2010-11-16 08:00:00
On the eve of the Civil WarTHE UNITED STATES form a very large country, which would soon become a vast battlefield. The physical geography of the country would closely condition the course of military operations as well as the strategies of both camps. The same would apply to its population, as well as its economic geography, starting with the distribution of resources and communications networks.
Physical geography
In 1860, the United States of America extended over an area slightly larger than 8 million square kilometers, which occupies a significant part of the North American continent and extends from coast to coast. Its main physical characteristics are two mountain ranges (the Appalachians and the Rockies), between which extends the Mississippi River basin, and coastal regions with varied landscapes, all over approximately 4,500 kilometers from east to west and 2,500 kilometers from North to south.
The ribs face The Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean. From rocky to the north of the Atlantic coast, they become progressively lower and sandy as we go south, and then become downright marshy, particularly around the Gulf of Mexico. As a whole, the Pacific coast is rather rocky.
THE Appalachian Mountains extend over 2,400 km, originating in the southeast of the country and then extending to Canada. Although peaking at only 2,037 meters at Mount Mitchell (North Carolina), these mountains are still relatively young, steep, and constitute a real obstacle. Most valleys are oriented north-south, and few allow easy passage to the west. We will mainly remember the “ Cumberland Gap », connecting the valley of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, on the west side, to those of the Roanoke and the James, coastal rivers; and, in New York State, the “Mohawk Threshold”, which provides access to the Great Lakes, and the Hudson Valley, which leads to Quebec.
The alluvial plain of Mississippi is bounded to the north by the Great Lakes, which feed the St. Lawrence River and mark the border with Canada. Going south, the altitude decreases as the Mississippi and its countless tributaries and sub-tributaries flow, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas or Red River to name only the most important. Uncontrolled, these watercourses feed numerous swamps. The only notable reliefs are the Ouachita and Ozark mountains, which peak at 850 m and straddle Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Towards the west, on the contrary, the plain rises gradually to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
The latter are in fact only one of the elements of the immense mountain chain which runs across the entire American continent from north to south. Much higher than the Appalachians, they add extent since they measure in places almost 1,500 km wide, which makes them a much more formidable obstacle. Going west, the mountain ranges give way to high plateaus furrowed with canyons (the most famous being that of Colorado) and basins (around the Great Salt Lake or the Snake River) which are more or less arid. .
These are bounded to the west by two contiguous mountain ranges, the Cascade and the Sierra Nevada. It is in the latter, in California, that the highest point in the United States is located: Mount Whitney, 4,421 meters. Narrow plains (the largest being that of California) are interposed between these mountains and a series of coastal ranges which plunge, more or less abruptly, into the Pacific Ocean.
Climate and vegetation
Such a vast country obviously experiences a wide variety of climates. Like all the eastern facades of continents in the northern hemisphere, the Atlantic coast experiences a contrasting climate, with often very hot summers and generally freezing winters, largely under the influence of the Labrador Current, whose cold waters come from the Arctic. The same contrast is found in the climate, of continental influence, of the interior.
Harsh in the Appalachians, the climate gradually softens as we go south, until it becomes subtropical – hot and humid – around the Gulf of Mexico. Combined with the swamps of the lower Mississippi Valley and coastal regions, this debilitating climate allows the proliferation of mosquitoes carrying tropical diseases : dengue, malaria, and the dreaded yellow fever. So many factors which would put a strain on the bodies of the northern soldiers, unaccustomed to such conditions.
Moving towards the Rocky Mountains, the climate gradually dries out as the altitude increases, and the fertile lands of the Mississippi basin give way to grass steppes. Forested in the north, the Rockies are more arid to the south. Along the west coast, the climate is milder – Mediterranean in California, temperate and humid in the northwest. Between the two, desert areas : in fact, the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada block the cloud formations, preventing them from bringing their humidity to the Great Basin or Death Valley.
In 1860, the country was still very wooded: deciduous and coniferous forests, often accompanied by thick undergrowth, would be the scene of a significant part of the battles to come. Even cleared agricultural areas retain a significant forest tissue. As we can see, the fighters will not have an easy life: those serving on the East Coast will be condemned to shivering from the cold in the winter and suffocating from the heat in the summer (in woolen uniforms, whatever the season) ; as for those who fight in the South, they will not be better off with a humid and unhealthy climate.
Territorial organization
A federal state, the USA included, at the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president, 33 States federated, which have extensive prerogatives in matters of sovereignty. Each of them varies in size and is divided into counties – except in Louisiana, where these subdivisions are called parishes. The rest of the country includes 5 organized territories, with a local administration appointed by the federal government, and the District of Columbia, where the capital, Washington, is located. This district, along with two other unorganized territories, is administered directly by the federal government.
