9 6 The American Civil WarA British visitor traveling through Virginia's
Piedmont in June 1863 left a graphic
description of a region that had seen no
important military clashes. 'The country is
really magnificent,' he wrote, 'but as it has
supported two large armies for two years, it
is now completely cleaned out. It is almost
uncultivated, and no animals are grazing
where there used to be hundreds.' Fences
had disappeared, buildings had been burned
and chimneys had been left as silent
sentinels. 'It is difficult to depict and
impossible to exaggerate,' this witness
concluded, 'the sufferings which this part of
Virginia has undergone.'
As in the North, Confederate women
played a more prominent part in the
workforce. They filled in for their husbands
on farms, served as full-time or occasional
nurses, wrapped cartridges in ordnance
facilities, and signed bond certificates or
performed other clerical duties for the
government. Their labors could prove to be
not only exhausting but also dangerous. In
March 1863, an explosion in an ordnance
lab on Brown's Island in Richmond injured
69 women, at least 34 of whom died.
Between the beginning of the war and early
summer 1863, Confederate civilians adjusted
to a society thrown into considerable disarray.
They coped with more shortages and relatively
higher prices than northern civilians, endured
the uncertainty and fear that Union armies
inspired, and sometimes faced the cruel choice
of whether to become refugees. Black
southerners similarly encountered war-related
problems, as well as opportunities, that
affected them and their families. In sum, the
South knew war in ways that were typical of
other times and other nations, but that
generally spared the people of the North.Judith Henry's modest house stood at the epicenter of
the Battle of First Bull Run. The armies returned to
Henry Hill the following summer fighting over the same
ground during the Federal withdrawal at Second Bull
Run. In this photograph, which could have been
duplicated in many parts of Virginia where civilian
structures were destroyed in 1861-63. a man stands
amid the crumbling chimney and bits of framing that
remained of Henry's house. (Author's collection)