So Different

Abstract

This chapter looks at the transformation of asylum care that was initiated by the Civil War. At the Eastern Lunatic Asylum, the biggest change came after the suicide of Superintendent John M. Galt during Union occupation of Eastern Virginia. Ultimately, Galt’s death created opportunities for his professional rivals in the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane to end his experiments with outpatient care and to insist upon the creation of segregated institutions for black and white patients. In the interim, the asylum was run by a series of Union doctors and civilians with the aid of former staff, including enslaved attendants. Operating during wartime was especially difficult for enslaved staff because their legal status was in limbo, and they were liable to seizure by raiding Confederates. Wartime shortages further compounded these challenges.