This chapter discusses the aftermath of the collapse of agriculture in the Confederacy following the end of the Civil War. The winter of 1864–1865 brought despair and the realization that the military and agricultural power of the Confederates had vanished. Hunger persisted, food prices soared, and resentment festered against the government for the impressment of agricultural provisions, mandated low prices for army purchases, and the tax-in-kind, as well as for the impressment of slaves and conscription policies. The rest of this chapter examines the uncertain future of farmers and planters across the South after the war; the problems that southern farmers had to deal with in the postwar era, including livestock diseases; how white farmers and planters struggled to adjust to a new order for agricultural labor; and the transition from slavery to freedom in the Confederacy.
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