After the War: A Southern Tour. May 1, 1865 to May 1, 1866

In Short

This travel narrative records the year-long journey of a Northern journalist through the defeated Southern states from May 1865 to May 1866. Traveling along the Atlantic coast and through the interior by riverboat, train, and horseback, the author examines the devastation left by war, the political and social attitudes of former Confederates, and the early struggles of emancipated slaves. The narrative tracks Northern speculators seeking quick fortunes, military officials attempting to maintain order, and Southern landowners grappling with the loss of their slave labor system. It endures as a vital historical account because it captures the crucial, chaotic first year of Reconstruction with vivid, eye-level detail, detailing economic shifts, social friction, and the complex realities of freedmen establishing their independence before policy fully hardened into historical precedent.

The Story

The account begins on May 1, 1865, mere weeks after the Confederate surrender, as the author embarks on a maritime voyage hugging the Southern coastline alongside Treasury Department officials and Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. Arriving in occupied coastal ports like Newbern, North Carolina, he finds the traditional social order inverted. Former Rebel elites return home to discover Northern sutlers and army officers occupying their homes, running their hotels, and even profiting from neglected industrial waste like buried resin. Continuing southward to North Carolina’s interior, he records severe racial violence and the total collapse of local real estate values, where vast rice and cotton plantations are placed on the market at fraction-of-the-cost prices.

Moving into South Carolina and Georgia, the narrative highlights the dramatic arrival of emancipation. On the Sea Islands, freed slaves establish self-governing communities like Mitchelville, creating their own courts and local leadership. In Beaufort and Savannah, former slaves adapt traditional spirituals to praise federal figures like General Rufus Saxton and Chief Justice Chase, viewing them as guardians of their newfound liberty. Simultaneously, white Southerners voice intense resentment toward integrated schooling and racial equality, clinging desperately to pre-war social hierarchies even as they accept the legal death of slavery.

Traveling further south through Florida to Pensacola and Mobile, Alabama, the journey reveals a region oscillating between physical destruction and rapid commercial speculation. In New Orleans, the author observes wealthy sugar planters making huge profits by hiring freedmen under paid labor systems, proving to skeptical neighbors that free labor can succeed economically. Here he meets military commander Major General Philip Sheridan, who expresses deep suspicion regarding lingering Confederate resistance along the Texas and Mexican borders.

In late autumn 1865 and early spring 1866, the author journeys inland through Virginia, East Tennessee, Georgia, and along the Mississippi River, observing the political atmospheric shift. In East Tennessee, Unionist mountain residents demonstrate intense hostility toward former Rebels but remain equally hostile toward black suffrage. Across the deep South, former Confederate officers attempt to rebuild their personal fortunes through speculative ventures, such as massive oil leases in Alabama, while rural post offices struggle to function because local white men refuse to take the federal ironclad loyalty oath.

The narrative culminates in Washington, D.C., as the Thirty-ninth Congress convenes to strip President Andrew Johnson of sole control over Reconstruction, barring Southern representatives from taking their seats. Returning to the cotton fields of the Mississippi Valley near Natchez for a final, granular study of plantation life, the author details how Northern lessees and former slaves navigate contract labor, plantation stores, and personal disputes. The journey closes with a clear analytical conclusion: while the South offers massive economic returns for Northern capital, true stability remains impossible until federal authority guarantees physical security and legal rights throughout the region.

How It Unfolds

The coastal voyage begins Starting in May 1865, the author travels by steamer along the Atlantic seaboard to observe coastal cities adjusting to federal control. In places like Newbern and Wilmington, Northern businessmen occupy abandoned buildings and exploit neglected natural resources to make fortunes.

Witnessing early freedom Arriving in South Carolina and Georgia, the author observes newly freed slaves setting up schools, organizing local governance, and adapting religious songs to honor federal patrons. Meanwhile, defeated plantation owners appeal to military commanders against integrating public spaces and classrooms.

Observing military governance In New Orleans, the author meets key Union commanders like General Sheridan and visits wealthy loyalists who demonstrate that sugar plantations can operate profitably using paid freed labor. Military courts continue to handle violent crimes and property disputes across the Gulf coast.

Inland devastation and resistance Moving into the interior of East Tennessee and Virginia during the autumn, the author encounters widespread destruction, economic paralysis, and deep-seated racial hostility among poor whites. Former Confederates refuse to take federal loyalty oaths, leaving postal systems and civic offices completely unstaffed.

Congress asserts its authority In December 1865, the narrative shifts briefly to Washington, D.C., where Congress officially refuses to seat Southern representatives, taking control of the Reconstruction policy away from the President. Public galleries overflow as the clerk calls the roll, excluding late insurgent states.

