Soldiers Would Do It All Over Again if They Could

Ceremonious War Series

The Civil State of war's Mutual Soldier

THE Civil WAR'S Mutual SOLDIER

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The American Civil War, like all such uprisings, was slow in conception and subtle in evolution. Political commissions and omissions lay at the roots of the explosion. The existence of slavery in a new nation that proclaimed freedom for all, the role of the previously sovereign states in a central government yet to exist clearly defined, the growing industrial might of the Northward competing more and more with the "Cotton Kingdom" agronomics of the Southward, a full general lack of understanding and communication between the sections of a land that was a Us in name just—these were the major issues that neither time nor statesmen could resolve. So in December 1860, the shouting turned to shooting, the politico gave way to the soldier, and war replaced uncertainty.

In a conflict that was the largest in the history of the Western Hemisphere, the Civil War brought unprecedented suffering in every form. All the same the greatest tragedy of all was that both sides were fighting for the same matter: America, equally Northward and South each envisioned what the still-ripening republic should be.

Young men of the Wedlock and Confederacy alike went to war to defend the aforementioned Constitution. A Louisiana recruit wrote in June 1861 that he and his friends were Confederate soldiers because "the Magna Carta of liberties, the constitution," had "fallen entirely into the hands of [Northern] fanatics." Another Confederate put it succinctly: "Nosotros are fighting for the Constitution that our forefathers made, and not every bit old Abe would have it." A few months later, an Ohio private asserted that "the strength of the nation is to exist tried hither, whether we have a state or not; whether our constitution is a rope of sand, that it may exist severed wherever it is smote."

Confederate SOLDIERS OF Visitor D, 3RD GEORGIA INFANTRY. (MC)

In America'south eighth decade, preserving the Union and preserving a mode of life had somehow go incompatible ideals. The most constructive motivation for Northern recruits was "the Union" and all that it denoted. Many remembered their grandparents relating thrilling stories of the 1770s and the fight for American independence. Again and again in the messages of Billy Yanks, one encounters the phrase "fighting to maintain the best government on globe."

Southerners saw the outbreak of civil war in a different low-cal. A Due north Carolinian explained: The Southern States passed ordinances of secession for the purpose of withdrawing from a partnership in which the bulk were oppressing the minority, and nosotros merely asked "to be allow lonely."

Call FOR VOLUNTEERS RECRUITING POSTER FROM SEPTEMBER 1861. (LC)

Protection of dwelling house and hearth also became fundamental aims of both sides. One Southern enlistee in 1861 explained why he was joining the regular army: "If we are conquered we will be driven penniless and dishonored from the land of our nascence.... As I have often said I had rather fall in this cause than to live to see my state dismantled of its celebrity and independence—for of its honor it cannot be deprived."

A Wisconsin individual felt essentially the same way two years afterwards. To his sweetheart he wrote: "Habitation is sugariness and friends are dearest, but what would they all exist to let the country get in ruin, and be a slave.... I know that I am doing my duty, and I know that it is my duty to do equally I am now a-doing. If I live to get dorsum, I shall be proud of the freedom I shall take, and know that I helped to gain that liberty. If I should not become back, it will practice them practiced that do get back."

In 1861 tens of thousands of American youths on both sides rushed to answer the telephone call to arms. They became soldiers considering they had been defenseless upward in the heated temper and angry words of the day, or they had been emotionally moved past swaying oratory, inspiring music, patriotic slogans, the sight of a flag waving defiantly in the air. Youthful innocence and dreamy passion swept them onward. A Confederate veteran subsequently recalled: "I was a mere boy [in 1861] and carried away past boyish enthusiasm. I was tormented by a feverish feet earlier I joined my regiment for fear the fighting would be over before I got into information technology."

Those recruits were ready to fight, merely few of them knew how to fight. The War of 1812 was history, the Mexican War a vague childhood recollection to most of the youths drawn into the struggle of the 1860s. They had no formulation of drill, life in the open, post-obit orders unhesitatingly, mastering weapons, digging earthworks, and eating unfamiliar food. They would face up the novelty of living in company with thousands of strangers. They would face diseases they had never known and wounds they had never imagined. And through it all, these common-folk-turned-soldiers would endure homesickness to a degree none of them had always envisioned.

