Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

History

Committee Chair

Jason Phillips

Committee Member

Brian Luskey

Committee Member

Devin Smart

Committee Member

James Broomall

Abstract

This dissertation questions how human and non-human actors share power. By exploring Confederate logistics within the Subsistence Department, the collaboration between bureaucrats and the material world is revealed. Contributing to scholarship aimed at expanding the field of Civil War studies, this dissertation not only provides a more complex and interesting view of the conflict, but also an understanding that human beings are not solely responsible for the war’s results. By applying a materialist approach, the causes and outcomes of an event as complicated as a civil war can be better explained and understood. The choice to stockpile food for distribution to armies, for example, holds as much responsibility for hungry combatants as do railroad tracks washed away by heavy rains and flooding. This inclusion of the material world reveals that the failure of the Confederacy to win its war of independence was more than the ability or will of individual people. Rather, structures and systems put in place to feed rebel soldiers failed to adequately provide food. The realities of the material world are foremost in understanding Confederate defeat. This integration of human and non-human actors also helps to understand power within the Confederacy. Like conflicts in the twentieth century, the Confederate government intruded deeply on its people during the war. A nuanced understanding of the depth of Richmond’s reach is provided by considering how the rebels acquired and distributed foodstuffs. Even though the slave states’ experiment in nationhood lasted only four years, the rebels’ manipulation of food systems demonstrates the structural changes and state building power possible for a new nation at war.

Download

Share

COinS