
Agricultural capacity at the outbreak of the American Civil War 1861
At the outbreak of the American Civil War the Union States had approximately double the number of horses than the Confederate States, which was useful not only for creating cavalry regiments, but also for transportation and keeping armies supplied. The Union also produced roughly half a billion bushels of corn and wheat, compared to the Confederacy's 285 million, however the confederacy produced almost all of the rice in the US, at 225 million bushels. The Confederacy also produced most of the country's tobacco, coming in at 225 million pounds, compared to the Union's 50 million. One area where both sides were similar was in terms of livestock, with 40 million and 35 million heads respectively, however this is much higher for the Confederacy when we look at this number per capita. It is also important to note that, while there were only five of them, the Border States did have quite a high agricultural output for their size, but there are no records of which side their resources were distributed, or how much went to the war effort.