Civil War Soldier Research Paper

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Life of a Civil War Soldier Soldiers played a large role in the Civil War. They had to go through enlistment, training, unsanitary camps, diseases, and the war in order to get to the battle field. Although many survived, a lot of young men died serving their country. Before men enlisted for the war, they had over three hundred career choices. The most popular job was farming. Most young men that worked on farms enlisted for the war. The average age in both the Union and Confederate Army was twenty-three. The Union Army enlisted about 2, 900, 00 young men and the Confederate army enlisted about 1,300,000 young soldiers (Catton 357-360, Either, “Chapter 5”). In the Civil War, both sides had boys as young as nine years old join the…show more content…
The training was very strict and disciplined. During this portion of the war, the South had an advantage, because the Confederate Army had experienced officer’s train the new soldiers that were beginners. Soldiers had to complete drills and march every day for an hour. They had many other assignments other than training. Some of these assignments were: gathering wood, polishing and cleaning day, feed and wash the horses, and cleaning the training field before and after drills. Most of them were bored a lot, so they wrote letters to loved ones, gambled, played checkers and chess, and played sports such as baseball (Either,…show more content…
Many soldiers regretted not bringing the wool blanket, because it was freezing outside when they were off to war. Men carried food with them while they marched. They carried one pound of spices, one pound of meat and, etc. As they marched on, meat and coffee became scarce. A lot of young men went on vegetable diets and had to find fresh vegetables (Heim). When soldiers settled during the war, it was for a short, period of time. In winter, men settled in a camp area to establish winter quarters. In order for them to keep warm, they had to build large log huts that allowed several young men to fit in it. They also had to live in very unsanitary conditions. These unsanitary conditions cause diseases. The diseases spread quickly through the camp, because of the foul odor left behind after slaughtering an animal. After sleeping in this unhealthy environment, many of the soldiers began getting body lice in their uniforms and beds (Either, Heim,

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