This article is reprinted and adapted in part from Miller, G. L. 1997. Historical Natural History: Insects and the Civil War. American Entomologist 43:227-245.

Portions of this article are copyrighted by the Entomological Society of America and are reprinted with permission. Other reproduction of this material is prohibited.

Section 6: Buzz of the Battle

Soldiers often likened the sound of bullets to the buzz of a bee. Lt. Robertson of the 93rd New York Regiment elaborated on the dilemma that faced him at Spotsylvania, (10)

to advance was impossible, to retreat was death, for in the great struggle that raged there, there were few merely wounded...The bullets sang like swarming bees, and their sting was death (Garrison 1994).

The ferocity of some battlefields was even compared to that of bees. At Shiloh (11), the savagery and sound of musketry and cannonading in one area of the battlefield resulted in its being dubbed "The Hornets' Nest." Here the sting of bullets was followed by a Confederate bayonet charge.

Battle of Antietam

Angry bees could complicate matters when coupled with the confusion of battle and one such incident occurred at the Battle of Antietam. The 132nd Pennsylvania Volunteers were mustered into service only about a month before they found themselves in the Maryland farm community of Sharpsburg. Because the regiment was previously untested in battle, Antietam would soon become its baptism of fire. As the 132nd was advancing on the Roulette farm, a shot from a Confederate battery slammed into the Roulette bee yard. The result must have verged on the macabre. Some men dropped their muskets and ran into nearby fields, while others slapped their clothes and batted at the angry honey bees, Apis mellifera L. In the meantime, more Confederate artillery shells and bullets were finding their marks among the Union troops. "Soldiers were rolling in the grass, running, jumping, and ducking" (Brown 1986). Brigade commanders were quickly concerned that the hysteria that gripped the 132nd could rapidly spread to wholesale panic among the other troops. An order of "double quick" allowed the Pennsylvanians to advance past the Roulette farm and eventually outdistance the bees. As the regiment advanced across open fields toward the Sunken Road, the Confederates opened with a terrific volley of musketry that brought down many of the Union line. With no cover from the fire, the 132nd was ordered to lie down and crawl toward the Rebel lines. Exposed to musketry, artillery fire, and the choking smoke from black powder, some of the 132nd also "suffered from welts left by William Roulettes' bees" (Brown 1986). The 132nd Pennsylvania felt the full fury of two enemies that September day in 1862.

Soldiers were exposed to other hymenopteran headaches. During the late summer campaigns, nests of yellowjackets and hornets were reaching maximum size. One incidence reflected some of the hazards of foraging:

". . . a plump Pennsylvanian inadvertently knocked a hornet's nest from an over burdened apple tree by jerking an apple from one of its branches. The hornets nearly killed him before he could clear the fence and spring into the road. They stung him over the eye, in the nose, and several times in his scalp before he out ran them" (Priest 1992).

Some unfortunate souls did not have the means to extricate themselves from some of these nests. In the evening of the first day of Second Bull Run (12), both sides tried to remove wounded as best they could under cover of darkness. The following dialogue recorded some of the suffering near the Confederate line.

Captain Blackford of [General J.E.B.] Stuart's staff heard the shrill voice of a young boy, sobbing. He rose to help the suffering youth when the boy's father, apparently the captain of his company, called, "Charley, my boy, is that you?"

"Oh yes," the young soldier replied, trying so hard to act like a man. "Father, my leg is broken, but I don't want you to think that is what I am crying for; I fell in a yellow-jackets' nest and they have been stinging me ever since. That is what makes me cry - please pull me out."

His father did pull him out. He cradled him in his arms, where the warrior--youth soon died. (Hennessy 1993)

Battle of Bull Run

Stinging insects were problematic on other parts of the Second Bull Run battlefield. Along Sudley Road during the second day of the battle, a company of the 11th U.S. Regulars broke open a hornet's nest.

Confederate bullets had not been able to unseat the Yankees from their position, but a few dozen riled bees did. "In an instant the men were put to flight by the furious insects," one Regular wrote. The panic was contagious; " in a twinkling the position was abandoned and every man was fleeing from an unknown danger." It took several minutes for the officers to restore the line. (Hennessy 1993)

Eventually, the pressure of the Confederates (and possibly hornets) caused the Union line to yield in that part of the road.

Although angry bees added to the anguish of battle, honey bees--or rather the honey they produce--were actually sought out by soldiers when not faced with the battlefield. Supplementing rations with honey was a favorite endeavor with Rebs and Yanks. Foraging (often a euphemism for stealing) soldiers were quick to locate bee yards during campaigning and "tramped many a mile by night in quest of these depositories of sweets" (Billings 1887). Some went to great lengths to procure the honey supplement. In one such incident, Union soldiers forged an evening pass, booby-trapped the beekeeper's footbridge, and provided a diversion to secure the "secesh's" beehive (Williams 1862). However, foragers did always get their way. One Georgia woman evidently managed to keep her beehives during the war.

She lived in a one room log house with just one door. She set the beehives in the front yard...and tied [a cord] to the beehives. When she saw the blue-coats coming she turned the beehive over with the cord which she had pulled through a hole in the door. Several times the horses and men got stung badly. The horses would sometime throw their riders and hurt them. But the men always left her home without bothering her or what little food she had! (Mitchell 1996).

Beeswax also may have been used. Early in the war, the Prairie Farmer suggested that soldiers could make a soothing salve for sore feet by mixing "equal parts of gum camphor, olive oil, and pure beeswax" (Anonymous 1861).

Stinging bees

Bees were the source of at least one practical joke.

I recall an incident occurring in the Tenth Vermont Regiment - once brigaded with my company - when some of the foragers, who had been out on a tramp, brought a hive of bees into camp, after the men had wrapped themselves in their blankets, and, by way of a joke, set it down stealthily on the stomach of the captain of one of the companies, making business quite lively in that neighborhood shortly afterwards. (Billings 1887)

One could only hope that the company captain had a good sense of humor and no allergic reactions.

Next Section: Infested Fare

  1. May 8-20, 1864.
  2. April 6-7, 1862.
  3. August 29-30, 1862.