1. Life at War

2. The Average Soldier
This slide illustrates the organization of armies during the Civil War. Most men were privates and part of a much larger army.
On the left you can see how soldiers were grouped to make an army. 1 company = 100 men.
On the right you can see the hierarchy of rank.
Discussion: Do you think that most men were noticed?
How do you think privates were treated?
How do you think generals were treated?

3. The Average Soldier
Enlisting/signing up to fight --the men came from factories and farms, North & South to fight in the Civil War

4. The Average Soldier They were old and young, but mostly young…
Discussion:
Why do you think the Civil War is sometimes called the “Boys’ War?”
How many Union Soldiers were under 16?
How many soldiers were between 16 and 23?
How many were over 23?
Do you think most soldiers in the Confederate army would have been older or younger? Why?

5. The Average Soldier
The average Yank or Reb was white, native-born, farmer, protestant, single, between 18 and 29. He stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed about 143 pounds. Most soldiers were between the ages of 18 and 39 with an average age of 25.
Slang – Reb and Yank may be terms that you have not yet discussed with your students.
Reb = rebel, confederate, or southern soldier
Yank = yankee, federal, union, or northern soldier

6. Why They Fought Patriotism Adventure State Pride Steady Pay
Men on both sides were inspired to fight by patriotism, state pride, the chance for adventure, or steady pay. The common Union soldier tended to fight to preserve the Union while the common Confederate soldier tended to fight to defend his home.
Discussion:
Why would a Confederate soldier be defending his home and a Union soldier not be?
Answer information - the war was mainly fought in the South. Union troops initially moved South to put down the rebellion. In the North, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri and Pennsylvania saw major battles.
Imagine you are one of the men in this picture, what are you doing right now? How do you feel physically? How do you feel emotionally? Are you away from your family or loved ones? What might you do to pass the time?

7. What They Carried Canteen Pan Cartridge box (Union) Tooth brush Razor
Soap
Blanket
Silver wear
Plate
Comb
Musket
Money (Confederate)
Photographs
Bible
Stamps (Confederate, Jefferson Davis prints)
Haversack (Union)

8. What They Wore On the left - Confederate: Slouch hat Shell Jacket
Pants
Brogans (shoes)
On the right - Union:
kepi
Sack Coat

9. Civil War Cooking: What the Union Soldiers Ate

11. Foraging (Farming): Besides distributed camp rations and trades with the enemy, both sides foraged for food. They hunted along the river banks for greens, eggs, wild ducks and other water animals, they picked berries, they stripped fruit trees and stole food from nearby farms. They raided gardens and orchards.
As time went on, and troops had less and less to eat, sometimes they took so much food foraging that there was nothing left for the farmers and their families to eat.

12. Later in the war, the North took foraging one step further
Later in the war, the North took foraging one step further. Troops were sent to take food and supplies from farms and villages for the Union army. Any crops not needed, or if time was tight, the troops burned the crops remaining to the ground. They also burned farms and mills and killed any farm animals they did not take with them. Their goal was to starve the South, and it worked.  

14. “We grab our plates and cups, and wait for no second invitation
“We grab our plates and cups, and wait for no second invitation. We each get a piece of meat and a potato, a chunk of bread and a cup of coffee with a spoonful of brown sugar in it. Milk and butter we buy, or go without. We settle down, generally in groups, and the meal is soon over… We save a piece of bread for the last, with which we wipe up everything, and then eat the dish rag.

15. Dinner and breakfast are alike, only sometimes the meat and potatoes are cut up and cooked together, which makes a really delicious stew. Supper is the same, minus the meat and potatoes.”
Lawrence VanAlstyne, Union Soldier,
128th New York Volunteer Infantry

16. The biggest culinary problem during the Civil War, for both the North and the South, was inexperience.
Men of this time were accustomed to the women of the house, or female slaves, preparing the food.
For a male army soldier, cooking was a completely foreign concept.
Thrust into the bleak reality of war, soldiers were forced to adjust to a new way of life—and eating—on the battlefield.

17. In the early stages of the war, the Union soldiers of the North benefited from supervision by the United States Sanitary Commission. Commonly known as The Sanitary, it made the soldiers’ health and nutrition a top priority.
Even before the start of the war, volunteers in The Sanitary were trained to find and distribute food to soldiers stationed in the field.

18. They were expected to be knowledgeable in determining which foods were available during each season, and how to preserve food items for transportation and storage.
It was the responsibility of The Sanitary to schedule and maintain a constant supply of food to soldiers at war.

19. Cooking tent of the U.S. Sanitary Commission
Fredericksburg, VA –
Cooking tent of the U.S. Sanitary Commission

20. While the Sanitary did their best to provide a reliable supply of food, that didn’t guarantee a tasty or healthy meal.
Considering there were nearly 2 million soldiers in the Union army, the Sanitary did not focus on flavor nor variety.
It was a large enough task to provide the basics and keep their soldiers from starving.

