Why Were The Radical Republicans Radical?

[Thomas Thorne]

I must disagree with Liz about her idea of the military being "the chief way" out of the Southern economy and the only significant means of upward social mobility prior to the Civil War. A comparison to the rapidly industrializing North blinds us to the much more modest but real progress the South was making in industrialization particularly in railroads which I just discovered to my surprise in a recent book about Civil War railroads. NB I will post the title tomorrow.

The prewar military establishment was too small to generate substantial numbers of officers. We read of West Point graduating classes of future Civil War generals consisting of 40-60+ persons. There is no doubt that Southern culture had a greater affinity to the martial virtues associated with military life than did the North. Officers like Winfield Scott displayed favoritism toward Southern officers in the prewar army. I believe the number of talented middle aged and younger Southern officers is a huge factor in explaining why the Confederacy lasted longer than a purely quantitative analysis might suppose. I do not believe a Union victory was inevitable.
Tom