THE HARDSHIPS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WARThe History of the Damage

OBJECTIVES

Be able to explain what life was like for soldiers during the Civil War.

Be able to identify major causes of the rapid spread of diseases during the Civil War

Identify some of the new technological advances that made the American Civil War different from any war before.

Be able to explain the various roles that women played in the war.

THE HARD LIFE OF SOLDIERS On both sides, most soldiers were under the

age of 21. However, the conditions of war turned boys into men.

Soldiers would drill and march for extremely long hours everyday. They would sleep on the ground of the camps, and even in the rain or snow!

In combat, boys who were the age of 18 learned to stand firm as cannon blasts besides them and whizzed past their ears.

NEW TECHNOLOGY ADDS TO THE HORROR The death rates increasing rose because....

Cone-shaped bullets made rifles twice as accurate.

Improved cannons hurled exploding shells more miles than ever before.

Most new weapons that were produced during the Civil War had very high death rates.

Soldiers hit with the Minie ball suffered severe bone damage.

• Because of the new technology, in most battles during the Civil War, one fourth or more of the soldiers were killed or wounded in battle.

SICK, STARVING, WOUNDED The hardships during the Civil War hit both

the Union and the Confederacy. However, the Confederate soldiers were especially hit the most before the fighting took place on their home field.

The difficult life of the soldiers led many to desert the camps. Historians note that one out of every seven Union solders and one out of every nine Confederate soldiers left!

Diseases, amputations, and starvations were the most common problems in the medical center at the camp ground.

The Civil War was fought “at the end of the medical middle ages.”

Union army surgeon general

THE CAMPS“littered with refuse, food, and other rubbish, sometimes in an offensive state of decomposition; slops deposited in pits within the camp limits or thrown out of broadcast; heaps of manure and offal close to the camp.”

-Says one inspector in late 1861

CAUSES OF RAPID SPREAD OF DISEASES

Poor sanitary conditions in camps Latrines built

upwind Waste from

cooking and slaughtering animals built up on the ground

CAUSES OF RAPID SPREAD OF DISEASES Recruitment process allowed men in

noticeably poor health to join the army By late 1862, about 200,000 recruits accepted

into the army were judged physically unfit and discharged

The recruitment office

“The next step was a medical examination to determine physical fitness for service. Each town had its physician for this work. The candidate for admission into the army must first divest himself of all clothing, and his soundness or unsoundness was then decided by causing him to jump, bend over, kick, receive sundry thumps in the chest and back, and such other laying-on of hands as was thought necessary. The teeth had also to be examined, and the eyesight tested, after which, if the candidate passed, he received a certificate to that effect.”

In 1860 and ‘61, more interested in proving fitness In later years, only looking to prove unfitness

CAUSES OF RAPID SPREAD OF DISEASES #1 CAUSE= CONTAMINATED WATER!

MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR For a soldier from the North:

1 in 8 chance of dying from disease 1 in 18 chance of dying in battle

For a soldier from the South: 1 in 5 chance of dying from disease 1 in 8 chance of dying in battle

North (chance of dying of disease)

North (chance of dying in battle)

South (chance of dying from disease)

South (chance of dying in battle)

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

SOME STATISTICS Northern deaths:

110,000 from battle 225,000 from disease

Southern deaths: 94,000 from battle 164,000 from disease

Northern Deaths from DiseaseSouthern deaths from diseasesNothern Deaths from battleSouthern deaths from battle

Disease was the biggest killer of the war

deaths from diseasesdeaths from battle

OTHER CAUSES OF DISEASE Soldiers got infections from surgery

Surgeons did not know how to sterilize their equipment

Often did not wash their hands or equipment due to frequent shortage of water

These infections called “surgical fevers” caused largely by bacterial cells that produced

pus, destroyed tissue, and released deadly toxins into the blood

“Typhoid fever was even more devastating. Perhaps one-quarter of noncombat deaths in the Confederacy resulted from this disease, caused by the consumption of food or water contaminated by salmonella bacteria.”

A simple cold could often developed into pneumonia

"If there is any place on God's fair earth where wickedness 'stalketh abroad in daylight' it is in the army.”

-Confederate soldier in a letter to his family

WOMEN IN THE WAR Women in the North and the South plated

vital roles during the war. They would:Take on the jobs on the farm and in

industries. Supply troops with food, bedding, clothing,

and medicine. They even held fairs and fundraisers to

help bring awareness of the horrible conditions for soldiers.Ex: Sanitary Fair Commission

NURSES-HELPING HANDS At first, doctors were unwilling to permit even

trained nurses to work in military hospitals. However, when the numbered of soldiers who were wounded started to increase drastically, this restriction dramatically changed.

Women performed so well as nurses during the war that they sometimes even did the same jobs as male doctors. This led to the recognition of women’s war effort during this time period. In Fact, nursing became an accepted occupation for women after the war.

HEROINES Many women who helped the soldiers during the

war were considered heroines and were widely celebrated.

Dorothea Dix- helped reform prisons and mental hospitals.

Clara Barton- earned her fame as a Civil War nurse and then went on to be the founder of the American Red Cross in 1881.

Sojourner Truth, the anti-slavery leader, worked in Union hospitals and in camps for freed slaves.

Sally Tompkins set up a hospital in Richmond, Virginia in hopes to improve conditions.

All of these women efforts during the war illustrated the new respect and freedom that women were given from the American Civil War.

WRITING EXERCISEImagine you are a solider fighting

in the war. Focusing on all the hardships of the war, write a letter to your parents describing the setting of a camp. Would you pretend that everything is fine? Or would be truthful to your parents?

Your letter is expected to meet the requirements for a proper letter taught in your English class.