How the Civil War affected Americans The Civil War consumed the U.S. and all its citizen’s lives. Never before was the U.S. fighting itself, and neither before nor since has the death toll been so severe. The war affected not only the soldiers and political leaders of the Union and Confederacy but their citizens as well. From children not yet in high school, to surgeons with little college experience, the Civil War affected children, women and medical staff in the divided nation. Much like World War II, when the men went off to fight in the war, they left farms, family business, entire communities in the care of women. Women didn’t just stay at home, they were directly involved in the Civil War. Some women were spies, others were nurses.
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They tried to sign up for the military. Many had to lie about their age to get in the army. One boy said he was sixteen, and not yet legal, and was at first turned turned away. His father then bragged about him and he was eventually accepted. With their mothers and fathers in the army, many children were left as orphans. The orphan population in the US would double because of the American Civil War. Wounded soldiers needed medics. More medics then the county had to offer. The vast majority of surgeons working in the civil war weren’t doctors prior. The most common operation of the Civil War was amputation. The guns of the war brought with them the minie ball. The minie ball was a bullet that could fracture human bone. Two shots fractured 5.5 inches of a man’s femur, the largest bone in the human body. Because the number of wounded soldiers vastly outnumbered the surgeons, the soldiers had to wait. They had to wait for so long, they were fed crackers to keep from starving. The Civil War affected those fighting as well as those at home. Everyone had to live through those four terrible years and their consequences. The Civil War had the highest American death toll to date. It showed how the North was vital to the South and vice
They tried to sign up for the military. Many had to lie about their age to get in the army. One boy said he was sixteen, and not yet legal, and was at first turned turned away. His father then bragged about him and he was eventually accepted. With their mothers and fathers in the army, many children were left as orphans. The orphan population in the US would double because of the American Civil War. Wounded soldiers needed medics. More medics then the county had to offer. The vast majority of surgeons working in the civil war weren’t doctors prior. The most common operation of the Civil War was amputation. The guns of the war brought with them the minie ball. The minie ball was a bullet that could fracture human bone. Two shots fractured 5.5 inches of a man’s femur, the largest bone in the human body. Because the number of wounded soldiers vastly outnumbered the surgeons, the soldiers had to wait. They had to wait for so long, they were fed crackers to keep from starving. The Civil War affected those fighting as well as those at home. Everyone had to live through those four terrible years and their consequences. The Civil War had the highest American death toll to date. It showed how the North was vital to the South and vice