The Story the Soldiers Wouldn't Tell: Sex in the Civil War [Hardcover]

The book consists of 17 short chapters, each covering a short topic that forms part of the author's tapestry. Chapters include topics such as officer misconduct, court martials, rape, VD and prostitution, all in relation to army units. The author does make some valid points here that are supported by documentary evidence, such as the high VD rates in the Union army that probably had an operational impact. While deaths from VD were not an immediate issue, up to 25% or more of soldiers in some units were debilitated. The units that were hardest hit by this disease were those that were stationed for prolonged periods of time near cities, rather than combat units in the field that had low rates. Although the evidence on the Southern side is weaker, apparently the Confederate army had lower VD rates since more of their forces remained in the field for longer periods. However, on most subjects the author's evidence is fragmentary, based on hospital returns and provost martial records.

Other parts of this book are based on scraps of diaries, letters and other wartime bric-a-brac. At times the author is overly-salacious and tends toward gossipy assertions, such as President Lincoln's relationship with a former male law partner. Another chapter on religious scandals involves two chaplains and is not very germane to this account. Overall, historians might find this book interesting for shedding some light on the darker corners of the Civil War, particularly in reference to certain individuals such as Major General Judson Kilpatrick and Major General Joseph Hooker. Military readers might appreciate the information concerning the impact of disease on troop discipline and morale. However, the book is rather superficial and includes no appendices or supporting data. Some of the depiction of events, such as Daniel Sickle's role at Gettysburg is inaccurate, where the author claims, "in a few hours, half his corps was dead or wounded." In fact, Sickles' 3rd Corps suffered 35% losses in the entire three days at Gettysburg. Readers should treat other passages with equal circumspection.

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As a young girl, I loved history. Unfortunately, every time I asked an earthy question such as what did women do for their personal needs or what were houses of ill repute, I was snarled at, lied to or just ignored. My knee jerk reaction has been to search for truthful answers to *all* my questions about the past especially in the realm of human nature.

Naturally when I saw The Story the Soldiers Wouldn't Tell, I immediately grabbed it. Unfortunately, while the book had excellent moments and the prose is good, it was over-all a disappointment. Dr. Lowry successfully titillated, but unsuccessfully answered the titillating questions he brought up.

For instance Dr. Lowry sites a lot of data concerning a variety of sexual dilemmas such as rape, venereal disease and prostitution. I am keenly interested in both learning and understanding these offenses particularly within the context of the Civil War. In my opinion however, his efforts were weak and lacked even a cursory analysis.

In the area of rape for instance, he provided the nitty gritty of several reported episodes and subsequent trials. Yet he never touched on the army's attitude towards these crimes or the prevailing cultural climate. The stories were left treading water in mid-stream. Did a `boys will be boys' environment condone rape? How did the ordinary soldier feel about this crime against women? Were the women blamed as having somehow invited attack? If rape was as rare as he suggests, why? Even if Dr. Lowry couldn't solve these mysteries, I would have appreciated his acknowledgement that the questions exist.

The same was true when he discussed venereal diseases. He reported the horrific devastation and some of the customary remedies, but never indicated whether any of the unpronounceable potions had any medicinal value. It seems to me as both a medical and psychiatric doctor; he is uniquely equipped to provide a cogent explanation of these curatives. Was there any prevention? Did any of the medicines work? How did loved ones treat the men? Did they take their diseases back home? How did the army deal with this pervasive problem?

I am not sorry I purchased or read the book, only disappointed it wasn't as professional and complete as I had hoped.

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