People of Frederisksburg

The People of Fredericksburg.          A correspondent of the New York Journal of Commerce, who accompanied the recent tobacco expedition to Fredericksburg, thus speaks of the people and their feeling about the war:

“The people in the town were all women or old men and boys, and appeared to be very destitute. I saw many women dressed in clothes made of cotton duck tents. The men wore garments which looked like faded revolutionary relics. A few people were well-dressed, but most bore marks of deep poverty. All the men with whom I conversed were reconstructionists and all the people seemed glad to see us, and hoped we would remain. One gentleman who came from Richmond the day before, who was said to be a man of wealth and influence, told us that he had good reason to believe that the war would end in four weeks by the submission of the rebel leaders. All were agreed that this campaign would finish up the Confederacy, the most secessionists only claiming that the South had vindicated their pluck and their endurance.” 

                                                                               (Liberator, March 31, 1865,pg 3)