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The Confederate Army, vastly
outnumbered and chronically short of supplies, fought with desperate ingenuity,
deception, and eccentricity for four brutal years. Its soldiers blended
old-world grit with makeshift innovation. Here are ten of the oddest things
about the Confederate army:
One: Silk-Dress Sky Spies: Southern ladies donated silk dresses
so the fabric could be sewn into observation balloons for scouting Union
positions.
Two: Camel Pack Train: Captured U.S. Army camels, hauled
supplies across the arid Southwest.
Three: Lemon-Sucking Stonewall: General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
constantly carried and sucked lemons, convinced they cured his dyspepsia and
restored bodily balance.
Four: Quaker Guns: Painted wooden logs mounted on fake
carriages mimicked real cannons, fooling Union scouts at Centreville, Port
Hudson, and elsewhere.
Five: Secret Sisters: Hundreds of women cut their hair,
bound their chests, and enlisted as men, fighting undetected until wounded or
discovered.
Six: Boy and Graybeard Army: Conscription swept in boys as young
as 14 and gray-haired men over 50, especially in the war’s desperate final
years.
Seven: Twenty Negro Law: Owners of 20 or more enslaved people
could exempt one white overseer from the draft—sparking bitter cries of “rich
man’s war, poor man’s fight.”
Eight: Worthless Wages: Soldiers’ pay in Confederate scrip
inflated so wildly that a month’s wages bought almost nothing; many went unpaid
for months.
Nine: Deadly Torpedoes: The Confederacy pioneered buried
explosive land mines (“torpedoes”) that terrorized advancing Union infantry.
Ten: Native Warriors: Cherokee, Choctaw, and other tribal
regiments served; Brigadier General Stand Watie, a Cherokee leader, became the
last Confederate general to surrender.
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