Support to the Field
 

There are many challenges that a soldier faces in the field beyond survival in battle. Soldiers often must make do with little or no comforts; even basic needs such as food and shelter can be difficult to manage in the field. In addition to a soldier's resourcefulness, support in the field is vital such as mail, communication, or a commissary. Abial Edwards wrote about lengthy marches with little to no food and the effects of extreme temperatures on the soldiers. In a letter dated June 28, 1862, he described for Anna the impact of extreme heat on the diminished ranks. He told her that "our living since our retreat has been very poor indeed (Hard Bread & Coffee) being our principal living but lately our boys has confiscated the secesh's [Secessionists] Bee Hives that to such an extent that we have the best of Honey daily and we can get plenty of the finest cherries now so that you see we have a few luxuries for all the poor living furnished by government."

Edwards told his sister Marcia at the outset of the war that if her husband, Jordan, was going to join the Union Army, "He would have many privations to endure that he thinks little of now." Edwards also wrote that Jordan would soon get sick of nothing but cold bread, beef, and coffee, and if he wanted butter or cakes he would have to buy them.

 

Mail was of great importance to Edwards and is a common topic throughout his correspondence to Anna. In a letter to her on Thanksgiving Day 1862, while camped at Point of Rocks, Maryland, he told her what "great blessings to commune with Friends Through the silent language of the pen. The letters I have received from friends have in a great measure help me pass through the toils & Dangers of a Soldiers life with far more fortitude then though I did not receive those precious Epistles."

As time passed Edwards came to accept camp life and told Anna in a letter dated February 22, 1863, "Little do our friends at home realize the hard ships of camp life But like all of our past troubles it will soon pass away and we can look back upon our sufferings with a smile."

 

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United States mail delivery to 2nd Corps camp by wagon. Mail was an instant morale booster for any soldier who received it. Union soldiers atop a signal tower on Elk Mountain overlooking the battlefield at Antietam, Maryland. From left to right: R. D. Morgan, H. W. Gardner, Lieutenant (LT) E. C. Pierce (looking through telescope/spyglass), and LT L. B. Jerome. Photograph taken by Alexander Gardner. Commissary Department of the Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac in Fairfax, Virginia. Pay voucher for 2nd Lieutenant Andrew G. Miller, Company C, 89th Illinois Infantry Regiment from Paymaster J. O. Culver, Army of the Cumberland, Nashville, Tennessee. 7th New York Infantry soldiers being briefed by an officer in front of his tent. The 7th Infantry was also known as the "Steuben Guard." Illustration of soldiers being paid during the Atlanta Campaign. Soldiers getting paid often served as a morale booster.