Description
Encyclopedia article about Georgia in 1860. The state, uniquely situated among southern states on the eve of the Civil War (1861-65), played a vital part in the formation of the Confederacy. A geographic lynchpin that linked Atlantic seaboard and Deep South states, the "Empire State" was the second-largest state in area east of the Mississippi River (Virginia was larger until West Virginia broke away in 1861), and the second-largest Deep South state (only Texas was larger). In population, slave and free, Georgia was the largest in the Deep South. Both geographically and demographically, Georgia encompassed as much diversity as any other Confederate state, and these factors had an important impact on how the state experienced the war years and what it contributed to the Southern war effort.
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![[Two unidentified Border Ruffians with swords]](https://d2l9jrtx1kk04i.cloudfront.net/eafc1868970720b3bc63ac26e1501f23a1850c9a.png "[Two unidentified Border Ruffians with swords]")
