Download Who was the Common Soldier in the American

Who was the Common Soldier in the American
Civil War? Civil War Voices www.soldierstudies.org
The average soldier was a white, native-born, single, protestant, male farmer
between about 18 and 38 years of age. He stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall
and weighed about 145 pounds. The tallest recorded being Captain David
Van Buskirk (pictured right) of the 27th Indiana Infantry who stood 6’10″ and
1/2 inches tall. Union soldiers were known as “Billy Yank” while their
Confederate counterparts were called “Johnny Reb.”
The average Civil War soldier was about 26 years old. In the Union Army it is
estimated that 100,000 soldiers were less than 15 years old. These soldiers
had to lie about their age to get into the army as the minimum age was 18.
Sometimes an underage soldier would write 18 on a piece of paper and slip it
into one of their shoes so when asked, “are you over 18,” they could answer
honestly. The youngest soldier was probably Edward Black who joined the
war at the age of 9 as a drummer boy. The youngest to sustain injury in
battle was probably William Black, who at the age of 12 was wounded in his
left arm. Perhaps as many as 400 female combatants successfully hid their gender (women were not
allowed to fight) and served during the war. (Note: drummer boys and musicians did not fight and were
not scrutinized. However, sometimes a drummer boy would sneak into a battle and join his comrades.)
About 2.75 million soldiers fought in the Civil War — two million for
the North and 750,000 for the South. (Data ranges from 2-3 million
men who served.)
About 50% of the soldiers were farmers before the war. Some
regiments were made up almost entirely of farmers and farm
laborers. Union and Confederate rosters contained references to
more than 300 different careers, including: locksmith, teacher,
carpenter, shoemaker, black- smith, painter, mason, brewer,
teamster, and mechanic.
More soldiers died on their backs in hospital beds of disease than on
the battlefield. The average Union soldier stood a 1 in 8 chance of dying due to illness and a 1 in 18
chance of dying in battle. Confederate soldiers faced a 1 in 5 chance of succumbing to disease and a 1 in
8 chance of dying in combat. Civil War soldiers faced not only being wounded or killed in combat or by
diseases, but also suffered exposure from grueling marches sometimes with ragged shoes, or endured
fringed winters with little food and poor water.
While not in battle, drilling, or standing guard, soldiers spent their free time indulging in card games
(gambling was a daily activity for some soldiers), reading, pitching horseshoes, or team sports such as
baseball-which became extremely popular among Union soldiers with tournaments becoming common by
the end of the war. But while on the march during a campaign, soldiers were usually limited to reading
and writing, performing guard duty, drilling, and sleeping.
Despite regulations against it, soldiers sometimes
kept pets with them including dogs, cats, squirrels,
raccoons, and other wildlife. The 8th Wisconsin
Infantry Regiment carried a pet eagle with it at all
times.
Food was a common topic in letters home. Rations
usually were meant to last three days while on active
campaign and were based on the general staples of
meat and bread. Meat usually came in the form of
salted pork and sometimes beef. Army bread was a
flour biscuit called hardtack, re-named “toothdullers”, “worm castles”, and “sheet iron crackers” by
the soldiers who ate them.
Hardtack could be eaten plain though most men
preferred to toast them over a fire, crumble them into
soups, or fry them with their pork and bacon fat in a
dish called “skillygalee.” Coffee was a most also an
important staple and some soldiers considered it
(and sugar) more important than anything else.
While on the march, if there wasn’t enough food,
soldiers often did what was called “foraging,”
whereby they would spread out in teams and scour
the land in search of food; Union soldiers while in
enemy territory most often practiced this. Soldiers
reported bringing back to camp: chickens, hogs,
cattle, vegetables, fruits and all kinds of treats taken
from local farms and plantations.
Though very few Soldiers had much traditional education, yet 85% of them could read and write. This
lead to an unprecedented amount of letters written from soldiers home to loved ones. Over the course of
the war, some regiments were capable of producing 40,000 letters or more, making the Civil War one of
the most documented events in our nation’s history.
The arrival of mail in camp was a cause for celebration no matter where the soldiers were and there were
discouraging words when mail was not received. Letters from home were one of the most important
events for soldiers. It was their only source of normalcy and reminder of the life they left behind.
Reading newspapers was important and sometimes soldiers paid up to one dollar for a copy. Some
soldiers also become correspondents and wrote home to their local newspapers documenting the war,
much like modern-day embedded reporters do.
After payday, Union soldiers often spent time at the sutler’s store where they could purchase toiletries,
canned fruit, pocketknives, and other supplementary items, but usually at exorbitant prices.
By mid-way through the war the average soldier’s salary amounted to about $13.00 per month and
sometimes it did not last long with expenses for clothing, food items, paper, stamps, and newspapers.
Unfortunately, Confederates did not have the luxury of sutlers, they had to depend on the generosity of
folks at home or farmers and businessmen near their camps. This led to major hardships as the war
dragged on and people were less able to help.
The Civil War was not only a contest between white native-born Americans. Tens of thousands of newly
arrived immigrants fought in the war and mostly for the North. In 1860 nearly a third of the Union’s male
population was foreign-born. One in four Union soldiers was either foreign born or a second-generation
immigrant.
Indians also served in both Union and Confederate armies. Of course, the largest non-white groups to
fight in the war were African-Americans. The Civil War had many causes, but without slavery there would
not have been a war. By war’s end at least 180,000 blacks joined the Union army making up 9% of its
fighting strength. They were organized into all black regiments and were commanded by white officers.
These soldiers played an important role, fought as brave and as well as any white regiments, and were
credited numerous times for winning battles.
Sources:
Books:
James M. McPherson, “For Cause & Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War”, Oxford University
Press, 1997.
James I. Robertson, Jr. “Soldiers Blue and Gray”, University of South Carolina Press, 1989.
Bell Irvin Wiley, “The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union”, Louisiana State University
Press, Baton Rouge, 1952 & 1978.
Bell Irvin Wiley, “The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy”, Louisiana State
University Press, Baton Rouge, 1943 & 1978.
John D. Billings, “Hardtack & Coffee or The Unwritten Story of Army Life”, Benchmark Publishing Corp.,
Glendale, NY, 1970 (reprint).
Web:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/soldierlife/cwarmy.htm
http://www.thelivinghistorygroup.com/online_exhibits/CW_Statistics/statistics.swf