War upon the land : military strategy and the transformation of southern landscapes during the American Civil War /
Brady, Lisa M., 1971-
War upon the land : military strategy and the transformation of southern landscapes during the American Civil War / Lisa M. Brady. - Athens : University of Georgia Press, ©2012. - 1 online resource (xix, 187 pages) : illustrations, maps - - Environmental history and the American South . - Environmental history and the American South. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction : nineteenth-century ideas of nature and their role in Civil War strategy -- Hostile territory : Union operations along the Lower Mississippi, 1862-1863 -- Broken country : Union campaigns at and around Vicksburg, 1863 -- Ravaged ground : Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, 1864 -- Devoured land : Sherman's Georgia and Carolina campaigns, 1864-1865 -- Conclusion : making a desert and calling it peace.
In this first book-length environmental history of the American Civil War, Lisa M. Brady argues that ideas about nature and the environment were central to the development and success of Union military strategy. From the start of the war, both sides had to contend with forces of nature, even as they battled one another. Northern soldiers encountered unfamiliar landscapes in the South that suggested, to them, an uncivilized society's failure to control nature. Under the leadership of Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Philip Sheridan, the Union army increasingly targeted southern environments as the war dragged on. Whether digging canals, shooting livestock, or dramatically attempting to divert the Mississippi River, the Union aimed to assert mastery over nature by attacking the most potent aspect of southern identity and poweragriculture. Brady focuses on the siege of Vicksburg, the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign, marches through Georgia and the Carolinas, and events along the Mississippi River to examine this strategy and its devastating physical and psychological impact. Before the war, many Americans believed in the idea that nature must be conquered and subdued. Brady shows how this perception changed during the war, leading to a wider acceptance of wilderness. Connecting environmental trauma with the onset of American preservation, Brady pays particular attention to how these new ideas of wilderness can be seen in the creation of national battlefield memorial parks as unaltered spaces. Deftly combining environmental and military history with cultural studies, War upon the Land elucidates an intriguing, largely unexplored side of the nation's greatest conflict.
9780820343839 (electronic bk.) 0820343838 (electronic bk.)
9786613586131
358613 MIL 22573/ctt3q579g JSTOR
016057706 Uk
1800 - 1899
Philosophy of nature--History--United States--19th century.
Strategy--History--19th century.
Philosophie de la nature--Histoire--États-Unis--19e siècle.
Stratégie--Histoire--19e siècle.
HISTORY--Civil War Period (1850-1877)--United States
HISTORY--Historical Geography.
Military campaigns
Philosophy of nature
Strategy
Sezessionskrieg
Strategie
Umweltschaden
United States--History--Environmental aspects.--Civil War, 1861-1865
Confederate States of America--History, Military.
United States--History--Campaigns.--Civil War, 1861-1865
États-Unis--Histoire--Aspect de l'environnement.--1861-1865 (Guerre de Sécession)
États-Unis--Histoire--Campagnes et batailles.--1861-1865 (Guerre de Sécession)
United States
United States--Confederate States of America
USA--Südstaaten
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
History.
Military history.
Electronic books.
E468.9 / .B694 2012eb
973.7/301
War upon the land : military strategy and the transformation of southern landscapes during the American Civil War / Lisa M. Brady. - Athens : University of Georgia Press, ©2012. - 1 online resource (xix, 187 pages) : illustrations, maps - - Environmental history and the American South . - Environmental history and the American South. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction : nineteenth-century ideas of nature and their role in Civil War strategy -- Hostile territory : Union operations along the Lower Mississippi, 1862-1863 -- Broken country : Union campaigns at and around Vicksburg, 1863 -- Ravaged ground : Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, 1864 -- Devoured land : Sherman's Georgia and Carolina campaigns, 1864-1865 -- Conclusion : making a desert and calling it peace.
In this first book-length environmental history of the American Civil War, Lisa M. Brady argues that ideas about nature and the environment were central to the development and success of Union military strategy. From the start of the war, both sides had to contend with forces of nature, even as they battled one another. Northern soldiers encountered unfamiliar landscapes in the South that suggested, to them, an uncivilized society's failure to control nature. Under the leadership of Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Philip Sheridan, the Union army increasingly targeted southern environments as the war dragged on. Whether digging canals, shooting livestock, or dramatically attempting to divert the Mississippi River, the Union aimed to assert mastery over nature by attacking the most potent aspect of southern identity and poweragriculture. Brady focuses on the siege of Vicksburg, the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign, marches through Georgia and the Carolinas, and events along the Mississippi River to examine this strategy and its devastating physical and psychological impact. Before the war, many Americans believed in the idea that nature must be conquered and subdued. Brady shows how this perception changed during the war, leading to a wider acceptance of wilderness. Connecting environmental trauma with the onset of American preservation, Brady pays particular attention to how these new ideas of wilderness can be seen in the creation of national battlefield memorial parks as unaltered spaces. Deftly combining environmental and military history with cultural studies, War upon the Land elucidates an intriguing, largely unexplored side of the nation's greatest conflict.
9780820343839 (electronic bk.) 0820343838 (electronic bk.)
9786613586131
358613 MIL 22573/ctt3q579g JSTOR
016057706 Uk
1800 - 1899
Philosophy of nature--History--United States--19th century.
Strategy--History--19th century.
Philosophie de la nature--Histoire--États-Unis--19e siècle.
Stratégie--Histoire--19e siècle.
HISTORY--Civil War Period (1850-1877)--United States
HISTORY--Historical Geography.
Military campaigns
Philosophy of nature
Strategy
Sezessionskrieg
Strategie
Umweltschaden
United States--History--Environmental aspects.--Civil War, 1861-1865
Confederate States of America--History, Military.
United States--History--Campaigns.--Civil War, 1861-1865
États-Unis--Histoire--Aspect de l'environnement.--1861-1865 (Guerre de Sécession)
États-Unis--Histoire--Campagnes et batailles.--1861-1865 (Guerre de Sécession)
United States
United States--Confederate States of America
USA--Südstaaten
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
History.
Military history.
Electronic books.
E468.9 / .B694 2012eb
973.7/301