No Civil War in the South, what happens to the cities?

The Civil War destroyed most of the former major cities of the South, making most never able to recover. For example Vicksburg was the one of the most important port cities in the lower Mississippi Valley. After the Civil War, It stayed a port, but nowadays it is a quiet city in Mississippi. So assuming no Civil War, what is the effect on the population of cities?
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
The Civil War destroyed most of the former major cities of the South, making most never able to recover. For example Vicksburg was the one of the most important port cities in the lower Mississippi Valley. After the Civil War, It stayed a port, but nowadays it is a quiet city in Mississippi. So assuming no Civil War, what is the effect on the population of cities?

I don't think the war permanently destroyed any Southern city in the way you describe. Richmond, Atlanta, and Columbus were the only major cities which were outright burned to the ground, and all recovered relatively quickly after the war. Vicksburg is no longer a major port mostly because the Mississippi River changed course after a flood in the 1870s, not because of what happened during the war.
 
Wow, Washington was a virtually massive city population-wise back then. By the standards of Southern areas, though I suppose it had a far larger areas within it's city limits than other places.
 
*What* former major cities? Look at https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab09.txt Except for New Orleans, there were no Confederate cities with a population of more than about 40,000 in 1860. And New Orleans, captured early in the war and spared extensive destruction, actually gained population from 1860 to 1870. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans

New Orleans saw a decline in trade after the civil war, but there were many other factors that led to it being screwed in the long run while the 'Big Cities of the North™' grew and prospered much faster.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
New Orleans saw a decline in trade after the civil war, but there were many other factors that led to it being screwed in the long run while the 'Big Cities of the North™' grew and prospered much faster.

The war actually contributed to this. Until July of 1863, the Mississippi River was closed to Union shipping from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico, and even after that it was hazardous as the rebels had a nasty habit of sending units to the river banks on both sides to shoot up Union shipping. As a result, the agricultural produce of the Midwest had to be sent via railroad to the great port cities on the East Coast. Turns out that this was not nearly so hard or expensive as had been feared, so a lot of produce kept moving this way even after the river was reopened to traffic.
 
Well, there are a few Virginian details that may be pertinent.

Richmond not only suffered for having been burned to the ground, but it was a center of industry prior to the war, and never quite recovered. Plus, the loss of West Virginia denied Richmond and other Virginian cities the coal reserves that could fuel it to be another Pennsylvania or New York. Spare Richmond and Virginia the Civil War, and with the abolition of slavery, Virginia will become as much a part of the Mid Atlantic states as Delaware and Maryland.

Another lesser used detail in AH, and one of the more fascinating missed opportunities is a town by the name of Big Stone Gap here in Virginia, which has massive iron and coal deposits in the vicinity. Prior to the Civil War, there were plans by several Virginian investors to make it into the "Pittsburgh of the South." Then the Civil War came along, Jeff Davis burns down Richmond, and they used that money to rebuild Richmond instead. So you could see a major industrial city spring up in Big Stone Gap, likely with an eventual name change, ala Big Lick into Roanoke.
 
Well, there are a few Virginian details that may be pertinent.

Richmond not only suffered for having been burned to the ground, but it was a center of industry prior to the war, and never quite recovered. Plus, the loss of West Virginia denied Richmond and other Virginian cities the coal reserves that could fuel it to be another Pennsylvania or New York. Spare Richmond and Virginia the Civil War, and with the abolition of slavery, Virginia will become as much a part of the Mid Atlantic states as Delaware and Maryland.
WI slavery not abolished - would Richmond continue developing?
 
WI slavery not abolished - would Richmond continue developing?

Doubtful. The slaver elites were always VERY anti industry, because factory owners would rival the wealth of the plantation owners, thus allowing someone other than the planters political influence.

There is a reason the CSA nationalized most industry and placed heavy restrictions and regulations on most of the rest. Anything that threatens the iron grip the plantation owners had on power, such as industry, would be resisted.

Getting rid of slavery would be important to industrialize just because its a major blow to those elites.
 
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