Post by boozie on Aug 27, 2007 7:53:23 GMT -6
Was reading "Reflections on the Civil War, Bruce Catton", Edited by John Leekley, 1981. Mr Catton has some cool comments on the Union Vol. from the sticks of the Mid West.
"......There weren't many cities then,and they weren't very large, so the average soldier generally came from either a farm or from some very small town or rural area. He had never been anywhere;he was completely unsophisticated. He joined up because he wanted to,because his patriotism had been aroused. The bands were playing,the recruiting officers were making speeches,so he got stirred up and enlisted. Sometimes he was not altogether dry behind the ears.
When the boy joined the army he would, of course, be issued clothing. He would get his uniform-pants,coat,shoes,and underwear. In the frontier regions, the quartermasters discovered that quite alot of these young men picked up the underwear and looked at it and said,"what is this?" They had never seen any before. They hadn't worn it back home. Well. they caught on. They were fresh out of the back woods,most of them.
The boys from the country and the very small towns seemed to have made better soldiers than the boys from the cities. In the North for instance, the boys from the rural areas, and especially from the Middle West, which they then called the Northwest, were a little tougher than the boys from the big cities. They could stand more, they were more self-reliant,perhaps they were more used to handling weapons. In any case, they made very good soldiers."
"......There weren't many cities then,and they weren't very large, so the average soldier generally came from either a farm or from some very small town or rural area. He had never been anywhere;he was completely unsophisticated. He joined up because he wanted to,because his patriotism had been aroused. The bands were playing,the recruiting officers were making speeches,so he got stirred up and enlisted. Sometimes he was not altogether dry behind the ears.
When the boy joined the army he would, of course, be issued clothing. He would get his uniform-pants,coat,shoes,and underwear. In the frontier regions, the quartermasters discovered that quite alot of these young men picked up the underwear and looked at it and said,"what is this?" They had never seen any before. They hadn't worn it back home. Well. they caught on. They were fresh out of the back woods,most of them.
The boys from the country and the very small towns seemed to have made better soldiers than the boys from the cities. In the North for instance, the boys from the rural areas, and especially from the Middle West, which they then called the Northwest, were a little tougher than the boys from the big cities. They could stand more, they were more self-reliant,perhaps they were more used to handling weapons. In any case, they made very good soldiers."