A Medical Descriptive List Documents the End Time for Civil War Veteran John Ehmen

John Ehmen died in a military hosptial in Quincy, Illinois, on 12 November 1864. He was one of many soldiers who died not from wounds but from an illness that could not be controlled.

Admitted to the military hospital on 25 October 1864,  the twenty-six year old soldier had been suffering from diarrhea for several months at the time of his admission. His emaciated condition likely is what caused the admitting doctor to indicate that Ehmen would “not live long.”

Ehmen was treated with turpentine emulsion and apparently given opium and a “milk punch” as well. There was no improvement in his condition and by November 10th he was barely able to speak. Ehmen died two days later.

Ehmen was not buried on the hospital grounds as he had family who lived relatively close. His body was taken to the nearby Hebron Cemetery near Camp Point, Adams County, Illinois, for burial.

This “Medical Descriptive List” was located in his compiled military service record at the National Archives. 

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One thought on “A Medical Descriptive List Documents the End Time for Civil War Veteran John Ehmen

  1. My ggggr father was there at this same hospital but I think he was there a year esrlier. Fortunately he made it out west & lived 4 many years later. He was still sickly after his premature discharge before the war was over. He spent time in Fort Butler before his journey to another Fort in Missouri.

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