Wheat: Wheat and the Civil War

During the two decades before the Civil War, America’s major agricultural crops doubled, with the largest growth occurring in five states—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa—thanks to the canals and the railroads constructed before the war. In 1839 these states produced 25 percent of the nation’s wheat and corn. Twenty years later the production of these states had increased to 50 percent of the national total.

Because of the abundance of grain during the war, northern soldiers and sailors were comparatively well fed, as were northern civilians. Just as important, England and France had poor grain harvests just before the war and needed increased imports. Grain exports from the North increased during the war, and the need for these exports was one reason that England and France did not recognize the Confederacy.