Nevertheless many of them were thrown away along with anything else a foot soldier deemed unnecessary weight. A lot of them tossed their knapsacks and carried everything in a rolled up blanket. Many of them even tossed their canteens, most of which leaked anyway.
Men died in the forced marches of the era. I read a book by a Union Soldier, I don't remember which battle his unit was marching to, but it was in the summer. He listed the number of men he knew who fell out and died due to heat exhaustion. Gettysburg was in July, I am sure many Union and Confederates fell out due to heat exhaustion and surely, some died. Soldiers learned to carry only the essential. While I have found bayonet and sword incidents in the Civil War, they were rare. Men did get stabbed and bayoneted, but the number who died from cold steel is miniscule compared to the number who died to cannon fire and musket rounds. Both sides found out, a unit's survival in the open was short. Take Fredericksburg where the slaughter of Union forces, tried bayonet charges, at the
Sunken Road.
Most of Chickamauga was wooded. Here is a notable location where the Confederates were to the left, in those woods, and over ran an Union Battery. The Union battery did not have time to turn the cannon, and swords and bayonets were used.
notice all the trees that the Union plague has, this is to emphasise how dense the woods are at this point
the woods today
the woods disappeared in this period illustration. Hero's need to be visible and to be face to face with their enemy.
This part of Pea Ridge, no one got across this field. There probably were ten times the amount of artillery from what is on the battle field today.
The distance between Union and Confederate artillery was 500 yards.
These batteries had infantry support, but no one was getting across those fields. This is what Confederate Artillery Captain John Good said
[the Yankees} opened a perfect storm of round and shrapnell shot and shell... [the ground] was literally ploughed up by cannon ball... It is a perfect miracle that any of us ever came out.
Canister was effective out to 400 yards. I am sure anyone with a bayonet, who charged an artillery battery, loaded with grape and canister, had to have a fatalistic attitude towards success.