".... The Harvest Of The Camp Followers Commences "

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
petersburg sutler 2.JPG

Not the army commissary, a sutler's row at Petersburg. " Cigars Oysters Soda Water ", one sign. The traveling tail attached to both armies included an awful lot of commerce and those who engaged in it. There are no photographs of the gamblers, pillagers, swindlers and less savory elements making up the all-encompassing term ' camp followers '. And you thought it meant prostitute.

What's in a picture? Transpires a ton of stories.

I know what you thought. The term ' camp follower ' gets attached to women, the proverbial soiled doves of lore. Why, out of the thousands opportunists chugging along behind armies women get pegged is beyond me. Lore indeed. Yes, of course somewhere in the civilian throng trailing armies like a vast tail were homeless women who discovered there was only one way to eat. The term ' camp follower ' was certain;y a kind of swear word during the ACW. It meant a mostly rag tag group of opportunists whose purpose was to ensure army paychecks stopped at their mobile establishments first, or scavenged war torn towns, kept an eye open for nefarious deals in contracts or a swift pillage through plantations.

1863
followers 1863 1.jpg


It really was a problem. After the first outrage over the shambles at Bull Run became a dull roar the finger pointing began. Dangers associated with allowing civilians within a mile of an army were highlighted. It hadn't been cowardly soldiers or even the infamous picnic basket spectators who'd been unwittingly complicit in clogging routes. Blame eventually swung around to that stupid tail, camp followers. That was 1861. The problem persisted.

followers 1863 2.jpg

"..has become a mass of corruption "

Please no one become upset with me- sutlers were included in the list of objectionable creatures constituting descriptions. Reenactors, no offence intended. When Patrick issued one of quite a few general orders intended to solve the problems associated with what amounted to a civilian army following the military, an entire tail was cut off and sent to Washington, DC, baggage to follow. I'm not including black civilians who followed the Union Army after escaping bondage- that's a whole, 'nother story. They were quite simply homeless.

sutlers store 3.jpg

An hilarious albeit confusing close up from the LoC image below, a sutler's establishment. Can't remember where ( someone here on CWT will know )
sutler1.JPG

Seems to be a lot of drinking, some display of wares ( guy's holding an umbrella? ), men toasting a guy in civilian toggery whose gold chain should tell us something. Not picking on sutler's although they're accused of selling goods priced up 2 and 3 hundred times. Account from one wharf ( White House Landing? ) where sutlers were holding clearing sales on the dock before bolting as McClellan cleared out. Like I said, no one seems to have gotten photos of the genuine ' sharks ' ( as described by a report on the problem of camp followers ).

Slightly more romantic idea of a sutler's tent, Harpers, I think 1862. ( spend a lot of time in public access sources, don't always remember to log dates )
life sutlers.jpg




It was a problem for both armies. Numbers range- there's a much printed report on General Price's 15,000 man army, between 2,000 to 5,000 camp followers straggling on behind. Guessing it was probably closer to 2,000, outrage causing those numbers to rise as the story was reprinted.

Here's another general order, General Hunter 1863's solution. Pretty funny.
followers gen hunter gen order 1863.JPG

They were to be scooped into the army, drafted on the spot as it were. An inventive and partially effective solution.

Author of this piece ( there are dozens, in dozens of newspapers between 1861-1865 ) is outraged for Southerners stripped of possessions by the swarm. " The rascals cheat the government as readily as they do the rebels ".
followers 1863 southerners.jpg



Once in awhile I'll find an account where a female soldier is discovered and thrown in jail as a prostitute and accused of being a camp follower but I can't find a single mention otherwise where ' camp follower ' meant er, hooker. Like I said they were there, just not en mass as were the forms of humanity illustrated in these articles.

followers money.JPG

That's a big chunk of soldier paychecks/tax dollars.

followers old capitol prison.JPG

And sometimes they rubbed elbows with each other in Old Capitol Prison.

