The Crater at Petersburg, Virginia

Petersburg. Grant planned to hit the railroad junction stalled at the outskirts of Atlanta. With Northern at Petersburg, a town located twenty miles south of elections only a few months away, the Confederate Richmond which guarded the rail link to other Southern strategy of weakening Northern resolve seemed to be states. If it fell Grant could isolate the Confederate capi- working as the conflict drew to an apparent stale- tal and cut its communications to Southern armies in mate. other seceded states. Lee again challenged Grant's as- Sources: sault, however, and this time Grant viewed the high Bruce Catton, A Stillness at Appomattox (Garden City, N.Y.: Double- casualties as a sign to settle down for a siege against the day, 1953); Confederate trenches that stretched from Petersburg to William S. McFeely, Grant: A Biography (New York: Norton, 1981). Richmond. The . The frustration of the Un- SOLDIERS IN CAMP ion invaders trying to break through Confederate de- Waiting. Following Gettysburg both sides settled fenses at Petersburg was highlighted at the end of July. into camps or defensive fortifications during the long, Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants, the commander of the Forty- monotonous stretch from July 1863 to August 1864. As Eighth Infantry, a regiment of former coal in any war, boredom filled the everyday life of Civil War miners, received permission to dig a mine under the en- soldiers. Union and Confederate fighting men averaged emy entrenchments and fill it with gunpowder. After fifty days in camp for every day in battle. Lulls in the detonating the explosives and blowing a hole in the Con- fighting allowed men to bond and build up morale before federate line, Union infantry would sweep around the the next frontal assaults decimated regimental strength abyss and attack the enemy flanks and rear. On 30 July and destroyed small-unit cohesion. 1864 the miners detonated the gunpowder and blew a Northern Camps. Reveille woke Union soldiers every huge crater in the Confederate fortifications. However, morning at five o'clock (six in the winter). After roll call instead of sweeping around the hole and attacking the and breakfast, the soldiers spent the rest of the day drill- rattled enemy flanks, Brig. Gen. James H. Ledlie sent his ing and marching. The daily drills were designed to men into the crater. The Federals quickly found them- break resistance to military authority and to make sol- selves trapped, and they became easy prey for Southern diers work as a cohesive unit. The Northern enlisted men sharpshooters. As he watched his men die like ducks in a hated it. "The first thing in the morning is drill, then shooting gallery, Grant lamented that the battle was "the drill, then drill again," wrote one frustrated bluecoat. saddest affair I have witnessed" and ordered a retreat. He "Then drill, a little more drill. . . Between drills, we drill finally settled down to a prolonged nine-month siege. In and sometimes stop to eat a little and have rollcall." In addition to this fiasco, news from Georgia mirrored the the afternoon the men spent most of their time preparing stalled operations in Virginia—Sherman's troops were their uniforms for the evening dress parade. The troops

108 AMERICAN ERAS: 185O-1877 Examples of Union and Confederate uniforms polished boots and brass buckles and mended clothing in Northern Food. The Union enlisted man's diet con- order to pass inspection and move on to supper call. By sisted of three main staples: bread, meat, and coffee; summer 1862 the had standardized the fresh fruits and vegetables were available depending on the season. Throughout the war, Northern soldiers bit- Northern uniform. Each soldier wore a blue cap with terly complained about the bread, commonly known as black visor; a long, dark blue dress coat with stand-up "hardtack." It was a hard, stale cracker that soldiers collar; light blue trousers; and rough black shoes. The soaked in water or coffee in order to eat; ten or twelve uniforms were made of wool and worn year-round. The crackers equaled a full ration. Despite the lack of variety blue coats and trousers were trimmed with stripes to sig- or texture in their diet, the Union army was well fed and, nify a particular combat branch: blue for infantry, scarlet by the end of the war, the Northern soldier ate better and for artillery, and yellow for cavalry. Brass insignia sewn received more food than contemporary soldiers in the into caps also designated branch: a bugle for infantry, British, French, or Russian armies. crossed sabres for cavalry, and crossed cannons for artil- Off-Duty. After supper call, soldiers relaxed and en- lery. Unlike their Confederate counterparts, Federal uni- gaged in activities that helped them to escape camp rou- forms were of high quality; long campaigns, rather than tine. They wrote letters, sang songs, and played games. shortage in stock, led to brief instances of raggedness. The average age of the Northern soldier (by July 1863)

THE CIVIL WAR 1O9 PRISONERS OF WAR

In the beginning of the Civil War, the Union and Confederate governments agreed to exchange an equal number of captured soldiers i m m e d i a t e l y following a battle. This practice left detention centers virtually empty and kept precious re- sources such as food and medical supplies re- served for the soldiers in the field. In 1863 the exchange policy stopped when the Confederate government refused to exchange captured black soldiers and instead re-enslaved them, By De- cember 1863 Confederate p r i s o n s held 13,000 Federals while Northern p r i s o n s kept 26,000 Columbia, South Carolina, after the departure of Southerners under guard. Following the May- Gen. William T. Sherman July 1864 battles in Virginia, the prison popula- tion exploded for both sides, leaving many cap- ern counterpart, the Southern soldier usually did not re- tured men without adequate shelter, food, and ceive a full supper ration. Poor distribution, lack of salt medical care. The results were tragic. and preservatives, and limited access to transportation facilities restricted the Southern diet to cornbread and Although most captured soldiers exaggerate the beef. Complaints about the bleak Southern diet domi- conditions of their captivity, C i v i l War prisons nated letters home. "If any person offers me cornbread were indeed ghastly places. The overcrowded after this war comes to a close," one exasperated South- stockades, coupled with poor sanitation a n d bad erner wrote. "I shall probably tell him to go to hell!" water, became death traps. Some prison camps Men under the age of twenty-five also dominated Con- offered no shelter from the elements and men federate ranks, and they turned to songs, hunting, gam- were forced to build makeshift tents from rags, bling, and alcohol as diversions from the war. To avoid blankets, and uniforms. The worst conditions were at Andersonville, Georgia. At this site the using ammunition, the soldiers often hunted with clubs Confederates housed 33,000 Northerners in a and competed with each other for extra rations. Since the stockade built to hold 15,000. One hundred pris- Southern soldier received only eleven Confederate dol- oners died every day, and gangs of thieves ruled lars a month (by the end of the war they were worth only the overcrowded conditions. Disease thrived in half their value), troops gambled for food and used the the confined area since a small stream used for extra rations to trade for tobacco and stationery. In addi- drinking water also doubled as a sewer. Similar tion to a lack of food, the Southern army lacked consis- conditions like these in other prisoner of war tency in its uniforms. Although the standard issue was a camps produced high mortality r a t e s : by 1865 gray coat and trousers, many units did not have enough over 30,000 Federals died in Southern prisons uniforms in stock, and a homespun, ragged appearance while 25,000 Confederates died in Northern de- became rampant in the ranks. Moreover, the Union naval tention stockades. blockade forced the Confederate army to use homemade Sources: Larry M. Logue, 21» Appomattex nnd Beyond: The Civil War dye to color uniforms. The dye was made from copperas Md'min War and&tme (Chicago: Ivan R* Dee, 1996); (a green sulfate) and walnut shells which gave the Con- William Marvel* Andenonmtle: Tks Last Depot (Ckapel Hill: University federate uniform a yellowish brown color that soldiers of North Carolina Press, If 94), called "butternut." As both armies standardized their uniforms by 1862, Northern soldiers were commonly was twenty-five, and with the arrival of payday (once called "bluecoats" while Southern soldiers were labeled every other month), the tired bluecoats turned to hedon- "butternuts." istic pleasures such as alcohol consumption, gambling, or Sources: visiting a prostitute. Gambling was particularly hard on Larry M. Logue, To Appomattox and Beyond: The Civil War Soldier in the losers since white Northern soldiers made only thir- War and Peace (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996); teen dollars a month while black soldiers received ten. By James I. Robertson Jr., Soldiers Blue and Gray (Columbia: University of the end of the war, pay was raised to sixteen dollars a South Carolina Press, 1988); month for both races. Bell I. Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978); Confederate Camps. For the most part, Confederate Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy camp life mirrored the Union routine. Unlike his North- (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978).

