Sale of african Americans out of Virginia during the war - how and how relevant

Piedone

Sergeant
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Oct 8, 2020
It is well known that enslaved people were sold out of the Upper South - especially from Virginia - mainly to provide manpower for plantations in the West or the Lower South - and is also clear that this „business“ was highly profitable and generated a very considerable income in 1860 still.

Hence I ´d ask:

#1 As the Confederacy was always short of manpower and relied greatly on enslaved workforce in all matters beyond direct combat - it should be presumed that the sale of american Africans out of the Lower South should have become even more important during the war.
Can this be proven? Is there any data available to answer such a question?

#2 If the sale of people out of Virginia continued - how was it be done? Coastal shipping was generally closed with the federal blockade and the railroads were already too much strained to accept further traffic.

#3 If such sales continued then I ´d assume that also relevant business interests were existing with them - and that they were trying to influence political decisions.
Are there any sources (letters, speeches hold, newspaper articles....) that are showing such lobbying? Did it happen? What were the aims? Is it maybe possible to recognize one (of course of several) factor(s) why Virginia was so most important regarding the confederate war effort in such lobbying? - Theoretically all of this could be conceivable but the question is: is there any base to such an idea?
 
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