Tag: poverty

However, the Southern ideas of honour and their so-called aristocratic thinking were overblown and these ideas actually sometimes played to the South’s benefit, as the men in the South followed natural leaders and often times appointed them on their own (via popular vote). All too often, in the North, Officers were often political appointees – desk-bound Officers who hadn’t seen a battlefield in years – or ever. Or men who simply bought their way into a General’s uniform. One of the more stereotypical views of the South was the aforementioned backward, backwoodsman. Think about that for a moment. Yes – a significant portion of the Confederate Army was poor, uneducated, and illiterate. Some left-leaning historians have said  – with some accuracy – that the poor Whites of the South had more in common with the slaves – than they did with the leading families who owned most of the land and the fabulous estates like the fictional “Tara” in Gone With the Wind.