Conceptions of Disability After the Civil War

We have studied the nature of Union Army (UA) veterans' impairments during and after the war, and how the Civil War pension system compensated UA veterans' disabilities during the period from 1862 to 1907. The investigation documents how public acceptance and inclusion into society of disabled UA veterans in late nineteenth century American society were as much driven by factors external to disability -- political, economics, social, and attitudinal factors, as by the pension laws themselves.

Publications

  1. Union Army Veterans with Hearing Loss and the Evolutions of Disability in America During 1862-1920 (2004)
    - Sewell, R., Song, C., Smith, R., Bauman, N. & Blanck, P.
    The Laryngoscope: Journal for Triological Society
    · Word version
    · PDF version
  2. There is Nothing that Promotes Longevity like a Pension: Disability Policy and Mortality of Civil War Union Army Veterans (2004)
    - Larry M. Logue & Peter Blanck
    - Wake Forest Law Review, Volume 39(1), pp 49-64
    ** Pre-publication final draft
    · Word version
    · PDF version
  3. "Never Forget What They Did Here". Civil War Pensions For Gettysburg Union Army Veterans and Disability in Nineteenth-Century America (2003)
    - Peter Blanck and Chen Song
    - William and Mary Law Review, February 2003
    · Word version
  4. Civil War Pension Attorneys and Disability Policy (2002)
    - Peter Blanck and Chen Song
    · download page for documents, figures, and appendix
  5. With Malice Toward None; with Charity Toward All; Civil War Pensions for Native and Foreign-Born Union Army Veterans (2001)
    - Peter Blanck and Chen Song
    Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems Volume 11, Issue 1 (11:1), Spring 2001, Symposium Name: The Social Construction of Disability: Historical, Contemporary, and Comparative Views, page numbers: 1-76.
    · Word version
  6. Civil War Pensions and Disabilities (2001)
    - Peter Blanck
    - 110 Ohio St. L. Rev. 109.
    · Word version
  7. Before Disability Civil Rights: Civil War Pensions and the Politics of Disability in America (2000)
    - Peter Blanck and Michael Millender
    - 52 Alabama L. Rev. 1 (2000)
    · PDF version
    · Word version
    · Text version

Peter Blanck and Robert Fogel
Peter Blanck and Robert Fogel, Nobel Prize winner in economics. Dr. Fogel's Center for Population Economics has provided the data for all the Civil War studies.