"The Very Devil Was In the Elements": The American Civil War, Natural Awareness, and the Beginnings of the Forest Conservation Movement

The America Civil War, natural awareness, and forests had a complex relationship. Through their mostly agrarian lifestyle, soldiers during the American Civil War demonstrated varying levels of natural awareness by writing in their diaries and letters about their daily interactions and observations of trees, agriculture, landscape, water, and destruction. One of the greatest demonstrations of natural awareness by Civil War soldiers centered on their interactions with and observations of wood and wood products. Soldiers needed wood for fires, transportation, and fortifications. They hunted for it, and dealt with shortages of the product. By examining what diaries and letters revealed on wood, we get a better picture of the relationship between the war and the natural environment. Besides using large amounts of wood, the Civil War also had an impact on conserving trees. The passage of the Morrill Land Grant act and the formation of a Department of Agriculture during the war helped the expansion of the Forest Conservation movement from 1865 to 1880.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Department dc:contributor.department

History

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Updike, Ryan William

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Wallenstein, Peter R.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Barrow, Mark V. Jr.
• Davis, William C.

• Wood
• Natural Awareness
• Forest Conservation
• Forestry
• Civil War

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05112009-133028

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/32590