The Great Beefsteak Raid Texas cattlemen supplied beef to Southerners east of the Mississippi River until the summer of 1862 when the Union navy took control of the river Short of cattle the Confederates were reduced to cattle raids on Union troops On September 16 1864 General Wade Hampton and his cavalrymen appeared at Coggins Point in the rear of the Union army on the James River and carried off the entire beef supply of 2,486 cattle The Great Beefsteak Raid as it was called brought joy and relief to the hungry Rebels One soldier wrote home We are now having Yankee beef every day Sisters of the soldiers With so many men away women and children often worked in the fields tended livestock and sold produce In 1863 women harvested most of the wheat crop in South Carolina One observer called them brave and faithful women who are worthy to be sisters of the soldiers of our army Even so much of the heavy work could not be completed Production decreased dangerously when the army and people most needed food Confederate policy did not help The government urged ironworks to make guns rather than the plows reapers and corn shellers that were needed to produce more food The war in the North The experience in the North was different Troops took all the crops in Virginia but Northern farmlands were largely untouched Although about 40 percent of Union army conscripts aged between 18 and 35 were farmers or farmers sons agricultural production did not decline Older farmers immigrants discharged veterans and women took their places in the fields The North experienced only temporary and minor shortages of agricultural labor Northern farmers used profits from high agricultural prices to buy labor-saving machinery which could be operated by farm women to save on the cost of hiring workers at harvest time Curriculum Context The differences between agriculture in the North and the South are often studied among the causes of the Civil War 8 Home Front and the Economy
Northern farmers easily met their food needs Between 1861 and 1865 the North produced a food surplus exporting an average of 27 million bushels of wheat annually a dramatic increase from less than 8 million bushels from 1856 to 1860 Farmers produced more oats potatoes and butter Ohio farmers increased wool production to meet the demand for blankets and uniforms and to cover the loss of Southern cotton The end of slavery When the war ended in 1865 Southern farmers faced many problems In areas such as Virginia Georgia Tennessee Mississippi Louisiana and the coastal area of the Carolinas farms lay in ruins fields abandoned livestock killed or captured and farm equipment worn out or destroyed They were not reimbursed for commodities taken by Confederate officials or the Union When the war ended and all slaves were freed Southern planters lost at least 1 5 billion from their investment in slave labor Agricultural production almost ceased In 1861 Southern farmers and planters produced 4 5 million bales of cotton but only 299,000 bales in 1864 Finally 260,000 Confederate soldiers mostly farmers had been killed Overall the Civil War brought prosperity to most Northern farmers while it caused hardship for Southern farmers and planters Reimburse To pay someone financial compensation Curriculum Context Many states expect students to understand the economic problems facing the South at the end of the war and the start of Reconstruction Agricultural Reform The Union Congress passed three important agricultural acts in 1862 that would affect farming in the North and South after the war Congress created the United States Department of Agriculture which soon became the most important scientific agency devoted to improving agriculture In the same year it also passed the Morrill Land-Grant College Act which authorized the creation of at least one college in each state where agriculture and mechanical arts would be taught in order to improve farm life Finally Congress approved the Homestead Act which provided 160 acres of public domain free to any head of a household male or female who would live on it for five years and make improvements This expanded agricultural production into the vast western territories and new states and led to the opening up of new territories Agriculture 9
Blockades and Blockade-runners In the war at sea Union warships tried to cut off the Confederacy’s overseas trade by sealing off 3,000 miles 4,830 km of Southern coastline Challenging the Union blockade were fast specially designed vessels called blockade-runners On April 19 1861 President Lincoln proclaimed a naval blockade of the Deep South states of Texas Louisiana Florida Georgia and South Carolina On April 27 he extended it to include North Carolina and Virginia At first the blockade existed only on paper The Union navy did not have enough vessels to patrol the 187 ports and navigable inlets between Chesapeake Bay and the Rio Grande But Gideon Welles Union navy secretary rapidly built up a force by arming almost any floating vessel until the blockade numbered some 600 Most vessels stayed close to harbors watching for any activity For most of the time blockade duty was dull Southern bases To support the blockade the Union navy captured bases on the Southern coast to serve as repair stations It also captured the forts that guarded Confederate ports The first major port to fall was the South’s largest city New Orleans Louisiana which fell to a Union fleet on April 25 1862 By the end of December 1864 the only major port still open was Wilmington North Carolina When it was sealed off on January 15 1865 the Confederacy lost its last link to the outside world Blockade-runners Unable to construct a fleet large enough to break the blockade the Confederacy built a few ironclad vessels the CSS Virginia and Albemarle They were neither strong enough nor seaworthy enough to do the job well A more practical tactic was to elude the blockade Curriculum Context Some curricula ask students to understand the influence on the conflict of geographical factors such as the extended coastline of the South Curriculum Context What was the advantage to the North of closing the ports of the South 10 Home Front and the Economy
During the war about 300 vessels privately owned initially tried to run the blockade At first they were fast sailing vessels but gradually special ships were built many in Britain These blockade-runners had shallow drafts to navigate small inlets and low silhouettes and gray paint to make them hard to spot The engines burned smokeless fuels and they had pipes to expel steam underwater to make them less visible Above all they were fast Shielded by a cloudy or moonless night a blockade-runner could sneak past patrolling warships If that failed it simply outran them The blockade’s significance Until 1863 it was Confederate policy not to sell cotton abroad in an attempt to starve European textile mills of their vital raw material They hoped to force support from key European powers especially Britain The embargo failed and the Confederacy missed the chance to export cotton when its ports were open and the Union blockade was weakest Curriculum Context The blockade-runners are a good example of technological innovation that came about as a direct consequence of the Civil War A photograph of the wreck of a blockade runner on Sullivan’s Island South Carolina Blockades and Blockade-runners 11
