Life During the Civil War

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Life During the Civil War
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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

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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

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The Reality of War

• Huge losses
• Trench Warfare
• Technology and Tactics dont match
• Horrible Medical Facilities
• Many desertions
• 1 in 11 Union
• 1 in 8 Confederate

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Harper's weekly-1862 Article The Influence of
woman
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Women

• Spies
• Elizabeth Van Lew and Harriet Tubman (Union)
• Bell Boyd, Loretta Janeta Valazquez, Rose ONeil
  Greenhow (Confederate)
• Soldiers
• Loretta Janeta Valazquez
• Nurses
• Clara Barton (Red Cross), Dorthea Dix (military
  nurses), Sally Tompkins (S)

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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.

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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.

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Ladies of the state of Michigan relief
association help out with Union wounded in
Virginia.
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Union Sanitary Commission nurse with her patients
in a field hospital near Fredericksburg,
Virginia.
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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.

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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 mans war/poor mans fight (hoppers)
• Quakers
• Religious reasonsA matter of conscience

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U.S. Draft
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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
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The Economy

• The war was financed by
• Borrowing moneyWar bonds (high interest)
• N2 billion, S700 million
• Increasing taxes including an income tax
• Printing Paper Money
• Greenbacks

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The EconomyNorth

• Inflation
• Prices rose faster than wages80 rise
• Northern economy booms
• RR traffic increase
• Boom in coal, iron, and clothing production
• Farms prosperedneed for food for soldiers
• More efficient methods of production

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The EconomySouth

• South lay in ruins
• 1000s homeless, cities burned
• RR and farmland devastated
• Northern blockade
• Severe shortages
• Food riots
• Inflation
• Prices rose 9000

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