My Civil War Essay

How did the Civil War affect the United States and its people?

April 10, 1861, the Southern forces attacked Fort Sumter, beginning the Civil war. Only a couple of months after President Abraham Lincoln took office. What began as a bitter dispute over Union and States’ Rights, ended as a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America (pbs.org; Civil War: The War). As many as a third of the soldiers who fought in the war died or were wounded. Between 1861 and 1865, Americans made a war on each other and killed each other in great numbers .The civil war exacted a tremendous cost to the country.

While the government leaders were “pulling” at our country, tearing it apart to gain control, their animosity grew stronger. (Letters 16). While they argued over land young men were being drafted in a war (klasek.com). More than 3 million men fought in the war. Soldiers had to leave their homes and families for up to four years while enduring numerous hardships. The lack of medical knowledge and poor hygiene made things more extreme. The development of new and deadlier weapons made it an honor to live to see the next battle (Hart, Pg 124). African American soldiers fought beside the same people who enslaved them and helped the people who fought for their freedom.

For one thing dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid, and malaria contributed to the deaths and agony of soldiers. Confederate soldier John P. Nugent wrote to his mother, “I am not in very good health I have had diarrhea for more than two months and have yet the very worst kind” (Letters 29). The limited amount of medical knowledge was scarce. Doctors had a little understanding as to how to treat many diseases. Those who were rescued often faced a grim fate in the hands of military doctors (Hart, Pg 125). They didn’t even quite understand the causes of the infections. Fallen men were cared for by under qualified, understaffed, and undersupplied doctors. A Civil War soldier was ten times more likely to die of disease and eight times more likely to die from a battlefield wound than an American soldier in World War I (Pbs.org; Medical Care in the Civil War). The unsanitary conditions didn’t help much on the rapid spread of disease.

Above all medical professionals had no concept of sanitary conditions, antiseptics or germs when the Civil War began. Sometimes doctors went days without washing their hands or instruments, there for passing germs from one patient to another as they treated them. Battlefield surgeons often worked in clothes covered in blood. They wiped their hands and surgical tools on their jackets or dipped them in dirty water between operations (Hart Pg 125). Camps couldn’t provide adequate and safe drinking water and food was often scarce. A union soldier wrote to his wife, “ We are living on half rations yet of hard bread [strikeout] and beef, and salt and shuger and coffee we don’t draw anything else, at all, such as meat and beens and rice and such things, we have lived this way now for two months, but we look for full supplies of evry thing soon for we have got our line of communications completely opened out now” (Letters, pg 41). Most of the time the soldiers drank the same water they bathed in (Hart, Pg 125). Which didn’t make things any better. Not to mention bullets carried dirt and germs into the wound.

Many soldiers who were wounded died where they fell (loc.gov; Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865)(Hart, Pg 125). Union soldier Joseph Jones said, “ Many were to be herd crying for help as we would walk over them and turn our ears against their cries, not havin anytime to loose” (Letters, pg 42). The most common Civil War small arms ammunition was the dreadful Minnie ball, which tore an enormous wound on impact, and an extreme hit usually shattered any bone encountered. Joseph Jones, a union soldier said, “ Many fel by by the fire of the musket and roaring distructive canon of traitors”(Letters, pg 42). Leading to amputations of about 30,000 wounded soldiers. Only 75 percent of amputees survived. Calling for the recruiting of more soldiers. (Why Documents Matter, Pg 31)

Thus in 1862, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation opened the door for African Americans to enlist in the Union Army (Why Documents Matter, pg 30)(archives.gov). Black recruitment was pursued in earnest. Recruitment was slow until black leaders such as Frederick Douglas encouraged black men to become soldiers to ensure eventual citizenship (archives.gov). Frederick Douglas said, “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass let brass letters U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States” (archives.gov)(loc.gov; Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877). Even before the Emancipation Proclamation, thousands of slaves fled to Union lines. (Hart, Pg126). By the end of the war approximately 180,000 African American soldiers had joined the fight (Letters, pg26)(pbs.org; The Civil War).

Many Northerners doubted that African Americans would make good soldiers (Hart, Pg126). The 54th Massachusetts Regiment, he most famous black unit, fought valiantly and earned the praise of the nation (Hart, Pg127). In addition to the problems of war faced by all soldiers, African American soldiers faced additional difficulties created by racial prejudice. “ Colored men were good enough to fight under Washington, but they are not good enough to fight under [General George] McClellan.”(Hart, Pg126). Many discriminatory practices resulted in large numbers of African American soldiers being assigned to perform non-combat, support duties as cooks, laborers, and teamsters. African American soldiers were paid $10 per month, from which $3 was deducted for clothing (archives.gov). White soldiers were paid $13 per month, from which no clothing allowance was deducted (archives.gov). If the Confederated Army captured the African American soldiers they confronted a much greater threat than did their white counterparts. Confederate soldiers shot to death black union soldiers when captured (archives.gov). It is estimated that one-third of all African Americans who enlisted lost their lives. By the end of the war 16 black soldiers had been awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor (archives.gov). Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war- 30,000 of infections and disease (archives.gov). in spite of their hardships, African Americans served the Union Army well and distinguished themselves in battle. One white officer wrote, “ You have no idea how my prejudices with regard to negro troops have been dispelled…[They] behaved magnificently and fought splendidly… They are far superior in discipline to the white troops, and just as brave.”(Hart, Pg 127)

The soldiers of the confederacy were demoralized, tired and had almost no way of winning the war (bbc.co.uk; The End of the American Civil War). Finally the soldiers sufferings were over. General Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865 (pbs.org; The Civil War). “ It would be useless and therefore cruel, to provoke the further effusion of blood” said Confederate General Robert E. Lee (memory.loc.gov). Two percent of the population-more than 620,000-died in the war (pbs.org;The Civil War). After the surrender former soldiers slowly returned home to their families with stories to tell about their hardships. African Americans were left with the honor of being in such a historic period and the promise of freedom. The war for a united nation was over. “ With malice [hatred] toward none; with charity for all; with in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all the nations” said President Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address, March 1865 (Hart, Pg 133)(pbs.org; The Civil War). It became an enormous opportunity to extend the ideals of liberty, equality , and opportunity to the almost 4 million Americans who had just been freed from slavery (Hart, Pg 133). It had to end with bringing together all the states, and unfortunately the end of the Presidency of Lincoln (bbc.co.uk; The End of the American Civil War).