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From: <>
Subject: Just a few little things to take along
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 12:03:05 EDT

I got tired just reading this. As I sit here is 100 degrees outside, I
cannot imagine what hardships these men went through.

The big shocker for me in this series that I have sent to you is the fact
that only 750,000 men from the South faced 2 million men from the North and
they held out for 4 years. Talk about a few good men!

Margie

Training

To be an effective soldier in the Civil War, a man needed to know much more
than how to drill on the parade ground and how to fire his musket.

It was mostly the hard school of experience that turned a green recruit fresh
from his country home into a lean, weatherbeaten soldier who was able to
march all night and fight all day on scant rations.

Many volunteers did not survive long enough to make the transition.
Adaptation to army discipline and regimentation was one of the first trials
of the new soldier. The idea of showing respect to and obeying the orders of
a higher-ranking soldier irrespective of that person's prewar social
standing, family, or wealth required a major psychological adjustment for
many men.

Providing for physical needs posed severe difficulties in Civil War armies.
Soldiers had to learn how to properly cook the rations that were issued to
them and how to forage for supplemental food. They learned what they could do
to help prevent scurvy, typhus and other camp diseases.

Bad water and poor sanitation caused the death of many soldiers. Survivors
learned the value of proper sewage disposal and the necessity of clean
drinking water. They learned how to build shelters to protect themselves from
the elements and how to make repeated all-day marches and they also learned
the necessity of maintaining their clothes, shoes and weapon.

Infantryman's Equipment

Volunteers went off to fight at the beginning of the war with a great deal of
baggage-both army-issued equipment and personal items.

In the early days of the war, a soldier carried
ten pounds of gun
eighty rounds per man of ball cartridge
one pound of powder and five pounds of lead

Heavy equipment included;
knapsack, haversack, three-pint canteen, all full with 3 days rations, rubber
blanket, woolen blanket, shelter tent, full winter clothing, tin cup, tin
plate, knife, fork, spoon, stationery, photographs, journal, Bible, tobacco,
pipes, comb and brush, shaving tools, sewing kit, toothbrush, soap and
whatever other gear did not hang from hooks on their belts.

Soldiers had to carry their own gear and weapons and they soon discarded all
but the essentials. Many soldiers even quit carrying extra clothes, just
wearing what they had on.

The haversack, a foot-square canvas bag with a waterproof lining, a buckled
flap, and a strap that was slung over the right shoulder, became the
soldiers' indispensable carryall. It was designed to hold three days'
rations, but the men would usually eat them all on the first day rather than
carry the weight. This left the haversack free to carry a few personal items
and most important, apples, blackberries, and other forage.

Body Armor

When the fighting started in 1861, many North and South inventors began
producing metal shields, helmets, and vests promoting them as being
bulletproof. Both governments tested and considered issuing armor to their
men, but both rejected the idea, primarily because of the cost, which
depending on the design would range from $5 to $15 per man.

One ad for armor in Harper's Weekly claimed its product had been "repeatedly
and thoroughly tested with plated bullets at 10 paces, rifle bullets at 40
rods, by many army officers and is approved and worn by them," but when the
soldiers tested them, the results were tragic.

In the first year of the war many men bought their armor privately; some
entire regiments were outfitted with it before marching off to battle. Soon,
however, bulletproof vests and the men who wore them were held in contempt by
their fellow soldiers. The armor was hot, heavy and uncomfortable and because
the extra 10 pounds of steel plate was too much to be carried on long
marches, thousands of vests were discarded in roadside ditches.

Army Headgear

Hats provided soldiers warmth in winter and shade in summer, offered some
protection from rain, and served as handy bags for carrying foraged eggs and
blackberries.

The styles of hats most commonly worn during the Civil War were the forage
cap and its cousin the kepi. The original 1858 forage cap had a narrow
leather visor and a high crown with a round, usually perfectly flat, top that
flopped forward at a sharp angle. The kepi was a french-style forage cap with
a lower crown and a top that tilted at a smaller angle. Where the top of a
forage cap was flat, a kepi usually had a raised roll around the outside of
the round, otherwise flat, top.

Confederate regulations called for the color of a kepi to match the wearer's
branch of service; red for artillery, yellow for cavalry, dark blue for
staff, and light blue for infantry. Most, though, were some shade of gray
because of dye shortages. Officers added gold braid; one strand denoted a
lieutenant, two a captain, three a field officer and four a general.

The Hardee hat, a stiff, high-crowned, wide-brimmed style that was the
official dress hat for union officers and enlisted men, was universally
disliked. Union soldiers modified it or discarded it for headgear more to
their liking, usually choosing kepis or forage caps.

Some units became known for their distinctive headgear. Wisconsin's "Black
Hat Brigade" was so named for the color of headgear all of its members wore.
Zouave units wore a wide variety of tasseled turbans and other exotic hats.
The 79th New York, called the Cameron Highlanders wore the style of cap
called the glengarry, while their fellow Scotsmen in the 12th Illinois wore
tam-o'-shanters.

One additional item given to Civil War soldiers on both sides was the
havelock, a cap cover made popular by Sir Henry Havelock of the British army
in the Sepoy Rebellion in India in 1857. Made of white linen or cotton, the
havelock was to be worn over the soldier's cap with its long tail covering
the man's neck. The havelock was supposed to protect men who were fighting in
hot climates from sunstroke. But the soldiers found the havelock actually
made them hotter by not allowing air to circulate around their head and neck.
Many Civil War soldiers used their havelocks not as cap covers, but as coffee
strainers, dishcloths, or gun patches.

Soldiers' Shoes

If the Union or Confederate soldier was not a horse-mounted cavalryman or
officer, he was a foot soldier. Throughout the war, these men marched long
and hard, sometimes up to 30 or 40 miles a day. As a result, shoes became
sorely needed by both sides.

The Union, backed by its industrial strength and factories, had the benefit
of the sewing machine, a newly perfected invention that enabled thousands of
Northern shoemakers to leave their benches and become soldiers. But the
Confederacy fared far worse; it was extremely low on shoes. Worse still,
corruption existed in some Confederate commissaries, where quartermasters
shorted the soldiers and profits were pocketed.

There are many accounts of Rebels marching for miles barefoot during the
winter. Ill-fitting shoes were also a problem, and carefully guarded shoe
shops, situated close to brigade headquarters, were established to repair
footwear. Often, Rebel foot soldiers with no shoes or poorly fitted ones were
organized into separate commands to march apart from the rest of the troops
on the soft grassy roadsides.

The men preferred shoes with broad bottoms and big, flat heels, instead of
boots, which were heavy, twisted the ankles, and were difficult to put on and
remove especially when wet. Shoes and boots were so valuable that special
missions were made to procure them. They were even pulled from the feet of
dead men on the bloodstained battlefields and were used by prisoners to
barter for supplies such as food or tobacco.

Margie

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