At first, the terrain matched their own romantic conceptions of the battle and the heroes who had fallen fighting for their righteous cause. Company and battalion drill, said Oates, was the daily occupation. Listing of Civil War Photos About 600 photographs of Maine Civil War officers which were solicited by the Adjutant General during and immediately after the War, plus a few images of privates and non-coms which have been donate. The CWSS is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and several public and private partners whose goal is to increase Americans' understanding of this decisive era in American history by making information about it widely accessible. Vegetables such as beans and peas often proved hard to come by, especially for the Rebs. More than 153,000 Virginians served in Confederate units during the Civil War, and most were native-born farmers between the ages … • The psychologically daunting experiences of African-American soldiers and how comrades’ attitudes influenced their lives during the war and in its aftermath. Dan Bullock died at age 15 in 1969 and efforts to recognize the young African-American Marine continue and are highlighted in this Military Times documentary. A Civil War army on a march must have been a sight to see: soldiers stretched out for miles, with horses and mules pulling large cannons, and followed by wagon trains. The majority of soldiers North and South had been farmers before the war. The newly elected governor of Alabama, John Gill Shorter, a prominent Democrat from Eufaula with whom Oates was politically allied, was also there to see the 15th off, and he delivered a short address before the men boarded the cars. Stanford had carefully selected Haymarket as the site of the regimental hospital. See a list of 18,000 African American sailors that served in the Civil War. One of Oates’s men later wrote that the decomposing carcasses of humans and beasts spoke “in dumb eloquence” of man’s inhumanity. (Rodney Bryant and Daniel Woolfolk/Military Times)... Homepage Featured Top Stories, Homepage Hero. It is not known precisely how many men the 15th Alabama buried in the fields around St. Paul’s Church, where their remains still lay after all this time. Over 426,000 Confederates were captured, of which some 248,000 were paroled in the field; imprisoned in the North, and 26,000, or 12% of those sent to POW camps, died in captivity. 5.0 out of 5 stars 1. In the Civil War, measles was by far, as Oates himself declared, “the worst enemy of our army,” for it spread rapidly among the adult soldiers who had developed no immunity to the disease and who could do nothing to fight it. Over 1,500 Medals of Honor were awarded to soldiers and sailors who “distinguish[ed] themselves by their gallantry.”. But the men did die, and whether the place was good or bad, serene or bedlam, the only thing that mattered was that poor boys who could not do anything to save themselves, young men a very long way from their homes in Alabama, were slipping away. 90. The hell faced by the men of the 15th Alabama at Haymarket was experienced by thousands of soldiers on both sides. Both sides loved dime novels and the Bible. The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Only 6 left in stock - order soon. It had just been a month since the Confederate victory, and the Alabamians were all curious to see what a battlefield really looked like. (Oates called him “Georgia’s most erratic and greatest talker.”) Not far from the camp were “bold springs” of water, the kind Virginia was noted for, Oates said happily. The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Southerners who had not farmed included carpenters, mechanics, merchants, machinists, lawyers, teachers, blacksmiths, and dentists. Soothing the Savage Breast Many of the sick, however, were quartered in tents raised in the fields around the church, the fields that already held those soldiers who had not recovered from their wounds after the Battle of Manassas. Some data has been edited due to new research since the original article was published. From the battlefield, Oates led his men—beaten down by the heat, their own fatigue, and somber thoughts of death—along the Alexandria Pike until they reached a vast open field, not altogether unlike Pageland, about five miles east of Centreville and three miles west of Fairfax Court House. Despite the arduous regularity of drilling every day for at least four hours, the men did have some respite and moments of gaiety and laughter. Had the authors chosen to make the book primarily a scholarly examination of data and information, it wouldn’t have been accessible to the average Civil War buff. It was a lesson as old as time. Soldiers This area of the site allows you to search, by last name only, a database of over 150,000 soldiers, sailors and marines that served in Massachusetts units and regiments during the Civil War. 7 Figures (Union Figures Done in Gray) Plus 1 Classic Toy Soldiers, Inc Civil War Cannon Offered by Classic Toy Soldiers, Inc. 5.0 out of 5 stars 1. In the Confederate army, 75 percent of the men served in the infantry, 20 percent in the cavalry, and 5 percent in artillery. Oates fondly remembered “the fife of old Hildebrand, and Jimmie Newberry’s and Pat Brannon’s drums, as they were heard at reveille and tattoo.” Colonel Cantey’s teamster also brought a smile to the men’s faces: He “was the only man connected with the regiment,” Oates said, “who could surpass the Colonel in profanity.” But camp life involved mostly endless marching and backbreaking work. At The Toy Soldier Company, we offer well over 1700 figure and accessory sets which are devoted to the American Civil War. 1. 