From the beginning of the Civil War, the Union and Confederate soldiers had preconceived notions, yet similar views, about one another. One example was both Secessionists (Confederacy) and Unionists agreed that the war was brought on by a ‘political treachery’ and it was this treachery that governed the military actions of either side, that it shouldn’t have come to war. Throughout the course of the war, the North and South both engaged in actions that were seen as less than noble, and even mentally cruel. One young Union Soldier recalled a late night in which his group heard cowbells in the woods; believing it was just cows roaming around. They ignored the sounds until they were attacked by a group of Confederate soldiers who, they discovered, had cowbells tied around their necks. These actions of confederate rebel soldiers not only made the Northern soldiers believe that the Confederates were cowardly and unjust, but showed it was only the beginning of the tricks this war was to play on the minds of the soldiers When it comes to the mental picture of the ‘enemy’, it is important to understand how each side viewed the other. If a soldier believed they were killing monsters or …show more content…
To house these prisoners, each side would create their own respective wartime prisons. The North converted existing structures like military barracks, camps, and forts into makeshift prisons to house newly captured enemy combatants; the most well known of these Northern prison camps was Johnson’s Island in Ohio. The South would convert existing buildings such as tobacco warehouses into their prison camps. The South would also create makeshift enclosures to house their prisoners; the most infamous of these improvised structures was the Andersonville prison camp, located in Georgia. The state, in which some of the prisoners lived, particularly in Andersonville, was