American Civil War: Soldiers
The Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, caused over 618,000 casualties, more than any other war in the United States. About 3.5 to 4 million soldiers fought in the Civil War, each for a different reasons. Both armies faced difficult tasks and obstacles on their way to victory and generals from both sides had faced problems in training and disciplining their soldiers. Robert E. Lee, the Confederate hero commander, Ulysses S. Grant, the Union hero commander, and Abraham Lincoln, the president of the Union who made big changes in the War, were big people in the Civil War. The Union army was made up of a bunch of city boys who were not at all experienced, they didn't know how to use guns or ride horses, while the Confederate army was well experienced from fighting in the Mexican War(1846-1848). The Civil War was the first war in which women took part. For the Union, women would cook, clean, and clothe men, some even disguised themselves and passed as men, meanwhile, in the South women would run their husband's fields and households so they could go to war. Also, their were women spies on both armies. Not only did women fight and help in this war, African and Americans did their part too. In fact, President Abraham Lincoln, the president at that time himself said the war wouldn't have ended without them. At first, when slaves in the Confederacy enrolled into the Union Army, they would either send them back to their master because of the Fugitive Slave Act, or they would keep the run away slaves and have them cook and clean. But, eventually the Union Army made a 54th Black Regiment lead by a white soldier, Robert Gould Shaw, who proved that against contrary belief, African Americans can fight just as well as whites. Unfortunately, most people from both sides rather than bullets, died of sickness, such as fevers, flu or measles, due to no medicines or progress in the medical field. Since most of the soldiers on both sides were younger than 16, they started out as naive young boys who didn’t know the true horrors of fighting and were joining for adventure. In the early years of fighting for these boys, they were gripped by fear, confusion, and no discipline. But after a while into the war, the boys experienced many gruesome deaths. Here is what twelve year old Fred Grant, son of the famous commander Ulysses S. Grant, has to say during the siege of Vicksburg:”The horrors of a battlefield were brought vividly before me. I joined a detachment which was collection the dead for burial. Sickening at the sights, I made my with which was gathering the wounded… Here the scenes were so terrible that I became faint…” The view of the dead and wounded were terrible, especially new soldiers who would eventually have to put their fears and worries behind them and get used to the sight.