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Title details for Nature's Civil War by Kathryn J. Shively - Available

Nature's Civil War

Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia

by Kathryn J. Shively
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In the Shenandoah Valley and Peninsula Campaigns of 1862, Union and Confederate soldiers faced unfamiliar and harsh environmental conditions — strange terrain, tainted water, swarms of flies and mosquitoes, interminable rain and snow storms, and oppressive heat — which contributed to escalating disease and diminished morale. Using soldiers' letters, diaries, and memoirs, plus a wealth of additional personal accounts, medical sources, newspapers, and government documents, Kathryn Shively Meier reveals how these soldiers strove to maintain their physical and mental health by combating their deadliest enemy — nature.
Meier explores how soldiers forged informal networks of health care based on prewar civilian experience and adopted a universal set of self-care habits, including boiling water, altering camp terrain, eradicating insects, supplementing their diets with fruits and vegetables, constructing protective shelters, and most controversially, straggling. In order to improve their health, soldiers periodically had to adjust their ideas of manliness, class values, and race to the circumstances at hand. While self-care often proved superior to relying upon the inchoate military medical infrastructure, commanders chastised soldiers for testing army discipline, ultimately redrawing the boundaries of informal health care.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Civil War America

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 11, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781469612607
      • File size: 3687 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781469612607
      • File size: 3687 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      October 1, 2013

      All the battles, campaigns, and generals of the American Civil War have received their fair share of ink. But as historian Meier (history, Virginia Commonwealth Univ.) points out in this edifying account of the common Union and Confederate soldier's quest for survival in the Peninsula and Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1862, it was the soldiers' time spent "in between the spaces of battles" that largely determined individual survival in the harsh environment. Those lucky enough to survive the process of "seasoning" disdained the formal yet somewhat counterproductive services of institutional outlets and instead adopted a variety of self-care tactics, from home remedies to simply straggling, that proved more effective. VERDICT Meier has scoured the available sources left by everyday soldiers from both sides of the war, studying letters, diaries, and memoirs, to produce a captivating "ethnographic history of soldier health," building a strong case for environmental determinism, a phenomenon commonly overshadowed by the "persistent romanticizing" of the Civil War in popular culture. Recommended to Civil War history buffs and anyone interested in soldiers' adaption and survival in trying environments.--Brian Odom, Birmingham, AL

      Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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