Survival: One Meal At a Time --> Union

Union soldiers cooking dinner in camp (Library of Congress)

The Civil War is such a complicated time period. I have been studying the Civil War for years, and I’m only scratching the surface of knowing what it was like to live in 1860’s America. The soldiers experienced more than just battle, they also suffered from camp sicknesses and starvation. The governments, both North and South, did their best to feed the 4,000,000 soldiers, but still men went hungry. According to statistics, the Union Army alone had 2,700,000 men enlisted. Among those numbers, there were approximately 100,000 men under 18, and 25 of them were 10 years old or younger! There definitely weren’t any buses to take all the men over to the closest McDonald’s! How did the armies feed their millions of hungry men and boys?

Thanksgiving: the Civil War Way

Ahh, Thanksgiving: The time of turkey, family and overeating; Black Friday shopping and cranberry sauce. Yesterday my family enjoyed Thanksgiving just like everyone else, but one tradition in my family kept me thinking about the Civil War. 

What is this tradition? 

About: Face!

Everybody has a story. Especially those who are fighting to preserve their specific way of life. It's easy  to group all the soldiers together amongst the thousands in his brigade and think about the Army. That's where textbooks teach war incorrectly. They show the numbers and the size of men at war, but they never talk about the one boy from Alabama fighting to protect his home. It's a very human reaction, and we do this every day without even thinking about it. We glance at someone and see everything besides the man. I'll prove it to you: