10. The Confederate soldier was often self-equipped in the early years of the war
When the first news of war with the Northern States swept across the South, patriotic fervor led to a surge of enlistments, to the point that the Confederacy was forced to turn men away. There were simply too many men for the government to clothe and equip at once. Many Southern soldiers entered the field in clothes of their own supply, armed with personally owned weapons. Many were never issued uniforms at all. Their more durable clothing and footwear eventually wore out, but they were spared the morale shattering receipt of clothing which wore out in days rather than months or even years which their Northern counterparts were forced to endure.