Scabrous Matters

As smallpox spread through the Confederacy, its physicians tried to innoculate the population against the dreaded disease. They created vaccine matter, which are human-made artifacts, by infecting civilians, and they then tried to treat soldiers, who did not always follow correct medical procedures.

The Material Culture of Weapons in the Civil War

Troops in both armies cherished their guns, not only as weapons necessary for their survival, but also as an extension of the physical self. They sometimes domesticated their guns by giving them nicknames or adorning them with slogans. After the war, they had fond memories of their weapons and could be deeply moved by the sight of a gun displayed in a public place.

Saved by a Testament

In both armies, soldiers and officers carried books with them during the war. Some of them carried pocket-size Bibles, and over a hundred times those books literally saved their lives by stopping bullets. Those troops interpreted this as divine intervention and saved the Bibles for years afterwards as precious relics.

Nature as Material Culture

The environment played an active role in the war, requiring human beings to adapt to geographic constraints. The forces of nature and the forces of nature interacted with each other during battle, as events at the battle of Antietam in 1862 demonstrate. The location of small hills and sunken roads affected the outcome of this important battle.

Relics from Two Wars

Before 1861, white Southerners cherished many artifacts from the Revolutionary War. The region was filled with family mementos, household relics, and military objects dating from the Revolution, as well as many houses belonging to Revolutionary figures. After 1861, each side declared they were the true heirs of the Revolution, and soldiers in both armies competed for possession of these objects for their symbolic value.

The Stuff of Defeat

After the war ended, Jefferson Davis struggled to recover the belongings he lost when the federal army captured him in 1865: rifle, pistols, clothing, letters, photographs, and eyeglasses, among other things. He struggled with the federal government, his friends, his wartime staff, and his enemies, with little success. He never regained most of his personal possessions, the ultimate symbol of his defeat.

The Trophies of Victory and the Relics of Defeat

As the war drew to a close in Virginia, veterans from both armies collected relics to validate their service to their respective causes. They gathered many different objects, such as tree branches, paper currency, paper documents, army boots, battle flags, and jewelry. But the Confederate keepsakes could serve another, more dire purpose, by underscoring racial solidarity among whites in the postwar South.

There’s No Place Like Home

The plain folk of Alabama who supported the Confederacy used household objects to craft a new identity. To express that identity, they made military uniforms and supplied foodstuffs for soldiers. But the war’s deprivations undermined the household and made many non-elite whites lose faith in the Confederacy.

Introduction

Most historians of the Civil War era have neglected material culture studies, but the field has a great deal to offer to scholars. Numerous relics survive from the time period, and they can be found in museums, historical societies, and state archives; they are also mentioned frequently in the manuscripts. People who lived through the war used objects to convey a host of powerful cultural messages about their experiences.

John Brown’s Pikes

Material objects from the antebellum era could symbolize political intent, such as John Brown’s pikes from the raid at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. The possession of certain objects, such as these pikes, could embolden people to take political and military action. They also served as harbingers of the coming war against slavery.