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The Civil War profoundly affected life in Arkansas, leading to significant economic and social changes. In the North, industrial demand surged, boosting the economy and preparing factories for global competition. In contrast, the South faced a sharp decline in commerce, supply shortages, and reliance on stolen goods. Women played crucial roles, managing farms and businesses, producing essential items like uniforms and blankets by hand, and defending their homes. Illness and food shortages plagued the region, with diseases claiming more lives than battles, as women's efforts became vital in caring for the wounded and the ill.
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Civil War in AR III Life in Wartime
Impact of the War on the North • North-increased demand for goods fed their economy because it was based on industry. • When the war was over the factories in the North were ready to compete on a world scale.
Impact of the War on the South • Commerce, what little there was, came to a halt. • Supplies for the armies came from stolen Federal goods or from people’s homes.
Women in Arkansas • Did the kind of work being done by entire factories in the North. • They carded, spun, wove, and dyed cloth. • They produced uniforms, blankets, and bandages for entire armies. • Most of this work was done by hand. • They had no way of producing shoes though.
Women did all of this work and did the work of men, also. • They managed businesses and farms, harvested the crops, and some tried to manage the slaves that hadn’t run away. • They also defended their homes and fields from hungry Union and Confederate soldiers.
Shortages • The Southerners suffered a severe shortage of salt and coffee. • Salt was used to preserve the meat necessary for the armies to eat. • Arkansas re-opened salt works that had been closed as worthless. • In northern counties such as Independence people would get salt from the floor of a smoke house. • To replace coffee they used substitutes such as acorn coffee.
Shortages of Food • Efforts were made to convert cotton plantations into fields of grain. • However, breakdowns in the South’s transportation system kept the food from going where it was needed. • This shortage of food caused an increase of the illness that killed more soldiers than battle.
Illness and Wounds • A trip to a Confederate hospital usually meant a trip to the graveyard. • This was made worse in AR by a shortage of medicines. • It was difficult to find important medicines such as Morphine and Quinine by the end of the war. • Diseases such as measles, mumps, dysentery, small pox, malaria, and the flu were bigger enemies than the Yankees. • Taking care of the wounded and ill was usually left to the women.
