Post War South Summary

Summary At the conclusion of the American Civil War, the Southern states were decimated, their fields were scorched, their cities lay in ruin, the slave holding social order was dismantled, and the Southern people were forced to face an existence in a union with their former foes. These facets were not lost on the people of the North. However, there was a need for a comprehensive examination of the post war South that would reveal to Northerners the true nature of affairs in the post war South. A recent essay by ASU Master’s student Polly C. Michel brought to light the writings of John T. Trowbridge. According to Michel, Trowbridge was approached by Hartford publisher Lucius Stebbins in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. Being a prominent poet and literary figure, Stebbins commissioned Trowbridge to tour the South and report on affairs in the South. Then, these writing were reported to Northern readers. Michel, in her essay, used these writings to reveal a peculiarity of the reconstruction era. Her main …show more content…
In particular, Trowbridge stressed a need for justice where freedmen would be paid fairly on the merits of their labor in a market economy. To further improve the South and speed recovery, Michel discussed Trowbridge’s belief that former Confederate officials should not be readmitted to position of political power in the post war South. Trowbridge was adamant that the men who he believed were responsible for the carnage of the Civil War should be prevented from reaffirming the social, political, and economic order of the Antebellum South. Trowbridge, according to Michel, believed that men of principle that were loyal to the Union should be capitalized in the South’s reconstruction. Sadly, this was not to be as the bitterness of the South’s defeat and military occupation