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Northerners In The Reconstruction Of Hampton, Virginia, 1865-1870, Gladys A. Blair

History Theses & Dissertations

The 1870 census for Hampton, Virginia indicated that out of the 8,303 total population, 176 were foreign born and 672 came from states other than Virginia. A logical explanation for the presence of the large number of northerners is that they were carpetbaggers who had come South after the war to take advantage of the prostrate southerners. This paper analyzes the Yankee population in Hampton, Virginia in the period following the Civil War. It discusses the origins of the northerners, their reasons for coming to Hampton, their occupations, the Hampton political situation, and the impact the northerners made on the …