Posted on Texas Civilian Yahoo list May 2009 by Vicki Betts
BTW, I've just figured out (duh!) one of the main reasons that I like studying the Texas Civil War homefront. It's one the few states which allows almost a direct comparison with the American homefront from other wars, including WW2. Just think about it--no major invasions of the heartland, no large standing armies in the homeland but lots of mobilization to go elsewhere, increased demand for "home" produced goods and services at the same time much of the work force was gone, problems with communication
with the military fronts, a feeling of helplessness (of a sort) because all of the decisions were being made elsewhere, issues with "foreigners in our midst," shortages that lead to substitutes. It's more of a factor of time of war but the war is mostly somewhere else.
BTW, I've just figured out (duh!) one of the main reasons that I like studying the Texas Civil War homefront. It's one the few states which allows almost a direct comparison with the American homefront from other wars, including WW2. Just think about it--no major invasions of the heartland, no large standing armies in the homeland but lots of mobilization to go elsewhere, increased demand for "home" produced goods and services at the same time much of the work force was gone, problems with communication
with the military fronts, a feeling of helplessness (of a sort) because all of the decisions were being made elsewhere, issues with "foreigners in our midst," shortages that lead to substitutes. It's more of a factor of time of war but the war is mostly somewhere else.
