Soldiers Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

Today, many people are familiar with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition of sustained mental distress caused by traumatic experiences. Military personnel are particularly prone to this disorder because of their combat experiences. Currently, PTSD is treatable through methods like cognitive behavioral therapy and medication. However, in Charley’s day, no formal diagnosis, understanding, or treatment options existed for soldiers suffering from what was then termed “Soldier’s Heart.” The existence of such a term implies that people recognized the mental anguish some men experienced after returning from war. Despite this, scientific and medical knowledge was limited; doctors did not have the awareness to diagnose the disorder much less help the men suffering from it.

Even though PTSD did not exist as a medical diagnosis, many soldiers suffered from it. Paulsen uses Charley’s character as an example of one man who entered battle at a tender age without much preparation either mentally or physically, and emerged with mental and emotional scars. Through the progression of battles in the novel, Paulsen shows how combat changed Charley’s character and personality. At first, Charley is friendly and open with the soldiers in his unit, but when many are lost in battles, he withdraws, finding it easier to be alone than to make friends that will inevitably die. He disconnects to protect himself from further trauma.

Paulsen also shows Charley’s transformation as a fighter. In Charley’s first battle at Bull Run, he is so overcome by shock and terror that he forgets to fire his musket. However, in subsequent battles, Charley shoots and uses his bayonet with zeal, becoming overtaken by rage toward enemy soldiers. Through this change, Paulsen demonstrates the kill or be killed mentality of battle. Charley’s fear leads to the need for self-preservation at all costs and causes him to change into a bloodthirsty fighter on the battlefield. Such changes in his character show that no soldier emerges from battle unscathed; combat’s effects reach to the core of one’s personality and character.

The novel’s final chapter offers a brief yet telling snapshot of the post-war Charley. Paulsen suggests that he is socially withdrawn, since he lives on the outskirts of town. He also suffers from suicidal thoughts and is haunted by sights and sounds of the battlefield that never fully leave him. These descriptions suggest that Charley suffers from PTSD. Even though he survived the war, his life is one of both physical and emotional pain that he cannot escape. Paulsen also suggests that Charley has little hope of recovery; he does not seem to have people in his life who understand the trauma of his past, and doctors, with their limited knowledge of mental health, can do nothing for him. Through Charley’s story, Paulsen shows that although PTSD was only formally recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980, people have experienced it throughout history. He also emphasizes the horrific damage war inflicts; no one, even those who survive, emerges unscathed from a war.