Confederate soldiers rarely had tents on campaign. Union soldiers generally slept in small, two-man "dog tents," which were formed out of shelter halves carried by the men. Large wall tents were sometimes available in garrison.

Clothes might not be washed for a very long period of time. During the Overland Campaign, Union soldiers went some forty days without a chance to wash their undergarments. When there was time, soldiers usually washed in whatever stream or river was available.

Upon starting a campaign, soldiers would be issued a basic load of ammunition; 40-60 rounds, usually. When that was exhausted, it would have to be replenished from wagons brought with the army. When a unit had exhausted, or very nearly exhausted, ammunition, it would generally be withdrawn from fighting in order to resupply en masse.

A very useful item of US Army issue was a gum rubber blanket. This could be used either as a groundcloth, or as a jury-rigged poncho. The Confederacy, lacking access to rubber, made do with tarred canvas ground cloths that were not nearly as waterproof.

On campaign, troops made do with nonperishable food that could be carried in the haversack. For the US Army, this took the form of preserved salt pork or beef, hard bread, variously called army bread and hardtack, and coffee pre-mixed with sugar. The Army of the Potomac in 1864 brought a herd of beef cattle with them on the Overland Campaign to supplement this. The Confederacy used the same hard bread, cornmeal, rice, a variety of preserved meats, but rarely had actual coffee. Chicory or ground peanuts were used as a substitute. In a static situation, things such as fresh bread, canned or fresh vegetables, and fresh meat was available.

Field latrines, often located on a river or stream. You would not be allowed to fall out of formation during a battle for any reason. I'll let the implications of that go unsaid.

Training consisted of much close-order drill, done for hours a day. It was important to not only master the individual skills of loading and firing, but to learn to function as a member of a company and a regiment, and for those units to operate in concert with brigade, division, corps, and army. Practice with live ammo was fairly rare, especially for the Confederates, who suffered from ammunition shortages with some frequency.

Both the Union and Confederacy had operational postal services. The Confederate postal service was surprisingly efficient early in the war, but obviously began to collapse, along with the rest of the Confederate government, towards the end of the war. During battle, almost all communication was verbal. NCOs and junior officers shouted at the men, regimental commanders shouted at these subordinates, and generals communicated with the units under them by means of runners, dispatch riders, or by riding over to them and passing them on personally.