Union Soldier Life

Infections, like trench foot, were common during the civil war because there were no antibiotics, surgical instruments were never washed, and hospitals were very unhygienic. Doctors, surgeons, and nurses had very little knowledge of how disease and infection spread. Since there were no antibiotics, the most common solution for infections were amputations. If you did not have the limb amputated, normally you would die. So, it was either death or absence of a limb, which one would you

The United States Civil War is possible one of the most meaningful, bloodstained and controversial war fought in American history. Northern Americans against Southern Americans fought against one another for a variety of motives. These motives aroused from a wide range of ideologies that stirred around the states. In James M. McPherson’s What they fought for: 1861-1865, he analyzes the Union and Confederate soldier’s morale and ideological components through the letters they wrote to love ones while at war. While, John WhiteClay Chambers and G. Kurt Piehler depict Civil War soldiers through their letters detailing the agonizing battles of war in Major Problems in American Military History. In both books, readers are able to understand the motives of the war, attitudes of Americans and the hostility of battles through the letters of soldiers.

Conditions were crowded. Often, two couples would share a 10-foot-square room that had a kitchen and a homemade stove(1) In addition sometimes plantation owners would put, up to forty men in one tiny house, or there would be homes with very flimsy roof and as so the people living inside would not be very safe from natural hazards or crazy drunk people who don't know what there doing and so they try to kill people, these people didn't have locks on their doors so they were pretty unsafe from bad things. (2) In the article it states : Housing conditions, jobs and wages differed according to race. The management and skilled jobs were held by whites. The lunas and camp policemen were mostly Portuguese and Hawaiian. The worst jobs were given to the Asians.(1) Job wages were very low people were paid 99 cents per hour and in all 18 dollars per year, and based on your

While slavery in America was an institution that was started over 400 years ago, the affects were so horrific that it is still felt today by modern day African Americans. Many families had to deal with the constant stress of being sold which made it difficult to have a normal family life. Slaves were sold to pay off debts, an owner dying and his slaves were sold in an estate sale, or when an owner’s children would leave the home to begin a life of their own, they would take slaves with them. Often times, children were not raised by their parents, other family members of someone designated to watch the children because the mother and father had to work long hours and the children were too young to join them.

At Valley Forge I can smell the stench of the nasty cooking and hear the angry soldiers crying out that there is more meat. Members of the Congress didn’t trust in General Washington. There is a soldier that has worn out shoes, his legs are bare and half naked. Soldiers were healthy but started to grow sick. Deciding not to re-enlist is a choice I made because of the lack of trust, living conditions, illness at Valley Forge.

Sickness hangs heavy in the air with the stench of death. Soldiers walk by me in tattered clothes, some missing shoes and toes. As I lay on the ground of my hut, trying to sleep, that another poor soldier had to build, I shiver and huddle in a ball to try to keep my body heat toward me in an attempt to keep me somewhat warm. The Continental Army made their winter camp in a town called Valley Forge, located eighteen miles out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the winters of 1777 and 1778, there was freezing weather and a couple thousand of sick soldiers and dead soldiers (Busch, 147). Many soldiers are not re-enlisting or are deserting before their nine-month re-enlistment has ended. General Washington, desperate to keep an army together to fight the war against Britain has asked us soldiers look into our hearts and ask ourselves the following question: Will you quit? To quit would be to not re-enlist. I have decided to not re-enlist for three reasons which are high chances of illness, horrible lodging and weather, and sparse food and clothing.

Brave, have no fear of someone or something. American soldiers represent bravery. The huts of the soldiers were very long and wide. The fireplace was in acceptable condition. No beds in the huts just straw and mud. I have decided to re-enlist because of inspiration, help from congressmen, and conditions are somewhat good.

