Robbie Manning and Tova green  (excellent start - see my comments in yellow)

 

 

 

                     Life as a Soldier in the Civil War

 

 -They had bad or not enough food or shelter.

 

 

-There was a lot of disease because they didn’t know much about      keeping medical supplies clean.

 

 

- Many days were spent marching and doing drills.

  

                              Activities

 

 

-Soldiers wrote letters home whenever they could and they lived to get mail.

 

 

-Many soldiers kept pets with them like dogs, cats, squirrels, raccoons, and other wildlife.  They played ball games, cards and read a lot.

 

 

 

 

-Soldiers loved to sing to keep their spirits up and to tell the story of the war.   A Southern song was, "The Bonnie Blue Flag",   and Union soldiers sang "The Battle Cry of Freedom" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic.

 

       

     Other Important Parts of a Soldier’s Life

 

 -Religion was a way to keep spirits up.

 

 

-There was hard discipline such as guard duty, drills and marching and harsh punishment for not obeying rules.

 

 

-Soldiers sent their pay home to support their families. They got $13 dollars per month in 1863 (if they were white. Black soldiers were paid $10).

 

 

 

 

                                        THE CIVIL WAR SOLDIER

              What was life as a soldier like in 1863?

"The life of a soldier in the 1860's was a arduous one. Military service meant many months away from home and loved ones, long hours of drill, often inadequate food or shelter, disease, and many days spent marching on hot, dusty roads or in a driving rainstorm burdened with everything a man needed to be a soldier as well as baggage enough to make his life as comfortable as possible. There were long stretches of boredom in camp interspersed with moments of sheer terror experienced on the battlefield. Most had been farmers all of their lives and were indifferent to the need to obey orders. Discipline was a difficult concept to understand, especially in the beginning when the officer one had to salute may have been the hometown postmaster only a few weeks before.

 

 Guard duty meant long hours pacing up and down a well-trod line, day or night, rain or shine, always on watch for a foe who might be lurking anywhere in the hostile countryside.

 

  A furlough was hard to come by as every man was needed in the field and few men had a chance to ever visit home. Marching and fighting drill was part of the daily routine for the Civil War soldier. Infantry fought in closely knit formations of two ranks (or rows) of soldiers, each man in the rank standing side by side. Cavalrymen drilled with their sabers, both on foot and horseback, while artillerymen drilled with their cannons.

           

Camps were considered temporary throughout the year until the winter months when the armies would establish winter quarters. The soldiers would construct log huts that were large enough to accommodate several men, made of trees taken from any nearby source.

 

 The soldier of 1863 wore a wool uniform, a belt set that included a cartridge box, cap box, bayonet and scabbard, a haversack for rations, a canteen, and a blanket roll or knapsack which contained a wool blanket, a shelter half and perhaps a rubber blanket or poncho. The southern soldier was highly regarded for traveling with a very light load basically because he did not have the extra items available to him that the northern soldier had.

 

 Leisure activities were similar in either army and most of it was spent writing letters home at every opportunity. Thrifty soldiers sent their pay home to support their families. The arrival of mail in camp was a cause for celebration no matter where the soldiers were and there was sincere grumbling when the mail arrived late.A private's salary amounted to $13.00 per month in 1863.

 

 Free time was also spent in card games, reading, pitching horseshoes, or team sports such as the fledgling sport of baseball. Despite orders to the contrary, many soldiers kept pets with them including dogs, cats, squirrels, raccoons, and other wildlife. . General Lee was purported to have had a pet chicken that faithfully delivered a fresh egg for the general everyday.

 

 By far, the food soldiers received has been the source of more stories than any other aspect of army life. The Union soldier received a variety of edibles. The food issue, or ration, was usually meant to last three days while on active campaign and was based on the general staples of meat and bread. Meat usually came in the form of salted pork or, on rare occasions, fresh beef. Army bread was a flour biscuit called hardtack, re-named "tooth-dullers", "worm castles", and "sheet iron crackers" by the soldiers who ate them. Other food items included rice, peas, beans, dried fruit, potatoes, molasses, vinegar, and salt. Baked beans were a northern favorite. Coffee was a most desirable staple.

 

Soldiers loved to sing and there were many tunes popular in both armies. Some of the more popular tunes for southerners were "Lorena", "Maryland My Maryland", and "The Bonnie Blue Flag". Union soldiers had "The Battle Cry Of Freedom", "Battle Hymn of the Republic". (can you get some music or links to music here?)There is one- "Dixie"-it's the u tube link.

 

 Religion was very important in the soldier's daily routine. Many of the men attended church services on a regular basis and some even carried small testaments with the rest of their baggage. Union and Confederate armies had numerous regimental and brigade chaplains.

 

 Discipline in the military was very strict. The Provost Marshal of the army was responsible for enforcing military rules, but regimental commanders also had the authority to dole out punishments for minor offenses. Petty offenses such as shirking camp duty or not keeping equipment in good order were usually treated with extra duties such as digging latrines, chopping wood, or standing extra hours on guard duty. Insubordination, thievery, cowardice, or other offenses were more serious and the guilty party was usually subjected to embarrassing punishments such as carrying a log, standing on a barrel, or wearing a placard announcing his crime. "Bucking and gagging" was also a common punishment- the soldier’s limb were bound and he was gagged so he could not speak. In the artillery, the guilty person might be tied to the spare wheel on the back of a caisson. Desertion, spying, treachery, murder, or threats on an officer's life were the most serious offenses to which the perpetrator was condemned to military prison or shot by a firing squad. Crimes committed against civilians were also punishable by the army and felons were executed by hanging before a formation of soldiers.

 

 Sickness and disease were the scourge of both armies and more men died of disease than in battle. Sanitation in the camps was very poor. Germs and the existence of bacteria had not yet been discovered, and medical science was quite primitive by today's standards.

 

 In the decade following the end of the Civil War, organizations of veterans of the North and South were formed. Northern veterans joined  the Grand Army of the Republic and Confederate veterans enrolled in the United Confederate Veterans. For many years, G.A.R. posts and U.C.V. chapters met over reunion campfires retelling stories and recalling the friends who did not return."cwarmy[1].htmcwarmy[1].htm

 

watch[1] 

Dixie, an American Civil war song as written by a soldier.

 

oct51862[1].htmoct51862[1].htm   A copy of a letter by a civil war soldier. Press the link to read in typed script.

Nice image - but we need to be able to read it.  plus you need to translate it into modern-day English.If you press the link it is typed out.  We will make mention of that.

 

 Questions

 

1. Why would it be hard at first for a soldier to take orders?

 

Answer: It would be hard for a new soldie to take orders becasue most of the soldiers new eachother as civilians(plain clothes people) and as equals.  To suddenly Have to "answer" to a former equal who might now be a superior would feel demeaning.

 

2.  Why did the soldiers have to eat the foods that they did?  Give some examples.

 

Answer:  The soldiers had to eat things like buscuits called "hardtack" and salted meats because these were foods that could be carried without crumbling and kept for longer periods of tiem without rotting.

 

(Describe the life of a Civil War Soldier (grading scale 4-5 experiences =A, 3 = B, C = 2, D =1, F=0)