Blood, gore, death, and agony are all words that describe battles fought during the Civil War.Soldiers who thought going to war would be an adventure soon realized the horrors of battle. Not only did men face challenges in combat, they also had to deal with a lack of supplies, food shortages, and poor medical care. To perform their duties as a soldier, the men had to find ways to ration, substitute, or do without care and necessary items. Some soldiers would steal supplies and food when they were hungry and needed goods. Medical care was so bad that sometimes soldiers would suffer more from the treatment of their wounds than the injuries. Food, supplies, and medical care were all important factors during the Civil War.

Confederate and Union troops needed supplies during the Civil War but faced great shortages. Examples of the many essential items needed by the average soldier were ammunition, guns, horses, clothes, and boots. Sometimes soldiers would steal the enemy’s supply wagons to meet the needs of their own troops. To fight a war, a soldier must have ammunition and guns. Low supplies of guns and bullets could result in death and loss of a battle. The death of a horse would mean that a soldier would have to walk until another horse could be taken from the enemy or retrieved some other way. It could take a month or two months to obtain another horse. When clothing and boots were in low supply, especially in the winter, men would often get sick from the cold. Sometimes they would take the clothing and boots of dead soldiers. Supplies were greatly needed to win battles.

Food was another issue soldiers faced during the Civil War. To ration their food supply, soldiers ate small amounts of food. This resulted in low physical energy, which made fighting difficult. The condition of the food could cause nausea and illness. Often their rations were molded, stale, and bug infested. Men would dip their food into their coffee to soften the food to make it edible. When there was a low supply of food the soldiers would try to hunt animals and take food from citizens and the enemy. Men assigned to cook did not wash their hands when they handled food. This was very unsanitary and spread bacteria to the troops. This unhealthy preparation of food could cause illness and sometimes death.

Medical Treatment caused a great number of deaths during the Civil War. Churches, houses, and any other building that could serve as a hospital were used. Wounded and dying soldiers filled up every inch of space in the makeshift hospitals. Poorly trained doctors did not clean their hands or tools when helping the wounded. Many amputations had to be performed to save a soldiers life, but often they would die of infection. The doctors caused more damage than the wound in many cases. Medicine was not always available to help with the pain. Soldiers had to have surgeries fully awake. Sometimes dying on the battlefield was a better choice than getting medical help.

The life of a Civil War soldier was very hard, considering that many brave and courageous men lost their lives. Even though they could die at any moment, the men fought to defend what they believed was right. Few supplies, food and poor medical care made their lives even more difficult. Without supplies a soldier could die in many ways. The food was essential, for they would starve to death. The more the wounded the more soldiers would die from the poor medical care. Tens of thousands of soldiers died from these just these hardships, but thousands more would die by bullet wounds. Soldiers left their homes and families not knowing if they would come back alive, missing a leg, arm, or not at all. Soldiers faced death on and off the battlefield.