Civil War soldiers relaxing in front of a tent.
Library of Congress
“None can imagine, who has never experienced a soldier’s life, the languor of mind— tediousness of time, as we resume—day after day the monotonous duties devolved upon.”
Confederate soldier James Hampton Kuykendall, in his journal, August 27, 1862
“It is Sunday, and our camp wears an appearance … appropriate to the day. Everywhere there is silence and monotony. The white canvas tents look cold and cheerless in the winter atmosphere, and the only human being outside, beside myself, is the sentinel, pacing up and down, up and down…. I dread the long, weary weeks which must be passed before the spring campaign opens.”
Union surgeon John Gardner Perry, in a letter home, December 20, 1863
National Portrait GalleryRose O’Neal Greenhow
“The tedium of my prison life at this time was greater than I can depict…. A feeling of lassitude was stealing over me, and a nervous excitability which prevented me from sleeping…. I had nothing to read, and even the newspapers were served or not, according to the caprice of my jailors, and were very sure to be withheld whenever they contained Southern news.”
Civilian prisoner Rose O’Neal Greenhow, on her captivity in Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., in her wartime memoir
“None can imagine, who has never experienced a soldier’s life, the languor of mind— tediousness of time, as we resume—day after day the monotonous duties devolved upon.”
Confederate soldier James Hampton Kuykendall, in his journal, August 27, 1862
Army Life of an Illinois Soldier (1906)Charles W. Wills
“It’s awful confounded dull here. Nothing even half interesting. Saw a cuss, trying to drown himself yesterday, and saw a fellow’s leg taken off last night. These are better than no show at all, but still there’s not much fun about either case.”
Illinois soldier Charles W. Wills in his diary while aboard a steamship off New Madrid, Missouri, April 16, 1862
Library of CongressElisha Franklin Paxton
“We are having a very quiet and dull time. The fault I have with my present position is that I have too little to do.”
Confederate general Elisha Franklin Paxton in a letter to his wife, October 13, 1861
Sources
Bell I. Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb (1943); Letters from a Surgeon of the Civil War (1906); My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington (1863); Memoir and Memorials: Elisha Franklin Paxton, Brigadier-General, C.S.A. (1905); Army Life of an Illinois Soldier (1906).
