The stress of the campaign

[john duffer]

Re: The stress of the campaign

Two comments here struck home with me:

"You can always take just one more step" is the key. You don't have to survive a month, just a day (or even an hour) and then another one after that. Sure it accumulates over time but the trick is to live in the moment - yesterday was cold and wet and there was nothing to eat, today the sun's out and we got a little something.


"Perhaps we could do a better job with authenticity of our food by just not having as much"

That's the biggest fault I've seen at higher quality events, with only a couple of exceptions I've had a lot more to eat at most events than I would have had staying home.

[Hairy Nation Boys]

Re: The stress of the campaign

At BGR the Sh*t A$$ Platoon became one unit and a family in a short amount of time. Most of us had never met before. So, it was amazing how close we got. I would have done anything for them now and then. So, I know no one was shooting at me but I experienced soemthing special. Boozie and I talk on a regular basis and I consider him my brother.

Fred Baker and Tom Yearby should be thanked by the Authentic end of the hobby for what they put together in 2007 and 2009. I am glad that I went.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: The stress of the campaign

I am of two minds:
1) You never know what you're capable of until you have no other options.
2) I'm not 18 anymore.

Coming from being in this situation myself in combat- don't worry, the primitive human brain is well-equipped with basic survival techniques that will make you adjust to a rougher life. If you think you can't do it, then you hold yourself back mentally. You'd be suprised at how effective your mind will react and advise you when you are confronted with primal hardship and a life-or-death situation (as in fight-or-flight).

I lived that life in Iraq for 14 months and there is an inexplicable change in the human psyche that overtakes us and focuses our bodies and minds to survive. Sometimes soldiers have a hard time turning-off that force within them and this can lead to PTSD or other mental illness.

Yeah, people of the period were in better physical shape than we are today due to lack of conveniences we have now. But to a point, that only is part of the battle. What good is being in shape physically when your mind can't go on further? That is where your mind pulls-along your physical body to drive harder and survive. You CAN do it... you just have to have the willpower and mobility to do so.

Yeah, it is uncomfortable- being a soldier in any era always is no matter what convenience might be available to them. But provided you aren't enfeebled, your will-to-survive will help you. God designed us that way and it is a wonderful design plus.

That is on an individual level...

Add to that the plus of knowing and growing with your comrades who help you along as you help them and you now have an idea how it was done back then...

[ajroscoe]

Re: The stress of the campaign

There are a few things that people overlook when talking about the campaigns of the Civil War. Most of the campaigns of the war were less than two months long, many shorter than a few weeks. I have heard it said that soldiers, on average, spent about 75% of their time in fixed camps of some sorts. After the Chancellorsville Campaign, all of 8 days long, the two armies went right back into the camps that they had occupied and would continue to up until the start of the Gettysburg Campaign a month and some later. This certainly does not take away from the hardships they suffered during the intervening time on any campaign - or in camp - rather, it shows that these men did not live with this day in, day out for the entire war. Granted, there are periods of more intense campaigning, most notably the Overland and the Atlanta Campaigns in 1864. I think ultimately, that they had a great resource in the way that the units were organized though. Today, in my Navy helicopter squadron, there are sailors from all 50 states, several foreign countries, and a few of the territories. I have not known anyone in the unit longer than two years. Back then, men went to war with their brothers, fathers, friends, and neighbors, which is an incredible resource to have available during a trying time. Being at ITPW, I could understand that with the pards that I had known for years, when we pushed each other all week, particularly through Thursday night and the march the next day. It is worth comparing the soldiers of WWII with the Civil War soldier for an even more grim picture of the campaign. Divisions that landed at Normandy on 6 June '44 suffered over 200% casualties during the entire campaign, which lasted until the end of the war. There was no rear camps that men went to or rotations home. I can see that being even more of a hardship for men than even the Civil War. Ultimately, I think this points to the fact that if we were somehow thrust into the time, we would cope, just as they did then, and as our servicemen do today. Its impossible to objectively compare a set of circumstances.

