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La Crosse and the Civil War Papers: Lucius Fairchild

Location: Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin La Crosse

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Collection Description




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Reviewed by: Steven Bonin

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The military has its own language, and these documents were written by soldiers trained in this specific militaristic way of speaking and writing. Here are some explanations of words you will need to know. They are not in alphabetical order. Broader phrases that will help you get a grip on the overall war effort are listed first with more specific language towards the bottom of the glossary. Words related to one another are also grouped together in the glossary like those describing weapons or army organization.

Union: Soldiers who fought for the North. Southerners also called them Yankees and Federals.

Confederate: Soldiers who fought for the South. Northern troops also called them rebels.

Infantry: Soldiers who fought on foot. These soldiers made up most of the Northern and Southern armies and participated in the largest battles.

Cavalry: Soldiers who fought on horseback. Both sides used these soldiers to scout enemy positions before sending in larger numbers of infantry.

Company: One of the smallest groups of military organization, usually around 100 men. Companies consisted of soldiers from the same general area. So a typical company of soldiers might all come from La Crosse, or all from Western Wisconsin. Companies were named with letters based on the order in which they were recruited. So Company C was the third company to be recruited to form a regiment.

Regiment: A unit of military organization that held ten companies. Regiments held only members of the same state and were named based on the order in which they were created. So the 2nd Wisconsin, for example, was the second regiment of soldiers to be recruited from Wisconsin.

Private: The lowest ranking soldier. These soldiers made up most of the army.

Officer: The general term for anyone in the military with responsibilities and authority over other soldiers. Considering privates are the lowest ranking soldiers, an officer is any soldier who held a rank above a private. There were many specific types of officers but three important ones are often discussed in this collection: captain, colonel and general.

Captain: Leader of a company. This soldier had to take responsibility for his 100 men while also making sure they helped the regiment achieve its overarching goals in camp and combat.

Colonel: Leader of a regiment. This soldier made sure all of the companies were cooperating while keeping track of the wellbeing of the entire unit.

General: These are the highest ranking soldiers in the army. These men had thousands of soldiers under their command and dealt with larger, more complex strategies in combat and concerning the overall war effort.

Rifle: A special type of gun that puts spin on the bullet as it travels through the air. This was the standard gun given to infantry soldiers.

Minié Ball, or, Minnie Ball: This was the most common bullet used in Civil War. This new bullet was perfectly designed to be fired out of rifles, allowing them to travel farther and faster than ever before.

Ammunition: The materials shot out of guns including bullets and cannon balls.

Bayonet: A long, knife-like piece of steel soldiers attached to the end of their rifles. This was meant to be used when soldiers ran out of ammunition and fighting became up close and personal.

Fire: In a military context, soldiers attach a verb to the word fire to indicate where soldiers are shooting. Soldiers who were being shot at are “taking,” or, “under fire” while those who are doing the shooting are “delivering fire” or simply “firing their rifles.”

Casualty: A soldier who has been injured or killed in combat. (A soldier does not have to die to be a casualty.) Soldiers who cannot be found after a battle are first determined missing and after some time has passed are grouped together with the other casualties.

Muster in: These papers were used to document the recruitment of civil war soldiers. Soldiers immediately provided personal characteristics on these standard forms upon enlisting in the army. These documents provided the army with a 19th century equivalent to a data base of all of their soldiers.

Court Martial: A military court consisting of high ranking officers and special military judges. The army had strict rules for its own soldiers to follow and if they were caught disobeying them they were removed from combat and had to present their case before this court.

Reveille: A signal, usually a trumpet call, given to wake up the soldiers.

Tattoo: This is the signal given to soldiers so that they knew lights out was about to be ordered so that they could prepare for bed.