At the time, “East” meant the territories located east of the Appalachians. “The West” proper corresponded to the territories located between these mountains and the Mississippi River; to the west of the latter, it is the “Far West”. The “South”, for its part, essentially refers to the states where slavery is practiced, as opposed to those in the “North”, where it is prohibited.
Several large regions can be distinguished. First, the New England, which includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. It is in a way the “old” America, the one whose colonization is the oldest, particularly around its great metropolis, Boston.
The heart of the country is a region sometimes called “Central” at the time and which brings together the State of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia: the most populous states and the most industrialized, which already include very large cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The Midwest corresponds to the fertile lands located north of the Mississippi basin and on the shores of the Great Lakes: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. They experienced rapid development from the beginning of the century, accelerated by the advent of the railway and the development of navigation on the Great Lakes. Cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati are beginning to gain importance.
The « Upper South » (Upper South) designates the slave states which are most in contact with the North, playing a sort of buffer role. We find Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. Less urbanized, these states have Saint-Louis, Memphis, Louisville and Richmond as their main cities.
The « Old South » (Lower South) refers to the states where southern culture and traditions are most deeply rooted. These are mainly those bordering the Gulf of Mexico: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, plus Georgia and South Carolina. Large ports such as Charleston, Mobile, and of course New Orleans, by far the largest city in the South, act as metropolises.
With its large empty expanses, the Far West offers a very different face, with its five territories: Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah and Washington. Kansas will be integrated into the Union, as a state, on February 28, 1861. This integration will be accompanied by a reorganization of the territories, just before the outbreak of hostilities: Colorado will be created from regions borrowed from the five previous territories, the western end of Utah will become Nevada, and northern Nebraska will form the vast Dakota Territory. Several other modifications took place during the civil war.
It should be noted that two territories remain unorganized. None of them officially have a name. The first, to the west of Minnesota, is populated mainly by Sioux. As for the second, to the west of Arkansas, it corresponds to current Oklahoma, and is intended to welcome the Native American populations progressively deported further west by European colonization. This ” Indian territory » is reserved for them and they are free to live there according to their laws, as long as they do not leave the areas, often narrow, which have been allocated to them.
Finally, the Pacific coast then only has two states, California and Oregon. The second, of recent creation, is still embryonic, but the first is in full development following the famous “ gold Rush » from 1848-49. The towns founded by the Spanish, in this territory recently wrested from Mexico, developed quickly, notably Los Angeles, Sacramento and, above all, San Francisco.
Human geography
In the United States, a census is carried out every ten years and the last dates back to 1860. It counted a population of approximately 31.5 million inhabitants, an increase of more than a third compared to that of 1850. The main cause of this increase is particularly dynamic immigration. At the time, there were no quotas or restrictions of any kind on entry into the United States. Migrants mainly come from Western Europe: the British Isles, Germany and to a lesser extent, Scandinavia. The Irish, driven from their island by the famine which raged there during the previous decade, were particularly numerous.
The population is very unevenly distributed across the territory: almost 85% of the population lives east of the Mississippi. The Far West is almost empty: together, the territories have 220,000 inhabitants, while California and Oregon, on the West Coast, have barely more than 400,000. The population is also very unbalanced, and the majority of settlers in the Far West are adult men.
East of the Mississippi also, the distribution of the population is very uneven. The majority of the population is concentrated in the North and even more so the Northeast, with New York State being the most populous with almost 3.9 million inhabitants. All the slave states include 12.3 million inhabitants, including 4 million slaves; but the majority of the latter are concentrated in the Old South. The 11 states that officially seceded during the war had a population of only 9.1 million, including 5.4 million whites. The Confederation will suffer greatly from this demographic disparityand will very soon have to resort to extreme measures – systematic conscription – in order to provide its armies with men and to face the Northern numerical superiority.
In addition to the four million slaves, there were around half a million free blacks, half living in the North and half in the South. If these African-Americans are fortunate enough not to be considered, unlike those who are enslaved, as movable property, they are denied citizenship status and they have neither the right to vote nor the right to bear arms. . Other minority, Native American. The census only counts those so-called “civilized”, by which I mean those with a sedentary lifestyle. There are a little more than 100,000; nearly two-thirds live in “Indian Territory”. The others are only the subject of estimates, and would be between 200 and 300,000.
So the vast majority, the “ WASP » (white, anglo-saxon, protestant) represent the dominant culture in the country. Notable differences, however, exist between North and South, largely linked to the different economic functioning of these regions. The recent and massive arrival of Irish immigrants, moreover, has considerably strengthened the Catholic minority. The other notable religious community is that of the Mormons, persecuted because of their sectarian tendencies and their desire for independence. They ended up going into exile in the territory of Utah, where in 1860 they formed the bulk of the 40,000 inhabitants.
