Stevens was arrested in 1867 for burning down a church in Vinton County.[10]
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The number of Civil War veterans buried in the asylum cemetery, as well as the presence of USCT veterans, speaks to similar experiences of veterans when they came home. Many struggled financially and mentally, and the Athens community struggled to support them. The asylum offered a place where community members could hope that their family members could recover, but mental illness was not well-understood, so many of the men died in the asylum and were given graves marked only with numbers until recent efforts of family members and mental health advocates to mark their graves and honor them. The white veterans, and even the Confederate veteran, were no different than the Black veterans in this way.
Harper's Weekly, August 5, 1865. Library of Congress.
When war came, Athens’ Black community was ready to fight for a better future. Attucks’ Guards offered their services soon after the war began, but resistance to recruiting Black soldiers prevented them from fighting. Some biracial soldiers like James Holland managed to enlist in white units; others, like Milton and William Holland, were forced to wait until Massachusetts and Ohio were given permission to muster USCT troops. This development offered new hope to these soldiers, who fought persistently even as they were paid lower wages and denied the leadership opportunities given to white soldiers. While some went on to have prolific post-war careers, others struggled to adapt to post-war life, and several were buried among the dozens of veterans in the asylum cemetery. While their experiences varied, the service of the USCT gave the Union a greater chance at victory, and their dedication to their cause could be the difference between success and defeat on the battlefield.
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Notes
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1. Scott Britton, “But Not For My Children: The Holland Brothers’ Unlikely Journey From Slavery” (Presentation, Civil War Round Table, Virtual, January 21, 2021).
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2. Nolan Thompson, “Holland, William H. (1841-1907), Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/holland-william-h.
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3. Scott Britton, "But Not for My Children."
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4. Betty Hollow, Ohio University, 1804-2004: The Spirit of a Singular Place (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2003) 84; Jim Phillips, “Athens County Sent a Large Contingent to Fight in Civil War,” Athens News, December 9, 2012. https://www.athensnews.com/culture/special_sections/athens-county-sent-large-contingent-to-fight-in-civil-war/article_8b91d13d-5d9f-5c45-b69e-53126dfeb4bf.html.
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5. David Butcher interview, February 25, 2021.
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6. R. Gregory Lande, Madness, Malingering and Malfeasance: The Transformation of Psychiatry and the Law in the Civil War Era (Washington, D.C., Brassey’s, Inc., 2003) 194-195.
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7. David DeWitt, “Ridges Ceremonies Recall Vet’s Widow, Civil War Vet Ties with Old Asylum,” Athens News, May 27, 2013. https://www.athensnews.com/news/local/ridges-ceremonies-recall-vet-s-widow-civil-war-vet-with-ties-to-old-asylum/article_99a0d32b-519d-53a2-b04d-a14568ae60b7.html.
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8. NAMI, “Athens Psychiatric Hospital Cemeteries Directory.” http://namiathensohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/AthensPsychiatricHospitalCemeteryDirectoryWeb.pdf. Inquest of Lunacy, Record no. 1335 (male). Athens Mental Health Center Collection, Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, Ohio University Libraries.
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9. NAMI, “Athens Psychiatric Hospital Cemeteries Directory.”
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10. NAMI, “Athens Psychiatric Hospital Cemeteries Directory.” Sara Brumfield, “Separate Sides of War, But United in Death – Ridges Memorial Day Ceremony Highlights Two Civil War Veterans,” Athens Messenger, May 29, 2012.
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Image 1: William Holland Portrait. Legislative Library of Texas. https://lrl.texas.gov/mobile/photodisplay.cfm?memberID=4525&filename=Holland_W_15.jpg
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Image 2: Thomas Nast, “Pardon. Franchise Columbia. – ‘Shall I trust these men, and not this man?’” New York: Harper’s Weekly, August 5, 1865. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010644408/
