Editing Confederate States of America (section)

===Food shortages and riots===
{{Main|Southern bread riots}}
[[File:Apr2 richmond riot.jpg|thumb|upright|Richmond bread riot, 1863]]

By mid-1861, the Union naval blockade virtually shut down the export of cotton and the import of manufactured goods. Food that formerly came overland was cut off.

As women were the ones who remained at home, they had to make do with the lack of food and supplies. They cut back on purchases, used old materials, and planted more flax and peas to provide clothing and food. They used ersatz substitutes when possible. The households were severely hurt by inflation in the cost of everyday items like flour, and the shortages of food, fodder for the animals, and medical supplies for the wounded.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jessica Fordham |last=Kidd |title=Privation and Pride: Life in Blockaded Alabama |journal=Alabama Heritage Magazine |year=2006 |volume=82 |pages=8–15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Mary Elizabeth |last=Massey |title=Ersatz in the Confederacy: Shortages and Substitutes on the Southern Homefront |year=1952 |pages=71–73 }}</ref>

State governments requested that planters grow less cotton and more food, but most refused. When cotton prices soared in Europe, expectations were that Europe would soon intervene to break the blockade and make them rich, but Europe remained neutral.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Coulter|first=E. Merton|year=1927|title=The Movement for Agricultural Reorganization in the Cotton South during the Civil War|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_agricultural-history_1927-01_1_1/page/3|journal=Agricultural History|volume=1|issue=1|pages=3–17|jstor=3739261}}</ref> The Georgia legislature imposed cotton quotas, making it a crime to grow an excess. But food shortages only worsened, especially in the towns.<ref>{{cite book |first=C. Mildred |last=Thompson |title=Reconstruction In Georgia: Economic, Social, Political 1865–1872 |url=https://archive.org/details/reconstructionin00thomuoft |year=1915 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/reconstructionin00thomuoft/page/14 14]–17, 22 |publisher=New York, Columbia University Press }}</ref>

The overall decline in food supplies, made worse by the inadequate transportation system, led to serious shortages and high prices in urban areas. When bacon reached a dollar a pound in 1863, the poor women of Richmond, Atlanta and many other cities began to riot; they broke into shops and warehouses to seize food. As wives and widows of soldiers, they were hurt by the inadequate welfare system.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Stephanie |last=McCurry |title=Bread or Blood! |journal=Civil War Times |year=2011 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=36–41 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Teresa Crisp |last1=Williams |first2=David |last2=Williams |title='The Women Rising': Cotton, Class, and Confederate Georgia's Rioting Women |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_georgia-historical-quarterly_spring-2002_86_1/page/49 |journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly |year=2002 |volume=86 |issue=1 |pages=49–83 |jstor=40584640 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Michael B. |last=Chesson |title=Harlots or Heroines? A New Look at the Richmond Bread Riot |journal=Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=92 |issue=2 |year=1984 |pages=131–175 |jstor=4248710 }}</ref>