On January 19, 1861, Georgia seceded from the Union as the "Republic of Georgia" and joined the newly formed Confederacy the next month during the prelude to the American Civil War. During the war, Georgia sent nearly 100,000 soldiers to battle, mostly to the armies in Virginia. The state switched from cotton to food production, but severe transportation difficulties eventually restricted supplies. Early in the war, the state's 1,400 miles of railroad tracks provided a frequently used means of moving supplies and men but, by the middle of 1864, much of these lay in ruins or in Union hands.