RECRUITING OFFICE OF NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY, BOSTON, 1862. (LC)

Near 3,000,000 soldiers fought in the Civil War, with the North having a two to 1 ratio. The men of bluish and grey were far more akin than unalike. By and large products of rural backgrounds, they spoke the same language and shared the same heritage. They had common hopes; they endured mutual hardships. The majority of soldiers knew the bones rudiments of reading and writing. Billy Yanks tended to be improve educated considering near Northern states had improve school systems. In some units formed in the rural South, illiteracy was pronounced. Xxx-six of 72 privates in one Northward Carolina company made a mark rather than a signature at the muster-in; 27 of 100 recruits in another Tarheel company did the aforementioned.

Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks were also highly independent-minded. They went off to state of war every bit citizen-soldiers: volunteers who tended to remain more citizen than soldier. Very seldom did these men became fully regimented and militarized. Many of them retained in large measure an ignorance of ground forces life and an indifference to regular army field of study. In camp, on the march, and in battle, they fought with a looseness that no amount of preparation could remove. Soldiers on both sides demonstrated that they could exist led merely they could not be driven; and any officer who attempted the latter was bound to encounter at least resistance and at near rebellion. The individualism of the Civil State of war's common soldiers was just a reflection of the societies that spawned them.

Typical human being beings in mid-nineteenth century America, the army volunteers of North and South performed as one might expect. Many of them became outstanding soldiers, some of them had rather poor records, a few were shirkers and cowards; most of them, notwithstanding, were simply average. However for four horrible years those representatives of the nation's common folk bore on their shoulders the heaviest responsibilities that take ever been placed on the people of this land. And they carried that burden so well that we however marvel at their strength and endurance.

Their story is a mixture of hardship, humour, and heroism—which are doubtless the means in which Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks would similar to be remembered.

On enlistment, a man's physical condition received little attention from contract surgeons or anyone else in attendance. And then came nigh two weeks in which recruits at a rendezvous camp went through the awkward process of learning the basic rudiments of camp life, drill, and the use of arms. By the stop of that menstruum, the various companies were organized into regiments.

The article of clothing and equipment distributed to each recruit might have seemed bulky to Northern soldiers, who tended to he abundantly supplied at the outset. Amalgamated enlistees frequently had to rely on individual efforts to clothe and equip themselves. One Virginian wrote with assurance: "Wisdom is born of feel, and earlier many campaigns have been worried through the private soldier, reduced to the minimum, consisted of 1 human, ane hat, one jacket, one pair pants, one pair draws, i pair socks, and his baggage was one blanket, one gum-textile, and one haversack."

Confederate SOLDIERS STRIPPING FALLEN Matrimony TROOPS OF CLOTHING. (LC)

Regulation uniforms were nighttime blue for the Northward and light grayness for the S. Even so, material—like everything else—quickly became scarce in the embattled Confederacy. The chief source for Southern soldier clothes soon became captured Spousal relationship uniforms. Johnny Rebs sought to alter the color by dying the clothing in a mixture of walnut hulls, acorns, and lye. This changed the tint to a light tan which Southerners labeled "butternut."

The introduction to government-issue attire could be a shock. Federal uniforms came in four basic sizes. A New England recruit saw a messmate "so tightly buttoned [that] information technology seemed doubtful if he could draw another breath." Over in the 10th Rhode Island, a soldier told of a friend who was less than 5 feet tall: "His first pair of army drawers reached to his chin. This exist considers very economical, as it saves the necessity of shirts."

Of course, with some troops no quality of clothing and equipment could better their appearance. In 1863 Louisiana soldier Robert Newell watched 400 Texas Rangers ride into camp. Newell was repulsed at the sight. "If the Confederacy has no ameliorate soldiers than those we are in A bad roe for stumps, for they looke more similar Baboons mounted on gotes than annihilation else."

