Civil War Soldiers and Rain

 

An old saying goes: “April showers bring May flowers.” But few things brought more grief to Civil War soldiers than rain. Naturally, precipitation came during all seasons, not just spring, making it an ongoing challenge for fighting men to stay dry. In fact, soldiers’ efforts battling the elements came much more frequently than facing the enemy on the battlefield.

Lt. Charles Wilkens of the 1^st U.S. Infantry commented from Corinth, Mississippi, about working in the rain. “I woke up the next morning at five, had the mules fed and harnessed, about this time it began to rain. . . . It rained all day on Monday, and when I got in was about as wet as a ‘drowned rat,’” he wrote. Others who were more fortunate and could avoid the frequent deluges did so. Quartermaster Sgt. John Warrington Caldwell of the 15^th Pennsylvania Cavalry noted, “It has been raining all day long. [It] commenced some time last night, so it has kept me inside of the tent nearly all day. As I had nothing to do outside, I thought I had better keep dry.” Those that could not avoid it grumbled. Writing to his sister Ellen, Sgt. Thomas Benton of the 19^th Indiana, closed a letter: “This is a very disagreeable day in camp; raining all the time.”

Rain, of course, produced muddy roads. One astute Confederate is said to have commented of the Tullahoma Campaign in the summer of 1863, that the word Tullahoma came from two Greek words, “’Tulla’ meaning mud, and ‘Homa,’ meaning more mud.” Muddy roads made it difficult for man and beast. At about the same time, Pvt. Cecil Fogg of the 36^th Ohio Infantry claimed, “We left there on the 24^th of June. It commenced raining that day , and rained nearly all the time for 3 days, and it rained every day but one since . . . . the roads are awful, and teams [horses and mules] can hardly get along at all.”

At other times rain brought much needed relief. Confederate Maj. Thomas K. Jackson, wrote in September 1863 that, “A delightful rain is falling now, cooling the air & laying the dust. How welcome it is! For the heat has been intense & the dust was most suffocating during the past ten days.” Lt. Joseph Younger of the 53^rd Virginia wrote from Petersburg’s trenches in August 1864, “We have had a nice shower since I have been writing, and it looks like [it will be] coming down again shortly.” Most soldiers though found the rain annoying. Capt. James M. McCoy of the 20^th Ohio writing after the Battle of Shiloh noted, “Here we lay upon our arms in line and endeavored to sleep. But a very heavy rain coming up put all such notions out of our heads.”

Those soldiers who had rubber blankets cherished them. Corp. William Farries of the 24^th Wisconsin stated, “It rained hard all day, but thanks to my rubber blanket I kept dry.” Those without shelter suffered terribly. Capt. Samuel McConnell of the 7^th Florida Infantry wrote his sister in Sept. 1864 that, “Since last Sunday it has been raining constantly, and the weather is still bad. Being without tents we do not have a very pleasant time in such weather.”

Rainy weather was just one more threat to soldiers’ health. Combined with sometimes inconsistent and almost always monotonous food, bad water, and unsanitary living conditions, rain made soldiers’ constant daily struggle for survival that much more challenging. 

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress