Life During the Civil War

                                                                                              

                     

                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                  

Soldiers

• Johnny Reb– 750,000 (18-45) served

– 1 out of 3 died

• Billy Yank– 2.1 million (18-45)

served

– 1 in 10 died

• Pay: approximately $13.00/month

Camp Life

• Some pleasant moments: – Songs, stories, letter writing/reading, baseball,

read bibles/newspapers, poker

• Generally dull and boring:– Drills, marches, rain, bad food, cleaning

weapons, etc

The Reality of War

• Huge losses

• Trench Warfare

• Technology and Tactics don’t match

• Horrible Medical Facilities

• Many desertions:– 1 in 11 Union– 1 in 8 Confederate

(Union hand stretchers at Maryre's Height's, May 1864)

The Union Army Ambulance Corps

Harper's weekly-1862 Article The Influence of woman

Women

• Spies– Elizabeth Van Lew and Harriet Tubman (Union)

– Bell Boyd, Loretta Janeta Valazquez, Rose O’Neil Greenhow (Confederate)

• Soldiers– Loretta Janeta Valazquez

• Nurses– Clara Barton (Red Cross), Dorthea Dix (military

nurses), Sally Tompkins (S)

Roles

• Women worked to manufacture arms, ammunition, uniforms, and other supplies for the soldiers.

• Prior to its destruction, women in the Fayetteville arsenal made some 900,000 rounds of small arms munitions in 1864.

• People were grateful for the contributions of women in the war, and newspapers reported their work.

Women in the War

• The women of the war formed groups like the Sick Soldier's Relief Society and the Soldier's Aid Society.

• In the South and in the North too, women made bandages for the wounded and knit socks to keep the soldiers' feet warm and dry.

• A few, Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, among them, volunteered to nurse the wounded.

Ladies of the state of Michigan relief association help out with Union wounded in Virginia.

                                                                                                   

Union Sanitary Commission nurse with her patients in a field hospital near Fredericksburg, Virginia.

                                                                                               

Women As soldiers• Both the Union and Confederate

armies forbade the enlistment of women.

• Women soldiers of the Civil War therefore assumed masculine names, disguised themselves as men, and hid the fact they were female .

• Estimates place as many as 250 women in the ranks of the Confederate army .

• Sarah Edmonds Seelye served two years in the Second Michigan Infantry as Franklin Thompson. – In 1886, she received a military

pension.

Opposition to the War

• Peace Democrats/Copperheads– Political and economic reasons

• Feared social change, against Lincoln, wanted to negotiate with the Confederacy

• Draft Evaders– Refused to respond to the draft call

• New York Draft Rioters– A “rich man’s war/poor man’s fight” (hoppers)

• Quakers– Religious reasons—A matter of conscience

                                     

        

U.S. Draft

THE CIVIL WAR DRAFT RIOTS: The finest hour of the Metropolitan Police was their heroic defense of the city during the draft riots of 1863.

Angry mobs, protesting the conscription plans of Lincoln's embattled administration, murdered African-Americans, burned precinct houses and other buildings, and beat Police Superintendent John Kennedy senseless

The Economy

• The war was financed by:– Borrowing money—War

bonds (high interest)• N—2 billion, S—700

million

– Increasing taxes including an income tax

– Printing Paper Money

– “Greenbacks”

The Economy—North

• Inflation– Prices rose faster than wages—80% rise

• Northern economy booms– RR traffic increase– Boom in coal, iron, and clothing production– Farms prospered—need for food for soldiers– More efficient methods of production

The Economy—South

• South lay in ruins– 1000s homeless, cities

burned– RR and farmland

devastated

• Northern blockade– Severe shortages– Food riots

• Inflation– Prices rose 9000%