Journal
JOURNAL OF THE CIVIL WAR ERA
Volume 11, Issue 2, Pages 224-254Publisher
UNIV NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
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This article examines the presence of companion animals in Union army camps during the US Civil War, arguing that soldiers turned to animals to alleviate boredom and distract themselves from the horrors of war. Pets played a crucial role in helping soldiers reconnect with their humanity amidst the dehumanizing effects of warfare.
This article focuses on the presence of companion animals in Union army camps during the US Civil War. It argues that soldiers turned to animals of all kinds (including cats, dogs, mice, and pigs, along with less common species), despite official sanction against such practices, to ameliorate boredom and to distract themselves from the horror at hand. Most importantly, pets helped the soldiers reconnect with their humanity in the midst of the necessarily dehumanizing act of waging war. The study draws principally on the letters and journals of Federal soldiers, along with sketches and photographs, to demonstrate not only animals' ubiquity of in military camps but also their importance to the men at war.
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