Drawing BY Ceremonious State of war Artist EDWIN FORBES OF A SERGEANT MAJOR, twelfth NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS. (LC)

Quite often, at the finish of basic training, a local delegation (dominated largely by women) bestowed an ornate flag upon the regiment. The lady presenting the standard would implore the men in a flowery speech communication to love their country and to fight for information technology with their lives. Accepting the flag, an officer would respond with an as glowing accost pledging that his men would never disgrace the sacred banner.

SOLDIERS OF THE 23RD PENNSYLVANIA. (USAMHI)

On more than i occasion, a foulup fabricated this ceremony ludicrous. Such was the example the afternoon the women of Fayetteville gave a flag to the 43rd N Carolina. None of the proficient ladies was willing to make the presentation speech, and so they invited a local orator of some reputation to exercise the honors. The man, a scrap nervous at the starring role he was to accept, fortified himself beforehand with a drinkable, then another, and another. He managed to stumble to the speaker's stand, and he somehow got through his accost in a halting style. Then, momentarily oblivious to everything, he proceeded to give the same oral communication all once more—later on which he sat down and cried, to the mortification of the ladies and to the amusement of the soldiers.

PRESENTATION OF A REGIMENTAL FLAG ON BEHALF OF THE LADIES OF BOSTON. (LC)

Proud recruits who left for war had strong opinions nigh the shirkers who remained backside. Individual Henry Behave of Illinois gave a typical expression. From camp in Tennessee, Bear instructed his wife: "You lot must tell evry man of Hundred-to-one Loyalty for me, up ther in the due north, that he is meaner than any son of a bitch in hell. I would rather shoot ane of them a swell deal more one [Southerner] living here."

Unique regiments abounded on both sides during the Civil War. The 1st New York, under Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, was recruited largely from the New York Fire Section ranks and was known to contain several dangerous criminals. The average age of all officers and men in the 23rd Pennsylvania was nineteen. In contrast was the 37th Iowa, known as the "Graybeard Regiment" because all recruits for this home guard unit had to exist at to the lowest degree forty-five years of historic period.

Faculty from the Illinois State Normal Higher so dominated the 33rd Illinois that it was known equally the "Teacher's Regiment." Its officers were often defendant of refusing to obey any order that was not admittedly correct in grammar and syntax. The "Iowa Temperance Regiment" gained its sobriquet considering its entire membership vowed that it would "touch not, taste not, handle not spirituous or malt liquor, wine or cider." Some of the Iowans later on in the war violated the pledge, just they were excused on the grounds that "it has just been at such times every bit they were under the overruling power of military necessity."

Ceremonious War armies were immature in composition. Ages ranged from lads with smooth faces to old men with gray beards. The largest single age grouping was eighteen, followed by soldiers twenty-one and nineteen. Unknown numbers of children served in the armies. Edward Black was nine years old when he entered an Indiana regiment. Among the youngest Amalgamated soldiers was Charles C. Hay, who joined an Alabama regiment at the age of eleven. John Mather Sloan of Texas lost a leg in battle at the age of 13.

The virtually famous of the dozens of young drummer boys was Johnny Clem of Newark, Ohio. He went to state of war at the age of ten. In Clem's first battle, a shell fragment ripped his drum apart. He became known equally "Johnny Shiloh." Gallantry in action two years later brought him promotion to sergeant. Clem made the army a career, and he retired in 1916 with the rank of major general.

JOHNNY CLEM, "THE DRUMMER BOY OF CHICKAMAUGA." (USAMHI)

Three "boys" had boggling careers in the Civil War. Pennsylvania'southward Galusha Pennypacker received promotion to brigadier full general a month before his twenty-first birthday. William P. Roberts became the Confederacy's youngest full general at the age of xx-three. Arthur MacArthur, father of the famed World War II commander, won the Congressional Medal of Honor at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, while simply xviii. Months afterward, MacArthur became colonel of the 24th Wisconsin, and later on the war he rose to lieutenant full general in the army.

BRIGADIER General GALUSHA PENNYPACKER (CWL)

At the other end of the age spectrum was Curtis King, who served four months in the 37th Iowa earlier being discharged for disability. King was eighty. I of the oldest of the Confederates was F. Pollard. In the summertime of 1862, the 73-year-old Due north Carolinian enlisted equally a substitute. Pollard was shortly discharged "for rheumatism and old age."

