 In 1863 – 1864 during the American Civil War , Edward traveled through Europe , taking the opportunity to visit the most esteemed museums and societies of the time . Initially , he seemed interested in helping out at a field hospital , but in letters to his father later on in the war , this aspiration seemed to disappear ; instead Edward considered working in the American South to assist freed African Americans . Davidson suggests Edward 's correspondence with Leidy and Ferdinand Hayden , who worked as field surgeons during the war , might have informed Edward of the horrors of the occupation . Edward was involved in a love affair ; his father did not approve . Whether Edward or the unnamed woman ( whom he at one point intended to marry ) broke off the relationship is unknown , but he took the breakup poorly . Biographer and paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn attributed Edward 's sudden departure for Europe as a method of keeping him from being drafted into the Civil War . Cope did write to his father from London on February 11 , 1864 , " I shall get home in time to catch and be caught by the new draft . I shall not be sorry for this , as I know certain persons who would be mean enough to say that I have gone to Europe to avoid the war . " Eventually , Cope took the pragmatic approach and waited out the conflict . He may have suffered from mild depression during this period , and often complained of boredom . 
