ECU Libraries Catalog

Animal histories of the Civil War era / edited by Earl J. Hess.

Other author/creatorHess, Earl J. editor.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2022]
Descriptionvii, 270 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Subject(s)
Series Conflicting worlds: New dimensions of the American Civil War
Conflicting worlds. ^A449147
Partial contents Animals in the Antebellum Era -- Antebellum animal capers and global slave power / Michael E. Woods -- Mobilizing equines in the Civil War -- As much a military supply as a barrel of gunpowder : horses and mules as engines of war / David J. Gerleman -- The artillery horse as warrior / Earl J. Hess -- War horses : equine perspectives on the Confederacy / Abraham Gibson -- Interaction with wildlife during the Civil War -- Wildlife and the Civil War / Earl J. Hess -- All the buzz : why bees mattered in the Civil War / Mark Smith -- Animals as food in the Civil War -- Root hog or die : Southern pigs and Confederate independence / Jason Phillips -- Meat-eating in the Civil War : a vegetarian perspective / Earl J. Hess
Partial contents Dogs during and after the Civil War -- The dogs of war : canine exploitation in the American Civil War / Joan E. Cashin -- "The dogs ought to be exterminated" : dogs, slavery, and the consequences of emancipation / Lorien Foote -- Animals after the Civil War -- "Has he not been in the service of his country?" : Union regimental mascots in war and peace / Brian Matthew Jordan -- The sectionalism of the National Zoo, 1888-1891 : animals, language, politics, and laughter / Daniel Vandersommers -- Jim Key and Jim Crow : African American animal advocacy, equine performance, and Civil War memory / Paula Trankow.
Abstract "Animal Histories of the Civil War Era introduces the concept of animal history to Civil War studies. Until now, the field of animal history has paid little attention to the Civil War, and Civil War scholars have paid almost no attention to animals. This volume serves as an intersection of these two critical fields of scholarly inquiry. In thirteen essays, ten by Civil War historians and three by animal history scholars, the contributors illuminate an important but largely ignored aspect of the war-its animal participants. The topics covered are wide-ranging. One essay examines camels in the American South and Southwest before the war, highlighting the involvement of camels in illegal efforts to import slaves into the United States. Essays on horses during the war explore the process of procuring equines for military service, the training of horses for use by artillery units, and the impact of horse supply problems on hopes for Confederate military success. Two essays cover wildlife in the Civil War, focusing on bees. An essay on hogs in the Confederacy and another on the culture of meat-eating examine animals as food during the war. Two essays on dogs in the South during and after the war illustrate how pets and farm animals influenced slavery and the prosecution of the Confederate war effort. An essay on regimental animal mascots during the war analyzes how veterans incorporated them into their post-war lives. Another essay explores the effort to create a national zoo in the 1880s, a task that underscored the persistence of sectional division after Reconstruction. The final essay likewise examines sectional division and the resonance of enslavement as seen in the career of an ex-slave and his unusual show horse. Through the process of broadly writing animals into Civil War history, the contributors demonstrate the many ways in which animals of all kinds played roles in the sectional history of America during the middle and late nineteenth century. Most of the essays incorporate animal history theory and concepts to bring added meaning to their topics. Even those essays that do not explicitly cross-disciplinary boundaries provide a deep understanding of how particular animals influenced the shape and contour of Civil War history. Was the deadly conflict of 1861-1865 a watershed in animal awareness and advocacy among Americans? The authors suggest that the answer may well be an emphatic yes"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in other formOnline version: Animal histories of the Civil War era Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2022] 9780807177143
Genre/formHistory.
LCCN 2021034066
ISBN9780807176917
ISBN0807176915 hardcover
ISBNAdobe electronic book
ISBNelectronic publication

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