Any Civil War buffs out there?
 

My 11 year old has to do a presentation on the civil war. His specific category covers "supplies and suppliers". In general, he needs info on what type of supplies were needed during the war, who made these supplies and maybe even how the supplies made it to the battlefield.

Wondering if anyone would know of any specific web sites or books that would focus on this category? Really appreciate your help.

How does one become a "buff"?

Get married to Fritz...

You could do a search on "shoes" or "uniforms" and "Civil War" and that ought to turn up a bunch of references. Especially in the South, simply providing the troops clothing was quite a challenge.

And then, of course, there's the whole issue of arms and ammunition, especially each side having to deal with a variety of weapons that fired a variety of ammunition. A similar web search should turn up a wealth of info here as well.

According to an episode of "South Park", s'mores flavored schanpps were very important as well.

:D

"Amatuers deal in tactics, professionals deal in logistics." Napolean

http://www.mmcwrt.org/2002/default0204.htm has some interesting stuff ;)

Google Tallassee Confederate Armory. A Confederate Armory was located in my hometown in Alabama on the banks of the Tallapoosa River. For a time, this is the location that the rifles were made, because the armory in Richmond was under threat of capture. There are numerous books about supply and quartermasters duties during the Civil War out there as well.

that will do it

The first ever major field hospital was created at the battle of Shiloh, and their were logistical implications behind the area as well for supplies...it was a very interesting battle to say the least.

the guy who inented the cotton gin or something also becanme the rifle supplier for the north. he pioneered the idea of making all parts the same, so that different parts of different guns were interchangeable. This made him money and was a big advantagfe for the north. The guy make for an interesting story because he is known for inventing the cotton gin[sp?] but he didn't make any money off of it, where as his contributions to the north in the civil war war significant and profitable. Also, it is about guns which are cool.

Just an idea, but you might try and contact a local Civil War reenactment group and talk to their sutler. Many groups have individuals who are deeply into that aspect of the war. Perhaps your son could even interview one as his presentation.

Eli Whitney is who you're thinking of, I believe.

Yeah, Eli Whitney. his sotry is interseting. He can be credited with bringing about the civil war and winning it for the north.

Tell him to do his own project.

j/k. You may want to check around for some Sons of the Confederacy websites. I went to the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library in Biloxi and there was a civil war museum as well, which had some real weapons. I would imagine they would have to have some info.

The Gettysburg National Park site has a "kidz" page with info on food and medicine that might help a little.

http://www.nps.gov/gett/gettkidz/kidzindex.htm

I can't remember where I read it, but I remember some very eye opening stats about the amount of food the fourty thousand + Army of Virginia needed in Maryland. When the hoped for rebellion didn't happen, the rebels had very little time before they starved. Dashing into Pennsylvania was almost a necessity to feed the army. Of course all of the forced requisition of supplies just alienated the people of Maryland more.

One of the major differences between the North and the South was the North's ability to grow food for the army and get that food to the front. The South generally lived off of subsistance supplies gathered from the surrounding land.

another advantage the North had in supplying it's troops was that almost all of the heavy industry was based in the North. The South had a lot of railways, but they couldn't get new/more trains, or repair broken ones, due to the fact they were almost all built in the North. So it was a much slower and laborious process to keep the Southern armies supplied than it was for the North.

Oh geez, the two semesters I took on Civil War history are starting to come back... :D

Bullets :)

Edited for smiley.