95. After the initial symptoms, their condition generally worsened. Some units were raised, but it was too late for them to make a difference. The army had an epidemic on its hands, and no one seemed to know quite what to do about it. [citation needed]Given the large number of boys and young men in the American Civil War, compared to the number of older men, one author stated that it “might have been called The Boys’ War.” For some, those who held to their faith, knowing they were housed in a church gave them succor and hope. Those who fell to sickness were stricken by the fear—and the near certainty—of approaching death. Teachers should refer to A Guide for Classroom Teachers Researching the Civil War at the Pennsylvania State Archives (PDF). Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, which will be amended over time. For others, they must have been pleased, at the very least, to have a sturdy and dry roof over their heads. Nor were bullets and shells the only or greatest threat to Civil War soldiers. Later in the war, increasing numbers of Federal soldiers fought to abolish slavery, if for no other reason than to end the war quickly. Oates recalled that white posts “had been set up to mark each of the places where fell General [Bernard] Bee, of South Carolina, Colonels [Francis] Bartow, Georgia; [Charles] Fisher, of North Carolina, and [Egbert] Jones, of Alabama.”. Oates, however, released Cody from duty from several days and allowed him to get stronger. Someone in Johnston’s high command eventually decided that the Alabamians had stayed in Pageland long enough, and around the middle of September the 15th Alabama, along with several other regiments, received orders to transfer their camps closer to Centreville. Disease killed twice as many men as combat. Most soldiers were between the ages of 18 and 39 with an average age just under 26. Ill and dying soldiers from the 15th Alabama, including the ones who had been left behind at Pageland and those who had more recently succumbed to disease in Camp Toombs, were transported in uncomfortable springless wagons to the field hospital in Haymarket. Then, on August 21, the regiment received orders to proceed to the front. There was not that care taken of the men of any regiment, so far as my observation extended, which foresight, prudence and economy of war material—leaving humanity out of the question—imperatively demanded….Had the Confederate authorities made more persistent efforts than they did, hospitals could have been more established in sufficient numbers to have saved the lives of hundreds and thousands of good men, which were for the want of them unnecessarily sacrificed. While Gus McClendon was on guard duty one day, a little girl gave him a Bible as a present, all carefully inscribed with the girl’s name. In this respect, it is somewhat miraculous that the entire Confederate camp at Pageland was not stricken with the disease. In the Union army, 80 percent of the men were in the infantry, 14 percent in the cavalry, and 6 percent in artillery. Why They Fought It was in the Confederate camps there that, in the words of one private in the 15th Alabama, “the reaper commenced the harvest of death” that would continue for the regiment until its surrender at Appomattox. About U.S., Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 This database contains the names of approximately 6.3 million soldiers who served in the American Civil War. Others were given beds of straw and hay under the only protection available—the tall trees that shaded the yard around the church. Haymarket was not unique in the autumn of 1861, for there were hospital sites just like the one at St. Paul’s near practically every army camp, Union and Confederate, from Virginia to Texas. As Gus McClendon remembered: “The fatigue duty consisted of policing the camp, looking after its sanitary condition, cutting and hauling wood, and going with the forage and commissary wagons to the depot at Manassas Junction, to assist in loading them with the supplies for man and beast.”, With the camp less than two miles from the fields where the Battle of Manassas had been fought, Oates decided to take Company G and some other men from the regiment on a tour of the ground. The American Civil War (also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865, fought between northern states loyal to the Union and