I’m so excited to be bringing back another post in my Soldier Life Series! This series (for anyone not familiar) is a compilation of posts I’m writing about the life of a soldier during the War Between the States. These are unbiased posts (North and South pretty much ran their armies the same way) and are meant to be a help to those writing about the War Between the States, or to inform those who are just interested in 1860’s of some of the inner workings of nineteenth century soldiering. It’s not an exhaustive guide, but I do hope it saves another writer from having to run all over the place to get basic information! Let’s get into it!

Captains were in command of a company, which could be infantry, cavalry or artillery, respectively. A company consisted of 100 men, divided. He would also accompany his men to battle, giving orders and acting under the commands of the Colonels (Regiments) and Generals (Brigades, etc.)

 (Information Sourced from: Here and Here. You can find more details on this site that I won’t be covering here for the sake of brevity 😉)

As Company commander, the Captain is responsible for keeping up the morale of his men, through whatever justifiable means he can. He is also responsible for recommending promotion and demotion of non-commission officers (Sergeants and Corporals) and for meting out punishments for misbehavior and rewards for valor and service.

Not only did they enforce the discipline of his company and lift the spirits and stir the heart of the warrior, but the Captain was also expected to be well versed in military tactics and insure that his subordinates knew how to train the men in the performance of these tactics. One was never to stop learning. It was also a means of controlling the men and insuring that they behaved as befitted soldiers of their respective countries.

The Captain had to have his colonel’s agreement to promote or demote a soldier in his command. This prevented favoritism from taking hold of the chain of command, as even the best of commanders could fall to.

An interesting point on the relationship between the Captain and the First Sergeant was noted from this Source …

“The Captain must always sustain his First Sergeant, and the other non-commissioned officers, as far as is consistent with justice; above all things he should not appear to take sides with the men against them.  If the non-commissioned officers do wrong, they may be punished for it as any other man in the company, but where the matter is simply an error of judgment, the non-commissioned officer should be privately corrected, instructed, or reproved, as may be deemed necessary, but never in the presence of the men.  The men must be taught to respect their non-commissioned officers, and to recognize their authority to the fullest extent.”

When a soldier was mistreated by his First Sergeant (ex. Struck by the sergeant unjustly), he did not have the right to fight back. Instead of lowering himself to that level (unless, of course, the officer intended him fatal harm), the soldier was to personally report the incident to his Captain, who would investigate and punish the offender, just as though he were one of the men.

One of the things that made the Captain close with his men was the fact that he was (supposed to be) always there. He was to be there for any and all matters of business, great and small, to hear of grievances and requests and encourage the men to maintain discipline and a fighting spirit. His attitude greatly effected his men. If he seemed not to care about the success of his company in battle, neither would they.

More than anyone, the Captain has control over his men. It’s his job to make sure they understand their duty, follow it, and if they fail, investigate and punish the guilty party to insure no repeats from the offender or his fellows.

The men look up to their Captain. He needs to be brave, fearless even, assuring them that they can accomplish their goal. He needs to foster a respectable relationship with his men by seeing to even the simplest of issues that are brought to his attention. The men need to know he cares about them and that they can trust him.

There is also administrative duties the Captain must attend to, supply issues, reports to write, review or send out, but for sake of brevity, I’ll not give you the laundry list 😉 Refer to this link if you wish to know more (scroll down to the point that says “Administration”).

There is also the role of Officer of the day, which is basically an honor bestowed on different Captains in the regiments, with additional administrative duties attached to it. But because this can tend to get a bit dull, I will give you this link in case any of you would like more details.

That’s it for now! Next time this series roles around, we will be taking a look at the Major!

Have a blessed day!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

Soldier Life...something that has fascinated people for generations. It’s also something we civilians always wonder about and never quite understand. But today, I’m sharing some facts for those researching about the War Between the States, focusing on the Sergeant. (Click here for Episode 7!)