21. When food deliveries were interrupted by weather delays or other challenges, soldiers were forced to forage the countryside to supplement their meager diets.

22. Again we sat down beside (the campfire) for supper
Again we sat down beside (the campfire) for supper. It consisted of hard pilot-bread, raw pork and coffee. The coffee you probably wouldn’t recognize in New York. Boiled in an open kettle, and about the color of a brownstone front, it was nevertheless… the only warm thing we had.
- Charles Nott, Union Soldier, 16 yrs. old

23. At the start of the war, James M
At the start of the war, James M. Sanderson, a member of the Sanitary, became concerned with reports of poor food quality and preparation. Sanderson, who was also a hotel operator in New York, believed that his experience would be of value to the Union.
With the help of New York Governor Edwin D. Morgan, Sanderson set out to visit soldiers in the field, in hopes of teaching them a few simple cooking techniques. He started with the camps of the 12th New York, as they were deemed “most deficient in the proper culinary knowledge.” He reportedly saw a significant change in just three days.

24. With the help of New York Governor Edwin D
With the help of New York Governor Edwin D. Morgan, Sanderson set out to visit soldiers in the field, in hopes of teaching them a few simple cooking techniques. He started with the camps of the 12th New York, as they were deemed “most deficient in the proper culinary knowledge.” He reportedly saw a significant change in just three days.

25. Colonel Burnside's Brigade at Bull Run

26. On July 22, 1861, just after the Union’s loss in the First Battle of Bull Run, Sanderson approached the War Department with a proposal. He asked that a “respectable minority” in each company be expertly trained in the essential basics of cooking. For every 100-man company, the skilled cook would be appointed two privates; one position would be permanent and the other would rotate among the men of the company.

27. The skilled cook would be given the rank of “Cook Major” and receive a monthly salary of $50. It would be the Cook Major’s responsibility to ration the food, prepare it, and delegate tasks to the company cooks.

28. Sanderson had unknowingly proposed his idea at exactly the right time
Sanderson had unknowingly proposed his idea at exactly the right time. Washington was faced with the likelihood of the war lasting years, rather than months. The government was actively looking for ways to increase soldier comfort. Sanderson’s proposal reached the Military Affairs Committee of the U.S. Senate.

29. Though they did not follow his instructions specifically, Sanderson did receive a commission—he was named Captain in the Office of the Commissary General of Subsistence from the War Department.

30. Around this time, Sanderson wrote the first cookbook to be distributed to the military. The book was titled: Camp Fires and Camp Cooking; or Culinary Hints for the Soldier: Including Receipt for Making Bread in the “Portable Field Oven” Furnished by the Subsistence Department. Though his grammar was questionable, Sanderson did describe several techniques, such as suspending pots over a campfire, that made cooking slightly more convenient in the battlefield.

31. City Point - West Point, Virginia
Cooking with a kettle –
City Point - West Point, Virginia

32. Sanderson believed his efforts were so successful that “no man could consume his daily ration, although many wasted it.” This certainly was not the case, as many men still suffered from hunger, illness and death from unsanitary and poorly cooked food.
Sanderson did understand the importance of cooking with well-cleaned pots and was quoted as saying, “Better wear out your pans with scouring than your stomachs with purging.”

33. Typical fare during the Civil War was very basic
Typical fare during the Civil War was very basic. Union soldiers were fed pork or beef, usually salted and boiled to extend the shelf life, coffee, sugar, salt, vinegar, and sometimes dried fruits and vegetables if they were in season. Hard tack, a type of biscuit made from unleavened flour and water, was commonly used to stave off hunger on both sides. After baking, hard tack was dried to increase its shelf life.

34. Dinner party outside tent, Army of the Potomac headquarters, Brandy Station, VA

35. Soldiers in the field would carry rations in makeshift bags called haversacks. Made of canvas, the haversack folded around its contents, basically anything the soldiers would need to survive for a few days on their own, and was held together with buckling straps and completed with two shoulder straps.

37. An army is a big thing and it takes a great many eatables and not a few drinkables to carry it along.
- Union Officer, October 1863

39. Confederate Soldiers: The diet for the Confederate soldiers was different and usually in much less quantity than their Northern counterpart. They had bacon, cornmeal, molasses, peas, rice, and tobacco. It was the tobacco that saved them. Although it was illegal to fraternize with the enemy, but it was relatively common during the Civil War for trades to be set up between Southern and Northern soldiers.