Economy
Although the United States was at an advanced level of development in 1860, close to that of Europe, the economic disparities internal are important. Thus, agricultural lands are extensive and fertile, but not all of them allow the same thing to be cultivated. In the North, cereals are dominant: mainly wheat, corn and rye. The Midwest is, as such, particularly fertile, and plays the role of the country’s breadbasket.
The South, for its part, has specialized in crops with high added value that its warmer climate allows: sugar cane (around the Gulf of Mexico), tobacco (in the Upper South) and especially cotton. Exported massively to Europe, where it supplied the spinning mills born of the Industrial Revolution, southern cotton represented 60% of the half-billion dollars that American exports then brought in.
This wealth is the basis of the southern economic system: these crops require intense and very difficult work, for which a slave workforce was then considered the best suited and most profitable. Only a minority benefits directly from cotton cultivation: there are only 350,000 slave owners, generally operating more or less large plantations. The small white peasantry, for their part, is content to survive thanks to the planters’ consumption.
The industry is also very unevenly distributed, and is mainly concentrated in the North. Rich in coal and iron, Pennsylvania supplies factories on the northeast coast, but also in the Midwest. L’industrialisation has generated significant social changes, and the more or less prosperous farmers of the North now rub shoulders with an entire working class, often made up of recent immigrants, and reduced to living conditions sometimes almost as miserable as those of black slaves in the South.
The latter is little industrialized, for cultural reasons (agrarianism, hostility to capitalism) as well as practical ones: the South is poor in minerals, and we find hardly any coal except in Virginia, and only a little iron in Alabama. The main southern industrial areas are located in these two states (around Richmond and Birmingham) as well as in northern Georgia (Atlanta), and are still very modest compared to the large industrial cities of the North.
The economy of the Far West is very different, given its particularities at the time. Except in the fertile valley of California, agriculture there relies mainly on extensive breeding. Industry is non-existent there, except on the Californian coast, mainly in San Francisco. Although the mining potential is significant, it is hardly developed due to lack of adequate transport, and extraction activity is limited to precious metals – gold and silver – again mainly in California and the future Nevada.
These regional disparities constitute a decisive factor regarding the outcome of the Civil War. Indeed, the northern victory owed a lot to its industry, and its ability to mobilize it in the long term. Conversely, the South was dependent on its cotton exports to import in return the manufactured goods it needed to continue the struggle, despite its late and limited efforts to establish an industry worthy of the name.
Transports et communications
In this game, transport networks and communications routes also played a major role. THE road network is quite dense and includes numerous metalled roads, often tolled (which ensures development with private funds), along the east coast. The density of the road network remains linked to that of the population and naturally, roads become rarer as we go west. They are non-existent in the Far West, where only a few tracks, sketchy, difficult, and recently mapped, allow you to reach the Pacific coast – it is generally simpler and faster to go by boat to Nicaragua, cross Central America there, then take the boat back to California.
Despite its quality, the American road network would prove unsuitable to cope, on its own, with the logistical requirements of modern warfare. Supplying armies with food and ammunition, but also moving them over long distances, would highlight the new strategic importance of a still relatively new means of transport, the railroad. This developed considerably from the 1830s, especially in the North, where it was essential to the expansion of industry.
In 1860, the North thus hada very extensive rail network, even if the lack of standardization (not all companies use the same gauge) would sometimes prove problematic. The same was not true in the South, where the railroad was not seen as necessary to the economy and served less densely populated regions. This would prove to be a plague for the Confederates, whose transport of troops and supplies would depend on few, disparate, and vulnerable lines.
Railroads are rare west of the Mississippi, and transcontinental lines still exist only as barely outlined projects. The Appalachians constitute another major obstacle: only four lines allow you to cross them by train to access the Midwest. Control of one of them, the Baltimore and Ohio, would prove crucial at the start of the war; and throughout the conflict, in general, the belligerents would often clash over control of railway tracks.
The same will be true for waterways. Canals and rivers, by allowing the transport of heavy goods, play an economic role as important as the railway. It is mainly by river that cotton and other southern agricultural products reach the ports from where they are then exported. The Mississippi basin plays a major role here, and its control will be one of the great issues of the war. The Union’s victory in this strategic struggle in 1863 would prove decisive.
So will port control. With a coastline of nearly 20,000 kilometers, the United States has no shortage of sites where ports can be set up, and there are many of them. They are vital for the South, because it is through them that cotton exports and imports of manufactured goods from Europe pass. One of the essential elements of the northern strategy will therefore be to carry out the blockade of these ports in order to stifle the southern economy – which will not be an easy task, and will in fact not be fully realized until the last months of the war.
Sources : any good atlas will allow you to get your hands on a physical map of the United States, but the University of Texas online map library presents numerous resources, including historical maps. In a more specialized way, the site is full of documents on the development of railways in the United States in the 19th century. Finally, the numerous data from the 1860 census are accessible online.
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