Transcript Typical Soldier - Mr. Hubbard's Class

Typical Soldier
Before the War
• December 1860
–U.S. Regular Army had 16,367
soldiers.
–Very Small number
–This would make the “professional
core” of both armies.
Numbers North and South
• War was fought by
– 2,500,000 Union
– 1,000,000 Confederates
– Most were AMATEURS
– Volunteers
– Not “Professional
Soldiers”
– “Citizen Soldiers”
DRAFT!
• Both sides resorted to conscription.
– C.S.A. in April 1862
– Union in March 1863
– Both sides allowed draftees to hire a
Substitute.
What is a Substitute?
Draftees
• Estimated 170,000 men were brought
into the Union army through the draft.
• 120,000 of those are thought to be
substitutes.
• Bounty was offered
later in the war to
stimulate enlistment.
• $1 - $300 dollars
bonus for enlisting.
• What was a “bounty
jumper”?
Bonus!
Bounty Jumpers
• Someone who would try to make
money by getting an enlistment
bonus, and then he would desert.
• Then he would enlist again for
another bonus.
• Basically, someone who is trying to profit
from the bounties.
Civilian “Citizen Soldiers”
• In an analysis of 25,000 soldiers on the
enlistment rolls…
• Most were farmers by trade.
• 300 different trades represented
• “Common laborers” were second most
common.
• Does this varied vocational background
have any advantages?
Advantages
• Citizen Soldiers have skills.
• When something broke, there
was someone who could fix it.
• What was a “Company Tailor”?
Age
• Similar age demographics in both armies.
• Of 1,100 soldiers examined,
– 3 were 12
– 1 was 13
– 971 were 18
– 1 was 73
– 80% of all soldiers were between 18 and
29.
Youngest
• The very young were
usually drummers.
• Many cited for gallantry
during battle.
• Among those, John Lincoln
Clem, from Ohio.
John Lincoln
Clem
Newark, Ohio
The Drummer of
Chickamauga
“Johnny Shiloh”
The very old…
• E. Pollard – 5th North Carolina , age 73
– Likely the oldest Confederate
– Spent most of his service in the hospital
• Curtis King – 37th Iowa – Age 80
– Oldest Yankee
– 37th Iowa had 145 men over 60.
– Called them the “Greybeards”
Edmund Ruffin
• Claimed to have
fired the first shot
of the war at
Sumter.
“Typical”
• The typical Civil War
soldier was a white,
American born, farmer,
between 18 and 29 years
of age.
One Typical Johnny
• Sam Watkins
• Author of Co. Aytch
• Maury Grays, Co. H, First
Tennessee Volunteer
Regiment.
• 22 years old when he
enlisted.
• One of 7 men in his
Regiment to survive the
war.
Not all were American Born
• In C.S. 1:25 were foreign born
• In U.S. 1:4 were foreign born
• Germans and Irish were the most
common foreign nationalities.
“Irish Brigade”
• Both sides had an “Irish
Brigade”
–Union “Irish Brigade” was one of
the best in the Army of the
Potomac.
–Had Green flags with the Harp
of Erin on them
• Patrick
Cleburne
• Confederate
General
• Born in
County Cork,
Ireland
Scandinavians
• Common in the “Northwest”
regiments from Wisconsin and
Minnesota.
• One of the “Iron Brigade” regiments,
the 6th Wisconsin, had companies
that were German & Scandinavian.
Not all were white
• Both sides used AfricanAmericans as Laborers
–Digging Fortifications and the like
–In the North, they were paid for the
work.
Body Servants
• “Early War” many “Body
Servants” were seen in the
armies
–Body Servants did camp chores,
cooking and cleaning etc.
–In the North, body servants were
paid.
African Soldiers
• Both sides had African-Americans
soldiers
– 200,000 served in the Union Army
– Few in Combat
– 54th Massachusetts was an exception,
they saw some hard fighting.
– “The Crater” at Petersburg also had
black Union troops leading the assault.
Black Confederates
• March 1865 – C.S. Government
officially approves 300,000 slaves
to be enlisted in the army.
–No “hard” proof of service in combat
–Some interesting reading:
• Black Confederates
• Black Southerners in Gray
John Evans
Not all were men…
Mary Owens
“Some one has stated the number of women
soldiers known to the service as little less
than four hundred. I cannot vouch for the
correctness of this estimate, but I am
convinced that a larger number of women
disguised themselves and enlisted in the
service, for one cause or other, than was
dreamed of. Entrenched in secrecy, and
regarded as men, they were sometimes
revealed as women, by accident or casualty.
Some startling histories of these military
women were current in the gossip of army
life.(2)” – Mary Livermore –U.S.S.C.
• Clara Barton
• Served as a battlefield
nurse during the Civil War.
Helped make nursing a
professional career.
• Founded the American
Red Cross (1873)