# data[].attributes.body
In the Civil war, life was small, bad rations, rodents all over the place, and the bloodiest battles imaginable. The conditions in camp were harsh and the technology available in battle was minimal, so the soldiers had not a great chance to survive.

# data[].attributes.body
I fought in this war because I feared that the amazing life I had could be taken and forced into an idea that the Confederates had in mind. I believed that if I contributed to the war effort, I could preserve the life I had built for myself. My total fear was that the life that I had protected and preserved forever could possibly be taken away from me, so I joined the Union army to protect my life and the others that had this same, same life.

# data[].attributes.body
When we finally won the war, I was incredibly relieved that I did not have to fight anymore. After it, it was relatively easy to rejoin my normal life, I went back to rural Michigan and got back to my life at home. I could also start a new life, pick up somewhere that I had never been and get the things that I had wanted in the world. As for the Confederates, I was not as sure about their fate after the war. Since they had lost the war and they did not get they wanted to be, their lives were most definitely harder than mine was.

# data[].attributes.body
In our camps, there were always bugs, and sometimes rodents in there, trying to get our rations and simply being pests. The rations were poor, not a lot to eat while we were in the service. We usually had preserved meats, coffee and hardtack. A lot of the foods that I was used to, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, were not available to us Although the living conditions were not satisfactory, I recognized the reason for which I was doing this.

# data[].attributes.body
On our battlefields the battles that were fought were so bloody that bodies would pile up. The carnage was unbelievable, unlike anything that I had ever seen. So many of us were being killed that I started to question my joining in the army. There was nothing that could not be possibly worse than the carnage that was in the war.

# data[].attributes.body
In order to save the Union and save our country, I joined the Union army and suffered the discomfort of the army and all of the bloodshed, yet to achieve this worthy goal.

# data[].attributes.body
"In the North the main reason men joined to fight and become soldiers was to preserve the Union, or to keep all of the states together as a country" (Why We Fought).

# data[].attributes.body
National Archives

# data[].attributes.body
I was born in Michigan, a Northern, non - slave state. I joined the Union army in 1863 to save the beloved country that I live in from the horrors of the Confederacy.

# data[].attributes.body
"When a soldiers did receive rations, they were usually salted pork, preserved beef, hardtack, and coffee. Fresh vegetables were hard to find and fresh fruit was rare. (Why We Fought).

# data[].attributes.body
National Archives

# data[].attributes.body
Many people died in war, but also many died in camp too. Between 400,000 and 500,000 people died in camp. Either from disease, Or from a lack of resources. (Life of the civil war soldier in camp.)

# data[].attributes.body
Name: Thomas Smith
War Fought: Civil War
Born:  April 17, 1840
Where: Rural Michigan
Side Of The War: The Union (Anti-Slavery)

# data[].attributes.body
"Over the next four years, the grueling battles continued with thousands of soldiers on both sides killed by bullets, disease, or getting captured by the enemy and sent to overcrowded prisons." (Brooklyn Public Library)

# data[].attributes.body
For the soldiers and cavalry of the two armies, it was tome to go home. Many in the North found it relatively easy to pick up their old lives (Life among the Soldiers and Cavalry).

# data[].attributes.body
National Archives

# data[].attributes.body
For most Northerners after the war, they simply returned to their own lives or started new ones. Since they had won the war, they got what they wanted and went home. As for the Southerners, they returned to a war wrecked place and may not have found it easy to pick up life as it had been.

# data[].attributes.body
" If a soldier survived an operation, he still had to worry about infection. Since hospitals were out in the field, they were not very clean (Why We Fought).

# data[].attributes.body
When the soldiers were injured in battle, they would hopefully get an operation done to them, a lot of times the operations were not successful, but when they were, the soldiers still had to get through the whole risk of infection to that would. Due to the filthy living conditions of the soldiers, they had a high risk of infection to occur within that wound.

# data[].attributes.body
Works Cited

Corrick, James A. Life among the Soldiers and Cavalry. Lucent Books, 2000.

Roche, Tim. Soldiers of the Civil War. Heinemann Library, 2011.

# data[].attributes.body
Library of Congress