It was months before courthouses, state capitols, school and college buildings were again made available for normal uses.

The military school buildings had been destroyed by the Federal forces.

Among the schools which suffered were the Virginia Military Institute, the University of Alabama, the Louisiana State Seminary, and many smaller institutions.

Nearly all these had been used in some way for war purposes and were therefore subject to destruction or confiscation.
The farmers and planters found themselves "land poor." The soil remained, but there was a prevalent lack of labor, of agricultural equipment, of farm stock, of seeds, and of money with which to make good the deficiency.

As a result, a man with hundreds of acres might be as poor as a Negro refugee.