Memorial Day and Memories
Today, on Memorial Day, May 25, 2026, we pay tribute to America's fallen soldiers, and those who served in the military.
"The Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict. The unprecedented violence of battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, Stones River, and Gettysburg shocked citizens and international observers alike...Hundreds of thousands died of disease. Roughly 2% of the population, an estimated 620,000 men, lost their lives in the line of duty. --American Battlefield Trust.
Malaria alone killed some 30,000 Civil War soldiers. Statistics indicate that 2.75 million soldiers contracted that mosquito-borne disease. They included my great-grandfather, Samuel Davidson Laughlin (1843-1910), a Union color bearer (aka flag bearer). He contracted the disease at the Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 -July 4, 1863).
Scientists had not yet linked the Anopheles mosquito with malaria. They believed "humidity" or “swamp effluvia" caused what they called "intermittent fever."
Farm Boy from Linn, Mo.
Young Sam, the grandson of American Revolutionary War soldier James Laughlin of South Carolina, was an18-year-old farm boy from Linn, Mo. when he enlisted in the Union Army. He drew the assignment of color bearer, singled out for three reasons: his height (6'3"), his strength (ability to hoist and keep the flag high), and his courage (front lines).
Young Sam carried the flag in three of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War: the Battle of Lookout Mountain, and the battles of Chicamauga and Chattanooga. A musket tore a hole in his flag but he emerged from the Civil War physically unscathed. (See more information about the Union flag)
However, at the Siege of Vicksburg, "he caught malaria in the Yazoo swamps of the Yazoo River," his youngest daughter Esther Laughlin Martin of PeEll, Wash., recounted. "He said they'd spread their blankets and they'd be lying in the water in the morning. The only way they could keep out of the water was to throw fence rails down and put their blankets on top of that. That's where he picked up malaria. There was no sanitation whatsoever, and of course, they had to use the water there for drinking."
Ironically, after surviving the Civil War, Laughlin died from blood poisoning as a result of a splinter that lodged in his hand while he was carrying firewood into the family home in Castle Rock, Wash. He died Feb. 24, 2010. His gravestone, inscribed with "Gone, But Not Forgotten," overlooks the historic round barn that he built in 1883. Now known as the Laughlin Round Barn, it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (as of 1986).
Grandson, a War Fatality
Samuel Laughlin's grandson--and Esther Laughlin Martin's son--was not so lucky. George Laughlin Martin (1910-1942), a U.S. Navy machinist mate, perished when the Japanese bombed his ship, the USS Destroyer Meredith (D-434) on Oct. 15, 1942. He was 22 years old. And a newlywed.
The USS Meredith had departed Espiritu Santo on Oct. 12, 1942 to escort a convoy to Guadacanal. Historians tell us that the convoy came under attack by 35 Japanese bombers and torpedo planes from the carrier Zuikaku. The Meredith sunk within 10 minutes. Of the crew of 273 on board, only eight officers and 73 enlisted men survived the attack and the shark-infested waters. A monument in Manila, The Philippines, pays tribute to the "Lost at Sea" sailors, including George Laughlin Martin.
Lost, but not forgotten.
(Note: Runner Noah Coughlan, who is in his 5th Run Across America, paid tribute to American soldiers, including Samuel Laughlin, in his 2023 Run Across America that spanned 167 days and 3,600 miles.
Cover image: Partial view of "The Siege of Vicksburg--Assault on Fort Hill," by illustrator Thure de Thulstrup (1848-1930). (Wikipedia image)