Chapter III: Civilian Influences on the Military

3/1/2018

From Mrs. Leisch:
"This first is a  tintype of two women who posed for their photograph with Enfield bayonets.  I interpret this photo as being representative of the moral, social, and psychological support of women for the war.
This second is an albumen print of a group of workers posed in front of the Washington Arsenal.  Nearly two dozen individuals died in an explosion at this facility in June, 1864. They, and tens of thousands of other civilians worked in manufacturing facilities like or in their own homes during the war producing the food, shelter (tentage) clothing (uniforms), arms and ammunition (like this facility) that was absolutely essential to soldiers.  This photo is often cropped to exclude the men at the left, but they are part of the story, too.
The third is a group of women with needlework/sewing projects. Millions of women ‘fought with needles’ of various sorts, providing soldiers with uniforms, socks, and other necessities."

Again, I thank our author for providing us with supplementary narrative and imagery.
Assignment Instructions
In the comments below, please answer the following questions and respond to someone else's comment.
1. What is it that determines – or should determine -- whether a civilian’s particular role in the Civil War was important?
2. What information from this Civilian Influence on the Military do you think would be most important to share with our military reenactor friends?
3. What information from this chapter was most useful for you? Why?

Please post your comments within a week, so we have the following week to make responses. Please read Chapter IV: Civilian Participation in the War by March 15th and return on that day for the next installment of this exciting discussion.
Thank you for participating.
Den Bolda

15 Comments

Sharon Cossaboon

3/4/2018 05:38:56 pm

1. Whether North or South, the citizen civilian became a soldier because each side believed it was his duty to God and Country to do so. I think the last paragraph of the chapter sums it up really good. Civilians lived in structure and the army had to operate with some kind of structure if at all possible. I think each soldier brought with him a very needed skill from civilian life. Farmers, ministers, doctors, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, cooks, etc. all contributed their skills when and where needed to fight the was in which they believed in their causes. The elite organized these soldiers because they brought with them their skills from civilian life. These might have been men like bank managers, CEOs of companies such as was mentioned the railroads. They had the skills to manage and plan, change plans and also communicate. Whether North or South, these skills at all levels contributed to the war to support each side. I am sure it didn't all run so smoothly at all times. As the war dragged on, even the structure fell into disrepair at times.
2. It was the importance of the code of ethics that each man who became a soldier carried these ethics with him onto the battlefield. I do not believe that the common person today realizes the importance of this. I think this is overlooked in reading and learning about the Civil War. The story relating the FOUND MONEY is a great example to relay to the re-enactor friends. It demonstrates the importance that these soldiers and civilians lived with. I think it is important to share that civilians lived a structured life and soldiers fought with a structured attitude and behavior. They believed it would be a short lived war. They went into it supporting God and Country as being their duty. They put God and family aside for a short time. As the war dragged on with no end in sight, the damage to the God and Family atmosphere set in. As the war lingered, soldiers wondered what their true responsibilities were to be. The God and family became an unknown issue riding on the shoulders of the soldiers away from home.
3. I was fascinated with the information about the structure. God and Country, God and Family and how this was carried over from childhood to soldier. I really had never learned about this connection. The structure provided the strength for each army, North and South. This structure is what each opposing enemy had in common. They each used it as strength to go into war against each other for the causes they each believed in.
I like the information with the diary entries. Nothing tells a story better than a person who lived it. We get first hand glimpse of a civilian and his girlfriend, pausing to be married, then becoming a soldier. We read of his war injuries and medical needs. We read of the death of Susie, sick children, little food, dangers of the war so close to families and homes. These people tell us their lives that all we can do is read about it. Can we even begin to fathom how they lived? Can we even begin to imagine that happening on our home soil with the issues we face today?

It does make me wonder and ponder, how important was the Revolutionary War hard fought for independence, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution to our Civil War ancestors? Did they see it as a failure of democracy while they stared division in the face? Were their beliefs and life styles a hundred years later so strong and different than the independence of the whole of America?
With the atrocities of Andersonville prison and Sherman's march to Atlanta were the code of ethics and structure ignored?
I find it very interesting that Ward took time to LEARN about the war before he enlisted as a volunteer. What did he feel he had to learn first before becoming involved?

Marie McNamara

3/5/2018 11:52:43 am

Very much enjoyed this chapter. It reminded me of the memory of several local men in our southeastern Minnesota county, within our Irish township. In a nearby family there is a faithfully retold story of their family member who headed home with friends when discharged upon war's end, walking part of the way; they did not wait for train or wagons. They were so homesick. "God, family, and country" is an expression passed on in following times of separation during WWI and WWII, with sons and grandsons of Civil War veterans. It is no wonder that letters were so treasured during the Civil War during such complete separation. Writing letters and making knitted items for the military is something we enjoy, and an important activity to share at events. A well timed mail call with deliveries of letters, a few newspapers to be shared, and small packages for some can be a still treasured connection between civilian and military. A "post office" as done at a ladies aid fair, done for school children has yielded some touching short letters of concern, questions, and encouragement sent to the military. Even Abraham Lincoln eventually admitted that civilians were adding to the war effort as if they were in the trenches.

3/7/2018 07:12:59 pm

Marie.
I love the stories. What a wonderful story that has stuck around your area. It is great that we all have museums around the country to show of the many artifacts from the Civil War era. But it is the letters, diaries, stories and newspapers that really make the Civil War era come to life. It is the words left behind for us to read that is the next best thing to a real Civil War person talking.

Den Bolda

3/16/2018 09:22:44 am

Marie,
Thanks for sharing this story. These are the types of things that really do it for me.