Drew Gilpin Faust’s, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, is an intensive study that reflects on the impact of the Civil war had on the soldiers and civilians. Faust wanted to show that, as they dealt with and mourned over the overwhelming amount of carnage, the nation and the lives of the American people were already changed forever. Although there are many other publications relating to the Civil war, she is able to successfully reflect upon the morbid topic of death in the Civil war in a new and unique way. This book shows the war in a whole different perspective by focusing less on quantifying and stating the statistics of the civil war deaths. Rather, she examines more closely on how the Civil War deaths transformed the “society, culture and politics,” and the impact it had on the lives of the Americans in the 19th century. It follows the process of the American’s changing

Imagine seeing a friend get shot but not being able to do anything to help because if one would help they’d be the next to go. This is what was happening in the American Civil War from 1861-1865. Many soldiers came back and very different, some in good ways but many in bad ways. During the Civil War, soldiers experienced horrific and terrifying things often causing severe psychological trauma; as a result of this trauma, men often suffered mistreatment and went wrongly diagnosed until Jacob DaCosta discovered and researched what we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Perhaps no one were expecting the secession of eleven states and creation of Confederate States of America in 1861 would be the beginning of a civil war that lasts four years and takes so many lives. Although the election of President Lincoln and slavery could have been the causes of the Civil War, the soldiers’ motivation in enlisting themselves for this war; depending on the geographic location and the time of the enlistment, could vary and partially or even totally be something different. Considering soldiers’ motivations variety and changes based on location and time factors during the four year civil war, this paper by looking for clues in soldiers’ letters as a precious and reliable source, claims the “community pressure” as the dominant

The Civil War prison camps were very important in the Civil War because they were responsible for claiming thousands of lives from both sides. What were these prison camps used in the Civil War? They were places where each side would keep most of their Prisoners of War, or more commonly known as P.O.W.’s, incarcerated. The camps were usually coastal fortifications, old buildings, existing jails, or barracks enclosed with high fences. Conditions at these camps were very harsh and the mortality rate, or the chance you have of getting out alive, was on average 27%. There were more than 150 prison camps established throughout the Civil War. They were all filled way past their capacity limits so inmates were very crowded with very little provisions and surrounded by disease. Three infamous prison camps are the Union’s Fort Delaware, Elmira Prison in New York, and Camp Sumter or Andersonville Prison. An estimated 56,000 men perished in prison camps during the Civil War. (National Geographic Society)

After the Civil war, the period after was known as the Reconstruction era, and was a beginning towards a more unionized America. The South had lost the war, and the North was well on their way to reestablishing the states as a whole Country, and was beginning to rebuild the South once again. With a new era of ideals, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were passed and created a whole new victory for the slaves of America. They were granted freedom and citizenship, along with the men given the right to vote. But the South did not hold this well, for they still discriminated the blacks, and formed into racist groups to terrorize them and their new rights. Abraham Lincoln, the new elected President, was motivated

Starving, cold, unclothed, sick, and hard working people were all put in concentration camps and treated horribly. The Jewish workers worked hard all day everyday or else they would get killed. The way the Nazi’s treated the Jews was extremely bad, the Jews would not get food, clothes, beds, and other necessities. There were all types of camps that had all kinds of jobs, you were assigned a job and didn 't get to pick a job. The Jews had a very compact schedule, they were busy all day, never any time to waste. Since no doctors, lots of diseases got passed around throughout the camps. The life of Jews controlled by Nazi’s was no life to live.

World War II was appalling, but it’s a big part in today’s history. Prisoners of war (POW) camps were in many countries that were involved in the war. Japanese POW camps were particularly gruesome, nearly all the prisoners suffered, whether it was from starvation, illness or torture.

When I was in Basic Training, I got into a major argument with another soldier in my unit. The specifics of the argument are somewhat vague, I have never forgotten the lesson I learned that day. I was so convinced that “I” was right and “she” was wrong – and she was just as convinced that “I” was wrong and “she” was right. The majority of the soldiers in training with us were so tired of us bickering that our drill sergeant got involved; he decided to teach us a very important lesson. He brought us up to the front of the class and placed her on one side of his desk and me on the other. In the middle of his desk was a large, square ammo box. I could clearly see that the box was solid it was black. The drill sergeant then asked the other soldier