Essay

Primary Sources

Farms Census Data (1860)

List of Urban Areas (1860)

Manufacturing Census Data (1860)

Cotton and Slaves Data (1860)

Editorials (1860-1861)

Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources
Secondary Sources

About the Author

Bruce Chadwick, a former journalist, is a historian, lecturer, and author of 28 books on various topics including the Civil War.

Causing the Civil War

List of Urban Areas (1860)

Annotation

This list of the nation's largest cities on the eve of the Civil War, drawn from the 1860 Federal Census, shows that the South was not entirely rural. It was home to some of the country's most populous places, such as New Orleans, Louisiana; Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Richmond, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; and Mobile, Alabama.