southern states that had seceded to form the Confederate States of America. The authors do not neglect the complex questions concerning why humans are willing to risk their own lives to fight and kill other humans. Regular Army: For information about researching the military service of persons in the Regular Army, see Anne Bruner Eales and Robert M. Kvasnicka, Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives of the United States, 3rd edition (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 2000), Chapter 4, Records of the Regular Army. Both armies claimed to be fighting with God’s blessing, and religion played a big part in the lives of many soldiers. The National Park Service manages 14 National Cemeteries, all but one of which is linked to a Civil War battlefield park. $42.90 $ 42. Bertram Groene's "Tracing Your Civil War Ancestor" discusses several different sources on Civil War regiments. Those horrors began at Pageland. Religion The carcasses of dead horses still littered the field. He carried the book through several battles, treasuring the gift and honoring the girl who had given it to him. Infected soldiers experienced high fever, rash, runny noses, watery eyes, and coughing. During long stretches in … Years later he wrote in anger: I do not know who was responsible for it, but it was a great mistake. In camp, an itinerant preacher arrived to do some Bible thumping and held a prayer meeting that attracted large numbers of soldiers. According to historian Bell I. Wiley, who pioneered the study of the Civil War common soldier, the average Yank or Reb was a ‘white, native-born, farmer, protestant, single, between 18 and 29.’ He stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed about 143 pounds. Soldiers played checkers, chess, and baseball, whittled and carved, and if they were feeling particularly creative, would even put on plays. Costa and Kahn find that many Northern soldiers saw the Civil War as a war of liberty against despotism. Larger-than-life soldiers made of granite and bronze are hard to ignore, which is, of course, what their makers intended. The 15th Alabama’s was set up at Haymarket, a little village of a handful of houses and shops 10 miles west of Manassas Junction. Confederate soldiers sometimes fought because they feared Union victory would result in a society where black people were placed on an even footing with whites. About 2.75 million soldiers fought in the Civil War — 2 million for the North and 750,000 for the South. Oates became outraged at the desperate situation. The most popular metal toy soldiers of this period come from Britains, Tradition and Imrie Miniatures, while in our Small Scale plastic figures (HO … Oates distinctly remembered, almost 45 years later, the pungent smell of fennel and pennyroyal—weeds growing on the battlefield that had been mashed down during the fight and still gave off their recognizable aromas. For every soldier killed in battle, two died of disease. In June 1864, the Confederacy raised each soldier’s pay to $18 per month, a sum worth less and less as the Confederate dollar dropped in value. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Guide to Civil War Holdings (PDF) by Dr. James P. Weekes and Linda A. Ries. When they heard the news, the men cheered and sang all through the night. The noise of camp—officers shouting, feet plodding on dry sod, bugles blowing, drums tapping—echoed over Pageland in one vast discord of sound. Passing the Time Great deals on Marx Civil War Toy Soldiers 1970-Now. This article was written by Eric Either and originally appeared in the December 2003 issue of Civil War Times. Using information from government documents (e.g., pension records), as well as soldiers’ journals and letters and other available data, the authors provide a compelling look at the influence of social interaction and social networks during a time of war. Prisoners of War Some of Oates’s men thought the odor came from “dead Yankees,” concluding that Northerners must have a different smell in death than Southerners. U.S., Civil War … Of the 10,500 armed conflicts that occurred during the Civil War, nearly 400 were identified as the principal battles. Both sides were moved by the heartbreaking tune ‘Home Sweet Home.’. Between 250,000 and 420,000 males under 17 were involved in the American Civil War, for the Union and the Confederacy combined. Civil War Soldiers' Stories Portrait of a Federal soldier, between 1860 and 1864 Civil War. The endless deaths produced a “crude shock” among the men of the 15th Alabama and, as anyone might expect, “threw a gloom” over the camp that could not be shaken off. Civil War Toy Soldiers 2nd Wisconsin Iron Brigade Infantry Firing Battle of Gettysburg Figure Collectors Showcase Toy Soldiers Painted Metal Figure 1/32 Britains King Country Gunn First Legion Type CS00847. Throughout the desolation of this epidemic, the 15th Alabama—just like all the other regiments—was ordered to keep up its drill four hours a day, although those who were not sick began to lose their strength under the physical burdens they had to bear. This is a list of all the photographs found in the Prints and Photographs Division's \"Civil War Negatives and Related Prints\" and Feinberg-Whitman collections that depict named Civil War soldiers with the rank of private, corporal, or sergeant. At Camp Toombs, where the remainder of the 15th Alabama spent that autumn, camp life fell into the same old routines. The men in gray cherished ‘Dixie,’ ‘Bonnie Blue Flag,’ ‘Yellow Rose of Texas,’ and other songs. ungrateful humanity; we hear him abused the remaining six [hours of the day].”