Physical Effects On Soldiers During The Civil War

The anxiety of the battle to begin in combination with the sounds and sights of battle help in explaining why over 300,000 mean deserted during the Civil War. Some men were so desperate to escape the monstrosities of this war that some would resort to shooting themselves in the foot or in the hand. This would seem counterproductive however, due to the poor medical care they would receive.

Hard Marching, its physical effects and how that affected the soldiers mentally

The conditions of war were the ultimate threat to a soldier’s autonomy, sense of dignity, and their mental state. One soldier recalled the moment he realized his company had a lice infestation. “I remember the feeling of humiliation with which we made the discovery we were

inhabited.” The lice and flea epidemics were almost inescapable due to long marches in which they were unable to wash their clothes or even their bodies. Prior to the war, lice were associated with poverty. So now to these soldiers, many of them not from poverty, were made to feel as if they had lost all control even of their own bodies. This gave some of the men a look into how it felt to not be ‘white’. One officer expressed his desire to “put on a white shirt and have my shoes blacked… eat at a table like a white man and feel for a little like a white man once again”. This new way of living was very unfamiliar to the white soldiers fighting in the war. These soldiers had been used to a certain quality of life as a white man in the United States and it was being challenged by the toils of war. The regulations of the army were constantly reminding the soldiers, especially the Confederates, about the humiliations of slavery. “The idea that a Confederate soldier would have to carry a pass just to move about town, was demeaning to the men. “I am tired of being bound up worse than a negro.” The only thing that kept them obedient to this discipline was their sense of duty and patriotism that they held in a regard higher than their own wants and desires. This would only contribute to the transformation of their individual identities.

Lost sentence: no home-These fears would increase as the war progressed, not only for the fear of the battle itself, but the fear of the possible injury resulting from battle.