Nature's Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia

Civil War America

by Kathryn Shively Meier

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.

Genres: Civil War, History, American History, Environment, Nonfiction

219 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2013

Reviews

[Rea Redd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nature’s Civil War is both a medical history and an environmental history of eight months of military campaigns in Virginia. It offers the common soldiers’ perspectives on the environment and their feelings on how the natural environment is killing them. The Peninsula Campaign was fought in the midst of swamps and the Shenandoah Campaign was fought in what would appear to be a healthier environment of clear streams and rivers. The Shenandoah River Valley’s Eden is contrasted with the insalubrious swamps of The Peninsula. Readers may come to Nature’s Civil War with the notion that obviously the Shenandoah Valley must have been a great deal healthier environment than the Peninsula’s. The author finds that the 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign that began in January with the Confederates marching to and encamping at Romney in the northern portion of the valley. The march was challenging to the Confederate troops’ health. On picket duty, soldiers froze to death. Mountainous terrain, quickly changing temperatures and weather, constant marching, and the general failure of Confederate logistics created health hazards during a season when foraging was less possible and self-care networks were not yet likely to be in place.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated 3.0 stars. Interesting premise and good analysis of how soldiers in both the Confederacy and the Union interacted with the environment, especially in terms of their health. However, there were some issues with grammar that interrupted the flow and some discombobulation that distracted from the overall premise.

[Jason S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Although a good amount of environmental history content, much of the book is also about Civil War medicine, particularly on the Shenandoah campaign. Some interesting spots, but different than many other environmental histories I have read.

[kaylee]

dnf at roughly 2/3 of the way through the actual text. had to read a few chapters for school and i don't see myself finishing this out on my own time, but i thought it was well written and informative

[Edgar Raines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nature's Civil War shows its origin as a dissertation. Katheryn Shively Meier sometimes uses--overuses--academic jargon and was at times let down by her editor. That said, this is a must read. The author has pioneered a unique perspective on the conflict, examining the relationship between soldier views of the environment and their health. She examines two 1862 campaigns in detail, Jackson's Valley Campaign and the Peninsula Campaign. The author shows that the seasoning of soldiers was far more lengthy than previously believed. It did not end when the mobilization camps broke up with the living having survived the communicable diseases--measles, small pox, diphtheria, and mumps--that killed so many green recruits. Instead it continued on in Army camps at the front and on the march. The seasoned soldier was on who knew how to keep himself healthy by his eating habits, by his ability to find fresh water, by the way he kept himself dry at night, by the way he disposed of his waste, and by the way the way he kept himself clean. The veteran formed a mess with one or two friends to prepare their food on a daily basis. He had a keen eye for the land--what constituted a healthy environment and what constituted an unhealthy one. Along with most antebellum Americans, soldiers Union and Confederate attributed disease to the environment. (They served before the development of the germ theory of disease.) They engaged in such behaviors as "strategic straggling" on the march, for example, to avoid such things as heat stroke. Soldiers on both side distrusted their medical departments. Normally, discussion of medical history in war is from the point of view of the physicians. Meier has written an account from the point of view of the patients. This is an approach that can and should be emulated in accounts of other wars as well. This innovative book deserves a wide and thoughtful readership.

[Karli Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed parts of this book, I was hoping that it would be more about nature and how the soldiers interacted with it. Over half of the book was focused on medical history and diseases. It also reads more like an thesis paper and less like a book, which is fine, it's just not what I wanted

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book that raises a lot of important questions. Shively Meier is clear at the outset that her book is more anecdote than statistically significant study. This honesty about its limitations makes the rest of this "ethnography of soldiers' health" all the more interesting.

After a quick discussion of pre-Civil War medicine and medical knowledge, Shively Meier turns to a lengthy examination of "self care" practices employed by soldiers (Union and Confederate). She also reconceptualizes straggling as a kind of self care-- esp given how few soldiers got a furlough.

It's a very short book (just 150 pages and some graphs and charts). As a result, it's helpful but frustrating. I want to know A LOT more. This book is a great jumping-off point but hardly answers all the questions it raises. I can imagine that it would be good for teaching or the casual Civil War enthusiast.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really groundbreaking look at the way soldiers' health interacted with the environment, and the common soldier's view of health and medicine. For anyone who is interested in Civil War studies, this book opens up the field to a whole new perspective. It would be 5 stars if it wasn't a little difficult to read at times.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look at the physical and mental hardships of the Peninsula Campaign in 1862, and the diseases, depression, and exposure that haunted it. The only thing missing is discussion of the chaplaincy and their role in bolstering the emotionally impaired troops.