Everyday Life During the Civil War

Writer's Guides to Everyday Life

by Michael J. Varhola

Illuminates sweeping events and standard practices that shaped the Civil War era. Outlines social and economic realities of daily life in the North and South, and looks at military life in the army and navy, from rankings and regiments to duties and dress. Sheds lights on dialects, diction, and slang, and describes Civil War weaponry, recreation, clothing, and food. Includes timelines and b&w historical photos and illustrations. Varhola is senior editor of Living History and Renaissance magazine. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Civil War, History, Nonfiction, Reference, Writing, American History, Research

274 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Michael J. Varhola has a lifelong interest in the paranormal and has conducted investigations worldwide. He is a public speaker, author of several books, and a freelance journalist with a strong background in history, research, and fieldwork. He lives in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C."

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A general, broad-strokes overview of civilian and soldier life during the Civil War, including: entertainment, clothing, language, weaponry, food, and a timeline of events.

This book taught me a lot of little macro-level facts that painted an interesting picture of the war and brought up a lot of political, military, and ethical questions.

- The warden at Andersonville was the only man tried for war crimes, and was put to death
- What would have happened if Grant was the commander of the Army of the Potomac right off (rather than McDowell, McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade) - would his decisiveness led to a swifter victory for the north? Did he need those years as a lower-level officer to learn his ruthlessness?
- What place do civilians have in war? Is there any justification for a civilian siege of Vicksburg or Sherman's 60 mile wide, 300 mile long march of desolation?
- Did Sherman purposely stretch out the supply line too thin so that soldiers would have to pillage, or was that accidental?
- If the confederacy had given Jefferson Davis centralized power and decision-making authority, would they have stood a better chance to win the war?
- If the south had won the war, how could they have set up a successful government? The North had 100,000 factories to the South's 20,000 (1 million workers to 100,000 workers), 95% control of the railroads, majority control of currency and gold, etc. They were so deep in debt, how could they have set up all the public works? Would North and South eventually become on good terms again? How would they have survived?
- What were backwoods, non-slave owning southerners fighting for?

Factoids:
- Military personell during civil war: 3 mil. today 1.4 mil.
- Population of the US: 31 mil (N 22 mil; S 9 mil [1/3 of which were slaves])
- N 2 mil soldiers; S 1 mil soldiers

[Lisa Potocar · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the Civil War writer's perspective, this is a superb reference that ought to be kept handy for help in infusing all of those little details about the times, including wages, clothing, food and diet, etc. to delight your readers. From a reader's perspective, this was a fast, entertaining read.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good introduction for anyone wanting to get more educated about several aspects of the War Between the States. I found the format very good and easy to read. This book needs to be on the bookshelf of every serious Civil War buff. I did find several typographical errors in the book, but I guess it didn't take away from the book any. A very good read.

[Carol Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting account of food, housing, entertainment etc. During this time period. Adds a new dimension to the Civil War bios I am reading.

[Eileen O'Finlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for reference and research about daily life, both civilian and military during the American Civil War.

[David R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book almost reads like a primary school textbook: choppy, with "factoids" and the like, but the content is very interesting and there's plenty here that normally is overlooked.

[Geoff Sebesta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The "roleplaying game sourcebook" model is clearly one of the finest information-transmitting methods that we've yet invented. I have no problem with books like these, that give you all the most important facts in a clear and understandable format. History textbooks should be written more like this.

That said, there are some things left undone. The author gets nowhere near the personality of the age, except in a few interesting sections like the part on language or foreign soldiers. There's an absolute dearth of good diagrams and illustrations -- although there are a few, you need them on every single page. The book should have been both taller, so that the diagrams and illustrations can be seen, and thicker, because there should be more chapters and more in the chapters.

The flair of the time is completely absent. Fascinating things like the Zouaves, muscle mania, religious revivalism, technical details of the slave system, and the actual effects of omnipresent racism and sexism are glided over to talk more about which battle did what. There's entirely too much military emphasis for a book about "everyday life." This is also yet another book in a long line of books that discuss the Underground Railroad without offering a single detail about how it worked.

Last, and perhaps most puzzling, is that the timeline and other information basically start at the attack on Sumter and continue for about twenty years after the Civil War. This makes zero sense. If I am reading a book as a resource for writing about the Civil War, I don't need to know what happened after the war. I need to know what happened before.

This seems really obvious to me, I wonder why people keep doing that.

There is an absolute dearth of good works about 1820-1859, and this book repeats that error.

[Amanda Tero · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good overall view of the Civil War, this books takes you through a lot of facts. It took me a long time to get through it, but that was more from lack of time than desire--I found it very interesting! There was not a lot about the Homefront, but since I was looking for information on battles and soldiers (especially description of specific weapons and uniforms), this book suited my need well.

[Jennifer Gelert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting info about the Civil War. Average monthly salary for a solider was $12! The interesting things the South used to replace coffee, sugar, etc! Great reading for plain fun, a report or if you plan on writing a period piece.

[Mickie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book offered a very shallow and cursory overview of the Civil War period, it was very interesting to read. For an author who needs just the bare bones of the period--it may be a decent source. For reenactors or historians? Skip it.

[Jonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as research for a book I was writing. It had lots of very important information that was helpful to me.

[Jennifer Bohnhoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing for my purposes, this book did not mention Civil War battles in New Mexico. Clothing, food and housing all had a definite East Coast focus.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and little known facts about the era of the Civil War. Includes camp life, home life, inflation prices, money of both governments and more.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had used this book as a reference for college paper. The use of Terms (dictionary) at the end of each chapter were quite entertaining and made for good useless facts conversations with friends.

[Kiera Garrett]

How can u read books