40. The Union had excess coffee and sugar. But the Rebs had excess tobacco
The Union had excess coffee and sugar. But the Rebs had excess tobacco. They soon found they could trade tobacco for just about anything. They even traded tobacco for newspapers, curious to see how the North was presenting the war.

41. What They Ate Salt pork, bacon, or beef
Soft bread, flour, cornmeal, or hardtack
Beans or peas
Rice or hominy
Coffee
Tea
Sugar
Vinegar
Molasses
Discussion:
How do you think this tasted?
Do you think there was always enough food?

42. Where They Slept
Loudon Valley Dec 9 Pioneers Hotel 20 Regt Con Vol Virginia
“This is the drawing of our log Cabin looks natural all think made of logs & covered with flies or canvas don’t leak much the dark place in the middle is rubber blankets the canvas is not large enough we don’t have any windows light comes through the canvas…..”
Discussion:
What do you think the soldiers stayed in during the warmer months? Answer information – soldiers slept in tents or on the ground
What do you think it was like inside the winter quarters?
Answer information – winter quarters, while looking cozy, were damp and cold. Disease flourished as camp sites became unsanitary with large numbers of men and their waste occupying small areas.
Do you think it was warm or cold?
Why do you think they built such permanent places to stay in the winter and not just use tents like in the summer?
Answer information – there were very few battles in the winter, it was almost impossible to travel once the roads froze. Just like how battles mainly happened during the day they also mainly happened during the warmer months because it was just too logistically and physically difficult.

43. How They Communicated
All who knew how to write, wrote letters. During the Civil War letter writing was the only method of personal communication.
Discussion:
Do you think soldiers looked forward to getting mail?
Do you think the soldiers got homesick?

44. When They Weren’t Fighting
“first thing in the morning is drill, then drill, then drill again. Then drill, drill, a little more drill. Then drill and lastly drill. Between drills, we drill….” – Union Soldier
Soldiers spent the majority of their time in camp drilling, not on the battlefield.
Discussion:
Why were they always drilling?
Answer information - Most of the time soldiers were not fighting battles, rather they were in camp or marching. Drilling kept the men busy during the down-time and prepared them so that they could maneuver under fire.

45. Life and Death

46. Life and Death Disease and Hygiene
Everyone and everything smelled during the Civil War.
Diarrhea was the greatest killer during the Civil War.
Of the more than 620,000 soldiers who died in the war, more than 400,000 died of sickness and disease.
Discussion:
According to this information, did bullets or sickness kill most of the soldiers?

47. Life and Death When a battle took place, every structure, house, barn, yard and field, could become a hospital…..
Surgeons preferred to operate outside if possible to mitigate the effects of the chloroform and to utilize the light. An operating table was often an unhinged door on top of two barrels.
Discussion:
What do you think happened to the people living inside the homes that became hospitals?
Answer information – sometimes the citizens had already left, sometimes they were forced to leave or stay in an out-of-the-way place.

48. Life and Death
"You have given your boys to die for their country. Now you can give your girls to nurse them.” -Nurse Mary Stinebaugh
Discussion:
Why do you think soldiers found women nurses to be more comforting?

49. Life and Death
Soldiers, North and South, dreamed of returning home safe.

50. Life and Death
About 2.75 million soldiers fought in the Civil War. More than 620,000 men died in the war, with disease killing twice as many as those lost in battle.
Discussion:
What do you think happened to the country with so many men dying?
Do you think things went back to the way they were before the war? What might have changed?

51. Memories of the War
For those who survived, memories of the war were a part of their everyday life.
Soldiers and their families preserved letters, diaries, and photographs. Some even wrote memoirs.
Discussion:
What might a historian learn by reading the letter of a soldier?

52. Where Battles Happen

53. Six Reasons Why Battles Happened in Certain Places
Road Networks
Railroad Networks
Importance of the Area
Example: The area between Richmond, VA and Washington, DC
Waterways
Topography or Lay of the Land
Reliable Intelligence
When there were battles they were fought in certain areas. While sometimes skirmishes were simply a matter of finding the enemy along the way, battles usually occurred where one side was defending something or trying to obtain something important such as a train station, fort on a waterway, or important city. Battles were also fought in certain geographic locations because there were strategic advantages such as high ground or natural barriers.
Railroad networks, road networks, and waterways – important for transportation of troops and supplies.
Waterways – control of certain waterways will prevent the enemy from moving through or beyond that waterway.
Importance of the space – capturing the capital of the enemy will almost certainly end the war. The Army of Northern Virginia and The Army of the Potomac were constantly trying to move around one another to capture the opposing army’s capital. Both armies had to be on the offense and defense.
Topography – geographically a certain location will offer more for a battle such as a river, high ground, natural barrier or covering.
Intelligence – reliable information on the location of the enemy was rare and could lead to a battle.