Manpower, North and South, in 1860

MANPOWER, NORTH AND SOUTH, IN I860 Thomas Schoonover most crvTL war writers agree with the statement: "The Civil War is a modern war." Nevertheless, by far the great bulk of writing on this conflict is romantic, political, or military. But the wars of Caesar, Hannibal, or Gustavus Adolphus can and are also described in terms of romance, politics, and militarism. What then distinguishes "modern war" from "old war"? Economics is the key. This is not the economics of logistics and supply, for these problems faced Hannibal as well as Sherman or Lee, but the economic strength and structure of the state. Among the many factors of economic war, one of the most important is manpower, not only manpower in terms of trigger pullers, but, more important, in terms of production, manufacturing, commerce, and transportation. Agreement over the potential manpower resources of North and South in 1860 does not exist always. For example, six noted historians have presented the following figures for 1860 populations: Ratio of SouthNorthSouth to North Hosmer19,000,00023,000,0001:2.56 Beard29,000,00022,000,0001:2.44 Randall39,000,00022,000,0001:2.44 Ropes*9,000,00022,000,0001:2.44 Hicks*9,500,00022,000,0001:2.32 Adams610,000,00021,000,0001:2.10 Onepossibly could arrive at the closest approximation by studying the 1860 Census. Mr. Schoonover is a graduate student in history at the University of Minnesota . He is currently working on a study of cavalry in the Civil War. 1 James K. Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms, 1861-1863 (Boston, 1901 ), pp. 5-6. 2 Charles and Mary Beard, The Making of American Civilization ( New York, 1945), pp. 469-470. 3 J. G. Randall, The Civil War and Reconstruction (Boston, 1953), p. 259. * John C. Ropes, Story of the Civil War ( New York, 1895 ), I, p. 98. 5 John D. Hicks, The Federal Union (Cambridge, 1952), p. 561. ß James T. Adams, America's Tragedy ( New York, 1935 ), p. 199. 170 Two categories will herewith be examined: total manpower (or manpower ) and military manpower. The age divisions included in the manpowerfigurewill befrom 10 to under 60in thel860 Census (11 to under 61 in 1861 or 15 to under 65 in 1865). For military manpower, the divisions from 15 to under 50 ( 16 to under 51 in 1861 or 20 to under 55 in 1865) will be used. Unless otherwise designated, all ages and age divisions are as of I860.7 THE CONFEDERACY The white population of the eleven seceding states plus the territory of New Mexico was 5,174,618. Of this number 2,661,859 were males. From this figure the Confederacy could draw on a manpower of 1,750,133 and a militarymanpower of 1,278,002.8 The Confederacyhad a slave population of 3,500,097 in the eleven states (New Mexico reported no slaves in 1860). There were 1,755,354 males slaves, including 1,145,617 in the manpower category. If the Confederacy had granted freedom to the slaves, 830,906 men would have been added to the military manpower .8 Free Negroes were, bice slaves, often impressed to do labor on forts and fortifications. There were 61,343 males out of a total of 130,025 free Negroes in the Confederacy. They furnished 39,174 men to themanpowertotaland, ifallowed, would havebeen ableto furnish 27,557 men to the military manpower total.10 If the Confederacy had existed in 1860 and had occupied the eleven states and New Mexico, itwould havehad a totalpopulation of 8,804,740 people. A male population of 4,478,556 would have given a manpower strength of 2,934,924. Yet the potential military manpower would have been only 1,289,002 because 858,463 free and slave Negroes were ineligible to serve. the union Out of a white population of 21,747,920 in 24 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia, the Union had 11,149,539 males. There were 7,570,021 in the manpower group and 5,711,248 in the military manpower group.11 The North had a slave population of 453,643, which included 227,265 7 As the Population of the United...