Table Of Content

RUIN NATION SERIES EDITORS Stephen Berry Amy Murrell Taylor University of Georgia University of Albany, SUNY ADVISORY BOARD Edward L. Ayers James Marten University of Richmond Marquette University Catherine Clinton Scott Nelson Queen’s University Belfast College of William & Mary J. Matthew Gallman Dan Sutherland University of Florida University of Arkansas Elizabeth Leonard Elizabeth Varon Colby College University of Virginia Ruin Nation Destruction and the American Civil War MEGAN KATE NELSON The University of Georgia Press Athens and London Publishedby The University of GeorgiaPress Athens, Georgia 30602 www.ugapress.org © 2012 by MeganKate Nelson All rightsreserved Set in Berthold Baskerville by Graphic Composition, Inc., Bogart,Georgia. Printed digitally in the United States of America Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nelson, MeganKate, 1972– Ruin nation : destruction and the American CivilWar / MeganKate Nelson. p. cm. — (UnCivil wars) Includesbibliographical referencesand index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-3397-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8203-3397-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-4251-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8203-4251-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. United States — History — CivilWar, 1861–1865 — Destructionand pillage. 2. United States — History — CivilWar, 1861–1865 — Social aspects. 3. United States — History — CivilWar, 1861–1865 — Psychological aspects. 4. United States — History — CivilWar, 1861–1865 — Casualties. 5. United States — History — CivilWar, 1861–1865 — Influence. I. Title. E468.9.N45 2012 973.7 — dc23 2011040358 British LibraryCataloging-in-Publication Data available ISBN for this digital edition: 978-0-8203-4379-2 FOR DAN This page intentionally left blank This is what war does. . . . War rends. War rips open, eviscerates. War scorches. War dismembers. War ruins. —Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others The Civil War is our only “felt” history—history lived in the national imagination. This is not to say that the War is always, and by all men, felt in the same way. Quite the contrary. But this fact is an index to the very complexity, depth, and fundamental signiﬁ cance of the event. It is an overwhelming and vital image of human, and national, experience. —Robert Penn Warren, The Legacy of the Civil War This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction. American Ruins 1 One. Our Own Pompeii: Ruined Cities 10 Two. Lone Chimneys: Domestic Ruins 61 Three. Battle Logs: Ruined Forests 103 Four. Empty Sleeves and Government Legs: The Ruins of Men 160 Conclusion. The Ruins of History 228 Notes 241 Bibliography 281 Index 313