The few Northern women felt the ostracism more keenly than did the men.

Benjamin C.Truman, an agent of President Johnson, thus summed up the situation: "There is a prevalent disposition not to associate too freely with Northern men or to receive them into the circles of society; but it is far from unsurmountable.

Over Southern society, as over every other, woman reigns supreme, and they are more embittered against those whom they deem the authors of all their calamities than are their brothers, sons, and husbands." But, of the thousands of Northern men who overcame the reluctance of the Southerners to social intercourse, little was heard.
Many a Southern planter secured a Northern partner or sold him half his plantation to get money to run the other half.

For the irritations of 1865, each party must take its share of responsibility.
Had the South assisted in a skillful and adequate publicity, much disastrous misunderstanding might have been avoided.

The North knew as little of the South as the South did of the North, but the North was eager for news.