- Joined
- Apr 4, 2017
- Location
- Denver, CO
Its not a book anymore, its just an internet publication maintained by the Census Bureau. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/preliminary-report/1860e-03.pdf
The eventual manpower problems of the potential Confederacy were not hard to find as early as May 1862.
The rate of population growth for the decade 1850 to 1860 was, for the paid labor states, 41.24%, for the 15 state slave labor section of the US as a whole, 27.33% and for the enslaved population 23.44%.
For the 15 states that allowed slavery in 1860, the situation was worse than the aggregate number shows, because growth in Missouri was explosive in both absolute and % terms and the rate of growth in Texas was very high, though the overall population in Texas was still moderate in size.
In Virginia and South Carolina population growth had slowed in that decade.
The situation in Kentucky and Tennessee is easier to investigate.
Kentucky had experienced a very high rate of gross population increase and exported population to all points in the Midwest and west. The net effect was modest population growth.
Tennessee people just kept moving, onwards to Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas. That created a situation in which control of the Mississippi River had strategic as well as political significance.
The fact both free labor and paid labor in New Orleans earned a premium for the free worker, and the broker of slave labor, was a hint that the supply of labor in the southwest states was already a problem before the shooting escalated.
Tennessee and Kentucky were exporting population to Ohio and Illinois. And Texas did not get a land grant railroad. There was not a Texas Central Railroad in the 1850s decade.
Then the war broke out and Missouri and Kentucky never seceded, and manpower problems begin.
We don't know how many people left the Confederacy, either to get away from the war, or to get away from slavery. But the population that was mobile before the war was unlikely to become less mobile under the stress of war and invasion of the emancipating army.
Then the pin pricks of US strategic gains begin: western Virginia and Alexandria; the small towns on the North Carolina coast; Clarksville and Nashville; and the wound that never healed, the US capture of New Orleans and the lower delta. The US occupation of New Orleans was quickly followed by the US occupation of the small towns of Pensacola, FL and Norfolk. The US occupation of the medium size city of Memphis, TN was next.
Where was the imbalance of manpower likely to benefit the US the most?
The US could overcome its manpower restrictions and find enough sailors to man the fighting vessels and the support ships, with difficulty. The US logistical network was growing both on the water, on the railroads, and on the cartage necessary to maintain operational mobility.
The rhetorical response is that the smaller belligerent sometimes defeats the larger nation. How did that work out for Napoleon, whose national army invaded Russia and conquered Moscow?
Winning the Civil War was not going to fix the problem.
The eventual manpower problems of the potential Confederacy were not hard to find as early as May 1862.
The rate of population growth for the decade 1850 to 1860 was, for the paid labor states, 41.24%, for the 15 state slave labor section of the US as a whole, 27.33% and for the enslaved population 23.44%.
For the 15 states that allowed slavery in 1860, the situation was worse than the aggregate number shows, because growth in Missouri was explosive in both absolute and % terms and the rate of growth in Texas was very high, though the overall population in Texas was still moderate in size.
In Virginia and South Carolina population growth had slowed in that decade.
The situation in Kentucky and Tennessee is easier to investigate.
Migration History for Individual States 1850-2022 - America's Great Migrations
Interactive graphics and maps tracing the migration history of every U.S. state decade by decade since 1850. Select a state to see where residents were born (other states and other countries) and filter results by race.
depts.washington.edu
Tennessee people just kept moving, onwards to Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas. That created a situation in which control of the Mississippi River had strategic as well as political significance.
The fact both free labor and paid labor in New Orleans earned a premium for the free worker, and the broker of slave labor, was a hint that the supply of labor in the southwest states was already a problem before the shooting escalated.
Tennessee and Kentucky were exporting population to Ohio and Illinois. And Texas did not get a land grant railroad. There was not a Texas Central Railroad in the 1850s decade.
Then the war broke out and Missouri and Kentucky never seceded, and manpower problems begin.
We don't know how many people left the Confederacy, either to get away from the war, or to get away from slavery. But the population that was mobile before the war was unlikely to become less mobile under the stress of war and invasion of the emancipating army.
Then the pin pricks of US strategic gains begin: western Virginia and Alexandria; the small towns on the North Carolina coast; Clarksville and Nashville; and the wound that never healed, the US capture of New Orleans and the lower delta. The US occupation of New Orleans was quickly followed by the US occupation of the small towns of Pensacola, FL and Norfolk. The US occupation of the medium size city of Memphis, TN was next.
Where was the imbalance of manpower likely to benefit the US the most?
The US could overcome its manpower restrictions and find enough sailors to man the fighting vessels and the support ships, with difficulty. The US logistical network was growing both on the water, on the railroads, and on the cartage necessary to maintain operational mobility.
The rhetorical response is that the smaller belligerent sometimes defeats the larger nation. How did that work out for Napoleon, whose national army invaded Russia and conquered Moscow?
Winning the Civil War was not going to fix the problem.
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Bringing the