Weather In The Civil War
Weathers effect of the Civil War Weather had a great impact on every aspect of the Civil War. People, soldiers and civilians alike, wrote about the weird weather. The Civil War occurred not too long after the Little Ice Age. The Little Ice Age was a period of time, 1310-1850, that had intensely cold winter with easterly winds, then heavy rains with raging heat. Weather was probably the greatest impact in the Civil War by far. It directly and indirectly determine the outcomes of everything. One important thing weather greatly affected in the Civil War, was battles. There were many examples of this in Arkansas and Virginia. One example of this, the first major battle in Arkansas, was greatly affected by winter storms. The cold made the slushy
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After camping one night on December 6-7 a person from Missouri described it as “very dark and wretched cold”. General Willis A. Gorman said his planned advance against Little Rock was stopped by “the sea of mud and water intervening between that place and DeVall's Bluff”. One hot summer, Curtis marched his soldiers for three days from Springfield, Missouri. Yankees suffered from heat as they marched from Helena to capture Little Rock. Confederate attack at Okolona had happened during a hailstorm. Heavy rains transformed fields of South Ditch Bayou where Grene set up defenses into mud pits, Yankees sank up to their knees. The fight on December 7, the day was comfortable, the night was brutally cold. Soldiers crawled into hay for warmth, that caught fire. One winter the soldiers had a snowball fight that turned violent. Weather affected the lives of soldiers and civilians greatly. Weather was the most impactful element of the Civil War. Due to the war occurring not long after the Little Ice Age, the weather had strange occurrences. Soldiers could wake up to a nice sunny day, just to go to bed in a snowstorm. Something most people do not realize is, the soldiers had to basically sleep outside. No matter what the weather was, nice or horrible, it greatly impacted their day. Even though the soldiers are mainly who are talked about suffering from the weather, civilians had to bear it as well.
After camping one night on December 6-7 a person from Missouri described it as “very dark and wretched cold”. General Willis A. Gorman said his planned advance against Little Rock was stopped by “the sea of mud and water intervening between that place and DeVall's Bluff”. One hot summer, Curtis marched his soldiers for three days from Springfield, Missouri. Yankees suffered from heat as they marched from Helena to capture Little Rock. Confederate attack at Okolona had happened during a hailstorm. Heavy rains transformed fields of South Ditch Bayou where Grene set up defenses into mud pits, Yankees sank up to their knees. The fight on December 7, the day was comfortable, the night was brutally cold. Soldiers crawled into hay for warmth, that caught fire. One winter the soldiers had a snowball fight that turned violent. Weather affected the lives of soldiers and civilians greatly. Weather was the most impactful element of the Civil War. Due to the war occurring not long after the Little Ice Age, the weather had strange occurrences. Soldiers could wake up to a nice sunny day, just to go to bed in a snowstorm. Something most people do not realize is, the soldiers had to basically sleep outside. No matter what the weather was, nice or horrible, it greatly impacted their day. Even though the soldiers are mainly who are talked about suffering from the weather, civilians had to bear it as well.