[Jake Nott]

Re: The stress of the campaign

Brad, I agree with the "Buzz"

[Gawd Awful Lad]

Re: The stress of the campaign

I guess the reason I posted the original question is I have just been seeing tons of accounts especially in the Army of Northern Virginia where guys just straggled almost as a profession. It just really seems like we kick the crap out of ourselves sometimes at these events and or many just up and leave. I feel like these guys really had outlets for self preservation but everything printed since the war just makes them out to be these super heroes. Its been a few days since my original post and just looking into how they were really able to cope, I guess it really just depended on if you could put that one more foot forward and just "sack up" and do your job.

[Hank Trent]

Re: The stress of the campaign

I feel like these guys really had outlets for self preservation but everything printed since the war just makes them out to be these super heroes.

That does bring up the point that one's choices at events are extremely limited, compared to the real world, because the recreated world of 186x only has certain options. A person can't straggle too much, because once he falls behind, he may be outside the range of the 186x "bubble" that follows the column on the march and will be picked up by a pickup truck rather than a period ambulance. He can't sneak off or go foraging on his own, unless it's preplanned, because the "civilians" outside the area are just modern people. He can't desert and go home while staying in 186x, or get sick and be taken to the hospital, unless it's set up ahead of time with everything portrayed appropriately.

So each event is set up for healthy people to follow a certain limited range of activities, but if one is not willing or able to make choices that keep him within the planned parameters of 186x, the only other choice is to quit and leave the event. In the 1860s, the options were so much wider, including not enlisting at all or being discharged as unfit. Unlike us, for better or worse, they had one chance to live chronologically through the period until their death.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Bill]

Re: The stress of the campaign

I have good friend who has a saying about Civil War Soldiers, "They were young and a lot of them died". You can pretty much say the same thing about most wars and most soldiers.

It's pretty amazing what human beings can deal with when they have no choice.

[Guardsman]

Re: The stress of the campaign

I look at this way, if we were time traveled back to 1861, at age twenty. We are at our most physically fit. If we make it through the illness of the training camp, were the weak and ill have died off or been discharge and the strong have survived (insert Darwin’s evolution theories here). I believe we would perform similarly if not better, because basic human physiology has not changed and we know the dangers of poor hygiene and infections.

When I read any book life pre 1900 I am amazed at how people survived but those that survived were the strongest and most adaptable.

[Coatsy]

Re: The stress of the campaign

There are some questions that have been asked in this thread that I have often thought about. Benson Bobrick, who edited his ancestor’s (Webb Baker) diaries in “Testament: a soldier's story of the Civil War”, describes the forced march for the Federals across the Boston Mountains to Pea Ridge is amazing. Most of our events are 36 hours or a little more. We can get through it for a weekend. Honestly, we can.

Smart phones and friends bugging out, therefore creating a domino effect, have taken their toll events in the past few years. I do understand the event staff, and even some in the military command leadership having them. You take the time to research the men, pay the fee, and drive to the event site. Just stay until the end of the event. I personally have been burned as an event organizer, and, to be fair, I’ve been a “FLEE FLEE FLEEEEEEEEE!” person.

As Brett mentioned, just “sack up” for the weekend, and put one foot in front of the other. 150th ManBullnassas was an eye opener for me about the domino effect. The men at the original battle did not have the luxury of getting to their cars to get out. I guess it was another lesson learned for me at that event in the end. (FLEEE FLEEEEEEEEEE!)

I have also seen guys running at full steam Friday evening or Saturday morning at events, and then running out of gas early afternoon on Saturday and whining. Taking all soldier’s tasks with a steadied pace makes sense. I admit to having a bit of the “Slow Trot” while on some details.
The accounts of soldiers falling asleep while on the march, or when a short break was called are numerous. The account of the Federal cavalry under Col. Benjamin Davis escaping Harpers Ferry and falling asleep in their saddles comes to mind. I’ve done it myself at events.

Again, this is great topic. We can use original accounts to see what the soldiers did in trying circumstances, and then mirror that when blue skies are not to be had. (sack up)