Hardship was present throughout the Confederacy in December 1864, but the people on the farms probably did better than their relatives in the city, at least so long as no Union forces were in the neighborhood. Few, if any, records of outright starvation exist, but the Confederate people, as a whole, experienced serious malnutrition during the winter of 1864 to 1865. It did not help that they could sometimes read Northern newspapers and see the luxuries and conveniences of the population that was making war upon them.