Life During Wartime

1. Life During Wartime Chapter 11 Section 3 Page 351

2. African American Soldiers • Union nor Confederacy accepted African Americans at the beginning of the war. • 1862, Union began allowing blacks to serve. • 10% of Union army was black • Served in segregated units • Could not rise above the rank of captain. • Alexander Augusta, a surgeon, did become a lieutenant.

3. African American Soldiers • Black troops were paid less than whites. • Some black regiments served w/o pay rather then take the lesser amount offered. • Congress finally equalized the pay for all troops in 1864. • Mortality rates for African Americans was higher b/c they served in high disease areas. • When African American troops were captured by the Confederates they were executed rather than treated as prisoners. • A particularly gruesome massacre occurred at Fort Pillow Tennessee were Confederate troops murdered 200+ men as they begged for their lives.

4. Slave Resistance in the Confederacy • As Union forces pushed deeper into Confederate territory, thousands of slaves sought freedom behind the lines of the Union army. • Slaves who remained on plantations broke tools and sabotaged the farms. • Southerners were fearful of a slave uprising so they spread rumors about the poor treatment of freed slaves. • By 1864 many Confederates realized that slavery was doomed.

5. Southern Shortages • Food Shortage • Drain of man power to the war • Union occupation of food growing areas • Loss of slaves to work the fields • Meat became a luxury • Food prices skyrocketed • 1863, women and children were rioting over bread & rice • Union blockade of southern ports created shortages of items including salt, sugar, coffee, medicine, ect.

6. Northern Economic Growth • War had a more positive affect on the Northern economy. • Most industries were booming • Wages did not keep up w/ prices so many people’s standard of living declined. • When white male workers went on strike, employers hired women, free blacks, immigrants, & boys to replace the men at lower wages. • Northern women got gov. jobs for the first time. • Many businesses became corrupt by cheating the gov. on their contracts. • Nation’s first income tax was used during the war.

7. Lives on the Line • Life on the front lines was difficult. • Men were not given baths on a regular bases. • Bathrooms and garbage disposal was almost unheard of. • Body lice, dysentery, & diarrhea were common. • Army rations were not appealing. • Union troops lived on beans, bacon, & hard biscuits. • Southerners food was even less appealing.

8. Civil War Medicine • Established a Sanitary Commission to improve the conditions for troops. • It sent agents to teach troops how to sanitize water & set up hospitals. • Dorthea Dix became the first female superintendent of women nurses. • She insisted nurses be 30+ & plain looking. • Clara Barton served on the front lines of battle.

9. Civil War Medicine • As a result of the Sanitary Commission, the death rate among Union troops dropped. • The South did not have a Sanitary Commission but thousands of women volunteered as nurses.

10. Prisons • Improvements didn’t reach prisons where life was worse than in camps. • The worst Confederate prison was a Andersonville, GA. • Prisoners had no shelter & they drank from the same steam that acted as the sewer. • 1/3 of the prisoners at Andersonville died.

11. Prisons • The South’s lack of food & supplies also contributed to the bad conditions as prisons. • Prison camps in the North were only slightly better. • Did provide shelter and food • 15% of the prisoners in the South died • 12% of the prisoners in the North died

12. Answer the following questions • What was the experience of African American soldiers in the Union army? • How did slaves aid the fight for freedom in the South? • How did the war affect the economy in the South? • How did the war affect the economy in the North? • How were women affected by the war? • What new measure did the U.S. government use to pay for the war? • What kinds of conditions did soldiers live in during the war? • How were prisoners of war treated? • How did the U.S. Sanitary Commission and Clara Barton help soldiers?