O T HOMEFRONT: IOWA DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL W
Transcript of O T HOMEFRONT: IOWA DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL W
How did the American Civil War affect
Iowa and Iowans?
Tonight’s Goals:
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Missouri, Kansas and… Iowa?
Feelings About Slavery
(Which is not the same as feeling toward
Slaves)
Was Lincoln Popular in Iowa?
Tonight’s Goals:
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
What happened in business, government,
and most importantly, at home when
“Johnny marched off to war”?
Tonight’s Goals:
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
• Part of Wisconsin Territory – 1800
• Becomes a state – July 4, 1846 as part
of the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
• The War with Mexico - 1848
Iowa Events
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
• Dred Scott – March 6, 1857
The verdict “crystallized attitudes that led
to war.” – Oxford Guide to the Supreme
Court
National Events
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
• But Iowan’s were not fooled by the
Dred Scott case. The first Iowa
Supreme Court case – 18 years before
– had clearly ruled in Re the Matter of
Ralph that the slave was free in the
territory of free-soil Iowa.
National Events
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
America, 1860
US population = 31,443,321:
Black = 4,442,000;
Free Black = 488,000
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
• Lincoln elected – November 6, 1860
• South Carolina secedes – December 20
Succession!
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
1861: Additional states follow:
• Jan 9: Mississippi
• Jan 10: Florida
• Jan 11: Alabama
• Jan 19: Georgia
• Jan 26: Louisiana
More States Leave
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Jan 29: Kansas admitted as a free state
Feb 4:
Confederate States of America formed
National Events
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Feb 18: Jefferson Davis becomes
President of Confederacy
Mar 4: Abraham Lincoln becomes
President of Union
More States Leave
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
April 12-13: Fort Sumter, South Carolina, is fired on, and surrenders.
Lincoln mobilizes, and each Union state is asked to provide 75,000 men.
It Will Be War!
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
• April 17: Virginia
• May 6: Arkansas
• May 20: North Carolina
• June 8: Tennessee
More States Leave
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
In Iowa, and other
states, men had
already begun to
mobilize – some as
early as January.
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR“We dropped our chisels,
yard-sticks and pens from
devotion to our country.
We took strong farewell
embraces, and deep,
earnest kisses…. We
dashed the spray from our
eyes, we shook fervent
hands at parting, all
through devotion to our
country.”
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
“An army without
food and scantily
clothed is easily
whipped.”
John Q. Hanna,
Waterloo, Iowa
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
“The loyal women of the State responded nobly to the task of outfitting the first
Iowa regiments. They formed “Soldiers’ Aid Societies” and undertook to cut the
cloth purchased and make it up into uniforms.”
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
“clothing, tents, skillets, pots, kettles, pans, sow belly, hard tack and a darned
little bit of whiskey; hay, oats, corn, hospital tents, ambulances, medicines
of all kinds, etc, etc. Every train of supplies was a loving reminder of our
noble friends of the north.”
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
“The women of Iowa rendered valuable
service throughout the war in making
havelocks, lint, bandages, towels,
needle books, and various kinds of
hospital stores for the soldiers.”
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
“Decisions and tasks that had always been the responsibility of the husbands were now upon the shoulders of the wives.”
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
October 21, 1862
"If you possibly can, I think you had better sell all the horses. … as feed is so hard to get and I would like for you to keep the cows if you possibly can."
Sam Mattox
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
November 23, 1862
• "You can sell or
trade the old wagon
for whatever you
can get…You had
better try to trade
the colt for corn
and wheat."Sam Mattox
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
March 17, 1863
"I am sorry your relief money has given out for I don't know now when I will get any more money to send to you…
Sam Mattox
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
June 17, 1863
• "Since I wrote you last … E. F. Knight Has Bin verry sick But is getting well now. Dorsey Makin is verry Sick at the Present He took Sick on or about the 15th March & Has Bin Gradualy Sinking Ever Since He is not Exspected to live …
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
July 23, 1863
• "I am Sorrow to Inform you that we Recd.. the
News Here a few days ago that Oliver
Boardman was Killed in the late Fight with
Johnston in the Rear of Vicksburg & Several
more of that Co. Wounded
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
July 6, 1863
• "You Spoke a word or two in Refference to my
Darling Hattie & that the Cavalry Boy would
Be to fast for me there But If He is I cannot
Help it But will Cry If I can Shed a tear.
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
SOAP AND CANDLES
SOAP
Pour twelve quarts of boiling water upon five pounds of unslacked lime. Then dissolve five pounds of washing soda in twelve quarts of boiling water, mix the above together, and let the mixture remain from twelve to ….
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
TO RAISE BREAD WITHOUT YEAST
Mix in your flour subcarbonate of
soda, two parts, tartaric acid one part,
both finely powdered. Mix up your bread
with warm water, adding but little at a
time, and bake soon.
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
GARGLE FOR SORE THROAT, DIPTHERIA OR
SCARLET FEVER
Mix in a common size cup of fresh milk two
teaspoonfuls of pulverized charcoal and ten
drops of spirits of turpentine. Soften the
charcoal with a few drops of milk before
putting into the cup. Gargle frequently,
according to the violence of the symptoms.
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Not all women were at home.
Nationwide, some 8000 women were with the Northern
armies, as nurses and caretakers.
For Consideration
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Clearly, the hardships of the American Civil War
reached from the battlefront
to the home front.
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Men endured hell in the battlefield and disease
in the camps.
Women married to soldiers endured as both
the homemaker and the laborer – for 4 years.
One can argue it was on the home front that
the actual brake was placed on the battlefield.
Neither side was doing well, and by late 1863
and early 1864, both home fronts had tired of
unending war.
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
When women in the South rioted in Richmond
and other cities due to privation, it would
shake the foundations of the Confederacy.
“I have 6 little children and my husband is in the army what am I to do?”
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
November, 1863
“There’s a heap of men
gone home. And there’s
another heap that says
they will go too if their
families get to suffering.”A Southern
soldier
The war changed the men who fought in it, and
the country they fought for.
But it would change the women who proved
their ability to labor and to endure – and to
push for their rights, as well.
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
"It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens;
nor yet we, the male citizens;
but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.
And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them;
not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity,
but to the whole people - women as well as men.”
– Susan Anthony’s argument for Women’s Rights
Women’s Rights (1866 - 1872)
How did the American Civil War affect
Iowa and Iowans?
Can you Answer
Tonight’s Goals?
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Missouri, Kansas and… Iowa?
Feelings About Slavery
(Which is not the same as feeling toward
Slaves)
Was Lincoln Popular in Iowa?
Can you Answer
Tonight’s Goals?
IOWA and the
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
What happened in business, government,
and most importantly, at home when
“Johnny marched off to war”?
Can you Answer
Tonight’s Goals?