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on soldier or the War Between the States. But I have researched these topics extensively. My goal here is to give readers, writers and researchers the information I wish I had been able to find all in one place. Pulling from books and webpages takes time! To whoever finds this post helpful, this was written with you in mind!

Okay, so first, there are two different types of Sergeants. There are regular sergeants (the ranking one is called the First Sergeant) and the Sergeant Major, who is the top Non-Commission Officer (NCO; in other words, a guy who is in charge whom you do not salute.)

The duties of a regular sergeant are…

• To serve as instructors
  
• Color guard duty
  
• Guiding troop movements in battle
  
• Caring for ordinance or quartermaster duties
  

As for the Sergeant Major, he was expected to…

• Keep reports for his regiment
  
• Help guide troop movements in battle
  

 
Most of the information I gathered was for the First Sergeant and the Sergeant Major, so I’ll expand a little on what they did to keep their part of the army running (the jobs were the same in the North and the South).

The First Sergeant was selected by the captain of the company from among the other sergeants. Then the commanding officer of the regiment would make his position official. Likewise, his commission could be revoked by the commanding officer. He is the main guy supervising the entire company (100 men!). The Captain gives him his orders and he sees that they are carried out by himself and the other sergeants. Think of him as the foreman on a worksite.

The First Sergeant is the one who keeps the rosters, lists of the men serving in his company, noting who is where during the day and night. He was expected to memorize the names in alphabetical order, so that he could call the roll at any hour. I’m sure once campaigning began, that got confusing, with men being killed, captured and reported missing. Not only did he need to know everyone’s name, but he also needed to know what they looked and sounded like and where they were supposed to be in the camp line up. This is because soldiers would sometimes answer for their buddies who were away from drill without permission.

When Roll Call is made, the First Sergeant lists the absentees to the officer overseeing the roll call. All the other NCO’s are responsible to him, making sure that their work is done correctly and that the paperwork is filed. He is also allowed to arrest soldiers and NCO’s, while reporting any action like this to the Captain, along with the details of the situation. He is also the one who oversees the guard details. (See my post on Corporals for more details)

Just as the Corporal of the Guard is the most important job for a corporal, the most important duty for a first sergeant is issuing and keeping records of supplies: weapons and ammunition, uniforms, camp supplies, etc. He also has to keep record of who received what and when, and if anything is misplaced, he has to find out if it was stolen, sold or if it was an innocent mistake. He was also responsible for issuing rations to the men, and overseeing the company funds.

The sergeant is responsible for the actions of the company, to set a good example for him. Therefore, it’s a good idea to choose a man with a good temper and a strong sense of justice. He’s not supposed to be close friends with the men under him, but he should be the kind they can come to with anything on their minds without fear of talking out of turn. He’s the buffer between the men and the officers.

Now, the Sergeant Major, as I said, is the ranking NCO of the regiment. Here is one of the differences between the first sergeant and the sergeant major: one is regimental, the other is company oriented. The sergeant major is appointed by the regimental commander and there is one sergeant major in every regiment. (There are ten First Sergeants in a regiment, because there are ten companies.)

The Sergeant Major pretty much does what a First Sergeant does, only on a larger scale. His roster is of the NCOs (Sergeants and corporals) and he must also keep the time in camp. That means waking up the musicians in time to sound Reveille at the proper hour in the morning.

The First Sergeant turns the morning reports in to the Sergeant Major, who in turn gives them back to the sergeant, along with the orders for the day. He instructs them in details that will be expected of them the next day and copies the orders into the “Company Order-Book.”

He will also attend the Mounting of the Guard, with the First Sergeants reporting to him that everything is in order. He is the NCO all the lower-ranking NCOs look up to, so it is expected for him to act as the model soldier in the way he dresses and carries himself. He should be punctual and disciplined. When promotions come along, if he has carried out his duties correctly, he will be the first NCO to get an officer’s commission. Then, a first sergeant will take his place.
 
That’s all I have for today. Have a blessed week!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22