Bryan, you are absolutely correct on both points. But --- and this is a pretty big but, I think --- the dramatic breakdown in food production and distribution was well underway by the fall of 1862. Only a relatively small portion of the state had been overrun by rampaging armies, both Union and Confederate, by that point. A major factor in the small fall harvest was the drought, of course, but I suggest the absence of thousands of men and animals was another important factor. And this is something that most students of the war overlook because it ain't sexy.

MOST of the labor---agricultural and otherwise --- in antebellum Arkansas was done by WHITE MEN OF MILITARY AGE. You put 60, 70, 80, 90% of those fellows in butternut and blue and the economic impact is going to be TERRIFIC. Add to that the steady decline in the number of slaves and you have a double whammy. Result: famine, despair, depopulation, malnourishment, epidemics, and , of course, ever lower levels of economic output. The inevitable outcome is a downward spiral that cannot be reversed.

An agrarian society at war must tread a very thin line between mobilization and economic collapse. Arkansas --and the Confederacy in general --- went way over the line.

Boy, this is more fun than poking a stick into an ant nest!