08 What were the populations of the states at the outbreak of the war? (U.S. Civil War: The beginning)
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This article is from the U.S. Civil War FAQ, by Justin M. Sanders jsanders@jaguar1.usouthal.edu with numerous contributions by others.
08 What were the populations of the states at the outbreak of the war? (U.S. Civil War: The beginning)
The following statistics are from J.C.G. Kennedy, Supt. of Census,
_Population of the United States in 1860_ (Washington, G.P.O., 1864)
State White Free Colored Slave Total[1] Military[2]
AL 526,271 2,690 435,080 964,201 99,967
AR 324,143 144 111,115 435,450 65,231
CA 323,177 4,086 0 379,994 169,975
CT 451,504 8,627 0 460,147 94,411
DE 90,589 19,829 1,798 112,216 18,273
FL 77,747 932 61,745 140,424 15,739
GA 591,550 3,500 462,198 1,057,286 111,005
IL 1,704,291 7,628 0 1,711,951 375,026
IN 1,338,710 11,428 0 1,350,428 265,295
IA 673,779 1,069 0 674,913 139,316
[3] KS 106,390 625 2 107,206 27,976
KY 919,484 10,684 225,483 1,155,684 180,589
LA 357,456 18,647 331,726 708,002 83,456
ME 626,947 1,327 0 628,279 122,238
MD 515,918 83,942 87,189 687,049 102,715
MA 1,221,432 9,602 0 1,231,066 258,419
MI 736,142 6,799 0 749,113 164,007
MN 169,395 259 0 172,023 41,226
MS 353,899 773 436,631 791,305 70,295
MO 1,063,489 3,572 114,931 1,182,012 232,781
NH 325,579 494 0 326,073 63,610
[4] NJ 646,699 25,318 18 672,035 132,219
NY 3,831,590 49,005 0 3,880,735 796,881
NC 629,942 30,463 331,059 992,622 115,369
OH 2,302,808 36,673 0 2,339,511 459,534
OR 52,160 128 0 52,465 15,781
PA 2,849,259 56,949 0 2,906,215 555,172
RI 170,649 3,952 0 174,620 35,502
SC 291,300 9,914 402,406 703,708 55,046
TN 826,722 7,300 275,719 1,109,801 159,353
TX 420,891 355 182,566 604,215 92,145
VT 314,369 709 0 315,098 60,580
[5] VA 1,047,299 58,042 490,865 1,596,318 196,587
[5] VA1 691,424 55,269 472,494 1,219,299 129,786
[5] WV 355,875 2,773 18,371 377,019 66,801
WI 773,693 1,171 0 775,881 159,335
Territories 76,214 (all terr.)
CO 34,231 46 0 34,277
DK 2,576 0 0 4,837
NE 28,696 67 15 28,841
[6] NV 6,812 45 0 6,857
[7] NM 82,979 85 0 93,516
UT 40,125 30 29 40,273
WA 11,138 30 0 11,594
DC 60,763 11,131 3,185 75,080 12,797
The bottom line:
White Free Colored Slave Total Military
Union* 21,475,373 355,310 432,650 22,339,989 4,559,872
CSA 5,447,220 132,760 3,521,110 9,103,332 1,064,193
*includes MO and KY, DC, and territories
The following statistics are from J.C.G. Kennedy, Supt. of Census,
_Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census, 1860_ (Washington, G.P.O., 1862)
and from Annie Abel, _The American Indian as Slaveholder and
Secessionist_ (1915, repr 1992: U of Nebraska Pr)
The Five Civilized Tribes
Tribe White Free Colored Slave Indian
Choctaw 802 67 2,297 18,000
Cherokee 713 17 2,504 21,000
Creek 319 277 1,651 13,550
Chickasaw 146 13 917 5,000
Seminole 8 30 0 2,267
The following statistics are from J.C.G. Kennedy, Supt. of Census,
_Agriculture in the United States in 1860_ (Washington: G.P.O., 1864)
[ratios calculated by JMS]
State Slave- Slaveholders in slaves per
holders white pop. (%) slaveholder
AL 33,730 6.4 12.9
AR 11,481 3.5 9.7
DE 587 0.65 3.1
FL 5,152 6.6 12.0
GA 41,084 6.9 11.2
KY 38,645 4.2 5.8
LA 22,033 6.1 15.0
MD 13,783 2.7 6.3
MS 30,943 8.7 14.1
MO 24,320 2.3 4.7
NC 34,658 5.5 9.6
SC 26,701 9.2 15.1
TN 36,844 4.4 7.5
TX 21,878 5.2 8.3
VA [5] 52,128 5.0 9.4
VA1 [5] 48,523 7.0 9.7
WV [5] 3,605 1.0 5.1
Total 393,967 4.9 [8] 10.0
The number of free households in the 15 slave states was 1,515,605.
Since the census generally counted only one slaveholder per household, the
number of slaveholding households will be roughly equal to the number of
slaveholders. So there were roughly 393,967 slaveholding households in
1860. Taking the ratio shows that 26% of Southern households were
slaveholding households.
Notes:
[1] Total includes other racial/ethnic groups.
[2] White males aged 18-45
[3] KS became a state in 1861; it was a territory during the Census.
[4] "Slaves" are "colored apprentices for life."
[5] VA includes the present state of WV, VA1 is just the present state of
VA, and WV is just the present state WV. The whole of VA in 1860
(i.e. VA1 plus WV) was used in later calculations.
[6] NV became a state in 1864.
[7] White includes "half-breeds."
[8] White population used was the total of the 15 states (WV included
with VA) in the table.
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