Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
During the ACW was there much issue with innocent women and/or children being raped/killed or were they conscious enough to try to avoid such things happening?
Charleston, Richmond, Atlanta, Savannah, and many other cities and towns were shelled by the union artillery, so there were many innocent people killed...
It is a complicated question, and one that is not very well researched. The majority of soldiers who died in the ACW died of disease, they were not directly killed in action. While some civilians were certainly killed by direct military action action, you will find that the majority of civilian casualties were caused by disease and starvation. Beseiged cities would be particularly subject to disease and a lack of food. 200,000 to 250,000 civilian casualties seems to be an accepted estimate however, some estimate significantly lower or higher numbers.
Edit to add: I am not aware of any study that attempts to break civilian casualties down by sex and age.
Aside from the sieges of cities where getting the civilian population to give up was the goal to get the field army to attack the others prepared positions there were the guerrilla units working in the border states where the line between civilian and local militia protecting their own family was thin
During the ACW was there much issue with innocent women and/or children being raped/killed or were they conscious enough to try to avoid such things happening?
It is best to divide the USA and CSA armies into two groups:
- Mainforce regulars
-Irregular guerillas, militias etc.
Mainforce regulars on both sides to a very large degree, tried to avoid civilian casualties. Even Shermans march to the sea produced very few civilian fatalities (alot of property damage though) As the other poster mentioned, they could not always do so when fortified cities were bombarded.
Irregular militias and guerillas connected (sometimes very loosley) to the union or the confederacy could be a totally different story. As Takio stated, these groups were active in border states. In addition, the ozarks and appalachia saw alot very nasty grudge based fighting where a variety of loosely controlled militias and guerilla forces fought each other (the families of the combatants could be "guilty" by assosciation), even switched sides on occasion, and often deteriorated into bandits.
Charleston, Richmond, Atlanta, Savannah, and many other cities and towns were shelled by the union artillery, so there were many innocent people killed...
Don't forget Vicksburg, and Petersburg but by the studies that I've read civilian deaths were minimal since there was significant forewarning of battles and the policy on Grant and Sherman to call for civilians to evacuate before the commencement of hostilities.
It is a complicated question, and one that is not very well researched. The majority of soldiers who died in the ACW died of disease, they were not directly killed in action. While some civilians were certainly killed by direct military action action, you will find that the majority of civilian casualties were caused by disease and starvation. Beseiged cities would be particularly subject to disease and a lack of food. 200,000 to 250,000 civilian casualties seems to be an accepted estimate however, some estimate significantly lower or higher numbers.
Edit to add: I am not aware of any study that attempts to break civilian casualties down by sex and age.
This.
The Civil war was a war fought against civilians as much as armies, and many civilians died in the sieges and combat in the cities throughout the south, but starvation and disease wiped far more women and children out than combat. Killer diseases like cholera and diphtheria followed every battle of the war.
Infection was also a huge killer. When a person is already starved, an everyday scratch that becomes infected can be a killer when the body's defenses are already very low, and simple infection killed thousands of soldiers and civilians alike.
Suicide was also a big killer, especially among women. Young widows with small children, left destitute and starving, often chose a quicker end for them and their children than a slow death, especially during the fall, when a cold winter and an empty larder were lying ahead in just a few weeks.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.