110 AMERICAN ERAS: 185O-1877 ginia. Now, Union control of the area denied Southern forces precious foodstuffs. In the November elections, Lincoln easily beat McClellan; 80 percent of soldiers in the field voted to re- tain their commander-in-chief in office. March to the Sea. In response to Lincoln's reelection, Confederate president Jefferson Davis declared that his na- tion stood "defiant as ever" and would continue to persist wholeheartedly against Northern aggression. Determined to break Southern will, Sherman decided to march through the eastern Georgia countryside. Sending half his army to Ten- nessee to check Hood's impending counterattack at Nash- ville, Sherman abandoned his supply lines in November to begin his famous "March to the Sea." After three years of fighting Confederate soldiers, Sherman now turned his at- tention to the civilian will to fight. Moving unopposed and living off the land, Sherman had his men cut a sixty-mile swath across Georgia, demolishing everything in their path. Union soldiers outside the Wilmer McLean home at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, where Lee Not only did Sherman want to hurt the Confederate army by surrendered to Grant destroying war materiel and railroads, but he also sought to make the Southern civilian population feel the war by burn- ing towns, plantations, and anything else within his army's reach. "We cannot change the hearts of those people of the TRIUMPH OF THE NORTH South," he said, "but we can make war so terrible and make Deadlock. The stalemates at Petersburg and Atlanta them so sick of war that generations would pass away before spread despair throughout the North. Many felt Gen. they would again appeal to it." By 20 December he reached Ulysses S. Grant's strategies had turned the war into a Savannah and presented the port to Lincoln as a Christmas draw. The high Union death rate in all theaters (110,000 in gift. Moving with an air of invincibility, Sherman moved three months), coupled with reports that Northern prisoners into South Carolina in February and took Columbia before at Andersonville, Georgia, were dying at a rate of one hun- finally stopping his destructive path in North Carolina. dred a day, combined to revive antiwar sentiments. Even Sherman's five-month crusade spread terror and despair faithful Republicans became swept along by Northern dis- throughout the South. "All is gloom, despondency, and in- content; some called for President Abraham Lincoln to drop activity," wrote one South Carolinian. "Our army is demor- emancipation as a war aim. Many Republicans became con- alized and the people panic stricken. To fight longer seems vinced that the president would lose in the upcoming No- to be madness." vember 1864 elections to his Democrat opponent, former Conclusion. As Sherman conquered the Southern coast- Union general-in-chief George B. McClellan. line, the war slowly moved to a close. In December 1864, Atlanta. Nevertheless, the war still raged, and Northern Union general George H. Thomas defeated and nearly anni- morale continued to swing in response to reports from the hilated Hood's forces at Nashville. By February, Sherman's battlefield. A glimmer of optimism first emerged in August march and Grant's suffocating siege at Petersburg convinced when Adm. David Farragut's wooden fleet maneuvered many Confederate soldiers to return home. On 1 April 1865 around underwater mines and took Mobile Bay, an impor- Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry broke Robert E. Lee's right tant Confederate port located in the Gulf of Mexico on the flank and cut the last rail link into Petersburg. The next day, Alabama coast. A month later the tide turned again. In Sep- in a desperate attempt to join Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in tember 1864 Northern sentiment swung back to the side of North Carolina, Lee's army set fire to all military supplies in the president as Gen. William T. Sherman sent good news Richmond and retreated west. Sensing victory at hand, from Georgia. On 2 September Sherman's men captured the Grant pressed forward and blocked Lee's escape route at Ap- last rail link into Atlanta, forcing Confederate general John pomattox Court House, ninety miles from Petersburg on 8 Bell Hood to abandon the city to save his army. The victory April. The following morning, Palm Sunday, Lee formally restored Northern faith in Lincoln as a leader, while Demo- surrendered to Grant in the parlor of a private residence. crat claims that the war was a failure fell on deaf ears. Addi- Nine days later, J o h n s t o n surrendered in North Carolina, of- tional reports from the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, secured ficially ending hostilities between North and South. Lincoln's reelection bid. There, in October, Union cavalry Sources: general Philip Sheridan swept Jubal Early and his Confeder- Bruce Catton, A Stillness at Appomattox (Garden City, N.Y.: Double- ate horsemen from the area. Twice before, the valley had day, 1953); served as an invasion route north for the Confederate army, Shelby Foote, The Civil War, a Narrative: Red River to Appomattox and its farms continued to supply the Army of Northern Vir- (New York: Random House, 1974).

THE CIVIL WAR 111