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Book ID: CBB876229182

The Howling Storm: Weather, Climate, and the American Civil War (2020)

Ken Noe (Author)

Louisiana State University Press
Publication date: 2020
Language: English

ISBN: 9780807173206

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warfare Climate and climatology Weather Biology Ecology 19th century United States

The Darkest Clouds: Fort Sumter to Manassas, Spring and Summer 1861 -- The Elements Are Hard to Conquer: Missouri and West Virginia, Summer 1861-Winter 1862 -- Mud Is Triumphant: On the Potomac, Summer 1861-Winter 1862 -- Blood on Ice: The Trans-Mississippi, Winter-Spring 1862 -- Noah's Day: The West, Winter 1861-62 -- A Perfect Bog: The Peninsula, Spring 1862 -- Hopeless, Starless Night: Virginia, Spring-Summer 1862 -- Most Awful Dry: Virginia, July-November 1862 -- Drought Almost Unprecedented: The West, May-October 1862 -- A Fruitless Winter Campaign: Fredericksburg, November 1862-January 1863 -- Misery: The Mississippi River Valley, September 1862-March 1863 -- Dreary: Tennessee, October 1862-April 1863 -- Nature Conspired against Us: Chancellorsville, January-May 1863 -- Unsurpassed in Inclemency: Gettysburg, May-August 1863 -- Heat and Drought: Vicksburg and Port Hudson, March-August 1863 -- A Specimen of the Four Seasons: Tennessee, May-October 1863 -- The Hardest Spell of Weather: East Tennessee, Winter 1863-1864 -- At the North Pole: Virginia, Fall 1863-Winter 1864 -- Distant Thunder: The Mississippi River Valley, Winter-Spring 1864 -- Festering in the Sun: Virginia, April-June 1864 -- This God-Forsaken Country: Virginia, June-December 1864 -- Appeal against the Thunderstorm: Georgia, February-September 1864 -- Yankee Weather: The Trans-Mississippi and the West, September-December 1864 -- Tears of Rain: The War Ends, December 1864-May 1865., "Traditional histories of the Civil War describe the conflict as a war between North and South. Kenneth Noe, following the lead of environmental historians, suggests instead that it was a war between the North and South and the weather. In "The Howling Storm: Climate, Weather, and the American Civil War," Noe retells the entire history of the war with a focus on how climate and weather continually shaped the success and failure of battles and campaigns. He contends that climate and weather blunted Confederate hopes by creating flooding and droughts that constricted Confederate food supply and undermined nationalism and patriotism. Ultimately, he concludes, Union generals such as U. S. Grant as well as Federal logisticians were better able to deal with southern weather and soil, which emerged as a significant factor in an eventual Union victory, a result that weather conditions also ironically delayed. "The Howling Storm" contributes to Civil War historiography in several ways. First, it rethinks traditional explanations of victories and defeats by factoring in weather conditions. The result is that historians will often have to reconsider what they believe they know about the conflict. By examining the war chronologically, Noe addresses how soldiers and civilians alike coped with weather conditions throughout the war. At the same time, his deep consideration of flood and drought in 1862, 1863, and 1864 reshapes traditional explanations of Confederate defeat. For decades, historians have discussed Confederate taxation and logistical problems without considering the foundational causes that forced Richmond to make tough decisions about whether to prioritize feeding soldiers or civilians. Noe describes the war's weather conditions as unusual, something geographers routinely discuss but Civil War historians have not previously known. He places the Civil War's unusual weather in the context of broader weather phenomena such as El Niño, La Niña, and similar oscillations in the Atlantic Ocean. Noe's work is the first comprehensive examination of weather and climate during the war and is certain to reshape the field in terms of its approach, coverage, and conclusions."--

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Review Erin Stewart Mauldin (2021) Review of "The Howling Storm: Weather, Climate, and the American Civil War". Journal of American History (pp. 601-602). unapi

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