Confederate Exodus: Social and Environmental Forces in the Migration of U.S. Southerners to Brazil by Alan P. Marcus (review)

Abstract

formerly abundant species that garnered little attention from commercial fishers at first was the diamondbacked terrapin. By the middle years of the nineteenth century, however, “proggers” were wading the shallow waters of the bay and its tributaries in search of terrapin meat and eggs. High demand for this Maryland delicacy eventually caused populations to plummet, and today the state prohibits their harvest. Likewise, “tonging” and “dredging” supported an oyster canning industry that employed 8,687 workers in 1890 but a mere 900 workers in 1936– 37, with a similar impact on numbers of harvesters (50). Overharvesting extended to avian species as well. Indeed, the “thunderous sounds of massed beating wings,” so common into the nineteenth century, fell all but silent as hunters and poachers using punt guns, sink boxes, and battery guns engaged in a massive slaughter of ducks, geese, and other waterfowl (65). Only the blue crab fishery remains productive today. Although much of this book is about what has been lost, Kennedy remains sanguine, albeit realistic, about the future of the bay: “For a number of reasons, including the loss or degradation of habitat caused by increased human population in the watershed, we will undoubtedly not be able to return the Chesapeake Bay to the productivity of the 1800s.” And yet, he argues, appreciating what the bay “was once capable of supporting ecologically and economically” may help us set a higher baseline for our restoration efforts (101). Perhaps this is the book’s greatest contribution— that the Chesapeake Bay our grandchildren experience and enjoy might resemble more closely the one our greatgrandparents would recognize.