The Importance Of The Conditions Of Life During The Civil War
Conditions of life for troops living in the filthy, diseased, and flea ridden camps of the Civil War was so bad that some would agree that it would be better to live in a barn with cows- at least cows had roofs over their heads. One of the things that soldiers lacked the most was hygiene. Water to drink was scarce enough, so bathing was not an option during tours of duty, and most men only brought (or owned) one set of clothes. They also lived in a sloppy manner, probably because their wives were not there to pick up after them, making the camps a cruddy place to live in. after an army would leave a site where they had camped, the clearing was usually destroyed; with the grass trodden into mud, the woods cleared for firewood, the air polluted
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In a feeble attempt to stop the troops from acting so wild, officers gave their soldiers something more active to do than sitting around or causing problems-more drilling. This made life even more strenuous than it already was, and in the end the only effect it had on camps was making them either too tired to fight (with each other or the enemy) or even more grouchy than they already were. Food shortages was a problem that no one could correct, but still played a major role in the animosity of camp life. Stealing food was particularly common for soldiers to do on marches because they passed many farms or plantations during the duration of such. Because of the weight the food was that the soldier had to carry, one might eat his three days of rations on the first day and then take his chances on foraging to get him through the rest of the march. Another problem (that was only sometimes caused by food) was disease. This was most dangerous to new recruits, but affected almost half of the army. Whether from a common cold, to a bad case of malaria or measles, disease could be as deadly as a rain of enemy bullets in battle. In all, the life in the camps for a soldier in the Civil War was most definitely one of the worst experiences a soldier had during his time in
In a feeble attempt to stop the troops from acting so wild, officers gave their soldiers something more active to do than sitting around or causing problems-more drilling. This made life even more strenuous than it already was, and in the end the only effect it had on camps was making them either too tired to fight (with each other or the enemy) or even more grouchy than they already were. Food shortages was a problem that no one could correct, but still played a major role in the animosity of camp life. Stealing food was particularly common for soldiers to do on marches because they passed many farms or plantations during the duration of such. Because of the weight the food was that the soldier had to carry, one might eat his three days of rations on the first day and then take his chances on foraging to get him through the rest of the march. Another problem (that was only sometimes caused by food) was disease. This was most dangerous to new recruits, but affected almost half of the army. Whether from a common cold, to a bad case of malaria or measles, disease could be as deadly as a rain of enemy bullets in battle. In all, the life in the camps for a soldier in the Civil War was most definitely one of the worst experiences a soldier had during his time in