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Biggest Cities in the Confederate States in 1860

Can you name the 15 largest cities in the Confederate States in the year 1860, a year before the start of the U.S. Civil War?
Answer marked in gold is in a state that separated from the Confederacy
Quiz by Aaron197
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Last updated: May 21, 2023
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First submittedSeptember 19, 2019
Times taken20,766
Average score46.7%
Rating4.39
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1860
City
Current
168,675
New Orleans
369,749
40,522
Charleston
153,672
37,910
Richmond
229,395
29,258
Mobile
183,289
22,529
Memphis
621,056
22,292
Savannah
148,004
18,266
Petersburg, VA
33,394
16,988
Nashville
683,622
1860
City
Current
14,620
Norfolk
232,995
14,083
Wheeling
26,391
12,652
Alexandria, VA
155,525
12,493
Augusta, GA
202,096
9,621
Columbus, GA
202,616
9,554
Atlanta
499,127
9,552
Wilmington, NC
120,324
21 Comments
+12
Level 71
Oct 24, 2019
I think saying that Alexandria was in a state that separated from the confederacy is misleading. While it was under Union occupation throughout the war, it was still technically part of Virginia. I think saying that it was under Union occupation would be a more accurate disclaimer.
+9
Level 71
Oct 24, 2019
However, the separated from the Confederacy issue would apply to Wheeling, WV.
+3
Level ∞
Oct 24, 2019
Fixed
+2
Level 89
Oct 24, 2019
2 years into the war for Wheeling.
+18
Level 72
Oct 24, 2019
It is remarkable how small most of these cities were. What we would qualify as a small or medium size town in a rural area today qualified as a major city for the CSA.
+11
Level 87
Oct 24, 2019
Keep in mind the population of the entire CSA was about 9 million, roughly the same as the current population of New Jersey.
+9
Level 71
Dec 10, 2019
And look at the difference between 1860 and current for places like Memphis and Atlanta. There was clearly some major population growth in those places some time between then and now.
+5
Level 81
May 26, 2023
And does that include enslaved people in whole or as 3/5 of a person? If it includes the enslaved population, then the number of people who were supportive of the secession and CSA was even less in those "cities". The CSA never had a chance of winning the war. How foolhardy.
+1
Level 69
May 26, 2023
Who asked?
+4
Level 61
May 26, 2023
Me.
+2
Level 58
May 26, 2023
The confederacy wasn't very popular with many white southerners. Many who were even pro-slavery thought secession was too much. They didn't get the majority vote in many states
+1
Level 62
Mar 13, 2024
Slaves were counted as full people in the census of each city. It's only when apportioning delegates in the House of Representatives that the 3/5 clause applied so as to give southern states slightly less influence in Congress.
+3
Level 71
May 26, 2023
Also, I didn't realize this the last time I took this quiz, but absolutely no cities from Texas or Florida here. By modern standards, that's crazy to think about.
+11
Level 87
Oct 25, 2019
Kind of surprised that the subsequent capital, Montgomery, didn't even make it into the top 15.
+13
Level 56
Dec 12, 2019
I think most people know that the North was more populous and more urban than the South, but quizzes like this really drive the point home -- BOTH the largest and second largest cities in the Union (NYC and Philly respectively) were significantly larger than all ten cities in this quiz combined! The third largest, Brooklyn (which didn't merge with NYC until 1892) was still 100k bigger than New Orleans.
+1
Level 89
Jul 5, 2021
Less than twice as big actually.
+3
Level 71
May 6, 2020
Great quiz! These places were tiny!
+5
Level 76
Oct 2, 2020
Why does everyone think these places are so small?

The Confederacy made up only about 25% of the land area of the US at the time, yet it accounts for more than 29% of the population.

+18
Level 73
Mar 22, 2021
Well that's not as profound as you make it seem like because obviously the west was very sparsely populated at the time.
+5
Level 81
Aug 4, 2021
yeah... New York City was 0.0001% of the total area of the country but had around 3% of the entire population, so, big deal.
+1
Level 29
Jan 24, 2023
The North was more than half the population yet a quarter of the size