Spring on the Mississippi The author finishes his tour studying cotton plantations around Natchez, observing the day-to-day operations of hired freedmen, overseers, and Northern lessees. The narrative ends by assessing the vast investment potential of the South alongside the absolute necessity for federal security guarantees.

The People

Whitelaw Reid The observant Northern journalist and narrator who travels across the defeated South to evaluate its economic potential, social stability, and racial dynamics. He wants an accurate assessment of post-war conditions, continually weighing local prejudices against actual economic performance, and ultimately advocates for secure capital investment alongside fair treatment for freedmen.

General Rufus Saxton A dedicated West Point officer put in charge of superintending the freedmen in South Carolina. Driven by a strict sense of military duty rather than personal ambition, he works tirelessly to secure land, food, and civil protection for former slaves, earning their immense gratitude despite facing slights and contempt from fellow army officers.

Mr. May A young, wealthy Louisiana planter and United States Treasurer in New Orleans who took the oath of allegiance early. Seeking to rebuild his fortune after the war, he successfully operates his sugar and cotton plantations using paid freed labor, demonstrating enormous profits while proving to his skeptical neighbors that emancipation is commercially viable.

Major General Philip Sheridan The energetic commander of the Gulf Department stationed in New Orleans. Focused on securing the region and suppressing lingering rebellions, he remains deeply suspicious of unrepentant Confederate forces near the Mexican border and approaches Southern military Reconstruction with intense, unyielding resolve.

Gawky Sam A young freed boy in the organized black town of Mitchelville whose theft of a laying hen triggers a sprawling legal debate among local negro councilmen. His actions highlight the humorous yet earnest efforts of newly liberated citizens to establish their own system of civil justice and property laws.

In Its Own Voice

"The hotel keeper, for example, has returned. He finds here a Yankee, who, seeing the house deserted when we occupied the city, and being told by the officers that they wanted a hotel, determined to keep it."

After the Union army occupied Newbern, Northern entrepreneurs promptly stepped into abandoned commercial properties, generating massive personal fortunes while the original Southern owners were away fighting for the Confederacy.

"‘Me-is-ta-ah Che-a-ase a sittin’ on de tree ob life, Me-is-ta-ah Che-a-ase a sittin’ on de tree ob life, Roll, Jordan, roll.’"

During a reception on the Sea Islands, freed slaves incorporated visiting Northern leaders into their traditional spirituals, swapping out the names of former masters for federal figures whom they viewed as their liberators.

"‘I own these lands, and, if the niggers can be made to work, they’ll support me; but there’s nothing else that I know anything about, except managing a plantation.’"

A defeated Southern landowner expresses the pervasive helplessness and stubborn attitude of the former slaveholding class, who refused to consider manual labor, trades, or land sales to adapt to the new economic reality.

What It's Really About

At its core, the book examines the radical economic and social transformation of a society built entirely on human bondage. It interrogates whether a free-market system can successfully replace plantation slavery in a region where former masters refuse to relinquish aristocratic privilege and former slaves seek complete autonomy. The text exposes the glaring contradiction between national military victory and local social reality: while the Confederacy was crushed on the battlefield, the deep-seated racial animosity and economic habits of the antebellum South remained largely intact.

Additionally, the work probes the capabilities of freed slaves when granted basic civil rights, using direct observation to dismantle Southern claims about black dependency. It serves as an argument for Northern capital and federal authority, asserting that economic prosperity in the South depends entirely on rule of law, basic education, and fair wages. Underneath the daily travel observations lies a pressing political question: will the federal government protect the fragile gains of freedom, or will it allow former insurgents to reestablish racial dominance under new legal disguises?

Why Read It Today

Modern readers interested in the Civil War and its immediate aftermath will find this account exceptionally valuable for its vivid, unfiltered immediacy. Written on the ground before the political narrative of Reconstruction fully solidified, the book offers an extraordinary primary-source snapshot of a nation in total transition. It reads like high-level investigative reporting, pairing sharp economic analysis with entertaining, character-driven vignettes of daily life.

The primary difficulty for contemporary readers lies in the unvarnished 19th-century language and period attitudes preserved throughout the text. The author records offensive racial slurs, patronizing descriptions, and heavy regional dialects verbatim. Furthermore, the sheer density of detail—itemized plantation accounting ledgers, local political gossip, and detailed geographic descriptions—requires steady patience.

Despite these hurdles, the narrative stays with you because it captures history in the making with unflinching clarity. It forces readers to confront the sheer complexity of rebuilding a society, showing that the end of military combat was merely the beginning of a far longer, unresolved struggle over racial equality, economic justice, and national identity.

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