Life During the Civil War

Wartime Economies South: –Extreme food shortages due to failed transportation system and Union occupation. –Many soldiers began to desert the army due to hardships at home and questioning the sacrifices they were making. North: – An economic boom occurred with growing industry. –Industries supplied the troops with plenty clothing and ammunition. –There was plenty of food with new technologies requiring less workers on farms.

African Americans in the Military The Emancipation Proclamation permitted African Americans to enlist in the Union Army. The 54 th Massachusetts regiment was the most well known African American regiment. They proved that African Americans could make good soldiers.

Military Life Soldiers on both sides suffered harsh conditions including sleeping without blankets, walking shoeless and having little to eat. Most meals consisted of hardtack (tasteless, hard biscuit) and sometimes fruits and vegetables taken from passing farms. There were huge numbers of casualties in the war. Those who were injured were treated with unsterilized instruments which lead infection to spread quickly. Disease killed half of most regiments: smallpox, dysentery, typhoid and pneumonia were rampant due to close, unsanitary living quarters. Many doctors amputated limbs to keep infection such as gangrene from spreading to other body parts.

Women in the War Women helped the war effort at home by managing family farms and businesses in the absence of men. Women became battlefield nurses enduring terrible conditions of disease and horrors of the battlefield. After the war, the courage and energy shown by women as nurses helped to break down the belief that women were weaker than men. Many women disguised themselves as men to fight in the war.

Military Prisons After the Emancipation Proclamation the Confederacy refused to exchange African American prisoners of war. Instead all captured African Americans were executed or re- enslaved. The South was not able to feed prisoners of war because of food shortages. Andersonville Prison in Georgia was the most infamous prison. It was outdoors with no shade, little food and rampant with disease. 100 men died per day during the summer of 1864.