WHY After War

Release From Duty
December 22, 1864 - After being declared unfit for duty for 60 days, William H received a disability discharge in Philadelphia, PA. Fortunately, I was sent William's discharge certificate for the Civil War by a second cousin of mine, Linford Yarnall, in October 2002. It indicates William H was 5 feet 9 inches in height with dark hair. Spaces on the form for his age, his place of birth, his eye color, and his complexion were left blank. He was likely only 24 years old.
Basis for Discharge
William H had hypertrophy (enlargement) of the heart contracted in his military service and ankylosis (joint immobility, swelling, and tenderness from trauma) of the fingers following a gunshot wound to his right hand.
Family Tree Impact
There is a notation in the margin of his discharge certificate that he shot himself intentionally soon after his arrival in Cold Harbor, VA. The notation indicates he did this to get clear of duty. Perhaps our branch of the family tree would not exist if he had stayed in the war. He might have been prompted to do this after he was assigned to remove the dead and wounded from the battlefield during a June 7 truce day to allow these recoveries. This truce day was called because the Union Army had suffered 7000 casualties in a two hour battle on June 3, 1864. Engagements around Cold Harbor from June 1 to June 12, 1864 registered Federal losses of 10,971 killed and wounded, and 1,816 missing.
Questions
Two Yarnall cousins were in different military units at Cold Harbor in June 1864. George K (b: 1844) was a Private in theThird Pennsylvania Artillery, Company E. He was transferred from the artillery unit to an infantry unit on 4/1/1864. That unit fought many battles on the way to Cold Harbor. George was promoted from Private to Corporal on 4/1/1864 when he was transferred. George K Yarnall, died on August 19, 1864 from wounds suffered in one of the battles at Cold Harbor on June 1, 1864. He was in a hospital tent somewhere in Virginia when he died. George was a son of Colonel Norris L Yarnall. William H Yarnall was mentioned in Grant Yarnall's obituary as a nephew of Colonel Norris L. Yarnall. William H (b: 1840) was a Private in the Second Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, Company F that arrived at Cold Harbor June 4, 1864. Did they know each was at Cold Harbor in June 1864? Was George one of the wounded removed from the battlefield by William?
1870 Census 1870 census form and rules.
This census on August 3, 1870 shows farmer William H. Yarnall (age 28 - born 1842? - seems inaccurate) living in Aston, PA The census also shows a wife named Kate (age 27) was born in Ireland. It shows three children, John (age 7?), Laura (age 6), and my grandfather George G (age 2). Was John born the same year Kate and William H were married? One record indicates he was born in May 1864. His parents were married on June 2, 1963 at the St Thomas Catholic Church in Ivy Mills, PA.
1880 Census 1880 census form and rules.
This census was done for enumeration district 25 on June 4, 1880 for the Glen Riddle section of Middletown, PA. The information below is from the bottom of one page and the top of another. Columns on the pages were captioned as follows:

1=dwellings visited 2=families visited 3=person's name in household 4=race 5=sex 6=age 7=month if born this year 8=relationship to head of household 9=single 10=married 11=widowed or divorced 12=married this year 13=occupation 14=number of months unemployed this year 15=at home ill day of census + illness 16=blind 17=deaf or dumb 18=idiot 19=insane 20=crippled 21=attended school during this year 22=cannot read 23=cannot write 24=where occupant was born 25=where father was born 26=where mother was born
NOTE: Red box at bottom indicates census worker recorded incorrect info; should be Ireland.

The June 4, 1880 census shows William H. Yarnall living in the Glen Riddle section of Middletown, PA and working at a cotton mill as a weaver. His age is listed as being 40 years old. (That tells us he was born in 1840.) The census record shows a wife named Catherine (age 39) was born in Ireland. It also shows 9 children in the household. John (age 18?) works in a cotton mill. Was John born in 1862? (See 1870 census comments above.) That was a year before William and Catherine got married. Others listed are Anna L (aka Laura) age 15 works in a cotton mill. George (age 12) works in a cotton mill. Born since the 1870 census we see Mary E. (age 9), William H. Jr. and Rebecca (both age 7), Catherine and Franklin (both age 3), and Hiram age 5 months. Yep, that is two sets of twins! Many family members worked in a mill. When I researched one of them, William H. Jr., I made a significant discovery.
1890 Census
Records for this census were lost in a 1921 fire. Very few records for the entire United States were not damaged. There are none for Delaware County, PA.
Post Civil War Economy
During the late 1800s the economy was not robust. Jobs were scarce. The economy was weak for many years after the Civil War. In 1873 there was one depression that lasted about five years. Fortunately farms were needed and the cotton mills in the Aston area still employed workers. I did a lot of research on the mills because many Yarnall men and women worked in the mills.

The depression of 1893 was the greatest depression America had yet known. It was later surpassed by the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020.
In early May 1893 the New York stock market dropped sharply, and in late June panic selling caused the stock market to crash.
A severe credit crisis resulted, and more than 16,000 businesses had failed by the end of 1893. Included in the failed businesses were 156 railroads and nearly 500 banks.
Unemployment spread until one in six American men lost their jobs. That was 16.6% unemployment!
The depression inspired "Coxey's Army," a march on Washington of unemployed men. The protesters demanded that the government provide public works jobs. Their leader, Jacob Coxey, was imprisoned for 20 days.
The depression caused by the Panic of 1893 lasted for about four years.

Yarnall Genealogy