Mention Civil
Defense (Cold War) or Civilian Defense (World War II), and we get pictures of
Air Raid Wardens, the Aircraft Warning Service, blackouts, Victory Gardens, and
scrap drives. The Office of Civilian Defense was established by Pres. Franklin
D. Roosevelt on May 20, 1941, an effort to coordinate federal and state
responses in regard to protecting civilians and mobilizing them for what became
World War II. The program was terminated on June 4, 1945. In 1950, another
movement began, this time labeled as Civil Defense, an attempt to try and
prepare people in the advent of nuclear war. Many programs under Civilian
Defense and Civil War defense were the same.
Someone recently
asked if there was a correlation between what the United States government was
doing in the 1940s and 1960s and the Confederate government. Like most
historical questions, the answer is no, and yes.
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| In the Hospital, 1861, by William L. Sheppard. |
Nationally, there
was no one in charge of any type of program in the Southern Confederacy.
(Really no program like this in the Northern states, either.) Civilian Defense
during World War II was run by the governors in various states, who appointed
county-level boards and committees. However, in most cases in the South, people
in various communities set up what might be termed “civilian defense” on the
local level.
Ladies Aid Societies – at the outset of the war, various
Ladies Aid Societies were set up to provide clothing and other necessities for
soldiers. Just about every community had these organizations. The Greenville
Ladies Association (South Carolina) held their first meeting on July 19,
1861.Their purpose was “to relieve the sick and wounded among soldiers, by
forwarding to them linen, underclothing, cordials, bed ticks, socks, etc.
Secondly, to make winter clothing for the volunteers of the Confederate Army.”[1]
These aid societies were not just confined to large areas. Smaller counties
likewise set up Aid Societies with the same goals. In the foothills of western
North Carolina, the ladies of Caldwell County likewise formed an aid society in
September 1861. They often collected necessities for the soldiers. This
included normal things, like socks, shirts, drawers, coats, quilts and
comforters, as well as the more unique, like three dozen candles, four bottles
of lemon syrup, half a dozen cups and saucers, thirty copies of the New
Testaments, and roots like slippery-elm, sage, pepper, mustard, flax-seed,
hops, etc.[2]
Women will continue to make and donate clothing throughout the war, but many of
the uniforms were manufactured via contract or “piece” work. A depot would
provide the materials, already cut out, and the ladies would take them home and
sew them, returning the finished articles to the depot and being paid by the
piece they completed. Sewing, especially during the Great Depression and in the
days of the Works Progress Administration, often under the auspices of the Red
Cross, was a major producer of locally made clothing and mattresses. Women
mailed packages to their loved ones overseas, and took on jobs, making uniforms
in factories.
War effort – during War World II, families were encouraged
to save by-products from the kitchen, namely grease from cooking bacon, which
could be used in manufacturing explosives (glycerin). The government went as
far as to set up the American Fat Salvage Committee. During the 1860s, it was
not so much bacon grease that was collected, but nitre for making gunpowder.
The Nitre Bureau in Richmond ran an advertisement in a newspaper in 1864,
asking the public for dead animals.[3]
John Haralson famously posted in a newspaper in Selma in July 1863: “The ladies
of Selma are respectfully requested to preserve the chamber lye collected about
their premises for the purpose of making nitre. A barrel will be sent around
daily to collect it."[4]
Hospitals were a kind of novelty at the start of the 1860s.
They existed, but they were usually for the poor. Doctors usually made visits
to patients in homes. With the excess of patients that the war produced, both
those wounded and those who were sick with one of the many camp diseases,
hospitals sprang up all over the place. Due to the number of soldiers passing
through Charlotte in mid-1862 via the railroad, local ladies stepped up and
established a hospital association. They acquired the wash house of the North
Carolina Military Institute. The names of the ladies on duty were published in
the local newspaper, while two other volunteers visited the homes of the Hospital
Association volunteers to collect supplies – food and bandages – to staff the
hospitals. The Confederate government later took charge of the hospital, but
the ladies continued to volunteer. This was repeated across the South.[5]
During World War I and World War II, the Red Cross employed “Grey Ladies,”
volunteers who wrote letters, read, and provided other services to disabled
soldiers. There were many medical volunteers in Civilian Defense during World
War II, beyond the Red Cross, including doctors, nurses, and nurses aids.
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| Different Civilian Defense jobs, |
Ambulance Drivers – along the same lines as those who ministered in hospitals were ambulance drivers. The Richmond Ambulance Corps was established in 1862. This group met the trains bearing wounded at the depot in Richmond, conveying them to various hospitals, and later the receiving hospital, for medical care.[6] During World War II, there were volunteer messengers recruited into Civilian Defense.
Scrap Drives – Outside of Rosie the Riveter, the most iconic
image of the United States home front during World War II was of the scrap
drives. School children and scout troops collected thousands of pounds of scrap
in the way of old iron, tires, records, and paper to be turned into munitions
for the war effort. Likewise, there were collections of scraps across the South
during the war years. S.D. Rodifer advertised in February 1862 that he was
paying the “highest price in Cash” for “Wrought Scrap,” brought to his shop in
Selma, Alabama.[7] William
L. Brown, in charge of the Confederate States Arsenal in Richmond, advertised
in June 1863 that he was looking for “Scrap iron and Lead, Wrought iron and
scrap lead.”[8]
Chaplains – one of the volunteer roles for Civilian Defense
was that of chaplain, although the role is not clearly defined. During the
1860s, pastors of churches visited local hospitals, worked on collecting
foodstuffs and clothing, forwarding the items to the front and at times taking
the items to the front themselves. Several churches and denominations sent
missionaries and colporteurs to the front with tracts and Bibles.
While not called Civilian Defense during the 1860s, the
ideas were certainly woven into the fabric of Southern society.
[1] C.M.
Landrum, Minutes of the Proceedings of the Greenville Ladies’ Association in
Aid to the Volunteers of the Confederate Army, 1861-1865, James W. Patton, ed.,
New York, 1937, 15.
[2] Semi-Weekly
Standard, November 13, 1861.
[3] Richmond
Dispatch, March 23, 1864.
[4] If
you have an actual citation for this oft repeated quote, please drop me a line.
[5] Hardy,
Civil War Charlotte, 34-35.
[6] Ash,
Rebel Richmond, 14.
[7] The
Daily Selma Reporter, February 10, 1862.
[8] Daily
Richmond Whig, June 25, 1863.
