9.3- Life During the Civil War

1. 9.3- Life During the Civil War

2. Black Men in the War • Emancipation Proclamation allow AA to enlist in Union military • Nearly 180k free black men & fugitives slaves served in the Union army • 1st all-black Regiment 54th Massachusetts • Another 15k served in the Navy • Black Soldiers were • Commanded by white officers • Paid Less • Segregated from white troops • South refused to accept black soldiers until the end of the war • Used for digging, cooking, driving wagons, etc.

3. 54thMassachussetts

5. A Soldier’s Life • Confederates • Slept without blankets • Scavenged for shoes • Food cornmeal bread, potatoes, beans, fruits, & vegetables • Union • Many not used to life in battle • Living without luxuries • Food hardtack, dried salt pork, potatoes, fruits, & vegetables • Hard biscuit made of wheat flour

6. Odds of Dying • Soldiers were not prepared for horrors of battle • “Yankee” (Union soldier) stood a 1 in 8 chance of dying due to illness & a 1 in 18 chance of dying in battle • Rebel faced a 1 in 5 chance of succumbing to disease & a 1 in 8 chance of dying in combat.

7. Battlefield Medicine • Mid-19thcentury Doctors had little knowledge of infection & germs • Used same unsterilized instruments on all patients • Infection spread rapidly in field hospitals • Disease killed thousands of men during the war • Crowded camps + unsanitary water = rampant illness • Small pox, dysentery, & pneumonia were common • Doctors constantly used amputation because: • Wounds so severe that limbs were useless • Prevent gangrene & other infections

10. Prisoner Camps • Place for captured enemy soldiers (POWs) • Poorly planned and managed • Horrendously overcrowded • Disease infested lack of hygiene • 1863 prisoner exchange breaks down • After EP South would not exchange captured AA soldiers (treated black soldiers as “rebel slaves” and punished them by death; Lincoln says they are federal soldiers and will execute a confederate soldier for every federal soldier put to death.) • Re-enslave or execute them • Lincoln stops prisoner exchange: Causes MASSIVE overcrowding • South could barely feed Union POWs

12. Andersonville Prison • Confederate Prison Camp • Opened in February 1864 (14 months) • Purpose- move federal prisoners from Richmond area to place of greater security • 45,000 POWs 13,000 deaths (100 per day) • Disease, Starvation, Exposure, Cruelty • Severe overcrowding: at one time, 33,000 men were imprisoned in a space meant for 10,000 • Prison Commander Captain Henry Wirz • only man executed for war crimes in the Civil War

15. “Fortunate” Survivors

16. South Losing Morale • End of 1862 South’s economy began to suffer b/c of severe food shortages • Collapse of transportation system • Blockade of Southern ports • Union presence in major agricultural regions • Confederate soldiers began to desert to tend to families suffering from hardships of the war • Spring 1863 food shortages led to riots • Richmond, VA several hundred women loot stores for food & clothing • Davis sends in troops to confront & disperse

18. Union War Boom • Union’s economy expanded during the war • Industries supported by the banks • Northern factories operated continuously to provide troops with uniforms & supplies • Need for workers created jobs & increased circulation of money

19. Women in the War • Filled labor positions vacated by men • Farmers • Factory workers • Operated sewing machines • Government clerks • Accompanied men in the fields • Cooking, sewing, and washing • Some Confederate women acted as spies against the Union • Some women went into combat dressed as men: Love, Money, Boredom, Gender Identity

22. Civil War Nurses • Women gradually replace men at army nurses • Inspired by famous British nurse Florence Nightingale • Elizabeth Blackwell 1st female physician in US • Started 1st training program for nurses • Created US Sanitary Commission • Provided medical assistance & supplies to army camps & hospitals • Raised money to send clean bandages, medicine, & food to soldiers • Southern women used their houses to found small hospitals for Confederate soldiers

23. Clara barton • Called the “Angel of the Battlefield” • Led search parties to look for wounded • Insisted on constantly using clean bandages to help protect wounds from infection • Used own knife to dig out bullets from soldiers • Established American Red Cross in 1881 • Today provides emergency assistance, disaster relief & medical education to US