The Business of Civil War: Military Mobilization and the State, 1861-1865 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology) [Hardcover]

Mark R. Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0801883482 | ISBN-13: 978-0801883484 | Edition: 1

This wide-ranging, original account of the politics and economics of the giant military supply project in the North reconstructs an important but little-known part of Civil War history. Drawing on new and extensive research in army and business archives, Mark R. Wilson offers a fresh view of the wartime North and the ways in which its economy worked when the Lincoln administration, with unprecedented military effort, moved to suppress the rebellion.

This task of equipping and sustaining Union forces fell to career army procurement officers. Largely free from political partisanship or any formal free-market ideology, they created a mixed military economy with a complex contracting system that they pieced together to meet the experience of civil war. Wilson argues that the North owed its victory to these professional military men and their finely tuned relationships with contractors, public officials, and war workers.

Wilson also examines the obstacles military bureaucrats faced, many of which illuminated basic problems of modern political economy: the balance between efficiency and equity, the promotion of competition, and the protection of workers' welfare. The struggle over these problems determined the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars; it also redirected American political and economic development by forcing citizens to grapple with difficult questions about the proper relationships among government, business, and labor.

Students of the American Civil War will welcome this fresh study of military-industrial production and procurement on the home front—long an obscure topic.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A superlative and welcome addition to Civil War scholarship... clear, informative and consistently insightful.

(Ethan S. Rafuse Civil War News 2006)

A good book for anyone interested in logistics, as well as the more serious student of the Civil War.

(NYMAS Review 2006)

A 'must' for any serious student of Civil War history who would go beyond the usual statistics and battle events.

(Midwest Book Review 2006)

Anyone interested in the antebellum army, the Civil War, or the role of the military in the American political economy will find this book worthwhile.

(Robert G. Angevine Journal of Military History 2007)

Wilson says something new and vital about the war by illustrating the role of war and the military in American business and politics. Nothing like it has ever been published.

(Civil War Book Review 2007)

This clearly written and detailed study of the northern procurement effort represents a fresh take on the 'sinews of war'.

(C. Wyatt Evans North & South 2006)

The first systematic and comprehensive study, based on original archival research into both military and business records, devoted exclusively to the Union's economic mobilization.

(Jeffrey Rogers Hummel Public Choice 2007)

A much-needed analysis of Union production and procurement issues.

(Lenette S. Taylor Journal of American History 2007)

Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay the author is to say that after I finished reading his book I felt compelled to re-write the lectures in my Civil War course that I devote to mobilization.

(Roger Ranson EH.Net 2007)

One of the most important Civil War books to appear in quite some time.

(Rick Sauers Blue and Gray Magazine 2007)

A concise, well-argued work of scholarship. It enlivens a potentially stolid subject in a manner that engages nonspecialists.

(Robert M. Sandow New England Quarterly 2007)

An excellent contribution to the general understanding of Union military institutions.

(Harold S. Wilson American Historical Review 2007)

Wilson's research and core analyses are solid. For reconstituting the complexity, the tensions, and the institutional innovations of massive war supply in a horse-and-wagon economy, Wilson deserves a hearty round of thanks from historians and political scientists.

(Philip Scranton Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2008)

The book goes beyond a simple Civil War history and adds to the understanding of American business history, as well as the war's legacy to the Gilded Age... valuable to anyone examining nineteenth century business history or the links between the military and industry. Wilson's well written narrative and thorough research makes for compelling reading, and is a welcome addition to Civil War scholarship.

(Joseph-James Ahren on Point 2007)

Wilson makes a compelling case.

(Mary A. DeCredico Journal of Southern History 2007)

Wilson provides an excellent treatment of the constantly evolving financial and manufacturing infrastructure that supported United States armies during the Civil War.

(Ben Wynne Historian 2008)

An excellent study of military supply on the home front during the war.

(James L. Huston Civil War History )

An outstanding contribution to our understanding of the military's role in society, politics, and the economy during the nineteenth century.

(Steven G. Collins Technology and Culture )

A compelling account of the political economy of Northern mobilization.

(Ann N. Greene Enterprise and Society )

A fascinating account of how the North marshaled its economic might to win the Civil War.

(John Majewski Journal of Economic History 2008)

An impressively researched and fresh contribution to the field, Mark Wilson's The Business of Civil War illustrates the role of the military in the American political economy, detailing how the army comes to the fore as orchestrator and manager of the wartime economy and how the Civil War experience may have laid the foundation for postwar developments.

(Merritt Roe Smith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology )

As Wilson observes, historians 'have tended to search for the roots of American bureaucracy in virtually every field except the military'. Wilson has struck a powerful blow against this exceptionalism, and the larger exceptionalism of the state of courts and parties thesis... Wilson presents compelling evidence that they should not be ignored.

(Samuel Watson Journal of the Early Republic 2010)

Readers will find Wilson's deeply researched account well worth the investment as a study of wartime political economy. It explores areas hitherto mostly neglected and rarely explored: readers will profit from learning how Union authorities procured the material means used to save the Union.

