People today have no idea just how taxing were the marches made at the time of the Civil War. American’s of the last couple of generations just sit on their butts and ride everywhere, so weight is not an issue. But, back then, you walked, and you carried your stuff. Even though Infantry always attempted to lighten their loads, they still ended up carrying 60 to 80 pounds of equipment. And, something I did not realize, lots of soldiers died from exhaustion during a march. I had run across the term “lost” and “dropped out” before in Civil War biographies, but I did not realize that these were euphemisms for died. These Armies marched and soldiers died from the marching.
Private Wilbur Fisk, Second Vermont Regiment, Union Army of the Potomac
Camp near Fairfax Station, 17 June 1863 page 105
We were on the road all that night, but we made but little progress. Teams of troops continually clogged the way, occasioning the most vexatious delays. I don’t know as I could explain it, but it is a fact, nevertheless, that it tires a soldier more to have to stand still half of the time than it does to march straight along without interruption. I had rather march fifteen miles in reasonable time than spend the same time marching five, unless we can sit down and rest. Morning came, but with it no rest. We halted a few minutes, just long enough for a good may to get soundly to sleep, and it did not take long to do that, for we had lost two night’s rest, but their sleep was very brief. The unfeeling order was passed down the lines, and every sleeper had to “take up his bed and walk.” Those who had preferred sleep to breakfast lost the latter for a very pitiful allowance of the former. All day long we tugged our weary knapsacks in the broiling sun, and many fell out to fall in no mare. It was very hot and very dusty. The dry dirt seemed to be particularly adapted to draw the rays of the sun, and the blistering heat that the road reflected, seemed like the breath from a furnace, seven times heated. The road was lined with stragglers, and many fell dead in their tracks. Our corps alone lost forty-six men from sunstroke. Some say that other corps lost upwards of a hundred each. I have no means of knowing how many died from the effect of heat and exhaustion, but I know that dead men lay along beside the road in sufficient numbers to prove that our marching strength was being pretty well tested. About five o’clock we reached Dumfries and halted for the night. In some of the regiments less than one-third of the men were in at the time of stopping. A Bible full of general orders couldn’t have prevented straggling that day. At half past two o’clock the next morning we were ordered to pack up again, and as soon as it was fairly light, we were once more on our way. It was a little cooler and we marched and rested more systematically than the day before, so that but few were left behind. At nine P.M. we reached this place, having made, according to the statement of a citizen, twenty-five miles since morning.
Infantry tended to lighten the load. They got rid of everything they could to lighten the load. They had to carry their rifle and cartridge box, but many dumped their bayonets, backpacks, canteens, coats, and even blankets, during a march. If a soldier could not carry it in their pockets, (or haversack), it was often dumped by the road side. Something like those huge bowie knives would have ended in the ditch during the first 20 mile march. The owners would have been harassed by veteran troops, who had already dumped theirs, and somewhere into the first 10 miles of the march, the novice soldier would have quickly emptied his knapsack of a whole bunch of “nice to haves”.
So, you want a big weapon, fine, big weapons are fun. Where they authentic to the period: yes. Did anyone use one in combat: possibly, but it is more likely the knife was tossed in the ditch before the first battle.
