Jack of Harts

The Civil War left the Southern States in ruins. Forty percent of their livestock, farming equipment, and mechanized industries were wiped out. Their railroads had been torn up to destroy their ability to resupply their troops. And twenty five percent of all Southern free men were dead. Some estimates are higher or lower on each of these points, but the fact is that the Civil War shattered the Southern economy. And while Texas suffered very little actual damage, their mechanized industries had been far less developed than the older States. The loss of so many of their young men to the war, and the loss of so much livestock sent to feed the Confederacy’s army, left their economy in ruins, and what money they did have was effectively useless after their government surrendered. Northern men found riches of land and equipment for the taking when they arrived with their stereotypical carpetbags full of money to buy what they wanted and bring it back into operation. The New Age of Reconstruction had begun.