Join Jonathan S. Jones for a virtual talk on Civil War veterans, opiate addiction, and how its legacy connects to today’s opioid crisis.

During the Civil War, opium and morphine were widely used because they were easy to get, making them a big part of wartime medicine. After the war ended, thousands of sick and injured soldiers became addicted, or as nineteenth-century Americans phrased it, “enslaved” to the drug. Veterans, their families, and communities struggled to deal with the health and social effects that came with addiction.

Medical and government authorities didn’t always respond well, often saying addiction was caused by moral weakness, lack of manliness, or mental problems. Framing addiction as “opium slavery” limited the effectiveness of care and left many veterans to suffer needlessly for decades after the war ended.

Using veterans’ own accounts, along with hospital and asylum records, government reports, newspapers, and advertisements, Jonathan S. Jones brings attention to these stories. In doing so, Jones provides critical historical context for the modern opioid crisis, which bears a tragic resemblance to that of the post–Civil War era.