EPISODE 1: WAR FEVER
April 17, 1862
It is an unusually hot day for April, but the sweat on your forehead has nothing to do with the sweltering heat. It doesn’t help that the butterflies in your stomach feel as big as bats. You have decided to join the army and fight for your country! Rumors have been floating that soon the army will begin conscripting (drafting) men—and if you wait for that to happen, you may not have the choice of serving with your friends. It has been a year since the battle at Fort Sumter triggered the war. You can still remember the headlines in the paper: “Bombing of Sumter!” “The War Commenced!” Now, you are standing in line at the county courthouse, waiting with your friends to get sworn into the army. In your mind, you can already envision how grand you will look in your new uniform . . . how proud your family will be . . . how exciting it will be to march into battle and defeat the enemy! Finally it is your turn to step forward and sign your name, or make your mark if you are illiterate, on your enlistment papers.
Spin to find out what regiment you will be assigned to. Write your new unit assignment in your journal.
April 17, 1862
It is an unusually hot day for April, but the sweat on your forehead has nothing to do with the sweltering heat. It doesn’t help that the butterflies in your stomach feel as big as bats. You have decided to join the army and fight for your country! Rumors have been floating that soon the army will begin conscripting (drafting) men—and if you wait for that to happen, you may not have the choice of serving with your friends. It has been a year since the battle at Fort Sumter triggered the war. You can still remember the headlines in the paper: “Bombing of Sumter!” “The War Commenced!” Now, you are standing in line at the county courthouse, waiting with your friends to get sworn into the army. In your mind, you can already envision how grand you will look in your new uniform . . . how proud your family will be . . . how exciting it will be to march into battle and defeat the enemy! Finally it is your turn to step forward and sign your name, or make your mark if you are illiterate, on your enlistment papers.
Spin to find out what regiment you will be assigned to. Write your new unit assignment in your journal.
You are now off to training camp where you will learn how to be a soldier!
April 23, 1862
You have arrived at the army camp where you will receive basic training. Your first introduction to military life is an inspection by the sergeant in charge of your training. He stands glaring at your group while chewing on his cigar for several minutes. Then he bellows, “How can they do this to me? Sent me a bunch of babies who will never be soldiers! I have never seen a more pathetic group of misfits in my life! Why, I’ll bet you can’t walk and chew at the same time, let alone learn to march and fight together! Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to try and make soldiers out of you!” You are dismissed and assigned to your tent. You and the other soldiers in your unit will share a large tent in a muddy open field. Next, it’s time to get your uniform and find out what kind of weapons and provisions your unit will receive.
April 23, 1862
You have arrived at the army camp where you will receive basic training. Your first introduction to military life is an inspection by the sergeant in charge of your training. He stands glaring at your group while chewing on his cigar for several minutes. Then he bellows, “How can they do this to me? Sent me a bunch of babies who will never be soldiers! I have never seen a more pathetic group of misfits in my life! Why, I’ll bet you can’t walk and chew at the same time, let alone learn to march and fight together! Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to try and make soldiers out of you!” You are dismissed and assigned to your tent. You and the other soldiers in your unit will share a large tent in a muddy open field. Next, it’s time to get your uniform and find out what kind of weapons and provisions your unit will receive.
Make a spin—one for weapons and another for provisions. Before you make your spins, however, you can decide whether you want to try to talk the quartermaster (the officer in charge of supplies) into giving your unit the best available equipment. Each unit can try to improve either their weapons or their provisions, but not both.
Make a Common Sense spin to see if you unit succeeds in improving either your weapons or provisions. If you spin a number equal to or lower than your Common Sense number, your unit can add 1 to the number that will be spun on either weapons or provisions, whichever your unit has decided upon. (For example, say a Union unit decided to improve their weapons, and the unit representative spins a 4. Adding 1 to that number makes it a 5, and the unit gets Springfield rifles instead of Enfield rifles. Of course, if the representative spins a 3, the added number will not make a difference.)
If you spin a number higher than your Common Sense number, your unit gets exactly the weapons and provisions that match the numbers your representatives will spin.
Make a spin to see what kinds of weapons and provisions you get. Remember, if your unit’s Common Sense spin was successful, add 1 to the number spun on either the weapons or provisions (depending on the unit’s decision).
As new soldiers you soon discover that life in the military is an endless series of drills: marching, shooting, charging, and more marching. Rules in the army are strict and discipline is rough. If a soldier breaks the rules, he is forced to march back and forth carrying a knapsack full of bricks or stand on top of a barrel for hours at a time. If anyone breaks one of the more serious rules, such as falling asleep while on sentry duty or committing desertion (running away from the army), he can be hanged! Basic training has toughened both your mind and body and taught you the military skills that may save your life. During these six weeks of basic training, you may try and improve one of your skills (attributes).
