Byron1 | 04 Dec 2022 11:48 a.m. PST |
Can anyone tell me if the cornfields as seen on the American Civil War battlefields can accurately be used for other periods on different continents outside the United States? It is strange where research for this hobby takes us. Thankyou. |
d88mm1940 | 04 Dec 2022 12:13 p.m. PST |
It kind of depends on which type of planting; rows or "3 sisters". link "in agricultural parlance, 'The Three Sisters' are crops planted together in a shared space: maize, beans, and squash…. Developed through [I]indigenous agricultural practices, these three plants protect and nourish each other in different ways as they grow and provide a solid diet for their cultivators." In the US, in the 1850's, clever new corn harvesting machinery were invented, but the corn had to be planted in rows to take advantage of it. The 3 sisters method had to be harvested by hand as there were multiple corps involved. Both types existed during the ACW, with row corn more common in the north and the south, without wide access to the new machinery, tended to still use 3 sisters. So pre-ACW you would find 3 sisters and post-ACW row corn. Other areas of the world that grew corn (say Mexico) would use 3 sisters until machinery became available, which would be later as farmers were generally poor. |
Byron1 | 04 Dec 2022 12:21 p.m. PST |
Wow, thankyou for that information. It's amazing where this hobby takes us. So I my corn is in rows, so I guess it probably won't be much use for scenarios outside the US until the 20th century. Thankyou. |
Glengarry5 | 04 Dec 2022 1:14 p.m. PST |
Maize was introduced into parts of Africa in the 17th century most likely by the Portuguese becaming a major food source. |
Father of Cats | 04 Dec 2022 2:39 p.m. PST |
|
Eumelus | 05 Dec 2022 4:07 a.m. PST |
If your model is like most I've seen and shows only stalks and leaves, without the ears of corn, it can probably pass as sugar cane. I believe sugar cane was always grown in rows. So perhaps useful for Caribbean or Indian subcontinental scenarios? |
Byron1 | 05 Dec 2022 7:32 a.m. PST |
Looking at images of of sugar cane, I think my corn fields may work sagar cane. |
KimRYoung | 05 Dec 2022 8:13 p.m. PST |
Yes! Can be used for the large fields of millet at the Battle of Liaoyang in the Russo-Japanese War 1904. The crops of millet very prominent at this battle and throughout Manchuria where many of the battles were fought. Kim |
mildbill | 06 Dec 2022 6:40 a.m. PST |
I know at the battle of Wilsons' Creek the cornfield was not planted in rows. The planting of corn as the same way as wheat was also used. So, the passage of troops thru cornfield could be like going thru a thicket. |
Old Contemptible | 09 Dec 2022 4:20 p.m. PST |
Quatre Bras 1815, corn and other grains were all over the place. Tall enough to hide an entire company. Men would just disappear into them. |
Swampster | 10 Dec 2022 1:09 p.m. PST |
I don't think 'corn' as in maize was planted in the Quatre Bras area as early as 1815. Most European areas only began growing it after hybridization made it suitable for the climate and growing seasons. There were patches of cultivation, mostly in Spain. Seems that small stands rather than large fields tended to be grown. It wasn't popular for human consumption – areas which did use it tended to suffer from pellagra as they didn't tend to supplement their diet with as many other protein sources (beans, fish etc.) as in the New World. For the Waterloo campaign, Cotton gives wheat, rye, oats and barley as the cereal crops. He also says peas, potatoes, clover and vetch. Contemporary references to corn are in the English use as a generic cereal crop – Dickson of the Greys refers to barley as corn. He also mentions clover and rye fields. The little I have found for QB mentions wheat and barley – corn is used a a generic term.
It is hard to show cereal crops from this period well on a wargames table – the stalks were around 5' tall so hard to make it looks as if the figures are moving in it. Portraying it as already trampled is one option – perhaps replacing a pristine field once the troops get in there. |
WarpSpeed | 10 Dec 2022 6:07 p.m. PST |
War of 1812 southern ontario (upper canada). |
Old Contemptible | 11 Dec 2022 11:19 p.m. PST |
"I don't think 'corn' as in maize was planted in the Quatre Bras area as early as 1815." That's what I use to think. Having read Robinson's book on Quatre Bras, I learned that corn was grown in Belgium in 1815. In fact, corn had been grown in Europe since the previous century. |
Swampster | 12 Dec 2022 9:48 a.m. PST |
A bit of further digging has found a translation of a German account which mentions maize. I'll have to have a look at Robinson. |
Eumelus | 12 Dec 2022 10:03 a.m. PST |
If there were maize fields in 19th-century Europe, I'm sure they would have been in rows and not "three sister" mounds (to return to the OP's question). |
Borderguy190 | 17 Dec 2022 9:33 p.m. PST |
Any suggestions for modelling the "three sisters"? What could be used to simulate the bean and squash leaves? |