Class Year
2017
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Following the American Civil War, the small railroad junction of Manassas, Virginia grew into one of the most prominent towns in the region with the help of town founder William S. Fewell and his family. In 1872, the youngest daughter of the prominent Fewell family was seduced and abducted by Prince Williams County’s Commonwealth Attorney and most prominent orator, James F. Clark without warning. Having just come home from three years of military service in the Civil War, witnessing the death of his twin brother as well as suffering for a year in Elmira Prison as a prisoner of war, Lucien N. Fewell walked into Clark’s jail and murdered his younger sister’s abductor. Acquitted of murder on the terms of mental illness, Lucien Fewell continued to live a life of violence caused by his traumatic experiences during the Civil War. Like many soldiers who came home from the Civil War, Lucien Fewell gives historians an insight into those who came home with combat-induced mental illnesses, as he came back from his military services a changed and violent man.
Recommended Citation
Rose, Savannah G.
(2017)
"Murder in Manassas: Mental Illness and Psychological Trauma After the Civil War,"
The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era: Vol. 7, Article 6.
Available at:
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/gcjcwe/vol7/iss1/6