Haven't done enough research on it but really should. I began poking around to see if any women's stories could be traced. Typing ' camp follower ' in search engines was enlightening although not for the reasons I'd thought. I was trying to find some stories of displaced women who'd been forced into a hateful trade. What I found was this phantom army we never see and rarely hear of when discussing the ACW. The tawdry side had a lot of faces.

followers sharks.JPG
 
The term Camp Follower includes those that provided legitimate, lawful and useful services to an Army on campaign or in long-term bivouac, many of them having obtained proper permissions and/or having official contracts with the U.S. government to provide those services, others having the short-term permission of individual officers of an army in the field. Many Camp Followers were only there by necessity as war refugees, and most of those (apparently) endeavored not to be a burden, taking up odd jobs and chores whenever they could.

Sure, the remaining percentage of Camp Followers were beggars, whores, book-makers, lending sharks, dishonest sutlers, black marketers or just plain thieves, but let's not let that misrepresent the bulk of them that were legitimate: washerwomen, bakers, wagon masters, teamsters, cattle drovers, honest sutlers, barbers, Sanitary and Christian Commission workers, teachers, day laborers, scouts and the wives and children of soldiers that were just there to help.

If there's another handle to use besides "Camp Follower" that we could use to refer generally to the army's on-site civilian supporters -- let's have it !
 
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If there's another handle to use besides "Camp Follower" that we could use to refer generally to the army's on-site civilian supporters -- let's have it !

MWR
Morale Welfare & Recreation - for the non former military types here.
 
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The term Camp Follower includes those that provided legitimate, lawful and useful services to an Army on campaign or in long-term bivouac, many of them having obtained proper permissions and/or having official contracts with the U.S. government to provide those services, others having the short-term permission of individual officers of an army in the field. Many Camp Followers were only there by necessity as war refugees, and most of those (apparently) endeavored not to be a burden, taking up odd jobs and chores whenever they could.

Sure, the remaining percentage of Camp Followers were beggars, whores, book-makers, lending sharks, dishonest sutlers, black marketers or just plain thieves, but let's not let that misrepresent the bulk of them that were legitimate: washerwomen, bakers, wagon masters, teamsters, cattle drovers, honest sutlers, barbers, Sanitary and Christian Commission workers, teachers, day laborers, scouts and the wives and children of soldiers that were just there to help.

If there's another handle to use besides "Camp Follower" that we could use to refer generally to the army's on-site civilian supporters -- let's have it !

Undertakers. :wink:
 
The term Camp Follower includes those that provided legitimate, lawful and useful services to an Army on campaign or in long-term bivouac, many of them having obtained proper permissions and/or having official contracts with the U.S. government to provide those services, others having the short-term permission of individual officers of an army in the field. Many Camp Followers were only there by necessity as war refugees, and most of those (apparently) endeavored not to be a burden, taking up odd jobs and chores whenever they could.

Sure, the remaining percentage of Camp Followers were beggars, whores, book-makers, lending sharks, dishonest sutlers, black marketers or just plain thieves, but let's not let that misrepresent the bulk of them that were legitimate: washerwomen, bakers, wagon masters, teamsters, cattle drovers, honest sutlers, barbers, Sanitary and Christian Commission workers, teachers, day laborers, scouts and the wives and children of soldiers that were just there to help.

If there's another handle to use besides "Camp Follower" that we could use to refer generally to the army's on-site civilian supporters -- let's have it !


Pretty very sure I'm not misrepresenting anything at all. ' Camp follower ' apparently was coined as a term encompassing all of them. Descriptions provided in the post were authored by those who were there. Because the term tends to be used to describe unfortunate women who resorted to an abysmal occupation to eat, the topic required some clarification. Please also refrain from the term ' whore '. It's objectionable.

Those civilians with government contracts to provide needed services would have been exempt from the several general orders trying to deal with the problem. It stands to reason. Army commissaries for instance - I purposefully mentioned them as sanctioned agents. And it's misleading scooping relief workers in with this topic. The Christian Commission sent aid workers to battlefields and shattered communities- they did not trail armies.

If there's another handle to use besides Camp Follower you are welcome to provide it.

' Whore '? May we please not employ demeaning terms when referring to these women?
 
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