(Brooks D. Simpson Civil War Monitor 2012)

From the Back Cover

This wide-ranging account of the giant military-supply system the North developed after 1861 reconstructs an important but little-known part of Civil War history. In his study of army politics, production, and procurement, Mark R. Wilson offers a fresh view of the wartime North and the ways in which its economy worked.

"A fascinating account of how the North marshaled its economic might to win the Civil War."— Journal of Economic History

"Anyone interested in the antebellum army, the Civil War, or the role of the military in the American political economy will find this book worthwhile."— Journal of Military History

"An outstanding contribution to our understanding of the military's role in society, politics, and the economy during the nineteenth century."— Technology and Culture

"Wilson provides an excellent treatment of the constantly evolving financial and manufacturing infrastructure that supported United States armies during the Civil War."— The Historian

"An excellent contribution to the general understanding of Union military institutions."— American Historical Review

"A compelling account of the political economy of Northern mobilization."— Enterprise and Society

Mark R. Wilson is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (June 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801883482
• ISBN-13: 978-0801883484
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,172,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Military Industrial Complex August 5, 2008

By T. Berner

Format:Hardcover

Who would have thought that among his other acheivements, President Lincoln produced America's first military-industrial complex? In this well researched, well written study of military procurement during the American Civil War, the author demonstrates how the US moved from a state-by-state method of equipping its troops to a nationwide system operated by military quartermasters with the expertise and integrity to manage what was the biggest enterprise of its day.

The author's rich coverage of the most interesting issues of the day - nascent labor unions, the debate between government run arsenals and private industry, the role of brokers and middlemen - pulls you into the issues of the day. Prof. Wilson's scrupulous intellectual honesty allows one to examine these subjects without 150 years of polemics. This presents the reader with the rarest of all virtues in a history: allowing him to view issues as if he were a contemporary while simultaneously giving him the advantage of observing these issues after the passions have cooled and perspective has set in.

The trust that the author thus forms with his reader is remarkable. A good example of this is found in his last chapter, when he talks about the "militarization" of the American economy. The word "militarization" has become shorthand in academic circles - even for those academics who are respected outside of the far right and far left peanut galleries - for all sorts of bad things in the economy. Prof. Wilson merely uses the word as it is meant to be used - the application, for good and bad, of military style structure in economic enterprises. The result is a true intellectual discourse with the past, not the imposition of current fashion to old events.

The author has focused mostly on the army, not the navy, but that is where the most interesting issues arose anyway. Prof. Wilson has performed miracles with an incomplete historical record, but there are many issues I would have love to have seen addressed (although the data is probably lost to history). He presents a balanced account of the virtues of the publicly owned arsenals and factories and private enterprise, but vital questions remain unanswered:

WAS the quality of good produced at the public factories equal to or better than that of private industry? He produces claims that they were, but he also shows that army quartermasters often rejected, and refused to pay for, goods from private industry, a power they did not have at government factories. This may have made a difference - possibly never recorded - between the standards of the one against the other.

He also demonstrates that workers preferred working for the government owned entities, but then in his discussion of inflation, indicates that the government owned entities began to lose their workers to private industry as prices soared. Does this mean that the privately owned economy was more responsive in paying wages to price movements than public entities? If so, that would be an interesting study in its own right.

None of these unanswered questions detract from this vital book, which should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the Civil War, the history of business or political history.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must' for any serious student of Civil War history October 14, 2006

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Hardcover

THE BUSINESS OF CIVIL WAR: MILITARY MOBILIZATION AND THE STATE, 1861-1865 is a pick for any in-depth Civil War history holding, who will find it much more than the usual rehash of politics. Instead, American history teacher Mark Wilson provides his own structured analysis of the politics and economics of the large military supply project in the North which proved such a major influence on the war's events and progression. His research in Army and business archives alike documents this project with an eye to displaying the military economy it created and encouraged. A 'must' for any serious student of Civil War history who would go beyond the usual statistics and battle events.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Who says there is nothing new to write about on the Civil War? October 11, 2009

By Jack Petersen

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I stumbled across an enthusiastic endorsement of this book by James Schmidt, (See Mr. Schmidt's May 25, 2007 Amazon review as well.), and I thought that I would take a chance on it. This book is one of the most original pieces of research on the Civil War that I have read. Previous reviewers have done an excellent job of describing this book but I enjoyed this book so much that I wanted to add my voice to the chorus.

You can hear echoes of the books discussion on the merits of public vs. private manufacturing of war materials in our current debate over the inclusion of public option in health care. When the quartermaster general warns that a strict construction of government contracting rules would lead to a procurement system that "prevailed in some monarchical governments, where great contractors, commanding millions of capital, make general contracts to furnish all supplies for the government under periodical lettings.", you can almost hear the criticism of our government's early contracts with Halliburton in the second Iraq war.

The book's discussion of the government's lack of cash which resulted in the issuance of quartermaster vouchers two to three months after final deliver of goods which could then only be exchanged for certificate of indebtedness, one year notes with a 6 percent interest rate, was a revelation to me. Only individuals and businesses with lots of capital can afford to wait that long to be paid.

Anyone that is interested in the Civil War should read this book. It is a very interesting and original read.