Table 2: Accouterments of a Civil War Soldier

ACCOUTERMENTS OF A CIVIL WAR SOLDIER

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONS

Numerous items, both military and personal, account for this table’s contents. Soldiers learned to carry only the essentials.

After a soldier completed a long march he would go into camp. He usually shared a tent with another soldier and it was the responsibility of each soldier to carry half of a tent with him. The gum blanket and bedroll are what a soldier often had to sleep on. The gum blanket is made of rubber. This was placed on the ground to keep out water. The woolen blanket was used to cover the soldier. Photographs and other valuable items that you did not want to become wet or dirty were sometimes placed inside the blanket before it was rolled up. The gum blanket then covered the woolen blanket when rolled together.

A tin cup, plate, and eating utensils were thrown into the haversack with some of the soldier’s food items. His canteen would be filled with water whenever a stream or river was crossed. A knapsack was also issued to a soldier and this could be used to carry personal items or some of the things just mentioned. But all of these items became heavy with a total weight exceeding forty pounds, including the rifle. As a result men would often throw away or discard knapsacks, heavy frying pans, and other odds and ends they were either issued or had brought from home.

Hardtack (firm, thick crackers), dried beef, beans, saltpork, and coffee frequently comprised a daily diet. Vegetables and fruits were often in short supply, leaving men lacking in certain vitamins. Soldiers drank from polluted streams and rivers or ate spoiled food. Diarrhea and dysentery (severe infection of the lower intestinal tract) sickened and even killed many men. Over 700,000 soldiers died during the Civil War with better than two-thirds of that number dying as a result of sickness and disease. Chronic diarrhea and dysentery contributed to more deaths than anything else.

It would sometimes be months before a soldier could replace socks or other badly worn clothing. For this reason he frequently needed to repair holes or tears by sewing them back together. The small sewing kit became known to soldiers as a housewife as this was probably as close as a soldier would get to actually having a wife or mother do his sewing for him. A soldier had to learn in a hurry how to take care of themselves when in the army!

The cartridge box would normally contain between thirty and forty rounds of ammunition. Each bullet was wrapped on its blunt end with paper. Contained within the paper was a gunpowder charge. The paper was twisted on the other end to prevent the gunpowder from running out. When ready to fire his weapon, a soldier would first remove a cartridge from his cartridge box, bite the end of the twisted paper off the cartridge, pour the powder down into the barrel of the musket, then drop in the minnie ball, ram the ball down into the barrel on top of the powder by using a ramrod, insert a percussion cap, taken from a small leather pouch that was attached to the soldier’s belt, on the trigger assembly, aim, and fire. It was said a good infantryman could load and fire his weapon up to three times a minute! Accuracy varied, but a rifled-musket was reliable at 200 to 300 yards.

The bayonet was a stabbing instrument that could be attached to the end of the soldier’s rifle. Bayonets, however, were rarely used in combat. More often they were used as makeshift candle holders, trench digging tools, or skewers for roasting meat.

While younger students are not likely to note the absence of army dog tags, older students might ask why these are not in the trunk. Army identification “dog” tags had not yet become official army issue. Later in the war, shortly before battle, there were instances when men would quickly scratch their name on a piece of paper and then pin the paper to the back of their jacket. In the event they were killed it was hoped someone would properly identify their body. Perhaps the most memorable of these occurrences took place at Cold Harbor, Virginia in 1864. In less than thirty minutes thousands of United States soldiers were killed or wounded. In the aftermath, amid hundreds of dead, small pieces of paper were seen attached to lifeless and dying soldiers, fluttering quietly in the breeze that gently swept over the battlefield.

Allow students to inspect the items contained at their table before encouraging them to compare and contrast Civil War pieces with some of the modern day selections you may have provided. Students are likely to be surprised at the presence of a wooden comb or bone toothbrush. Plastic has become so much a part of our daily lives that we take its many uses for granted.

Activity sheets can be placed at the table. Each of the students can record answers to the questions.

OBJECTIVE

Students will be able to appreciate the military and other accouterments that were carried and used by soldiers during the American Civil War – their advantages and disadvantages.

VOCABULARY

SAMPLE MATERIALS FROM THE CIVIL WAR TRUNK

Other Soldier Material/Accouterments

Materials From Your Classroom

Student Activity Worksheet: Table 2

Return to Traveling Trunk Curriculum Guide

Book Your Traveling Trunk Here