BRIGADIER Full general WILLIAM P. ROBERTS (LC)

Civil War soldiers came in every size. The shortest service man was from Ohio and stood three anxiety, four inches tall. In contrast, David Van Buskirk of Indiana was vi anxiety, 11 inches in height. Van Buskirk had a set up reply for those who gawked openly at his stature. When he left for state of war, he would say, each of his six sisters "leaned down and kissed me on elevation of the head."

Occupations of the soldiers were non as varied as would exist in a troop call-upward today. A survey of 9,000 Civil War soldier occupations contained 5,600 farmers. The next vocations were students (474), laborers (472), and clerks (321). Some of the remaining occupations given were unique. One human termed himself a rogue, some other listed his status as captive, and several recruits put down their occupation every bit "gentleman."

The greatest alluvion of immigration in the nation's history occurred in the decades just earlier the Civil War. New England and the Midwest became habitation for the vast majority of those new citizens. As a result, one of every 5 Billy Yanks was foreign-built-in. In contrast, 1 of every 20 Johnny Rebs was born outside the country. Every nationality had representatives in the Ceremonious War.

JAMES WARD, MUSICIAN, 76TH OHIO, ENLISTED OCTOBER 9, 1861, Anile Sixty. (PHOTO COURTESY OF DENNIS KEESEE)

WILLIAM Blackness, AGE TWELVE, IS CONSIDERED THE YOUNGEST WOUNDED SOLDIER OF THE WAR. (LC)

No foreign group on either side in the war gained greater renown—positively besides as negatively—than the Irish. They chop-chop earned a reputation for overindulgence in whiskey and an overfondness for fighting, whether it be the enemy or themselves. To an Indiana soldier stationed most Vicksburg in 1863, the arrival of some reinforcements was hardly reassuring. "The 90th Ill., the Irish Regiment," he wrote in his diary, "came into camp just dorsum of us this morning. And such a fourth dimension as those fellows did accept. They got into a row about putting up their tents and had a gratuitous for all fight and were knocking each other over the head with option handles, tent poles, and any thing they got hold of. Pretty shortly their Colonel, O Marah, came out of his tent with a great wide bladed broadsword that is said to have belonged to some of his ancestors. And the way he did bast those Irish fellows with the apartment of information technology was a caution. He stopped the row, and they settled down. His Regiment adore him."

Felix Brannigan of the 75th New York offered a personal explanation of how he and his boyfriend Irishmen thought. "Equally we rush on with the tide of battle, astringent sense of fear is swallowed up in the wild joy we feel thrilling thro every fibre of our arrangement. . . . There is an elasticity in the Irish gaelic temperament which enables its possessor to boldly stare Fate in the face, and laugh at all the reverses of fortune . . . and scissure a joke with as much glee in the oestrus of battle equally in the social circle by the winter fire."

ENLISTED IRISH AND GERMAN IMMIGRANTS IN NEW YORK. Woods ENGRAVING FROM LONDON ILLUSTRATED NEWS, 1864. (LC)

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Germans, Italians, English language and Canadians likewise served in large numbers with the Marriage armies. Union encampments often sounded similar "a boom-boom of tongues."

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Germans, Italians, Englishmen, and Canadians likewise served in large numbers with the Union armies. Union encampments often sounded similar "a boom-boom of tongues." A Mississippi surgeon once listened to a long line of Wedlock prisoners laissez passer. He and then turned to a colleague and said despairingly: "Pierce, we are fighting the world."

Representatives of fifteen different countries served in one New York regiment. Fortunate information technology was that the Hungarian colonel of the unit of measurement could give orders in seven dissimilar tongues. Scandinavians were especially visible in units from the upper Midwest. The 15th Wisconsin was predominantly Norwegian. Identity in the unit of measurement must have been a problem for 128 men had the first name of Ole and in one company were 5 men named Ole Olsen.

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Source: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/civil_war_series/3/sec1.htm

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