Civil War Stations Activity- You will find all the information you need to complete the stations in this
packet
Station 1: Image analysis
Read the background on Civil War Photography below:
While photographs of earlier conflicts do exist, the American Civil War is considered the first major conflict to be extensively photographed. Not only
did photographers venture onto the fields of battle, but those very images were then widely displayed and sold in ever larger quantities nationwide.
Photographers such as Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and Timothy O'Sullivan found enthusiastic audiences for their images as America's
interests were piqued by the shockingly realistic medium. For the first time in history, citizens on the home front could view the actual carnage of far
away battlefields. Civil War photographs stripped away much of the Victorian-era romance around warfare.
Photography during the Civil War, especially for those who ventured out to the battlefields with their cameras, was a difficult and time consuming
process. Photographers had to carry all of their heavy equipment, including their darkroom, by wagon. They also had to be prepared to process
cumbersome light-sensitive images in cramped wagons.
Today pictures are taken and stored digitally, but in 1861, the newest technology was wet-plate photography, a process in which an image is
captured on chemically coated pieces of plate glass. This was a complicated process done exclusively by photographic professionals.
Cameras in the time of the Civil War were bulky and difficult to maneuver. All of the chemicals used in the process had to be mixed by hand,
including a mixture called collodion. Collodion is made up of several types of dangerous chemicals including ethyl ether and acetic or sulfuric acid.
Photographs took time to process and to prepare for the next picture to be taken, thus we do not have any action scenes from battle that were
captured.
Station 1- Image Analysis
Station 2: Life of Civil War Soldier
Life of the Civil War Soldier in the
Army
BY SHARON DENMARK, HALLOWED GROUND MAGAZINE, WINTER 2013 ISSUE
Who Enlisted:
A soldier in the Union army was most likely a
slim young man a little over 5’8” tall with brown
hair and blue eyes. He was probably a farmer and a Christian. Precise statistical figures are more difficult for
Southern enlistees, but most Confederate soldiers looked a great deal like their Federal counterparts — although they
were even more likely to be farmers by trade. The war was largely a young man’s fight — Union enlistment records
indicate that more than 2 million soldiers were age 21 or under when they joined the cause — and some estimates
place only 10 percent of the Federal force over age 30. There were, of course, cases on either extreme. Older soldiers
typically filled more specialized roles or were officers; some teenagers lied about their age and saw front line combat,
but many others served in other capacities, notably as musicians.
Daily life
The soldier spent a majority of his time in camp drilling, with the occasional stint at guard duty or a long march. The
diaries of Robert Watson document such an existence repeated tens of thousands of times in both North and South:
“Drilled in the afternoon….Inspection of arms.…Commenced drilling.…Drill as usual morning and afternoon….
Drilled and…inspected our arms, quarters, &etc….”
During the fair-weather campaign season, soldiers could expect to be engaged in battle one day out of 30. Their
remaining days were filled with almost interminable drilling, punctuated with spells of entertainment in the form of
music, cards and other forms of gambling. The arrival of newspapers or mail from home — whether letters or a care
package — in camp was always cause for celebration. Despite such diversions, much time was still left for exposure to
the noncombatant foes of poor shelter, unhealthy food, and a lack of hygiene, resulting in waves of sickness and
disease.
Shelter
After the first months of the war, the shelter half, or “dog tent,” became the most practical means of overnight
shelter. While portable and lightweight, shelter halves provided minimal protection for their two inhabitants. Sgt.
Austin C. Stearns of the 13th Massachusetts described his shelter as “simply a piece of cloth about six feet square
with a row of buttons and button holes on three sides; two men pitched together by buttoning their pieces together
and getting two sticks with a crotch at one end and one to go across at the top and then placing their cloth over it and
pinning it down tight.” To protect the soldier from the damp ground, a tarred or rubberized blanket could be used. A
stout wool blanket kept the chill off. Unfortunately, many soldiers discarded these heavy items on a long march or
when entering combat, and lived (or died) to regret it when the weather changed. As the war moved forward, an
exhausted soldier often merely lay on his blanket at night in an effort to simplify his life and maximize periods of rest.
Such protracted exposure to the elements boded ill for his life expectancy.
Food
Rations on the march varied from plentiful to scarce. On paper, the Union army enjoyed the best rations of any army
in history up to that time, but logistical difficulties inherent in feeding armies of tens of thousands resulted in
occasional shortages. The Confederacy, while fighting on predominately “home turf,” often found it difficult to
consistently deliver full rations to its troops on the march, largely due to procurement and transportation problems.
The full Union marching ration consisted of one pound of hard bread (the infamous hardtack), three-quarters of a
pound of salted pork or one-and-a-quarter pound of fresh meat, along with coffee, sugar and salt allotments. At the
beginning of the war, the Confederacy adopted the Union ration, but reduced it by 1862. Fresh meat and coffee
became increasingly scarce. As fresh fruits and vegetables disappeared from military diets, soldiers’ immune
systems deteriorated and vitamin deficiency diseases such as scurvy proliferated. The Union army responded by
issuing desiccated vegetables. As described by Corp. Joseph Van Nest of the 101st Ohio, these delicacies consisted of
“a combination of corn husks, tomato skins, carrots and other kinds of vegetables too numerous to mention.” This
bounty had been dried and compressed into a sheet or block and, when boiled, expanded to many times its previous
size. While denigrated as “desecrated vegetables” by the boys in blue, they consumed them with alacrity as a
variation in an otherwise bland diet. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the culinary science of the era, most of the
needed vitamins disappeared during processing.
