The Collapse of The Confederacy

Prof. Charles H. Wesley

• Publisher: Golden Springs Publishing
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781787200289
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

In 1937, in his ground-breaking The Collapse of the Confederacy, the African American historian Charles H. Wesley (1891-1987) took a bold step in rewriting the history of the Confederate South by asserting that the new nation failed because of underlying internal and social factors. Looking beyond military events to explain the Confederacy's demise, Wesley challenged conventional interpretations and argued that, by 1865, the supposedly unified South had "lost its will to fight." Though neglected today by scholars and students of the Civil War, Wesley ranked as one of the leading African American historians, educational administrators, and public speakers of the first half of the twentieth century.

CHAPTER I—THE RESOURCES OF WAR

Food for the Army and People

With the approach of the War for Southern Independence, the slave-holding states were devoting their major agricultural efforts to the production of cotton. The cotton crop for these states in 1860 amounted to 3.841,416 bales. In 1861, it was increased to 4,490,586 bales.{2} It seemed to observers that the production of cotton was increasing too rapidly and that it would dwarf the production of food. The advice of the press, the agreements of planters’ conventions, the appeals of governors, the resolutions of legislatures, a joint resolution of Congress and an appeal from President Davis encouraged the substitution of foodstuffs for cotton.{3} A decline in the production of cotton resulted from these appeals, while food production was increased. In 1862, the cotton crop consisted of 1,596,653 bales and in 1863 it had been reduced to 449,059 bales. In 1864, the crop was only 299,372 bales or about one-fifth as large as the crop of 1861. However, the harvest of cereals and food was larger.{4}

This production was possible because much land of the South was naturally fertile and capable of producing a wealth of agricultural products with a minimum of labor. In the variety of its natural food production, the South was more than equal to the North. But in the South the methods of tillage were crude and were carried on by slave labor. Improved processes of agriculture made possible a larger production in the North in proportion to the number of laborers employed. The land, in the lower states of the South, was easily tillable, and the labor of slaves seemed to be especially adapted to its cultivation. Two or three crops of vegetables could be produced in a year due to the length of the seasons. Land and Labor were basic factors in Southern agriculture.

Food production in the South during the war was reported by observers. One of these, W. Carsan, an English merchant who traveled in 1862, depicted the excellent dinners of cold fowl, baked possum, apples, cracked corn and sweet cake which he found for sale at various stations along his route. He admitted, nevertheless, that owing to the blocking up of the railroads with troops, food scarcity in the markets resulted. After six months of travel, he finally concluded that the South could not be starved out, and that “any notion that the South is now dependent on any outside people for food is a fallacy and may as well be given up.”{5} Concerning the army, he stated that “in the matter of food, the troops of the army of the Southern Mississippi were at least as well off in time of war as in peace.”{6}

On the contrary, there were observers who reported that in some places in 1863, there was actual hardship among the people from the want of food, Jonathan Worth, a prominent citizen of North Carolina, at one time Treasurer and later Governor, wrote to a friend on January 5, “All well, and on the verge of starvation” and later, “We are almost starved out here.”{7} Governor Vance of the same state informed Secretary Seddon of the War Department that, in the interior of the state, “there was much suffering for bread already, and will be more on account of the failure of the crops from drought.”{8} The crop of this year was small. Georgia had planted a large amount of corn, but on account of the drought the return was not as large as it was estimated.{9} In January, Governor Brown of Georgia was told by President Davis, that “the possibility of a short supply of provisions presents the greatest danger to a successful prosecution of the war.”{10} A contemporary stated that when at Manassas “the army was well-nigh starved out in the very beginning of the war” on its left there was “a country unsurpassed and almost unequalled in productiveness.”{11}

The same scarcity of food was noted in the armies as early as October, 1862.{12} General Lee’s army felt the pressure for food and General Longstreet stated that his army in Tennessee was living on half rations of bread and meat. In September, 1863, cornmeal and brackish water formed the diet of the Texas soldiers. During 1861 and 1863 the letters of General Beauregard show a want of subsistence. In 1861 he complained that some of his regiments had nothing to eat for more than twenty-four hours, and that military movements were impossible because only one wagon and four horses were assigned to every hundred men.{13} It was not an unusual occurrence for his soldiers to march all day without food. These instances of hardships have been often magnified and dramatized by historians of the Confederacy in order that the bravery and sacrifices of the Confederate soldiers might be more readily appreciated. At the same time, these writers have overlooked the evidence for an abundance of food in other parts of the Confederacy.

The contrasts of poverty and abundance were numerous. There were crop failures during 1863, but at the same time some large crops were also reported.{14} Across the Mississippi, supplies seemed to be abundant. Major Lockett of the Commissary Department, after a journey through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, described the quantities of cattle grazing near the roads, and the flocks which “might be made available in furnishing supplies to the troops in this department.”{15} It was said that “the crops and gardens, and the orchards yielded plentifully and that all kinds of poultry thrived in Mississippi.”{16}

As the year 1863 advanced, hopes were high for an abundant harvest and plentiful supplies in the Southern states.{17} A traveler along the Danville Railroad in Virginia wrote to the Richmond Examiner that fields of wheat were promising, and that, “on either side of the railroad, the golden-colored areas are spread out in all their beauty” The writer of this article was informed that, “such a wheat crop had not been garnered for a quarter of a century, and that such was the expectation of farmers everywhere.”{18} Governor Brown of Georgia wrote to President Davis that there were many wild cattle in lower Georgia and Florida.{19} General Sherman informed his brother that the cattle were numerous in Texas and in other parts of the South. He stated that, “we have found everywhere abundant supplies, even in Yazoo, and all along the river we found cattle and fat ones feeding quietly. The country abounds in corn.”{20} Dana wrote Secretary Stanton at Washington, May 4, 1863, that “beef, cattle and corn are both abundant everywhere. The enemy is not suffering for want in the least.”{21}

