It is difficult to underestimate the degree of suffering the
wa caused in the
South. We have already seen the degree of economic dislocation there – the collapse of the cotton industry, the effect of the blockade on
shortages, the loss of most of the male workforce to the Army, and the runaway inflation.
To this you need to add the destruction of the war, the privations of invasion and sieges,
Union occupation and the depridation of 'total war', and hundreds of thousands of
displaced refugees fleeing the fighting.
Added to that:
in 1862 the Confederate government passed a Conscription Act, calling up all male aged 18-35 (changed to 17-50 by 1864);
in 1863 it imposed a 10 percent
'tax-in-kind' on certain crops, such as corn, wheat, and sweet potatoes, to
be given to governmen collectors;
also in 1863 it passed an Impressment Act giving itself the right to buy supplies at a
'fair price' (which it reckoned at about 50% of the market price).
These measures were so unpopular that some historians have wondered if they helped the Confederacy lose the war./p>
Much more significant, however, was the hardship faced by soldiers' wives. A Confederate soldier earned $11 a month; by 1864 a chicken cost $15. There are thousands of letters from soldiers' wives begging their husbands to come home, and in fact 10% of the Confederate Army deserted.
Source A
Louisiana in 1864
From Mansfield to the Mississippi River was one scene of desolation.
The fine estates were all devastated – houses, gins, mills, fences and barns
were burned, every living thing driven away or killed. You can travel for miles, in many portions of Louisiana, through a once thickly-settled country, and not see a man, nor a woman, nor a child, nor a four-footed beast. The farmhouses have been burned. The plantations deserted.… A painful melancholy, a death-like silence, broods over the land, and desolation reigns supreme.
Henry Watkins Allen, Governor of Confederate Louisiana.
Source B
We haven’t got nothing in the house to eat but a little bit of meal. I don't want you to stop fighting them Yankees ... but try to get off and come home and fix us all up some and then you can go back. If you put off a’comin’ t’won’t be no use to come for we’ll all be out there in the garden in the graveyard with your ma and pa.
Wife to her Confederate soldier husband, December 18644.
Consider:
The table below lists thirteen impacts of the war on Southern
civilians. The quotes on the right are all from letters and diaries of the
time – but they are all wrongly placed.
Spend some time considering which quote best illustrates which experience before clicking on the
'Get Correct Order' button to find out if you were right.
Going Deeper
The following links will help you widen your knowledge:
Basic accounts in Prof. Gallagher's Great Courses book
(pdf) on: • Soldiers
(Ch 7) • African Americans (Chs 27-28) • Women at War (Chs 32-33) • Confederate Home Front (Chs 38-39) • Northern Home Font (Ch 40-41)
Shortages of food, clothing etc. There were bread riots in Richmond in 1863
“What is to become of all the living things in this
place when the boats commence shelling, God only knows. Shut up as in a trap are thousands of women and children.” (4)
Rampant inflation (9000%)
“Oh! so anxious. A rough Federal scouting party
came up and acted very badly this morning. They took nearly all our
little cows, and a good many fowls, all remonstrance was vain.”
(3)
Destruction of homes and property
“We are so
anxious to hear from the North and wonder they do not write oftener.
Everybody there seems flourishing. Here we are on the last squeeze.” (1)
Siege conditions (eg starvation, shelling in
Vicksburg, where refuges were living in caves dug out of the hillside)
“It takes a fortune to send to the City – Shoes
$100 a pair – Flour $200 a barrel – Eggs $3:00 per dozen.” (1)
Communities dealing with occupation by Union
soldiers
“Three miles from town we began to overtake the
fugitives. Hundreds of women
and children were walking along, some bareheaded and in all costumes. It was a
heart-rending scene. Women
searching for their babies where they had been lost; others sitting in
the dust crying and wringing their hands.” (5)
Displacement and refugee status
“[My husband] dressed very shabbily. I have used
sheets, curtains and the linings of my dresses to clothe him and now we
know not where to get anything more… We have-been out of meat some days.
Live on corn and rice. No one has anything to sell – all are short.” (1)
Emotional toll from loss of loved ones
“We have a poor, sick soldier here, he came Monday
… and has been in the hospital three months. He is a perfect skeleton,
and could not walk up stairs.” (2)
Emotional impact of being cut off from loved ones
“I can't bear the thought of Willie's going away,
and yet I am anxious for him to serve his country… Willie says he cannot
stay at home; though if he applied he could easily get exemption from
the conscript law on account of his arm and his ill health.” (2)
Women without menfolk or enslaved servants, taking
on new roles, managing homes/ farms/businesses
“Dilapidation and decay mark the course of
everything here. Both people
and place are gradually falling into ruin.” (3)
Women involved in nursing and aiding the war effort
“[I was forced to work for the Confederacy,] which
I hated to do, but could not help it … they talked about lynching me if
I did not do it.” (8)
Hundreds of women disguised themselves and joined
up as soldiers; others served as spies.
