lelliott19
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Ok, I have tried to avoid this Forum (Secession/Politics ) like the plague, but find myself here to ask a question. I'd like to open a can of worms and ask this:
How did the Twenty Slave Exemption impact support of the Confederate war effort?
Id like to read some 1st person accounts from letters or diaries of southerners who express their opinion about it. Where I live in NE Alabama, there were very few large farms (ok, plantations) and few slaveholders. (Its pretty mountainous here.) There was already strong Unionist sentiment. But what about elsewhere? The law was passed October 11, 1862 right on the heels of Perryville and Sharpsburg. Weren't southern sentiments already waning?
My husbands people were from Georgia, owned no slaves, had a small family farm, and had several sons who enlisted early on. Surely their allegiance was waning soon after the war began anyway? I have to assume that as the war progressed and more and more young men died, crops were impressed, the land was devastated, inflation was rampant, and women were left alone and impoverished, support for the war effort must have been on the decline anyway. And then to have wealthy landowners exempted from service? Doesnt sound like the way to win friends and influence people to me.
My 2x grandfather enlisted and served throughout the war anyway - even though he would have been exempted by this law and was overage. Im sure there were probably others who did the same. Im interested in reading 1st person reactions if anyone has any. Thanks.
How did the Twenty Slave Exemption impact support of the Confederate war effort?
Id like to read some 1st person accounts from letters or diaries of southerners who express their opinion about it. Where I live in NE Alabama, there were very few large farms (ok, plantations) and few slaveholders. (Its pretty mountainous here.) There was already strong Unionist sentiment. But what about elsewhere? The law was passed October 11, 1862 right on the heels of Perryville and Sharpsburg. Weren't southern sentiments already waning?
My husbands people were from Georgia, owned no slaves, had a small family farm, and had several sons who enlisted early on. Surely their allegiance was waning soon after the war began anyway? I have to assume that as the war progressed and more and more young men died, crops were impressed, the land was devastated, inflation was rampant, and women were left alone and impoverished, support for the war effort must have been on the decline anyway. And then to have wealthy landowners exempted from service? Doesnt sound like the way to win friends and influence people to me.
My 2x grandfather enlisted and served throughout the war anyway - even though he would have been exempted by this law and was overage. Im sure there were probably others who did the same. Im interested in reading 1st person reactions if anyone has any. Thanks.
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