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Civil War crises have modern day similarities

February 22, 2007 12:35 am

AFTER SIX years of focusing on the Civil War experience of Petersburg and its people, historian A. Wilson Greene says one thing stood out.

Namely, how similarly citizens reacted to crises there in the 1860s with the way we react to crises today.

With the Civil War in one way or another causing inflation, shortages, poverty, hunger, the loss of able-bodied men and growing fears of terrorism from without, the government there raised taxes to provide for those in need.

The wealthy in town formed charitable organizations to help, and concerts were held in the city's 700-seat theater, with proceeds "of that day's Farm-Aid" going to the city's needy and to soldiers in the field.

To deal with disloyalty, sabotage and fears of northern agitators spreading dissent, leaders formed committees authorized to spy on neighbors, and to lock up those with suspect loyalties.

"We have that debate going on right now, with al-Qaida--the line between homeland security and freedoms," he said. "It's been a moving target in American history each time this comes up."

Greene, executive director of Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in Dinwiddie, recently published "Civil War Petersburg: Confederate City In the Crucible of War" through University of Virginia Press.

While the former historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park has studied and written about different Civil War military campaigns, this latest book also examines the social, economic and political history of the Southern city--in short, what it was like to live in Petersburg then.

Greene said many readers will be surprised to learn that at the time of the war, Petersburg was a major Southern city.

"It may be a relatively small city today, partly as a result of the war, but then it was the seventh largest city in the Confederacy," he said, in the company of New Orleans, Charleston, Memphis and Savannah.

A second fact that may surprise readers: Petersburg had one of the largest concentrations of African-Americans, both free and slave. That was due largely to the many industries thriving there, and the transportation system that boasted five railroads.

Greene paints a different picture once the war played havoc with economy.

That quickly led to a lack of basic needs, from food to clothing to firewood.

"Food was always scarce," said Greene. "The newspapers preached the value of things like sheep's head soup and personal vegetable gardens. Dogs and cats disappeared. The thing I saw again and again was the fact that Petersburg residents never ate enough, were never full."

Greene, whose source material ranged from personal diaries to letters sent to Virginia governors, said there was another sort of constant terrorism people endured: constant shelling.

"I could never find any strategy or objective for the shelling of Petersburg that went on for months," said Green. "It seemed as though simply because the Union troops were close enough to do so, they lobbed a few shells now and then."

To the civilians in the city, the prospect of dying from such bombing initially moved thousands to the countryside, where they huddled under blankets in the woods or worse.

"Eventually, many returned, willing to face the threat of a cannonball when the alternative was freezing to death," he said.

Greene, who decided to write the book after finding rich resources on the topic, said many readers don't understand the economics of this type of historical book.

"If I sell all the copies printed, I might, I emphasize, might, just cover my expenses," he said. "All my time in six years of research and writing basically get donated. In the end, you do it to make a contribution to the body of knowledge."