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Effects of the Civil War in Virginia 1861 – 1880

The civil war began when eleven of the southern states felt that they needed to form the confederate states. After the elections held in November 1860 these states seceded as the winner of that particular election was Abraham Lincoln.

The reason for this was the president elect Mr. Lincoln was a well-known abolitionist of slavery.

Virginia was among these states that had seceded, and in 1861, the civil war broke out after the bombing of Fort Sumter. The reason Virginia chose to secede was because although it was an industrialized state. It had more slaves than any other state in the year 1860. However, most of its slave population was for trade and not labor. That is the state of Virginia would act as a source for slaves for the other southern states.

Slavery had, therefore, become part and parcel of the state's industry and thus the decision to join the confederate states got based on the economic dependency of the state of Virginia on slavery.

There were was no resistance from the democrats to the secession of Virginia as the public opinion at the time was overwhelmingly in favor for the confederacy. It is important to note that none of the parties the confederates and the union soldiers thought that the civil war would last as long as it did.

This was to lead to some disastrous results for both parties.

The opposing sides did not have sufficiently trained soldiers; however the state of Virginia provided the largest number of confederate soldiers as explained by Davis and Robertson (241).

The war was very expensive for the state of Virginia firstly they were not able to regularly pay their confederate soldiers their monthly salary of eleven dollars. The defeat of the confederates was a devastating blow to the economy of the state of Virginia. In the year 1867the, freedmen policies of President Andrew Johnson that had been considered lenient were brushed aside by congress.

Congress then passed on a new legislation for the former confederate states that saw them designated as military districts. This meant that the state of Virginia came under military rule and got commanded by Major General John M. Schofield. Under the new military government, African American males were eligible to vote, and they took part in the ballot held on the 22nd of October 1867.

The state of Virginia had not developed as much as its northern counterparts. The reason for this is because the northern states had been able to diversify their industries. They could buy the raw materials and make the finished products as explained by Richter (122).

This was not the case for the southern states. They mostly produced agricultural products that were dependent on manual labor that prior to the civil war had been widely available. The emancipation of the slaves after the war left the state of Virginia in dire economic straits, because of an over-reliance on slavery. The state faced a number of challenges such as soil exhaustion, impeded industries, technological challenges and high debts.

One of the main reasons why the confederate states lost the war was because of the advanced industrialization that had already taken over in the north. While states like Virginia were solely reliant on slave labor and a few rail lines. The northern states were using the rebellion by the southern states to help fuel their industrialization as Wallenstein and Brown explain (155).

The other factor to note is that with the emancipation of the slaves. The now freedmen refused to work for their former masters and instead started small-scale subsistence farming. This disrupted the labor force of Virginia plantation farmers, coupled with the falling prices of cotton at the time many farmers lost a lot of their wealth.

The state of Virginia was considered wealthy prior to the war. This was not the case as after the war their wealth that got based on assets such as slaves and land could not reach the levels of production that they once had.

With the loss of the war also left the state of Virginia in another financial challenge as the confederate bonds that were being used within the confederate states during the war were not recognized as legal tender.

Virginia also lost out on the influx of new labor in the form of immigrants as they preferred to stay within the Free states. This was a major disadvantage as the growth in population in the north led to urbanization. This led to the formation of industries that provided good, products and employment for this population

Another disadvantage that the state of Virginia faced, was the fact that, many of the battles held during the civil war were held in its borders.

One of the reasons for this was because the capital of the confederate states Richmond was in Virginia. The effect of having the battles held in the state are that while the northern states were busy forming industries to supply ammunition, clothes, and guns to the union soldiers.

The same opportunity was not afforded to the state of Virginia, which was always on the back foot trying to defend its capital from the union soldiers as stated by Salmon (15).The state of Virginia had also lost a lot of its manpower during the war. A large number of confederate soldiers got killed during the war. These men would have proved be a vital source of labor after the war that the state of Virginia needed.

The banks in Virginia had also been closed as the currency that was used by the confederate states was not recognized by the union states. The war had also destroyed the infrastructure within the state of Virginia. The railroads, crops, bridges, and plantations had been destroyed.

The union assisted the state of Virginia with the freedmen's bureau. It was a way to resettle the former soldiers of the confederation and the freed slaves. It offered them land from which they could earn a living. It also offered basics such as food, built schools and medical care for the freedmen as Cimbala and Miller explain (96).

The state of Virginia chose the sharecropping mode of cultivation where the freed slaves worked on a piece of land and shared the produce of the crops with the land owners. The changes of the laws with the passing of the "Jim Crow" laws in Virginia saw the reemergence of segregation. During the military rule in the state all men no matter what race could vote.

Virginia did not wallow in the financial difficulties it was facing instead it expanded its railroad network. The state had learnt from the north that in order to be effective you need to have a reliable transport network to be able to expand business, industry and agriculture.

The railroad centers acted as a stimulus for the formation of factories that produced furniture and clothes. The former confederate capital Richmond now became a hub of activity as the rail networks opened up the rest of the state. Other towns to have the same effect were Norfolk, Roanoke, and Newport News.

The towns of Lynchburg, Alexandria, and Pittsburgh also experienced growth due to the railroad network. The discovery of coal in the state of Virginia also helped the state to recover and diversify from over-reliance on agricultural produce.

This was especially true for the residents who lived in the South West of Virginia. The tobacco industry also made a major rebound during reconstruction and was among the top performing industries during this period.

The republican leaders in Virginia passed laws that precluded other races as voting tests were given to African American and Native Americans at the polling booths. The tests were biased as they were structured in such a way that it was almost impossible for one to get the answer correctly.

It is important to note that the financiers of the rail network came from the north, and they were responsible for ensuring that the coal that was in the south-west of Virginia was able to reach its markets. The use of the improved rail network played a significant role in the economic recovery of the state of Virginia.

Works Cited

Cimbala, Paul and Miller, Randall. The Freedmen's Bureau and Reconstruction: Reconsiderations. New York: Fordham University Press, 1999. Print.

Davis, William and Robertson, James. Virginia at War, 1861. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky 2005. Print.

Richter, William. The A to Z of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Maryland: The Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, 2004. Print.

Salmon, John. The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide. Pittsburgh: Stack Pole Books, 2001. Print.

Wallenstein, Peter and Brown, Wyatt. Virginia's Civil War. Charlottesville: university of Virginia press 2005. Print.