Civil War Euthanasia?

During the Civil War often battlefields would be strewn with dead and wounded and one side would withdraw or retreat without their fallen.
During ancient times many of the seriously wounded were dispatched as the battlefield was cleaned up.

Was there a similar practice commonly used during the Civil War?
Citations are welcomed.

I've spent many years both reenacting and learning about the Civil War, and I've never heard of such a practice. I do know that aid would usually be readily extended to injured enemy combatants. After that, it's off to a nice comfy resort (read: prison camp). However, I wouldn't be that surprised if it did happen.

I read about one Confederate at Gettysburg who killed himself rather than continue suffering. All the Yankees were yelling at him not to do it but he did it anyway. The Yankees were all shocked, saddened and disgusted by the act. I can't say I blame the poor suffering Confederate. No morphine or chloroform or other opiate product was available to him out there in the middle of the battlefield.

I read one account that after the battle of Gettysburg there was a place in a grove a of trees where those with serious head wounds were placed to either live or die. No real medical treatment was available other than providing comfort. Being gut shot was a death warrant. A member of one of he artillery crews was severely wounded during Confederate shelling preceding Pickett's Charge. He propped himself up on one arm took out his pistol shouted "Goodbye boys!" to his crew mates and blew his brains out. Since there was really nothing like first aid for the wounded many lay where they fell and died after some period of time. Back then people were a lot more religious than we are now and tended to leave such manners "In God's hands". The field doctors were too overwhelmed tending to those who stood a chance of survival to take much time over those who could not be saved.

Physicians of the times often helped their terminally ill patients to the other side. Patrick Henry was given a lethal drug mixture at the end of his life. It was sometimes called a final prescription. It was looked upon as a kindness to alleviate suffering of those who were not going to get better. Been around in this country since before it's founding. In Patrick Henry's case it gave him a period of pain free clarity to say his final goodbyes to his family and then he slipped off into a peaceful sleep. He knew what he was taking when it was prescribed.

I read about one Union soldier who was injured at First Manassas (Bull Run) and pleaded with the Confederates to end his life. One Louisana Tiger (Wheat's Battalion) obliged by bashing his brains out with a musket. He then asked if anyone else wanted help to pass into the afterlife. His act of euthanizing the Yankee shocked the sensibilities of his fellow Confederates.

I completely understand how the social and religious mores of the day could have precluded the systematic use of the practice.

When one considers the mewing of the wounded and dieing between lines at night, which likely soldiers heard or read about before they witnessed it, it is additionally understandable how the suffering was to be left in Divine hands.

I just hadn't been able to find an examination of the subject.

Yep, sounds like a typical Coon Ass.

I have never read of prisoners of war being killed out of compassion on a large scale. As a matter of fact, common infantry were almost always denied repeated requests to attempt to aide injured on the field. Good examples are at Shiloh and the Wilderness, where the woods caught on fire and both sides were forced to listen in anguish as the wounded burned alive.

There are plenty of examples of prisoners being killed out of malice on a large scale.

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