Choose the skill you would like to improve—Strength, Common Sense, Stamina, Marksmanship, Agility, or Medical Expertise. Keep in mind that the better you are now at a skill, the harder it will be to improve. In order to improve a skill you must spin a number higher than the one you already have. If you succeed, you can raise the skill number by one point. For example, Laura is a farmer who wants to improve her Agility. Her Agility number is 3, so she must spin a 4 or higher to raise the number by one point. Say, she spins a 5. Now she can raise her Agility number from 3 to 4. If she had spun 3 or lower, then her Agility would remain the same.
One evening, after another exhausting day of drilling, the regimental commander comes to talk to the soldiers. Your drill sergeant yells, “Attention, snap to for the Colonel!” You and the rest of your unit jump up and stand stiff as boards with your eyes forward. The gray-bearded commander clears his throat and says, “When you arrived at this camp six weeks ago, I saw a bunch of farmers and tradesmen. Now as I look at you, I am proud to say that I see a regiment of soldiers. Tomorrow you will begin a journey that will take you to engage the enemy. Get a good night’s rest and I will see you on the parade ground at reveille.”
Make a Common Sense spin to see if you unit succeeds in improving either your weapons or provisions. If you spin a number equal to or lower than your Common Sense number, your unit can add 1 to the number that will be spun on either weapons or provisions, whichever your unit has decided upon. (For example, say a Union unit decided to improve their weapons, and the unit representative spins a 4. Adding 1 to that number makes it a 5, and the unit gets Springfield rifles instead of Enfield rifles. Of course, if the representative spins a 3, the added number will not make a difference.)
If you spin a number higher than your Common Sense number, your unit gets exactly the weapons and provisions that match the numbers your representatives will spin.
Make a spin to see what kinds of weapons and provisions you get. Remember, if your unit’s Common Sense spin was successful, add 1 to the number spun on either the weapons or provisions (depending on the unit’s decision).
As new soldiers you soon discover that life in the military is an endless series of drills: marching, shooting, charging, and more marching. Rules in the army are strict and discipline is rough. If a soldier breaks the rules, he is forced to march back and forth carrying a knapsack full of bricks or stand on top of a barrel for hours at a time. If anyone breaks one of the more serious rules, such as falling asleep while on sentry duty or committing desertion (running away from the army), he can be hanged! Basic training has toughened both your mind and body and taught you the military skills that may save your life. During these six weeks of basic training, you may try and improve one of your skills (attributes).
Choose the skill you would like to improve—Strength, Common Sense, Stamina, Marksmanship, Agility, or Medical Expertise. Keep in mind that the better you are now at a skill, the harder it will be to improve. In order to improve a skill you must spin a number higher than the one you already have. If you succeed, you can raise the skill number by one point. For example, Laura is a farmer who wants to improve her Agility. Her Agility number is 3, so she must spin a 4 or higher to raise the number by one point. Say, she spins a 5. Now she can raise her Agility number from 3 to 4. If she had spun 3 or lower, then her Agility would remain the same.
One evening, after another exhausting day of drilling, the regimental commander comes to talk to the soldiers. Your drill sergeant yells, “Attention, snap to for the Colonel!” You and the rest of your unit jump up and stand stiff as boards with your eyes forward. The gray-bearded commander clears his throat and says, “When you arrived at this camp six weeks ago, I saw a bunch of farmers and tradesmen. Now as I look at you, I am proud to say that I see a regiment of soldiers. Tomorrow you will begin a journey that will take you to engage the enemy. Get a good night’s rest and I will see you on the parade ground at reveille.”
At the end of boot camp, everyone receives his starting rank in the army. Anyone who showed exceptional ability during training may get promoted. All of the soldiers who successfully raised one of their skill points, spin on the table at right to see what kind of promotion they received. Soldiers who did not raise any skill points during basic training start out as Privates. Record their rank in your journals.
Journal Prompt
Write about your experience as a new recruit to the army. What was your training like? Is army life anything at all like what you expected it to be? How is it like or different from what you expected? How do you feel about your upcoming journey to meet the enemy?
Journal Prompt
Write about your experience as a new recruit to the army. What was your training like? Is army life anything at all like what you expected it to be? How is it like or different from what you expected? How do you feel about your upcoming journey to meet the enemy?