5fish
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2019
- Messages
- 10,626
- Reaction score
- 4,544
Here is another aspect of the Civil War that does not get it's due... Environmental factors during the civil war...
https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/environment-and-the-civil-war.html
Some thoughts:
From a historiographical perspective, the environment’s role in the Civil War has heretofore been relegated to the margins. Civil War scholars have long recognized in the periphery the functions played by terrain, weather, disease, and food in shaping war and society, but they have only recently begun to view the conflict with an environmental perspective. The first real call to arms urging scholars to view the Civil War through an environmental lens came from Jack Temple Kirby who argued in 2001 that “the Civil War was a ‘total’ one—that is, unrelenting violence against not only enemy soldiers, but upon . . . civilians, cities, farms, animals, the landscape itself.”
Factors:
Disease was the most influential environmental force to shape the Civil War. It accounted for at least 400,000 deaths during the conflict. Diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, rheumatic fever, and a variety of other ailments plagued Civil War armies and the civilians with whom the armies came in contact. Diet related diseases—most notably scurvy—reflected the generally poor nutrition among the armies. Sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis further impaired soldier health.
Like disease, weather influenced the course of the conflict at every level. A severe drought struck much of the country in the first years of the war, and extremes in heat and cold affected soldiers and civilians alike in the war-torn South. To be sure, the course of the Civil War was in large part dictated by the vagaries of weather.
As any military historian or tactician understands, victory and defeat in battle and war are often tied to geography and, more specifically, terrain. Terrain was a deciding factor for Confederate victory at Fredericksburg and Union victory at Vicksburg. It helped stop Union Major General George Brinton McClellan’s Army of the Potomac at the gates of Richmond in 1862, and it exacerbated the intensity, confusion, and carnage at the Wilderness in 1864. Terrain in the Civil War, historian Mark Fiege has argued, represented a “weapon, shield, and prize.”
The course of the Civil War also hinged on food. Historian Ted Steinberg has called the conflict “The Great Food Fight,” and his description is not far off the mark. Armies relied on enormous amounts of food each day simply to survive, not to mention wage war. Supply-laden wagon trains often stretched for miles behind marching armies the largest of which depended on over 600 tons of supplies per day and over 30,000 draft animals. These mobile cities of animals and men needed sustenance. Food, in essence, fueled the armies and the war.
The link above into more details like the following:
According to one Confederate chaplain, the Yankees “did not seem to exult much over our fall, for they knew that we surrendered to famine, not to them.”
Union and Confederate soldiers alike, Meier shows, adapted to the harsh environment through self-care and a perceived notion of “seasoning.” However, no amount of seasoning could overcome the same swampy lowlands that had plagued the first Jamestown settlers. An oversized and overly-cautious Union army stumbled time and again as they approached Richmond’s back door, giving the defending Confederates ample time to organize a defense. McClellan’s failure to effectively and quickly negotiate the terrain—and to recognize his clear numerical superiority—extended the war’s length and devastation
Indeed, in the winter of 1863, the Union garrison at Fayetteville burned much of the surrounding landscape in an effort to dispossess the local Confederate guerrillas of their hiding place. Union guerrilla chasers knew well the role vegetation played in helping guerrillas ply their trade. This version of deforestation reflected not only Yankee frustration but also the central role played by the natural environment. [13]
Disease, weather, terrain, food, and other environmental factors shaped the Civil War more than any battle or campaign.
The link above goes in more detail...
https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/environment-and-the-civil-war.html
Some thoughts:
From a historiographical perspective, the environment’s role in the Civil War has heretofore been relegated to the margins. Civil War scholars have long recognized in the periphery the functions played by terrain, weather, disease, and food in shaping war and society, but they have only recently begun to view the conflict with an environmental perspective. The first real call to arms urging scholars to view the Civil War through an environmental lens came from Jack Temple Kirby who argued in 2001 that “the Civil War was a ‘total’ one—that is, unrelenting violence against not only enemy soldiers, but upon . . . civilians, cities, farms, animals, the landscape itself.”
Factors:
Disease was the most influential environmental force to shape the Civil War. It accounted for at least 400,000 deaths during the conflict. Diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, rheumatic fever, and a variety of other ailments plagued Civil War armies and the civilians with whom the armies came in contact. Diet related diseases—most notably scurvy—reflected the generally poor nutrition among the armies. Sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis further impaired soldier health.
Like disease, weather influenced the course of the conflict at every level. A severe drought struck much of the country in the first years of the war, and extremes in heat and cold affected soldiers and civilians alike in the war-torn South. To be sure, the course of the Civil War was in large part dictated by the vagaries of weather.
As any military historian or tactician understands, victory and defeat in battle and war are often tied to geography and, more specifically, terrain. Terrain was a deciding factor for Confederate victory at Fredericksburg and Union victory at Vicksburg. It helped stop Union Major General George Brinton McClellan’s Army of the Potomac at the gates of Richmond in 1862, and it exacerbated the intensity, confusion, and carnage at the Wilderness in 1864. Terrain in the Civil War, historian Mark Fiege has argued, represented a “weapon, shield, and prize.”
The course of the Civil War also hinged on food. Historian Ted Steinberg has called the conflict “The Great Food Fight,” and his description is not far off the mark. Armies relied on enormous amounts of food each day simply to survive, not to mention wage war. Supply-laden wagon trains often stretched for miles behind marching armies the largest of which depended on over 600 tons of supplies per day and over 30,000 draft animals. These mobile cities of animals and men needed sustenance. Food, in essence, fueled the armies and the war.
The link above into more details like the following:
According to one Confederate chaplain, the Yankees “did not seem to exult much over our fall, for they knew that we surrendered to famine, not to them.”
Union and Confederate soldiers alike, Meier shows, adapted to the harsh environment through self-care and a perceived notion of “seasoning.” However, no amount of seasoning could overcome the same swampy lowlands that had plagued the first Jamestown settlers. An oversized and overly-cautious Union army stumbled time and again as they approached Richmond’s back door, giving the defending Confederates ample time to organize a defense. McClellan’s failure to effectively and quickly negotiate the terrain—and to recognize his clear numerical superiority—extended the war’s length and devastation
Indeed, in the winter of 1863, the Union garrison at Fayetteville burned much of the surrounding landscape in an effort to dispossess the local Confederate guerrillas of their hiding place. Union guerrilla chasers knew well the role vegetation played in helping guerrillas ply their trade. This version of deforestation reflected not only Yankee frustration but also the central role played by the natural environment. [13]
Disease, weather, terrain, food, and other environmental factors shaped the Civil War more than any battle or campaign.
The link above goes in more detail...