The Country People: An Agricultural History of the American Revolution

BOOK REVIEW: The Country People: An Agricultural History of the American Revolution by R. Douglas Hurt. (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2026) $32.95 Paperback.

When an army reaches a location, be it a camp or a battlefield or a city, the commanders need to figure out how to feed everyone. Did the army quartermaster arrange for enough supplies to take care of the army on the march? Or can the army survive a siege? Truly comprehending any conflict requires an understanding of the logistics involved with these queries. Napoleon knew that his Grand Army was essentially defeated when he arrived in Moscow, only to find it and the area surrounding the city to be in ruins. With nothing to use to live off the land, Napoleon began the treacherous journey back to France, losing most of his forces due to the Russian winter and starvation.

As a Revolutionary War historian, this reviewer learned a great deal from R. Douglas Hurt’s excellent book, The Country People: An Agricultural History of the American Revolution. Battles are won and lost sometimes on the battlefield. What truly can decimate an army, or likewise strengthen it, is access to food. How can an army be supplied? How can it forage off the land? Hurt seeks to answer these and four essential questions in his book:

First, what did farmers do in their daily lives during the revolutionary years from 1774 to 1783? Second, how did the war affect farmers and planters? Third, how did they influence the war? Fourth, what were the consequences of the war on American agriculture? By answering these questions, we can begin to integrate agriculture into our understanding of and knowledge about the history of the American Revolution [page 1].

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The answers to the Introduction’s main questions are found in the twelve chapters of the book. The second, third and fourth chapters are divided into agriculture regions: the North, the Chesapeake, and the Carolina and George coasts. Hurt explains how some of the major crops were planted and harvested. Tobacco was labor intensive, but nowhere close to the arduous work done by slaves on rice and indigo plantations in the low country and back country regions of the Carolinas. There was yet no “King Cotton.” Not only are details about the farm products included, but Hurt also gives a great deal of attention to the money system. Farmers sometimes did well with high prices that went with war, but the weak Continental dollar forced some to trade with the British in order to get hard specie. The French alliance, and the influx of specie from the French, helped a great deal. The sixth chapter was a fascinating look at the use of livestock through the war.

The fifth chapter, “Native American Farmers: Before and After,” presents what was indeed a tragic situation. The Haudenosaunee of New York and the Ohio River Valley had farms that were bountiful, impressing British and American soldiers alike. However, Washington’s order to General John Sullivan to destroy the land of the Iroquois would certainly be considered a serious war crime today. The British may have lost the colonies as a result of the war, but the Native Americans lost a way of life that would outlast many generations.

The other chapters in the book cover a wide range of subjects, such as the plight of Loyalists, how enslaved labor was used on farms, and how land was distributed during and after the war. The eighth chapter is devoted to the trials of the soldiers at Valley Forge, who had to somehow live off the land during a bitterly cold winter. The British were also having difficulties throughout the war in trying to forage off of the land. Both Washington and British commanders were loathe to simply take land and supplies from farmers, and many farmers had to give up their products to both armies. War is not just a story about soldiers and generals. Farmers were casualties too.

Obviously there is a great deal to learn from The Country People: An Agricultural History of the American Revolution. It is a quick read, but there is a great deal of valuable information throughout the text. It is highly recommended.

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