The Howling Storm: Weather, Climate, and the American Civil War

Description

Traditional histories of the Civil War describe the conflict as a war between North and South. Kenneth W. Noe suggests it should instead be understood as a war between the North, the South, and the weather. In The Howling Storm, Noe retells the history of the conflagration with a focus on the ways in which weather and climate shaped the outcomes of battles and campaigns. He further contends that events such as floods and droughts affecting the Confederate home front constricted soldiers’ food supply, lowered morale, and undercut the government’s efforts to boost nationalist sentiment. By contrast, the superior equipment and open supply lines enjoyed by Union soldiers enabled them to cope successfully with the South’s extreme conditions and, ultimately, secure victory in 1865. Climate conditions during the war proved unusual, as irregular phenomena such as El Niño, La Niña, and similar oscillations in the Atlantic Ocean disrupted weather patterns across southern states. Taking into account these meteorological events, Noerethinks conventional explanations of battlefield victories and losses, compelling historians to reconsider long-held conclusions about the war. Unlike past studies that fault inflation, taxation, and logistical problems for the Confederate defeat, his work considers how soldiers and civilians dealt with floods and droughts that beset areas of the South in 1862, 1863, and 1864. In doing so, he addresses the foundational causes that forced Richmond to make difficult and sometimes disastrous decisions when prioritizing the feeding of the home front or the front lines. The Howling Storm stands as the first comprehensive examination of weather and climate during the Civil War. Its approach, coverage, and conclusions are certain to reshape the field of Civil War studies. Maps Acknowledgments Introduction ‏‏‎ 1. The Darkest Clouds: Fort Sumter to Manassas, Spring and Summer 1861 ‏‏‎ 2. The Elements Are Hard to Conquer: Missouri and West Virginia, Summer 1861-Winter 1862 ‏‏‎ 3. Mud Is Triumphant: On the Potomac, Summer 1861-Winter 1862 ‏‏‎ 4. Blood on Ice: The Trans-Mississippi, Winter-Spring 1862 ‏‏‎ 5. Noah's Day: The West, Winter 1861-62 ‏‏‎ 6. A Perfect Bog: The Peninsula, Spring 1862 ‏‏‎ 7. Hopeless, Starless Night: Virginia, Spring-Summer 1862 ‏‏‎ 8. Most Awful Dry: Virginia, July-November 1862 ‏‏‎ 9. Drought Almost Unprecedented: The West, May-October 1862 10. A Fruitless Winter Campaign: Fredericksburg, November 1862-January 1863 11. Misery: The Mississippi River Valley, September 1862-March 1863 12. Dreary: Tennessee, October 1862-April 1863 13. Nature Conspired against Us: Chancellorsville, January-May 1863 14. Unsurpassed in Inclemency: Gettysburg, May-August 1863 15. Heat and Drought: Vicksburg and Port Hudson, March-August 1863 16. A Specimen of the Four Seasons: Tennessee, May-October 1863 17. The Hardest Spell of Weather: East Tennessee, Winter 1863-1864 18. At the North Pole: Virginia, Fall 1863-Winter 1864 19. Distant Thunder: The Mississippi River Valley, Winter-Spring 1864 20. Festering in the Sun: Virginia, April-June 1864 21. This God-Forsaken Country: Virginia, June-December 1864 22. Appeal against the Thunderstorm: Georgia, February-September 1864 23. Yankee Weather: The Trans-Mississippi\r and the West, September-December 1864 24. Tears of Rain: The War Ends, December 1864-May 1865 Conclusion Notes Works Consulted Index