Sanitation and Disease
Soldiers North and South also shared in the infestation of body lice in their clothing and bedding. Due to constant
outdoor living, often under poor sanitary conditions, the “grey back vermin” became a visible manifestation of all of
the invisible bacteria and germs whose presence was unknown to mid-19th-century science.
Periodic shortages did exist, but were vividly remembered by the Southerners. Both sides shared the difficulties that
emerged from remaining in one place for an extended period of time. The majority of soldiers, being from rural
backgrounds, had not been exposed to such a wide cross section of the human population and its communicable
diseases. When accumulated in camps of tens of thousands, soldiers without natural immunities would succumb to
the likes of measles and chickenpox. Those same large numbers, residing in one spot for more than a month, caused
horrendous situations in relation to sanitation. The use of "sink pits" as latrine mechanisms ultimately led to the
presence of human fecal bacteria in the water supply. That water supply, in many instances, did not need much help
in the area of contamination. Swift running, clear water would be the exception more often than the rule. These
conditions created the greatest killer of the war: amoebic and bacterial dysentery.
After four long years of war, the military encampments had taken their toll. Although the 2:1 rate of death from
disease over combat may seem alarming to us today, it represented a significant improvement from earlier conflicts,
like the American Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, when that number was closer to 5:1. Not until World War II did
the number of battle casualties approach the losses from disease.
Station 3
Weapons and Technology
There were many different weapons and technologies used during the Civil War. Some of them were used in a major war for the first
time. These new technologies and weapons changed the future of war including the tactics used on the battlefield and the way wars
were fought.
Rifles and Muskets
Most soldiers on the battlefield fought with guns. At the start of the war, many soldiers used old style guns called muskets. Muskets had
smooth bores (the inside of the barrel) and this made them inaccurate for distances longer than 40 yards or so. These muskets also
took a long time to reload and were unreliable (they sometimes didn't fire).
However, it wasn't long into the war before many of the soldiers were armed with rifles. Rifles have shallow spiral grooves cut into the
barrel to make the bullet spin. This makes them more accurate for a longer range than muskets. Other advancements to the rifle
occurred during the war including more reliable firing mechanisms and repeating rifles.
Swords, Knives, and Bayonets
Sometimes the soldiers would end up in close hand-to-hand combat where they no longer had time to load their rifles. Much of the time
they would use a knife-like spike that was attached to the end of their rifle called a bayonet. If they dropped their rifle, then they may
have a large knife they would use to fight with. Officers often had swords or pistols that they would use in close combat.
Cannon
Cannons were used by both sides during the war. Cannons were best at destroying enemy fortifications. They could fire either a large
solid cannon ball or a bunch of smaller iron balls. Some cannon could knock down a wall or other fortification from up to 1000 yards
away. The most popular cannon on both sides was a French-designed 12-pound howitzer cannon called the Napoleon. It usually took a
crew of four soldiers to operate a cannon.
Submarines and Ironclads
New technology in naval warfare included ironclads and submarines. The Civil War was the first major war that involved ironclad ships.
These were ships that were protected by steel or iron armor plates. They were nearly impossible to sink with conventional weapons and
forever changed the way ships were used in battle. At the same time, the Civil War introduced submarines into naval warfare. The first
submarine to sink an enemy ship was the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley which sunk the Union ship the USS Housatonic on
February 17, 1864.
Balloons
One interesting new technology used by the Union was the hot-air balloon. Balloonists would fly above enemy troops to determine their
movements, numbers, and locations. The South soon figured out ways to combat the balloonists including camouflage and ways of
shooting them down.
Telegraph
The invention of the telegraph changed the way wars were fought. President Lincoln and the Union military leaders were able to
communicate in real time using the telegraph. They had updated information on enemy troop strengths and battle results. This gave
them an advantage over the South which did not have the same communications infrastructure.
Railroads
Railroads also had a major impact on the war. Railroads enabled armies to move large numbers of troops long distances very quickly.
Again, the more advanced industry of the North gave the Union an advantage in transportation as there were more railroad tracks in the
North than in the South.
Interesting Facts About the Weapons of the Civil War
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Photography was invented not too long before the war. As a result, the Civil War was first major U.S. war to be documented with
photographs.
Repeating rifles were mostly available to Union troops and gave them a distinct advantage over the South near the end of the
war.
Future steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie was in charge of the U.S. Military Telegraph Corps during the war.
The most popular bullet used in the Civil War was the Minie ball which was named after its inventor Claude Minie.
Station 4- Women in the war
Copy and paste the links below to access the websites needed for this station:
Link 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xSYh8xXJPM
Link 2:
http://mrnussbaum.com/civil-war/women/