Tag Archives: food shortage

2 March 1865: “we are living on very simple fare and it is likely to become worse so”

Item Description: Letter written by Godfrey Barnsley to his son George.  He discusses food shortages in the area.  He writes that it is hard to cultivate crops because Union troops and marauders have been stealing all the horses and mules. … Continue reading

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20 January 1865: “more despondent than I ever was in my life”

Item Description: Letter dated 20 January 1965 by Robert W. Parker. Parker was a farmer in Bedford County, Va. He served as 4th Sergeant in the Virginia Cavalry for the Confederacy. He eventually was killed in action at Appomattox Courthouse, Va., … Continue reading

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31 January 1864: “some of the rebs says that they had to kill ther mules to keep from starving to death”

Item Description: 31 January 1864, letter from J. W. Clark, a Federal soldier at Camp Smith, Nashville, Tenn., to his brother giving news of friends and describing life around camp at Nashville. [Transcription available below image]   Item Citation: Folder 2, John … Continue reading

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14 October 1863: “The President has been here for some time…”

Item Description: Letter, dated 14 October 1863, from Lafayette McLaws to his wife.  He discusses a visit from President Jefferson Davis, family affairs, weather, and troop movements. [transcription available below images] Item citation: From folder 8 of the Lafayette McLaws … Continue reading

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12 October 1863: “Unless we can get corn from some other county than this, I am afraid there will be great suffering among the poor of this vicinity.”

Item description:  Letter, 12 October 1863,  from Judge William H. Battle to his son, Richard Battle. The letter reveals his anxiety about provisions for the coming winter.  Food shortages caused the prices on crops to skyrocket in Orange County, North … Continue reading

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9 September 1863: “Nobody here thinks Charleston will fall…”

Item description: Letter, dated 9 September 1863, from D. H. Hamilton Jr. to his wife, Frances “Fannie” Roulhac Hamilton.  He writes news about his own military assignments, the cost and procurement of household supplies, and military developments around Charleston, S.C., … Continue reading

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6 September 1863: “Aunt Judy is nearly eaten out of house & home.”

Item description: Letter, dated 6 September 1863, to William Nelson Pendleton from F. W. Page.  Page asks Pendleton to use his influence in the Confederate army to recommend him for a captain’s commission, citing food shortages on a relative’s farm … Continue reading

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24 April 1863: “Every day serves to increase my anxiety to exchange my present service for some other less laborious and equally necessary branch.”

Item description: Letter, dated April 24th, 1863 from Ruffin Thompson to his father, William H. Thompson.  In it he recounts details of camp life and his failed attempts to transfer to a less physically taxing position. Item citation: From folder … Continue reading

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20 October 1862: “FRIENDS, TO THE RESCUE!!”

Item description: This broadside, which includes appeals from Governor Zebulon B. Vance, Surgeon General Edward Warren, and Assistant Quartermaster James Sloan, announces the State of North Carolina’s dire need of donations from private citizens to help clothe and shoe its … Continue reading

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11 December 1861: AN ORDINANCE FOR SUPPRESSING OPPRESSIVE SPECULATION UPON THE PRESENT NECESSITIES OF THE PEOPLE

Item description: An ordinance by North Carolina’s Secession Convention prohibiting speculation on “corn or other grain growing in the fields, or any other corn or grain, pork, or beef, either fish, salted or smoked, cheese, fish, coffee, sugar, tea, salt, … Continue reading

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