It was late summer, 1889, and Rebecca Focht was worried.
She hadn't seen, nor even heard from her son, Charles, for several months, and was anxious to know not only where he was but especially the condition of his health. She had learned that he may have been admitted to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., which was, at that time, called the Government Hospital for the Insane. Established by Dorothea Dix in 1852 and located in southeastern D.C. on high ground overlooking the Anacostia River, it was the country's first federally-funded mental hospital.
Learning of Mrs. Focht's situation, a relative of Levi Nagle reached out to him, and asked if he could determine whether her son, Charles Focht, was, indeed, being treated at St. Elizabeth's. Levi Nagle and Charles Focht had served together in the 48th Pennsylvania during the Civil War, more than twenty-five years earlier; in fact, it was Levi's brother, James Nagle, who had organized and first led the regiment in 1861.Now, Nagle was living in Washington, D.C., working for the pensions bureau, and he agreed to help.
In late August 1889, Levi Nagle set out on a visit to St. Elizabeth's, accompanied by Francis B. Wallace, a friend from Pottsville, former newspaper man, and fellow veteran, whom Nagle asked to come along.
(NPS)
Several days later, Wallace penned an account of their trip and informed readers in Pottsville of the sad case of Corporal Charles Focht.
"The drive to the institution (some three miles) was very pleasant," wrote Wallace. "The day was all that one could wish. . . .The streets of Washington, as you know, are uniformly broad--the avenues being from 140 to 160 feet in width and paved in asphalt. They are kept scrupulously clean, so that a pedestrian can cross at any point. In fact we have no crossing. We need none. The people here habitually walk in the streets, especially in the evening, preferring them to the sidewalks." Crossing the Anacostia River near the Navy Yard, "we were soon ascending the hill, on the summit of which stands St. Elizabeth, surrounded by many acres of well-kept grounds, and commanding a fine view of Washington and the Potomac, with Arlington and its sixteen thousand of patriotic dead, in the distance on the Virginia shore."
(Unfortunately, there is no known image of Charles Focht)
(Gould, Story of the Forty-Eighth)
Nagle and Wallace arrived at the front gate and informed the gatekeeper of the purpose their visit. The gatekeeper next directed the two to a Dr. Stack, whom they soon located. At that time, wrote Wallace, there were about 1,500 patients, which he wrote, were "in all stages of dementia, from the harmless imbecile to the raving maniac." They found Dr. Stack to be a gentlemen of "great courtesy and kindliness of manner." When they inquired of Charles Focht, they discovered that he was, at that time, walking the grounds of the institution. Stack summoned an attendant to locate Focht, and as the three waited, the doctor informed Wallace and Nagle that Focht had been admitted six months earlier, in March 1889, having been sent there from the National Soldiers' Home in Dayton, Ohio, where he had been residing. Focht, the doctor reported, had been suffering from a "softening of the brain"that had brought on seizures and convulsions. He had already suffered two convulsions since he arrived in March. Sadly and rather matter-of-factly, Dr. Stack told Nagle and Wallace that there was nothing that can be done for Focht and that he was "likely to die at any time in the near future when attacked by one of these convulsions caused by the disease."
Soon, there was Corporal Focht, likely brought in by wheelchair. Wallace wrote of their greeting and the shock and sorrow he felt: "In a short time we met and shook hands with the unfortunate veteran. Poor fellow! as he stood up, soldier-like and erect to receive us, yet as gentle in his manner as a child, and as a faint smile illumined his manly and still handsome face, my memory reverted to the time, nearly thirty years ago, when I saw him standing in the ranks of his regiment, before it left for the front, as fine a specimen of manhood as his command contained. And now how changed! Not so much physically, although he had aged, but mentally, caused no doubt, in great measure by the sufferings he had endured during the war."
Charles Focht was nineteen years old when, on September 19, 1861, he was mustered into service in the ranks of Company H, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. He stood 5'10" in height, had a Dark Complexion, with Dark Eyes, and Brown Hair; by occupation he was a Laborer and his residence was Pottsville. Focht served with the regiment throughout the entirety of the war, having reenlisted in January 1864, and being mustered out of service with the regiment on July 17, 1865. He was wounded in action at Spotsylvania, on May 12, 1864.
Wallace, in his letter, shared his frustration and even anger at Focht's sad situation. "And this man who gave the best years of his young life to his country, who on the 12th of May, 1864, laid on the bloody battle-field of Spotsylvania Court House, with a rebel bullet inside his body," wrote Wallace, "and who is now an inmate of an insane asylum, receives from the Government he helped to save the munificent sum in the shape of a pension of TWO DOLLARS a month. And this man has a poor, old, dependent mother who will no doubt soon follow that son to the grave." Wallace pleaded for better care and treatment for Focht who was "a thoroughly good soldier, and always a worthy, honorable man."(1)
It is not known whether Wallace's appeal had any effect but, at the very least, Mrs. Rebecca Focht got confirmation about the whereabouts of her son.
Seven months later, Charles Focht was dead.
He died on March 7, 1890, at age 47 or 48. News of his death was printed in the Pottsville Republican with a note that Focht was "a brave soldier during the war."(2)
The remains of Charles Focht were laid to rest in the East Cemetery of St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
More on the history of St. Elizabeth's can be found here and here.
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Notes:
(1) "The Case of Charles Focht," by F.B. Wallace, Pottsville Republican, August 29, 1889, page 1.
(2) Pottsville Republican, March 8, 1890, page 4.
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