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Virginia & Tennessee Tonnage, Eastbound Food Years ending June 30, pounds, rounded |
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From the numbers below, it is easy to see why Lees' army and Richmond
were so near starvation by the end of the war. Though these numbers only
go through mid-summer of 1864, the rapid decline in delivered foods to
the Richmond area is obvious and was impossible to correct from the Virginia
& Tennessee Railroad's area of operations.
The declines are the result of several factors. Most importantly was the loss of the Tennessee farmlands in 1863. Next was the loss of the connection to northeastern Alabama and central Georgia with the loss of Chattanooga. Finally, the loss of Knoxville removed supplies from the entire Tennessee mountain region. The result was that the 1864 column shows the supplies that the road could provide from southwestern Virginia alone. Richmond's problems of food supply were compounded by the exhaustion of the Shenandoah Valley and the weakness of the rail feeders from North Carolina. |
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Article |
1861 | 1862 | 1863 | 1864 |
| Bacon/Hogs/Pork | 11,000,000 | 13,800,000 | 8,800,000 | 2,200,000 |
| Beef/Cattle | 2,246,000 | 2,980,000 | 3,240,000 | 1,547,000 |
| Sheep | 300,000 | 180,000 | 190,000 | 430,000 |
| Molasses | 6,000 | 1,700,000 | 500,000 | 20,000 |
| Total Meats | 13,552,000 | 18,660,000 | 12,730,000 | 4,197,000 |
| Corn meal | 500,000 | 200,000 | 700,000 | 400,000 |
| Flour/Wheat | 10,700,000 | 9,200,000 | 6,300,000 | 5,100,000 |
| Rye & meal | 330,000 | 290,000 | 50,000 | 70,000 |
| Total Flour/Meal | 11,530,000 | 9,690,000 | 7,050,000 | 5,570,000 |
| Fruit | 1,800,000 | 500,000 | 400,000 | 300,000 |
| Eggs | 73,000 | 25,000 | 4,000 | 1,000 |
| Potatoes | 100,000 | 140,000 | 40,000 | 250,000 |
| Rice | 0 | 20,000 | 430,000 | 100,000 |
| Butter | 300,000 | 307,000 | 60,000 | 101,000 |
| Lard | 210,000 | 660,000 | 170,000 | 40,000 |
| Sugar | 200,000 | 10,000,000 | 4,400,000 | 200,000 |
| Beans & Peas | 0 | 97,000 | 90,000 | 49,000 |
| Vegetables | 40,000 | 10,000 | 15,000 | 10,000 |
| Total Other Food | 2,723,000 | 11,759,000 | 5,609,000 | 1,051,000 |
| Total Human Food | 27,805,000 | 40,109,000 | 25,389,000 | 10,818,000 |
| Corn (See Note) | 1,900,000 | 900,000 | 7,600,000 | 3,600,000 |
| Oats | 1,000,000 | 400,000 | 200,000 | 200,000 |
| Hay | 190,000 | 1,430,000 | 4,400,000 | 4,500,000 |
| Total Animal Food | 3,090,000 | 2,730,000 | 12,200,000 | 8,300,000 |
| Note: Corn was both a Human and an Animal food. I have listed it under Animal because of its criticality to maintaining Lee's horses. The shortage of horse food caused such a breakdown of the Army of Northern Virginia's mobility that, by the winter of 1863-1864, Lee was effectively restricted to operations within one day's march from an operating railroad. It was also a major factor in the decline of the ANV's cavalry at the same time. | ||||