In spite of these reports, the city markets continued to show a scarcity. There was famine in the midst of plenty. The urban population and in some cases the army were suffering from the want of food, while there was an abundance in the country districts. The newspapers raised constant complaints against “the farmers who will not sell their products,” and who were said to be holding their food for better prices. Others upheld the farmers and said that they were suffering from deranged currency, impressments and taxes in kind. These were burdens to the farmers, and they produced continued dissatisfaction among them.{22}

Closely associated with the problem of food production, was the necessity of salt. There was a scarcity of salt in the Southern states throughout the war. The planters of North Carolina and Alabama complained frequently that they were without salt both for the seasoning of food and the preservation of meats. This condition was so general in the South that it was proposed to organize a company for the purpose of extracting salt from sea-water and distributing it to other sections. This proposal did not materialize.{23} In Mississippi the price of salt arose to thirty-five dollars a bushel, while in Georgia it was five dollars a pound. One contemporary stated that he cheerfully paid five dollars for a little salt in Petersburg, Virginia, in August, 1862.{24}

In January 1864, General Maury wrote to General Polk that there was plenty of meat being cured in Alabama, and that some beef cattle awaited his call.{25} In the same year, General J. K. Jackson estimated that Florida would produce annually 25,000 head of beeves, equal to 10,000,000 pounds; 1,000,000 pounds of bacon; 1,000 hogshead of sugar, fruits and other provisions.{26} In Mississippi, there was an abundance even after supplying the requisitions of the Army up to 1864, when the removal of slaves, the impressment of horses and mules and the invasions of the state produced an apparent exhaustion.{27} This condition was reflected in the diaries and memoirs of soldiers who mentioned days of scarcity in the early part of 1864, but says Jones, in the Surrey Light Artillery, “As the fall and winter of 1864 approached and the tax-in-kind began to be collected, the supplies furnished the army became more liberal and in greater variety.”{28}

General Northrop, of the Bureau of Subsistence, in a report to Secretary Seddon in December, 1864, wrote that there had been no complaint or suffering from the defect of subsistence in the armies outside of Virginia, “the territories from which they draw having been undesolated by the enemy.” He added, however, that there were then in Richmond or en route only twenty-five days’ rations for 100,000 men.{29} This evident scarcity of food was more apparent than real for when the paymaster came around Camp Henrico, Virginia, and gave the soldiers four months’ pay, the hucksters appeared with “pies and things” and then “retail venders of things to eat” plied a large trade.{30}

Sales of groceries and foods were frequently found in the newspapers in 1863 and 1864. Auction sales were also very frequent. Several merchants drove prices higher and made food more difficult to secure. This situation caused Jonathan Worth of North Carolina to exclaim, “How in the name of God are poor people and even those who are not poor and are not speculating, to make enough money to stand these prices which are advancing”{31} The Governor of Florida wrote to that state’s delegation at Richmond, urging them to take steps to meet the nefarious smuggling of speculators who charged extortionate prices. Governor Vance of North Carolina proposed a state convention to fix prices; and by proclamation he forbade the export of provisions from the state, in order to prevent the seeking of higher prices in other markets. Jefferson Davis wrote to other governors, urging price-fixing by the states as a remedy against speculators.{32} Sermons were preached against the “godless Shylocks,” as they were called. The Governor of Virginia berated the unpatriotic extortioner who found the war a blessing. A rumor was spread in Richmond that the Secretary of War was appointing men to hunt up speculators, and Jones, the War Clerk, says in his Diary that “the Jews and others” were busy with their handcarts and wheelbarrows, removing barrels of flour from the center of town to the outskirts of the city in order to escape impressments.{33}

In the meantime, the army continued to feel the approach of food scarcity. General Lee informed Secretary Seddon on January 11, 1865 that the country was swept clear of food and that his army had only two days’ supply.{34} General Northrop, a few days later, stated that General Lee’s army might be provisioned from south-western Virginia, where there were 1,000,000 bushels of corn and a great deal of meat, but he added that three things were necessary, funds, wagon transportation and the cooperation of the people.{35} In some way this need for General Lee’s army was met, for he reported later that the crisis of starvation had passed. In March, 1865, General Longstreet reported to General Lee that there were large quantities of provisions in North Carolina, “a two or three years’ supply.” He urged the seizure of the gold at Richmond in order to purchase food, as the people would take the gold but not the Confederate Currency.{36}

The same report was made concerning Alabama. It was reported from there that “the new bacon crop would be large but that it could not be controlled without funds.” Additional evidence on this point was shown in a dispatch of March 10, 1865, Major French to General I. M. St. John of the Bureau of Subsistence, in which it was said that the crops in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi were never so large, that with railroad communication restored and with “gold or United States Currency to operate in sections where Confederate money is not acceptable” the estimate of the year could be doubled. From North Carolina and Virginia, he said that he could secure 12,500,000 rations of bread and 11,500,000 rations of meat in addition.{37} Colonel Williams of the Subsistence Department reported on the same date that quantities of supplies were available in east Tennessee and Virginia. He concluded that the question of feeding the army depended upon “a judicious management of transportation and the control of one-half a mill...