Introduction
620,000 people died (Civil War Trust), and countless were wounded in the Civil War. The civil war was bloody, and frightening. Anyone who fought in it was lucky to survive. But they didn’t survive without trauma. On the loud battlefields soldiers constantly saw their friends and fellow towns men drop dead on the ground all around. But guns weren’t the only thing to be afraid of, disease was as well. (Yale National Initiative). It claimed the majority of the 620,000 lives lost. In the end, the Union tasted victory, but not without a cost. The life of a soldier in the civil war was hell.
Although he was lucky to get out alive, James Monroe Sargent was no exception to the suffering of soldiers. After being wounded two times, and
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Battle after battle The 6th Vermont infantry fought bravely. After a few battles, James had learned to adapt to the army well. He had gained more resilience and physical strength. His improved attributes would be tested at the battle of Banks Ford 5/4/1863. While James was reloading his gun, his attention slipped his mind, and a confederate sharp shooter shot him in the leg. James was lucky to escape an amputation and was immediately brought back to Camp Griffin to recover (Military Service Records). After his recovery, James got right back into the war. Little did he know that his first battle back would be perhaps the most famous one in the Civil War. James arrived in Gettysburg Pennsylvania 7/3/1863 with his infantry (Vermont in the Civil War). HIs heart was broken many times that day. James battled hard and killed a few confederates, but he constantly saw his friends drop all around him . Once the battle was over, James lay on the ground exhausted. He left with his infantry proud in victory. When James and the rest made it back to Camp Griffin they started celebrating. They shot guns into the sky and danced around. But their joy was relatively short lived. Later that month (July) the Vermonters and James traveled to Funkstown Maryland 7/10/1863. They arrived only to be beat back and defeated by the Confederates. James was most likely heartbroken. He had hoped for a long string of Union victories to win the win. After the battle the infantry were given a 2 month break from the fighting. James received more training. However, it didn’t exactly pay off. In the second battle of Bull Run the Vermonters, the other Union soldiers, and James were defeated. About a month later James would test his mental strength. In Rappahannock Station Virginia, there were a lot of casualties. James constantly saw people he knew dropping to the ground
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the rebelling territories of the confederacy and authorizing Black enlistment in the Union Army. Since the beginning of the Civil War, free Black people in general, , were ready to fight on behalf of the Union, yet they were prevented from doing so. Popular racial stereotypes and discrimination against Blacks in the military contributed to the prevailing myth that Black men did not have the intelligence and bravery necessary to serve their country. By the fall of 1862, however, the lack of White Union enlistment and confederate victories at Antietem forced the U.S. government to reconsider its racist policy. As Congress met in October to address the issue of Black enlistment, various troops of Black volunteers had already been organized, including the First South Carolina and the Kansas Colored Troops. It wasn't until January 26, 1863, however, that secretary of war Edwin Stanton authorized the enlistment of Black troops. As a result, the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer infantry was founded, becoming the first all-Black Union regiment raised in the north.(Emilio 1990)
The American Civil War is one of the biggest turning points in American history. It marks a point of major separation in beliefs from the North and the South and yet somehow ends in a major unification that is now called the United States of America. It still to date remains the bloodiest war in American History. The book “This Republic of Suffering, death and the American Civil War” by Drew Gilpin Faust better explains the change in thought from the American people that developed from the unexpected mass loss in soldiers that devastated the American people. Throughout this review the reader will better understand the methods and theory of this book, the sources used, the main argument of the book, the major supporting arguments, and what the
From the day, the first European set foot on American soil up until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which occurred in 1865. Slavery was a controversial issue. The issue of slavery divided up the United States of America to ultimately put the two against each other. The Northern States who identifies themselves as the Union disapproved of the atrocious actions of the South who condone the crude treatment of slaves and the disturbing practices of slavery. Although slavery was not the sole cause of the Civil war, it played an important part in the disunion of the United States. The battle between states rights and federal rights rubbed more salt in the already enormous wound. Southern States who later considers themselves the confederates disapproved of the idea that the available actions of the states to act upon certain situations were dwindling, reducing the power and rights of the states. The set up of all these complications and disagreements led to the secession of the southern states which initiated the start of the brutal American Civil War which lasted from 1861 to 1865.
The Trent Affair was the diplomatic crisis that potentially brought Great Britain and the United States closest to war during the first year of the American Civil War. Although war seemed possible, both sides managed to avoid an armed conflict, and in the process gained greater confidence in one another.
The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American History. Even though the war was a
From 1861 to 1865 our nation's deadliest conflict was being disputed. The American Civil War had more Americans die than in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War combined. ( Ballou) Approximately 600,000 soldiers and 100,000 civilians died. Of all these casualties, three-fourths died from wound infections or infectious diseases. ( Ballou) About 10 million soldiers became ill at some point during the civil war. A huge reason for this is because many men came from small towns and isolated farms. Individuals had never been exposed to disease. This resulted in millions of soldiers getting sick. ( Morris ) Of all the many different diseases that were going on duri...
The Civil War had more deaths than all previous wars combined. Most people think those soldiers in the Civil War died of wounds or amputations, but the truth is that most died from common diseases that they never had been exposed to. Twice as many soldiers died from diseases than those soldiers who died in battle.
