- Joined
- Apr 18, 2019
- Location
- Upstate New York
Image source: Library of Congress
The majority of soldiers, North and South, were farmers and after their service was over, most returned to the farm. Farming in the 19th century was hard, manual labor which required strength and agility. Men who returned from the War wounded found themselves limited in what they could do. Limitations were especially severe for the thousands of men who had lost a limb. Farming was tough enough for the able-boded; to those who struggled to walk or do basic daily tasks, it must have felt impossible.
Enter the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator. John Deere had developed the riding cultivator during the War and begun selling the machine in 1863. Like many of the mechanical inventions of the era, the Hawkeye Cultivator made farming easier for the farmer. As wounded veterans soon noticed, it made cultivating - historically back breaking work - not only easier but possible for those who had lost a limb. The Deere company took notice and began to advertise the Hawkeye as a machine easy enough for a one-armed or one-legged man to use. What was good business for Deere must have seemed a life saver for the veterans - a device that enabled them to support their families and keep pace with their neighbors, despite the sacrifices their service caused.
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