Existing comment:
War on the Home Front
For some, the war brought deprivation, horror, and loss right to their very doorsteps. For others, the war brought an uncertain journey into freedom from slavery.
In the countryside, armies destroyed roads and bridges, seized food and livestock, and turned houses into hospitals. In Confederate-controlled cities, overcrowding, shortages, inflation, and hunger plagued everyone. In Northern Virginia, the Eastern Shore, and Norfolk the liberties of residents were restricted by occupying Union forces. The western counties suffered pitiless guerrilla warfare. [Virginia possessed the largest number of the estimated 200,000 southerners -- slaves, Unionists, and Confederates -- who fled their homes during the Civil War.] |