. There are many answers to this question, not always involving ideological passions and patriotism. Some soldiers came down with pneumonia and encephalitis (brain inflammation) as a result of measles; others suffered middle-ear infections, severe diarrhea, and convulsions. Black Troops South and west of the town a marshy stretch of woods produced more than a sufficient quantity of “bad air” and “bad water” that Civil War doctors incorrectly believed were the causes of contagious diseases. Civil War Trunk Contents 6 Comb – The comb was a useful tool not only to present a respectful appearance, but also to help rid the scalp of various bugs and other crawling vermin that infested every camp area during the Civil War. The doctor told him to stay in his tent, which soldiers were not allowed to do, especially when it came time for drill and dress parade. The large majority of Civil War soldiers were native born. This would explain why many wounded Union troops were so anxious to return to their units, even though they may not have been fully recovered from their injuries. For starters, until later in the war, latrines were often built upwind or even upstream from camps. Their suffering, as he had said, was unbearable—to them and to their comrades who survived. Oates and the other capable officers and men of the 15th struck their tents under a sweltering sun, leaving about 300 of the regiment’s sick behind, and marched up and down the swales of the Warrenton Turnpike toward Bull Run. Oates visited St. Paul’s and described with a critical eye what he saw there: At this improvised hospital there was neither accommodations nor comfort; no bedding but the soldier’s blanket, with his knapsack for a pillow, and no nourishment but army rations; a scant supply of medicine and no medical attention worth having, except such as old Dr. Shepherd…could give….The nights in October were cold, and early in the month there was frost, and the suffering of the sick men was intolerable….It was no uncommon sight at that hospital to see six or seven corpses of 15th Alabama men laid out at once. Read more about Union Soldiers. “At the time,” wrote McClendon, “I was full of malice and hatred for the ‘Boys in Blue’ and was just as anxious to kill him as he was to kill me, yet when I would stop and take a second thought, and gaze upon those little mounds I could truthfully say of the dead ‘Boy in Blue’ that sometime, and somewhere, he had been ‘somebody’s darling.’ ” When the men walked solemnly back to Pageland and reached their camp, they thought their short journey had showed them the worst of war. And all too often young soldiers—brave and true boys—give their lives for no good reason at all. The sick were attended by Dr. Francis A. Stanford, a native of Georgia who had enlisted in the 15th Alabama at Fort Mitchell on the Chattahoochee, and by a Dr. Shepherd of Eufaula, Alabama, who was nearly 75 years old. The men walked over the ground with expressions of awe and wonder on their faces. “It had a most unmilitary appearance,” Oates remembered years later, “but the captain was large and corpulent, a lawyer by profession, unused to the sun, 52 years old, and therefore excusable.”. The trees had been chopped to pieces by musket volleys. The first man in the regiment to die was Andrew J. Folmar, 18, a private in Company I. Usually, Yankees banked on hardtack and coffee, while their counterparts tried to get by on corn bread and coffee. Guide to Civil War Records (PDF) by Douglas L. Royer. U.S., Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865. There are four publications which offer more information on Civil War regiments. This ignores reality. American Civil War casualties are those soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who died, were wounded, went missing or were captured. Making a Living To fill the hours, Yanks and Rebels wrote letter after letter to family, friends, and sweethearts. The Alabamians learned before they ever fired a single shot in anger that war often brought suffering and death where they were least expected, and that this particular war would seldom show mercy to anyone caught in the swath of its deadly scythe. “Drilling and performing the routine of camp duty was the regular order,” recalled Oates. Charles E. Dornbusch's four volumes "Military Bibliography of the Civil War" contains information on thousands of Civil War publications. ‘What breakfast could possibly compare with this,’ Union Lieutenant Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote in his journal in 1862—’hard crackers, boiled beef (2 days in the haversack) and bologna sausage (ditto).’ Officially, the daily Union ration consisted of 22 ounces of bread and either 12 ounces of pork or a pound of salted beef. Index of soldiers who served in the Civil War, 1861-1865 culled from 6.3 million soldier records in the General Index Cards to the Compiled Military Service Records in the National Archives. Marx/Classic Toy Soldiers, Inc Civil War Confederate Artillery Set. Day by day we see him on his rounds of mercy from the rising of the sun until ‘the going down thereof,’ and from dark until midnight, in fair weather and foul, and oh! Later in the war the soldiers denominated such rumors as ‘grapevine telegrams’ and paid no attention to them.” In the loneliness of an army camp, with thousands of fellow soldiers all around, some of the men, Oates claimed, died of homesickness. Then many others quickly became sick and had no strength or immunity to fight off the overwhelming disease. All around Centreville and Manassas, near where the Confederates had won their first major victory in a battle fought on July 21, Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston had extended the Southern lines. At Pageland, the “Dead March” was so frequently heard that men became inured to it and soon did not even inquire as to who had died or was being buried. With sadness in his heart, Oates said he thought the estimates were all low. The village, located about six miles southwest of the Manassas battlefield, was not a perfect place to set up a hospital. Enlistees also were more likely to be from pro-Lincoln towns, and ideology and money were found to be equally important enlistment decisions. Across the broad expanse of field, practically nothing but row upon row of tents could be seen. The measles predictably followed the column from Pageland to Camp Toombs, even though the sickest men had been quarantined at Pageland. Caspar W. Boyd, a private in Company I, wrote home to his parents that he “found a sight ther that I never saw befor.” Some of the dead from the battle had been hastily buried and their arms and hands protruded from beneath thin mounds of dirt. Taps For example, “before” and “after” photos of one African-American male illustrate the dramatic changes that sometimes occurred when poverty-ridden blacks joined the Union ranks. The bulk of these men were volunteers, though estimates say that 5 to 6 percent were conscripts. Roughly 211,000 Union soldiers were captured; 17,000 were paroled in the field; 30,000, or about 15.5% of those sent to prisoner of war camps, died there. Begin your Civil War Research Learn about resources at the National Archives for researching individuals who served in the Civil War. Check the lists of the Confederate prisoners held at Fort McHenry and the Union troops kept at Andersonville prison camp. Civil War Soldiers carried enough ammunition to fire about 60 shots into battle. What we do know is that millions of people grieved for the loss of loved ones. We find, all else being equal, that the men who en­listed tended to come from poorer towns. The Average Soldier According to historian Bell I. Wiley, who pioneered the study of the Civil War common soldier, the average Yank or Reb was a ‘white, native-born, farmer, protestant, single, between 18 and 29.’ Search the service records of over 6 million men, blue and gray, who served in the Civil War. Union soldiers fought to preserve the Union; the common Confederate fought to defend his home. The 15th Alabama Infantry fell victim to an enemy more powerful than any Union army in the summer and autumn of 1861. A Civil War book full of charts, graphs and tables, even when it is com­bined with intriguing human interest profiles of soldiers who fought in our nation’s epic four-year struggle, can be a risky undertaking for any author. The 15th Alabama went into camp beside the 21st North Carolina, the 16th Mississippi, and the 21st Georgia Regiments. At the beginning of the Civil War each regiment was raised, trained, and equipped by the state of origin, leading to a great deal of variation in equipment and uniforms. Oates thought that at least 150 men died there and were buried in the churchyard, but in old age, as he wrote his memoirs and strained to remember the details of the Haymarket hospital, he caught himself and confessed that the number must have been much greater. Each record provides the full name, regiment, whether Union or Confederate, the company, the soldier's … Oates and his men roamed fields where the grass was still stained red with dried blood, where unexploded shells lay exposed to view, and where minié balls covered patches of ground in a thick lead carpet. Expand your options of fun home activities with the largest online selection at eBay.com. It is estimated that 100,000 Union soldiers were 15 years or younger. 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