[Source: Atlas Editions; Civil War Cards]
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.
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.
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.
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 for dress occasions and at the start of the war when they marched from New York into Washington. In battle however, they wore the chausser style kepi with the small New York State seal button on the side. 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.
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.
Training
Infantryman's
Equipment
(Photo)
Body
Armor
(Photo)
Soldiers'
Shoes
(Photo)