His family has been killed at the hand so his family.
There were many pale-faced men who were unfortunate victims of civil warfare. This is a terrible tragedy, and Whitman challenges this by asking what happens after these, "hard fought engagements or sieges tremendous? What deepest remains," (The Wound-Dresser, 1 12)? The answer, only those who survive to tell the tale remain. Is it really something to celebrate after massacring your fellow countrymen? On might point out the heroics and bravery exhibited in the war, men have been made stronger, and is just a growing experience for the country, but "was one side so brave? The other was equally brave," (Wound-Dresser, 1 8). The heroics and bravery are without direction in this war. If you commit a great act of sacrifice, then the results only hurt those whom share the land with your countrymen. Whitman grieves for these people, "for my enemy is dead. A man as divine as myself is dead," (Reconciliation, 14). There is no purpose for this feud; it has extinguished a man, who is an equal, from this world. By speaking of his enemies as his equals and as divine as himself, he captures their humanity and in effect how inhumane it is to destroy them utterly. .
Through this portrayal of parity in the humanness of those who endure torture, Whitman thrusts out that the war ultimately wasteful land fruitless. Whitman relates to the horror and suffering endured by the soldiers and civilians in order to show the destructiveness of the Civil War. The Civil War undid many things, it disunited families, and set countrymen against each other, this only made fighting the ugly. The conflict ravaged this country and, "burst like a ruthless force," (Beat! Beat! Drums! 12) disrupting all the life along the way, in both the North and South. Consequently, "some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad," (The Wound-Dresser, 163).
