Essay --

Taylor Heisler A Soldier’s Life A soldier’s journey throughout the Civil War began with them entering the war. At the start of the war, both sides had many men who volunteered to fight for their side. Many volunteered to fight because of patriotism, state pride, to be paid, for their religion, or even for the thrill of an adventure. Although towards the middle and end of the Civil War, volunteers were no longer as common. Both sides began to have a problem with the lack of soldiers. The Confederacy ending up creating a draft that first began drafting men ages eighteen to thirty-five, but by the end of the war the age was men forty-five to fifty. Although the Union wasn’t as in a short supply of men as the Confederacy, they also started a draft but it only made up about 6 percent of their army. While having the draft, both sides allowed the wealthy to pay $300.00 to buy their way out of serving in the Civil War. This meant most of the men who were drafted tended to be poor. This angered civilian s from both sides and riots broke out which were quieted by the armies. The Union also began accepting escaped Confederate slaves and African Americans to fight as soldiers. Becoming desperate, the Confederacy also began drafting slaves to fight in their army. After soldier’s joined the army they experienced training for the war. At the beginning of the war, neither side had a great amount of trained soldiers considering most soldiers had been farmers. A majority of officers and trainers also lacked fighting skills. Neither side had much time to train their armies but they trained the best they could. Drills were conducted to train the soldiers. The drills became a daily routine and taught their soldiers discipline and battle... ... limbs, because of the poor sanitation of the medical equipment used to remove their limbs. One of the least dangerous struggles soldiers faced was boredom. Soldiers waited at camps for action. While waiting for orders, soldiers passed time with varies methods. Soldiers would cook food, write letters to their loved ones, clean their clothes and even play games. Common games played were: baseball, dominoes, cards, chess, and checkers. A soldier experienced many hard ships beginning with being brought into the war, training, and surviving the war. Soldiers fought for their side whether they wanted to be in the war or not. They endured many long days of training and struggled to become better soldiers. A soldier not only struggled to survive a battle but also a normal day at camp. Although the armies faced the same struggles, the soldiers continued to fight.