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The Civil War
Life During the Civil War:
Chapter 13, Section 4
Citizen participation is essential to the foundation and
preservation of the US political system. Civilians as
well as soldiers had an impact on the war effort.
The Lives of Soldiers
• Main idea: In both the North and the South,
civilians and soldiers suffered terrible hardships and
faced new challenges. (Creightons, duh!)
• A soldiers life was not easy
– Lived in camps with bad
food, too much rain
and marching
– While men had eagerly
volunteered, enthusiasm did
not last long (Eb…)
-Sickness, fear, boredom
The Reality of War
• Reality of war was never far away, always a constant threat
– Newer rifles with improved accuracy increased death toll,
and both sides suffered huge losses
• Medical facilities were overwhelmed with casualties
– After Battle of Shiloh, wounded soldiers lay waiting in the
rain for 24+ hours
• Many men deserted because of fear, hunger, sickness
– 1/11 Union soldiers
– 1/8 Confederate soldiers
• Rebel soldiers suffered from lack of food/supplies (result of
Northern blockade)
– Lee’s invasion of Maryland in 1862 was to allow army to feed
off Maryland crops
1. Why did many soldiers desert from the armies?
2. Why were the soldiers at Shiloh allowed to lie dying for
so long in the rain?
Women and the War
• Main idea: Many Northern and Southern women took
on new responsibilities during the war.
• Women in North and South became teachers, office
workers, and managed farms while suffering the losses
of fathers, sons, and brothers (Jenny…)
• Also helped soldiers and armies
– Rolled bandages, wove blankets,
made ammunition
– Collected food, clothing, and
medicine for troops
– Raised money for supplies
Life at Home
• Northerners saw war from a
distance, most battles took place
in the South
– Everyday life in the North saw little disruption, while life
in the South changed dramatically
• Southerners lost crops and homes
• Shortages became commonplace
– Shortages in feed for animals and salt for curing meant
little meat was available/could be stored
– Shortages of clothing, medicine, shelter
Women as Spies
• Some women served as spies
• North…Harriet Tubman
• South…
– Rose O’Neal Greenhow – entertained Union leaders, picked up
info, passed it to South, caught and exiled to South
– Belle Boyd – informed Rebel generals of Union army movements
in Shenandoah Valley
– Loretta Janeta Velazquez – disguised herself as a man to fight for
South at First Battle of Bull Run and Shiloh
Treating the Sick and Wounded
• Most women served as nurses, though many
doctors thought women too delicate, and
some men thought it improper for women to
tend bodies of unknown men. Thousands of
strong-minded women disregarded those
objections of
• North…
– Dorothea Dix – organized women to serve as
military nurses
– Clara Barton – became known “as the angel of
the battlefield” for work with wounded soldiers
• South…
– Sally Tompkins – established a hospital for
soldiers in Richmond, Virginia
Clara Barton
• “The angel of the battlefield”
• Clara Barton, a former Patent Office
clerk, began delivering supplies to the
Union army when the Civil War began,
and tended to the wounded/dying
• Arrived at the Battle of Antietam to see doctors
dressing wounds with corn husks as supplies were
greatly depleted
• At the close of the war, she set up an office helping to
reunite families/friends with soldiers/POWs and
helping to identify thousands of missing men
1. What role did Sally Tompkins play in the war effort?
Which other women played a similar role in the North?
2. Why was life disrupted more in the South than in the
North? How did Southern civilians suffer from the war?
3. How did the South’s economy of the prewar period help
cause severe shortages during the war?
Opposition to the War
• Main idea: The war efforts of the Union and the
Confederate governments faced opposition.
• Both the Union and the Confederate governments
faced political and civil opposition
– Politicians objected to war policies and citizens
protested the impact of war on their lives
• Northern Democrats split into two groups
– One supported Lincoln’s wartime policies
– The other “Peace Democrats” favored negotiating with
the Confederacy, warning that continued war would
lead to “terrible social change and revolution”
Conflicts with the Copperhead
• Republican newspapers called Peace Democrats “Copperheads”
(wore badges made of copper pennies) – suspected them of
aiding Rebels
• When Union armies lost battles, support for Copperheads rose
• President ordered arrest of anyone interfering with war effort
(i.e. preventing men from enlisting)
• Often suspended right of habeas corpus (the right to be
heard/chance to explain before being jailed)
Enlistments Decline
• Overtime fewer men volunteered to serve and
enlisting became a problem
• North and South had to resort to drastic new
measures
Draft Laws
• April 1862, Confederate Congress passed a draft law
requiring men 18-35 to serve for three years
– Could avoid draft by hiring a substitute to serve
• Union encouraged enlistment by offering bounties, but
when that failed they turned to a draft too
– Men 20-45, army drew from name pool as needed
– Could avoid draft by hiring substitute or paying $300
• Protests against draft erupted in Northern cities, but no
disturbances took place in the South even though many
opposed draft
– Confederate President Davis proclaimed military law and
suspended habeas corpus as well, outraging Southerners
who feared loss of liberties for which they had gone to war
1. Why did the governments institute a draft? Why did
protests occur some places?
War and the Economy
• Main idea: The war created economic problems in
the North and in the South.
• Civil War known as first modern war, requiring total
commitment of resources
– Devastating impact on South (more than North)
• South lacked industry to provide necessities for
civilians and military, blockade didn’t help
• Southern farmland overrun and rail lines torn up
– Scarcity of food/supplies led to riots and inflation
• Poor conditions affected soldiers
– Worry over families caused deserting
1. What is inflation? What hardships did inflation cause in
the South?
2. Why was life on the home front more difficult for
Southerners?
3. What do Rose O’Neal Greenhow, Belle Boyd, and
Loretta Janeta Velazquez have in common with Harriet
Tubman?
4. Why do you think President Lincoln believed the
Copperheads were a threat to the Union war effort?