Every war, though happens for a reason and bring a better change, is often gruesome. The Civil War broke America in two groups and, at the time, was the war with the most casualties and injured men. As the fight to preserve the Union progressed, so did a number of other areas, such as weaponry and artillery. The advanced technology produced through the Civil War assisted in increasing number of casualties. The North was more fortuitous than the South in multitudinous ways. One of which includes the fact that their industrial society allowed them to produce a larger amount of weapons of a higher quality. One of the major reasons the Union triumphantly defeated the Confederate army was because of their more superior types of weapons.
During winter months, basic huts were constructed from wood when it was available. During the civil war, most of the soldiers fought only 75 percent of the time. When they were not fighting, their day usually started at 5:00 in the morning during the summer and spring, and 6:00 in the morning during the fall and winter. Soldiers would be awakened by fifes and drums, then the first sergeant would take a roll call, and all the men sat down to eat breakfast. During the day, soldiers would be engaged in sometimes as many as five 2-hour long drill sessions on weaponry or maneuvers.
2.75 million soldiers died in the end of the civil war 2 million from the north died and 750’000 from the souTH had died 620,000 people were killed 476,000 people were wounded 400,000 were captured/missing.
The Civil War split the nation in half. It tore apart families, and Union soldiers against Confederate soldiers for four miserable years. From the first shots fired at Fort Sumter 1861, and ending with a unanimous Confederate victory in 1865. All in all 630,000 people died and many thousands wounded. The deaths in the Civil War totally surpassed the death totals from any other war (1). For those managed to survive the up hill battle just began, they faced many unknowns in a world moving in an uncertain direction. With the north beating the succeeded south in the war, politicians faced a hard task of reuniting the divided country. With reconstruction now in affect, both northern workers, and southern farmers now face many new obstacles and uncertainties about their jobs. The southern farmers had it bad, they lost the war, lost their slaves, and were forced to move west in order to find new farmland and continue to make a manageable living. However the north and south would find out that they would need each other in order to move the country forward.
The American Civil War is perhaps the most important event in U.S. history since the American Revolution. Over half a million men would perish between the Union and Confederate Armies. It is important to know that Ulysses S. Grant was an important figure (perhaps the most important behind Abraham Lincoln) in the war. Many will see him as the hero of the American Civil War. Nevertheless there were others who would play an important role to help the Union win the Civil War. The implementation of black soldiers was crucial to the Union in order to achieve victory against the Confederate Army. Yet, the contributions and accomplishments of black soldiers during the Civil War were overlooked for nearly a century following the Civil War. However, within the last 30 years, many scholars and historians have begun to publish books on the history of black soldiers and their contributions to the Civil War. During the Civil War, free blacks were permitted to serve in the Union Army. But it was not until 1863, that black soldiers would see combat and charge against the confederate armies. It is estimated that around 186,000 African American served the Union Army throughout the war, with the creation of 163 colored regiments. My research paper will focus on the Black regiments of the American Civil War and their importance to U.S. history. Some of the important issues that will be discussed in this paper will include the struggles of black soldiers during the Civil War, from their wage earnings (where most made less money than white soldiers); the clothes they wore (most had no uniforms at all). Also, many of these soldiers had trouble getting the basic necessities like shoes, socks and soap. Other areas I will discuss will be the discriminatio...
In the early years of the Civil War it became clear that disease would be the greatest killer. Twice as many Civil War soldiers died of disease then that were killed in combat. This was due to unsanitary and filthy conditions, untrained Medical personnel and poor medical examination of new soldier’s. One fact from the Civil War was 315,000 soldiers died from illnesses that included: 44,558 from diarrhea/dysentery, 10,063 from malaria, 34,833 from typhoid, 958 from typhus and 436 from yellow fever.
The Civil War is often thought of as white northerners and southerners fighting over the freedom of African American’s. African American soldiers would fight on both sides of the war. The eventual acceptance of African American’s and their contributions to the Union Army would be pivotal in the Unions success. African Americans were banned from joining the Union Army in the early part of the Civil War. President Lincoln feared that African Americans in the Army would persuade certain states, such as Missouri, to join the Confederacy. Once African American soldiers could join the Union Army they would contribute to almost every major battle of the Civil War. 180,000 African Americans served in the Union Army in 163 different units, and 9,000 served as seamen in the Union Navy.1 President Lincoln stated, “Without the military help of the black freedmen, the war against the South could not have been won.”2
The novel, “Shiloh” by Shelby Foote is a fictional recreation of the bloody battle. The story begins with the soldiers of the Confederate Army heading towards Pittsburg Landing. The men are marching in terrible conditions. It is pouring down rain and they are dragging their tired legs through the mud. The troops come to a halt so the commanders can talk to General Johnston. General Johnston says the only way they might have a chance is if they plan a surprise attack. As the sergeants hand the men their guns, they are told to check the powder in case it got wet in the rain. A group of soldiers test their guns out on a deer running close by. At the same time the shots were fired, the sun came out and the soldiers started to scream and cheer. These noises combined were more than enough to alert the Union soldiers of the Confederates advance. Palmer remembers what his life was like before going to war. He attended the Louisiana State Military Academy when the Confederacy seceded from the Union. One of his professors predicted the south did not have a chance of winning the war. That night Palmer dreams of holding Sherman at gunpoint making him admit that he was wrong. Prior to the battle, the commanders create a battle plan. Palmer is assigned a part in this process. When the plan fails, Palmer learns that planning a battle is more difficult than it seems because the commanders on the ground face challenges that do not exist on paper.