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Post by weir on Apr 15, 2005 9:43:15 GMT -6
Anyone have some good informations about Weir's death in december 1876. I read the cause of the death was "unknown".
Some 7th members said it was pneumonia, but a doctor could have found that.
The army and navy journal wrote "congestion of the brain".
Do you have more informations about the cause of the death ?
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Post by crzhrs on Apr 15, 2005 14:18:58 GMT -6
One doctor called it melancholia . . . whatever that is. His physician said he was nervous and depressed and spent most of his time in one room, avoiding everyone. Apparently near the end he was so nervous he had difficulty swallowing. Some said he died of congestion of the brain.
Maybe he was distraut of his failure to help Custer, or may have seen more than he said from Weir Point, or felt guilty over abandoning a wounded trooper during the retreat back to Reno Hill.
He wrote Libbie Custer: "You know I can't tell you now but will sometime tell it to you . . . I have so much to tell you that I will tell you nothing now . . . I know if we were all of us alone . . . you would make me tell you everything I know. . . ."
Whatever he "knew" went with him at his death. Whether he could have shed any more light on Custer's end, Reno-Benteen's failure to "come quick" or other ghosts in his mind we do not know.
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Post by Inkpaduta on Apr 15, 2005 15:36:08 GMT -6
When the Victorian terms 'Melancholia'... 'Congestion-of-the-brain' are used, it could mean anything from a brain tumor to schyzophrenia. I believe Evan Connel described Weir's personality as 'Poe-like'(Edgar Allan). No doubt what he saw on the point named after him caused a mental breakdown.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Apr 15, 2005 16:06:10 GMT -6
He died of the DTs, a direct result of alcoholism.
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Post by crzhrs on Apr 17, 2005 13:59:37 GMT -6
Weir A Heavy drinker?
If Weir died of DTs that must mean he was a heavy drinker even before the LBH. Hard to believe that he could become so sick and die in such a short time (less than six months) after the LBH.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Apr 17, 2005 22:20:20 GMT -6
I don't pretend to be an expert on Weir, but my husband devoted years to studying the life of Weir for his dissertation. To quote him, "Weir had a long history of heavy drinking and, with the death of Custer, his depression seemed to increase and he became further withdrawn. It was clear to everyone that, if he continued down the path he had chosen, he was going to self-destruct."
Weir had a lonely life and was orphaned, if I remember correctly, by the time he was 14. Again quoting from my husband's work: "[Weir had been] excessively nervous, excitable, not able to retain food or liquid of any kind . . . disturbed by distressing fantasies" in the days preceding his death and had to be restrained. "[The doctor] listed the cause of death as 'Congestion of the Brain,' with a complicating or secondary cause of 'Intemperance.' Weir had exhibited the classic symptoms of delirium tremens, which were induced by the withholding of alcohol after a person has had a long history of heavy drinking. In essence, he drank himself to death."
My husband conferred with doctors who understood the language and methods of the time. In those days, they withdrew alcohol "cold turkey," whereas now they would gradually decrease the alcohol given to someone in such a state, as they do with drug addicts. Weir had a lonely life and died a very lonely death.
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Post by crzhrs on Apr 19, 2005 16:05:53 GMT -6
<Weir had a lonely life and died a very lonely death>
One can only imagine his feelings after the LBH. His arguing with Reno/Benteen to assist Custer and inability to do anything to save Custer's command, his observations from Weir's Point (he may have witnessed more than he said), his abandonment of a wounded trooper during the retreat all led to a mental and physical breakdown.
It's amazing that very little is said about Weir once the retreat back to Reno Hill. Anybody got something on Weir's performance/condition during the seige on Reno Hill?
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