Camp-follower is a term used to identify civilians and their children who follow armies. There are two common types of camp followers; first, the wives and children of soldiers, who follow their spouse or parent's army from place to place; the second type of camp followers have historically been informal army service providers, servicing soldiers needs whilst encamped, in particular selling goods or services that the military does not supply, these have included cooking, laundering, liquor, nursing, sexual services and sutlery.[1]
From the beginning of organized warfare until the end of 19th century, service-providing camp-followers were a vital part of an army's system of support and before sutler services were militarized even military goods were often provided. Camp-followers usually accompanied the baggage train and they often outnumbered the army itself, adding to its logistic problems.[2] The term may also be applied to someone who scavenges after a battle. In United States history, Molly Pitcher was considered a camp-follower during the Revolutionary War, while there were also a number of camp-followers on both the Union and Confederate sides of the American Civil War.
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"Camp-follower" has also been used to describe the modern families of military personnel who accompany soldiers while traveling; either during active military campaigns (more common in less-developed countries), or during peacetime military deployments (more common in developed countries), especially moving from military base to military base in a nomadic lifestyle (more common in developed countries).
Modern camp-follower children are now more often called military brats in several English-speaking countries. In the United States, Canada and Great Britain, the term military brat refers specifically to the mobile children of career soldiers, who traditionally have been camp or base followers.[3] In the United States this practice of base-following, or camp-following, dates all the way back to the beginning of the Republic.[4]
Today at least 12 million living Americans aged between 18 to 80 grew up without home towns and within the U.S. military—moving from base to base all over the United States, and around the world.[5] In the last 15 years, work has been done to document and describe the unique subculture of children and teenagers who grew up attached to, and moving constantly with, the US military.[6][7]
Multigenerational aspect: 38% of currently living American military brats are also the children of military brats: In many career military families, this tradition goes back for generations. Some consider the modern American U.S. subculture of military brats and American multi-generational career military families to border on being a distinct ethnic group.[8] Precedents of multi-generational Camp-follower or military families evolving into distinct ethnic groups exist in many parts of the world and throughout history, for example the Cossacks of Russia, the Samurai class in Japan, and the Kayani of Pakistan, to name just a few military-derived ethnicities.
Some work has also recently been done to document and describe military brat subcultures from other English speaking countries as well.