Marie

3/5/2018 12:12:58 pm

I meant to add that what determines importance of civilian role or actions large and small (adult and child civilian) might be the morale support, encouragement, and nurturing of the determination of the soldier. Whether doing your civilian adult job well at home to help the war effort--whichever side and society you were trying to strengthen--to chores done by children, to civilian home actions like letters, sewing, knitting...all were important to "accumulating" Union and Confederate efforts and a lengthening war. P.S. "shoddy" efforts and materials are not liked now, as they were not liked then.

Sheridan Brown link

3/5/2018 04:33:00 pm

1. What is it that determines – or should determine -- whether a civilian’s particular role in the Civil War was important?
I think every person who lived during the Civil War should be deemed important. What a horrid and devestatimgbyime in our country! Every person has a story and thus a contribution to the times.

2. What information from this Civilian Influence on the Military do you think would be most important to share with our military reenactor friends?
By comparing the civilian's day to day life before enlisting to the soldiers life after enlisting will help others understand the contrasts and obstacles felt by them and the families.
3. What information from this chapter was most useful for you? Why?
Learning that position was purchased and used was surprising but still heard of in today's world. Knowing a civilian could use his civilian skills for war causes is interesting.

3/7/2018 07:16:08 pm

Sheridan
I agree that every person who lived during this Civil War era played a major importance to the war effort. Those who enlisted all brought necessary skills with them as I mentioned only a few in my post above. Those who stayed on the home front offered support in many different ways. Not one person was left untouched by this war.

Colleen

3/6/2018 04:09:21 pm

1. I agree with Sheridan that each person played a role and should be considered key, whether in a military or civilian role. Just as every life was touched by the war, the war was affected by each individual.

2. I think that in understanding the civilian and home life of soldiers one understands the great sacrifice men made to do what they felt was their duty and ethically and morally right. When this was done with knowledge of the dangers and privations their families were facing, the strength, dedication, and courage of so many is inspiring.

3. The information I found most useful was that soldiers built and decorated churches which benefited civilian populations. I want to learn more about how the military interacted with civilian populations as they passed through.

3/7/2018 07:21:30 pm

Colleen
I like the statement about every life was touched by the war and the war was affected by every person. Nobody went untouched by this war, even down to the youngest of children. I think even the children understood the importance of the war. They had all the experiences of danger, strength,dedication, and courage just like the adults. I am sure, for children as well as adults on the home front, there were some very scary moments that many people and families faced as the war came near towns and homes.

Joni Wolf

3/8/2018 10:17:37 pm

Well put! My thoughts exactly! Every civilian was important. And I, too, feel that it is important to know that the soldiers were basically morally upright individuals and that they interacted with civilian society in a beneficial way - it was not always negative.

Jessica

3/8/2018 11:50:41 pm

1.Every soldier took what skills they had prior to enlisting and was able to contribute. Their presence alone made them important to the cause, for their sense of duty. they felt the impact of what they could contribute to their country and fellow men, and were willing to die for it. I’d say that’s as important as one can get.
2. Taking away from this book I would relay to Reenactors to try to apply what skills they have and find a way to apply to civil war times. Are they a strong leader? How can that to be applied for their advantage? Perhaps they’re organized or have a craft; apply those skills to improve the impression and company they serve.
3. I really enjoyed the stories and journal entries and getting a better sense of why one would join the army, but I would say I got the most out of seeing what the women were doing for the war effort with the entry posted above. As a civilian reenactor it was good for me to get ideas and see a visual on these women; from clothing to what I could be doing while at an event.

3/11/2018 12:49:29 pm

Thinking of my strengths in my life today, I work in the field of education. Both my parents were teachers. I also have a strength in sewing and craft work. I use to make my children's clothes and my own clothes. I have made two Revolutionary dresses, one adult and one child. I have made an 1820 dress. However I did use my sewing machine. I also have a strength in cooking and baking. I could easily discuss these interests and strengths with children and adults and how they compare to Civil War era and today. I have thought about getting involved in a re-enactment group but I have not pursued it yet. I have my contributions but need to do some period research for them.

Lenora Gillespie

3/16/2018 12:52:03 pm

I hope your friends in reenacting take your advice. I think it would make for a much better scenario if the men remembered that they are portraying real people that lived and had a life before the war and families at home that they missed!

3/16/2018 01:02:53 pm

1) Any role from civilian life that could be used to help support or further the cause for which they were fighting was important to the war effort and even those that were not in the military were important in their efforts to help.
2) I think the most important thing to share with military reenactors is for them to remember that they are portraying real people who had lives before joining the war effort and they had families at home they missed and that missed them! So often today they want to go out and “fight” and go back to camp and sit, forgetting that in camp the 1860s individual soldiers often thought of home!
3) The information that I found most helpful was that they thought differently about their sense of duty back then. It was often God first, then family and then country, during the war many struggled with putting their country before their families, causing much inward conflict between sense of duty to their country and duty to their families.

Annabel Sheron

3/17/2018 01:40:56 pm

Sorry for the delay, we had a death in the family and I had to focus on other things. But I still wanted to post since I had done my reading. .
1. What is it that determines – or should determine -- whether a civilian’s particular role in the Civil War was important?

As with life today, at a superficial level money can play a factor. It was interesting to read that the troops elected their officers so in the end, personal impact and leadership could make a difference. Still, it seems meritocracy did not always carry the day.

2. What information from this Civilian Influence on the Military do you think would be most important to share with our military reenactor friends?

The reminder that before you were a soldier you were a civilian and after the war you would return to a civilian life.

3. What information from this chapter was most useful for you? Why?

The concept of parole and how honor was considered to keep folks honest. I was also intrigued by the tug soldiers felt between duty and family -- not so different today really.

Chapter III: Civilian Influences on the Military

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Den Bolda

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