A Glimpse at History

The Armies of the North and the South laid waste to thousands of miles of fencelines that seperated field from field, and kept animals from consuming the crops. This destruction can be noted as a major contributor to the collapse of the Confederacy. Because of the ease in construction of rail fences, they were also easy to tear down. One swift tug and an entire section would collapse. These rails unfortunately became the most accessible implement for soldiers both North and South. The seasoned wood became firewood almost immediately after a column halted. According to eye witness accounts “Fencelines would melt in a moment, dividing to the right and to the left.” The soldiers would rush for the top rail until all were gone. It is noted that all the fences on a 3000 acre Georgia plantation were just sufficient enough to cook breakfast for the XVII Corps of Sherman’s men in 1864.

The South tried to stop the practice within its own armies, but only the fences surrounding graveyards seemed to remain. The North, well, they were busy conquering fellow countrymen and trying to show them who knew better how to run the country. Everything was expendable.

Its hard to imagine that something as simple as fence rail, and the absence of it, could collapse an entire region and economy. It helps to show us the the extent of the agricultural culture in the South at that time, and their dependancy on it to support the basis of their society. Could it be said, that the threat of the destruction of that heavily based economic dependancy on that agricultural culture is what could have split a nation in two? The South saw its demise either way? What would you have chosen;  War and the possiblily of keeping what you grew up with and were taught was a proper way of life, or a slow death. One that would be set into motion, by an area of the country of which many had never had the opportunity to step foot one into the South?

Its a question I’m not sure we have the intimate knowledge to answer, 147 years afterward, equiped with the knowledge of what the outcome was. No matter how much we educate ourselves in its aftermath, we really do not have the right to judge, only to sight the facts, and hope that we have understood their motivations behind the behavior..

Have a Historical Day!!!!!!!!

Savannah

Filed under: Civil War Blogs by Savannah Meade