War to Keep the Southern States in the Union

The observances of memorial days rightfully honor those who gave their lives in war in defense of their firesides and country; yet usually missing is a full accounting of the political intrigues, avarice and hidden reasons for those lives lost and money spent. In the case of the War Between the States, if the eradication of slavery had truly been the reason for war, the wealth expended by the North for that noble objective could have purchased the freedom of every African slave five times over, and without firing a shot in 1861. There must have been another reason for war.

Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute

War to Keep the Southern States in the Union:

"An interesting clipping taken from the New York Sun in May 1893 and recently sent to the (Confederate) Veteran by Comrade L.D. Davis of El Paso, Arkansas goes into much accurate detail as to the tremendous cost to the Union of the War of the States. The writer of the article does not take up what he calls "consequential damages" of the war, such as the paralysis of certain branches of business, the suspension of trade with the Southern States, and the extinction of a large part of the country's maritime commerce, but discusses only such facts as are afforded by official records, stating that when the figures are mere estimates they are well within bounds.

The losses considered are:

1. The current war expenses paid during the four years by the United States government with money raised by taxation or borrowed upon the nation's credit.

2. The bounties paid to the volunteers by the States or from sources other than the Federal government.

3. The money raised and expended by organizations of citizens for the alleviation of the soldiers' condition.

4. The direct loss to the nation's wealth resulting from the employment in military service of citizens who otherwise would have been producers.

5. The war claims paid by act of Congress since the war for destruction of property or any other reasons.

6. The interest on the war debt to the present time, and then the expenditure on the pensions to date.

According to this statement, when the matter is conservatively estimated so that the figures arrived at represent the minimum amount of cost, the result is something only a little less than eight and one-half billion dollars. "These figures," says the clipping, "stagger the imagination." What does it really mean when we say that the money cost of the war to the North alone was that unimaginable amount?

To raise money enough to pay the bill in one lump sum, every voter in the United States at the time this article is written would (each) have to contribute more than $600. If the burden (of war debt) were to be distributed among the whole earth's population, every human being alive anywhere to-day would be taxed about $6.

"But," continues the article, "there is a simpler and more striking way at arriving at the significance of these figures. It cost the North $8,425,185,017 to keep the Southern States in the Union; while by the census of 1860 the estimated value of the eleven Confederate States, counted State by State, was $5,202,166,207.

Thus it appears that to keep these eleven States under the flag, the North paid out three billion dollars more than the entire valuation of all the property in all the seceding States."

(What The War Cost, Confederate Veteran Magazine, February 1913, page 51)