The image above is on the cover of the Western Pennsylvania History Magazine's Commemorative Issue from Summer 2013, which can be read online. Yes, families followed the father's camp and from the looks on these faces you could conclude that for this family it was not a hard call. It may have been their only move, depending on the situation at home. If not a necessity it might not be a stretch that it may have been framed as the 19th Century equivalent to the modern "working/vacation."
This could be a family portrait set up for when the family arrived in camp, and to show more about how they are than just what they looked like. Mother has a full basket of, probably, food. Dad poses with tools. Son has the dog and daughter a doll. This is who they are and what they do.
Also note the soldiers in the background. Since photos took so long to set up back then it was simple matter for them to do what today would be called a photo-bomb.
Here's the on-the-cover description about the image from the hard copy magazine: "Wives and even families sometimes accompanied soldiers to the front. In this 1861 photo (one of a pair of stereographs) the 31st (later the 82nd) Pennsylvania Infantry passes time at Queen's farm near Fort Massachusetts/Slocum , five miles north of the White House."
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