A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

Directions: Just like your own family photo, the photos of the Civil War all have a story behind them. Your job is to write a descriptive story based on a selected Civil War picture. The story told must be written in first person and reflect the events surrounding the photo. The story should reflect the information collected in your research about “Life as a Civil War soldier”. Stories should include sensory details and at least 2 element of figurative language (simile, metaphor, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia, idioms). Questions to consider include:

Setting: (time, place)

Where and when was the photo taken?
What were the conditions?

People: Include in your story a description of the people in the photo.

Who are you?
Who are the others in the photo?
What do the expressions, faces, and posture tell you about the mood?
What are the circumstances surrounding you and/or the group?

Story:

Beginning (setting, background of you)
Middle (events, conflict, climax)
End (What’s next? What happened to the people in the photo? Is the end of the Civil War near? What do you suspect life will be like after the war is over?)

Setting
People
Events
Figurative Language

I remember this day well. When I first enlisted as a Union Army Private at the young age of 19, I was determined to fight to keep the nation together. As the son of a small farmer, I had never traveled beyond our small town, so the thought of heading off to war was like an exciting adventure. I joined the 140th New York State Infantry. Once enlisted, I was sent to a nearby army camp for training. Upon my arrival, I set up in a tent with close to 20 other men. This photo was taken several weeks after our arrival. I am standing proud in the front row, second from the left. Our days have been filled with drill session after drill session. Some days it feels like the orders from our officers will never end. The leading commanders are on horseback and watch over our training closely. When we aren’t training, we perform guard duty, cut wood for the campfires, and are ordered to clean up the camp. Although that is part of our daily routine, the camp itself is filthy. Animal carcass, human waste, and bedding infested with lice and bugs are common in camp. Sometimes, while sleeping, the stench of the camp and my fellow recruits becomes absolutely unbearable, and I feel I may suffocate to death. Life in camp continues to worsen, as disease has spread rampantly throughout the camp. A number of men in this photo never even got to see a day of fighting as they have already fallen fatality ill. It is July 1863. My Regiment has been ordered to head to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in the morning. It is here, that I hope all our fine training will be put to good use.

John O’Malley - Private, 140th Infantry