“When found, the unfortunate man had evidently been
dead for some time. His wife
and relations were distressed beyond measure, and filled the air with
their cries and groans.” (6)
Men unable to fight faced social pressure/ some
were sent petticoats
“I was now more than ever
disposed to take an active part in the war, if only for the purpose of
revenging my husband's death… I had resolved to go to the front, with a view of leading a life
of stirring adventures.” (7).
Free Blacks faced heightened racial violence and
suspicion
“Miss Mary and I have a great deal to do. I never before
realized half the care of housekeeping. nor half the trial it is to the
patience.” (2)
Shortages of food, clothing etc. There were bread riots in Richmond in 1863
“[My husband] dressed very shabbily. I have used
sheets, curtains and the linings of my dresses to clothe him and now we
know not where to get anything more… We have-been out of meat some days.
Live on corn and rice. No one has anything to sell – all are short.” (1)
Rampant inflation (9000%)
“It takes a fortune to send to the City – Shoes
$100 a pair – Flour $200 a barrel – Eggs $3:00 per dozen.” (1)
Destruction of homes and property
“Dilapidation and decay mark the course of
everything here. Both people
and place are gradually falling into ruin.” (3)
Siege conditions (eg starvation, shelling in
Vicksburg, where refuges were living in caves dug out of the hillside)
“What is to become of all the living things in this
place when the boats commence shelling, God only knows. Shut up as in a trap are thousands of women and children.” (4)
Communities dealing with occupation by Union
soldiers
“Oh! so anxious. A rough Federal scouting party
came up and acted very badly this morning. They took nearly all our
little cows, and a good many fowls, all remonstrance was vain.”
(3)
Displacement and refugee status
“Three miles from town we began to overtake the
fugitives. Hundreds of women
and children were walking along, some bareheaded and in all costumes. It was a
heart-rending scene. Women
searching for their babies where they had been lost; others sitting in
the dust crying and wringing their hands.” (5)
Emotional toll from loss of loved ones
“When found, the unfortunate man had evidently been
dead for some time. His wife
and relations were distressed beyond measure, and filled the air with
their cries and groans.” (6)
Emotional impact of being cut off from loved ones
“We are so
anxious to hear from the North and wonder they do not write oftener.
Everybody there seems flourishing. Here we are on the last squeeze.” (1)
Women without menfolk or enslaved servants, taking
on new roles, managing homes/ farms/businesses
“Miss Mary and I have a great deal to do. I never before
realized half the care of housekeeping. nor half the trial it is to the
patience.” (2)
Women involved in nursing and aiding the war effort
“We have a poor, sick soldier here, he came Monday
… and has been in the hospital three months. He is a perfect skeleton,
and could not walk up stairs.” (2)
Hundreds of women disguised themselves and joined
up as soldiers; others served as spies.
“I was now more than ever
disposed to take an active part in the war, if only for the purpose of
revenging my husband's death… I had resolved to go to the front, with a view of leading a life
of stirring adventures.” (7).
Men unable to fight faced social pressure/ some
were sent petticoats
“I can't bear the thought of Willie's going away,
and yet I am anxious for him to serve his country… Willie says he cannot
stay at home; though if he applied he could easily get exemption from
the conscript law on account of his arm and his ill health.” (2)
Free Blacks faced heightened racial violence and
suspicion
“[I was forced to work for the Confederacy,] which
I hated to do, but could not help it … they talked about lynching me if
I did not do it.” (8)
Quotes taken from the Diaries of: (1) Julia Johnson Fisher from Georgia; (2) Sarah Wadley, Louisiana; (3) Catherine Couse, Virginia; (4) Emma Balfour, Vickburg; (5) Sarah Morgan, Louisiana; (6) Mary Longborough, who had followed her solider husband to Vicksburg; (7) Loretta Janeta Velasquez,
who dressed in men's clothing and served as a fighting soldier; and (8) William Peters,
a Free Black American of Virginia.
THE EXPERIENCE OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE
It is difficult to underestimate the degree of suffering the
.
.
NB margin order: Top;
Right; Bottom; Left
IMPACTS OF THE GOLD RUSH
egregation
In thes.
The ideaourt.
Economic and Employment Inequality
.
Source A
Capricious humiliation
When did I become an activist? Was it that day when I was twelve years old and bent over to pump air into my bicycle tires at a Gulf station on Terry Road, and a big white guy skipped up from behind and kicked me over? When I turned to ask, ‘Why’ his smug answer, ‘Cause I wanted to’, made a lasting impression... I soon started doing small things to defy the system.
Coded message sent 16 January 1917.
Source B
I spent four years in the Army to free a bunch of Dutchmen and Frenchmen, and I’m hanged if I’m going to let the Alabama version of the Germans kick me around when I get home. No sireebob! I went into the army a nigger; I’m coming out a man.
Coded message sent 16 January 1917.
Source C
If you're white, you're right; if you're brown stick around; if you're black, stay back.
A Black folk-saying which featured as a line in Black, Brown and Whiteby Big Bill Broonzy (1946).
What did America contribute to the war effort? [ANSWER]
Voices