Causes of death were found for 421 of the veterans. These causes of death were found in widow's pension application, obituaries, and death records. The top 14 reported causes of death are below. Note that it is very likely that old age was the number one cause of death of veterans. It is also likely that many of deaths ascribed to "fever" should be combined with typhoid fever, which would move that cause of death up the list.
62 wounds received in war
29 pneumonia
23 typhoid fever
22 old age
20 heart
18 fever
18 consumption
14 cancer
12 paralysis
11 bright's disease
10 dropsy
7 diarrhea
7 apoplexy
6 dysentery
Not every soldier died of war wounds or disease. Six veterans died when trees fell on them. Particularly sad is the death of James Oscar Mutter. At the age of nearly 70 year old:
"He had gone to help neighbors extinguish a fire that was burning up a fence. After the fire was under control they sat down to rest, and a small sappling about six or seven inches in diameter burned down and struck him on the head causing instant death."Trains also were a source of danger to these veterans. Four died after being hit by trains. Noteworthy among these four is the death of Fleming Stephens, who had moved to Missouri after the War.
From the Pleasant Hill Ledger:
"Fleming Stevens, aged 66 years, and living on the Fluhart farm, north of town near the Rock Island reservoir, was struck and instantly killed by a Missouri Pacific train near McDonald Bros. Scale factory last Tuesday night. His watch found near the body had stopped at 8:43 o'clock, which is the time the fast passenger train from St. Louis is due and it is almost certain that this was the train that struck him....
No one was able to account for his presence in the neighborhood where he was killed, as he lives in an entirely different direction. It is evident that he was sitting on the track when struck as every indication pointed that way. Mr. Stephens was on the streets of Pleasant Hill the entire day and no one noticed when he left town. He was known to have been intoxicated during the afternoon, however, and this probably was the reason for taking the wrong direction home."
The Pleasant Hill Times added:
"Stevens was a drinking man and had been intoxicated Tuesday. That night he was still under the liquor influence and it is evident that while so, he attempted to go home and so lost his life. He often walked the tracks to his home and, occasionally, when intoxicated, would become confused and as liable to go east as west...Two veterans died after being hit by cars or trucks. In 1923 Joseph R. Fields was 78 years old when he was accidentally hit by a car, suffering a broken leg and other injuries which proved fatal. Five years later, at the age of 88, William H. Fuller was struck and killed by a truck near Barnett, Russell County.
About 7:30 Tuesday evening his son-in-law tried to induce the old man to go home, but he refused. He then was asked, "Are you going to the Lone Jack picnic tomorrow?" "I don't Know," was the reply. "I may go to hell by that time." "
Three veterans died in accidents. One while hunting, one while logging, and one in a mining accident. One veteran, Alexander M. Combs, was "shot as a robber" according to his death record.
Two veterans committed suicide, Noah Jessee and James M. Purcell. Both hanged themselves, Jessee due to ill-health, and Purcell for unknown reasons.
Three veterans died by drowning. Noah M. Couch died "near Finey's siding" in 1905. Anthony Alexander Malaspina, a French immigrant from Lyon, France, enlisted and fought in the 37th Virginia Infantry for a year before being discharged by virtue of "his being a nonresident of the Confederate States." In 1882 he drowned in a flood. Lastly, Pleasant H. Wheeler drowned in March of 1883.
Francis Lark died in the Kirksville Tornado of 1899.
Murder claimed the lives of four veterans. I will cover those four incidents in another post.
