Surviving a US Civil War: Real Tactics for Real People

They want you helpless. They want you dependent. They want you to believe that when their fucking house of cards finally collapses, you'll have no choice but to crawl to them for scraps.

1. The Government Won't Save You: Learn From the Dead

When the first Civil War erupted, soldiers learned brutal truths that today's preppers and weekend warriors still don't grasp. The 92nd Illinois Infantry survived minus eight degree temperatures not because the government issued them proper gear: they didn't: but because they figured out how to layer corn fodder inside their tents and spoon together like "kittens in a chimney corner."

These men ate twelve ounces of bacon and a pound of cornmeal daily when they were lucky. They cooked with a single frying pan, two tin cups, and pure fucking determination. No MREs. No fancy camping gear. No government handouts. Just the knowledge that survival is a skill, not a service.

Confederate and Union soldiers alike learned to dig latrines away from water sources after watching entire regiments die from preventable diseases. By 1862, both armies figured out that burying human waste saves more lives than bullets. Yet today's Americans still think the CDC and FEMA will handle sanitation when society collapses.

You want real tactics? Start with this: Stop expecting rescue.

2. Modern "Preparedness" Is Consumer Bullshit

The prepper industry wants to sell you $3,000 bug-out bags and tactical gear that makes you feel badass while keeping you fundamentally dependent on supply chains. Real survival isn't about hoarding: it's about skills, community, and the willingness to do what others won't.

Civil War soldiers made functional lighting by rendering fat from fried meat and using twisted coat fabric as wicks. They didn't order tactical flashlights from Amazon. They improvised with what they had because that's what survival actually looks like.

Modern civil conflict won't wait for your perfect preparation. Communications fail first: cell towers, internet, landlines. When families get separated, they stay separated unless you've planned meeting points and shared them beforehand. Hard copies of family photos become life-or-death identification tools when digital records disappear.

The government's preparedness theater focuses on 72-hour emergency kits because they don't want you thinking beyond their ability to "restore order." Real civil war preparation means building systems that work when theirs don't.

3. Your Neighbors Are Your Army: Or Your Enemies

Every successful resistance movement starts with knowing who you can trust before the shooting starts. The Civil War taught us that geography matters less than relationships. Small towns with mutual aid agreements survive. Urban centers become killing fields.

Build those relationships now, while Amazon still delivers and the lights still work. Identify neighbors willing to share resources, ammunition, food storage, and water during emergencies. Not everyone will help you: many will collaborate with whoever promises safety, even if it means turning in their neighbors.

The historical record is clear: during conflicts, informants come from your own community. Know who will sell you out for a meal or government protection. Know who will fight. Know the difference before it matters.

THIS ISN'T PREPPING: IT'S REVOLUTION

Stop thinking about "getting through" a civil war like it's a hurricane that will pass. Civil wars reshape everything permanently. The government you know won't exist afterward. The economy you depend on won't restart. The social contracts you take for granted will be fucking ash.

This isn't about surviving until things "get back to normal." This is about building the foundation for what comes next.

The Confederacy and Union both collapsed multiple supply lines, abandoned territories, and watched their currencies become worthless paper. Soldiers survived by creating new systems in real-time: new ways to eat, shelter, communicate, and organize. They didn't wait for restoration; they adapted to replacement.

Your survival depends on accepting this reality: the old system is already dead. You're not preparing for a temporary disruption: you're preparing for permanent change.

4. Security Culture Isn't Paranoia: It's Survival

Civil wars create information warfare that makes social media manipulation look like kindergarten finger painting. Everyone becomes a potential intelligence asset. Every conversation gets monitored. Every transaction gets tracked. Every movement gets recorded.

The Union and Confederacy both used civilian spies, intercepted mail, and turned neighbors against each other through economic incentives and ideological pressure. Modern surveillance makes their capabilities look primitive.

Digital security isn't optional during civil conflict: it's life or death. Communications that can be intercepted will be intercepted. Financial transactions that can be frozen will be frozen. People who can be identified through their digital footprints will be targeted.

Learn encrypted messaging now. Understand cash transactions. Build relationships through face-to-face contact. Practice operational security like your life depends on it, because it fucking will.

5. Resource Independence Is Combat Readiness

Civil War armies moved fast and light because heavy supply chains become targets. Your survival strategy should mirror this principle: multiple small caches distributed across different locations rather than one large stockpile that can be confiscated or destroyed.

Water storage, food preservation, ammunition reserves, first aid supplies, and alternative energy sources should be decentralized and hidden. Not hidden from burglars: hidden from organized forces with legal authority to search and seize.

Government forces during civil conflicts routinely confiscate civilian supplies "for the war effort." Private militias and resistance groups do the same. Your stockpile will be discovered and taken unless you plan for this reality.

Think like a guerrilla: small, mobile, replaceable assets scattered across multiple locations only you know about. Cache supplies in rural areas, abandoned structures, buried containers, and trusted locations away from your primary residence.

6. And What the Fuck Are YOU Doing About It?

While you read this, politicians are already choosing sides for the conflict they know is coming. Corporations are calculating profit margins on civil war reconstruction. Military contractors are updating contingency plans for domestic deployment.

They're preparing. Are you?

Or are you still pretending that voting, peaceful protest, and "working within the system" will prevent the inevitable? Are you still believing that somehow, magically, the same institutions that created this crisis will solve it?

Every day you spend in denial is a day your potential enemies use to organize. Every day you spend hoping for peaceful resolution is a day they spend preparing for violent enforcement. Every day you wait is a day they get stronger while you get weaker.

The historical pattern is clear: civil wars don't ask permission. They don't wait for convenient timing. They don't pause while you finish your career, pay off your mortgage, or get your kids through college.

They start when conditions align, regardless of your personal readiness. The question isn't whether civil war will happen: it's whether you'll be ready when it does.

7. Build Underground Networks Before You Need Them

The Underground Railroad didn't materialize overnight during the Civil War: it operated for decades before formal conflict began. Successful resistance networks build infrastructure during peacetime, not during crisis.

Start building now: communication networks that don't depend on government infrastructure, supply chains that bypass corporate distribution, security protocols that assume surveillance, and community relationships based on mutual aid rather than market transactions.

This means learning skills that don't require electricity, internet, or government approval. Food preservation without refrigeration. Water purification without municipal systems. Medical care without hospitals. Communication without cell towers. Transportation without digital tracking.

Most importantly, it means identifying and connecting with people who share your commitment to resistance rather than collaboration. People who will fight rather than submit. People who understand that freedom requires preparation and preparation requires sacrifice.

The Civil War taught us that survival belongs to those who organize before conflict begins. The time for organization is now, while you still have the freedom to choose your allies and build your networks.

Fuck this system( start building the underground.)