and in large tracts of once cultivated land stripped of every vestige of fencing.

The roads, long neglected, are in disorder, and having in many places become impassable, new tracks have been made through the woods and fields without much respect to boundaries." Similar conditions existed wherever the armies had passed, and not in the country districts alone.

Many of the cities, such as Richmond, Charleston, Columbia, Jackson, Atlanta, and Mobile had suffered from fire or bombardment.
There were few stocks of merchandise in the South when the war ended, and Northern creditors had lost so heavily through the failure of Southern merchants that they were cautious about extending credit again.
Long before 1865 all coin had been sent out in contraband trade through the blockade.

That there was a great need of supplies from the outside world is shown by the following statement of General Boynton: "Window-glass has given way to thin boards, in railway coaches and in the cities.

Furniture is marred and broken, and none has been replaced for four years.