But the elite planter class, the guys most responsible for the rebellion, fattened their waistlines and bank accounts while the poor soldiers doing the fighting for them starved.From what I've read the elite planter class were very much in the lead of the fight. Certainly much more so than the equivalent class turned out in the North to fight for the Union.
And it is inaccurate to say that the planter class got rich during the war. Most lost pretty much everything except perhaps their land, which some of them were able to use to slowly rebuild their wealth.
With the exception of a few speculators and blockade runners, hardly anybody got rich off the war in the South. Unlike the North, where there was a true carnival of excess and corruption.
From what I've read the elite planter class were very much in the lead of the fight. Certainly much more so than the equivalent class turned out in the North to fight for the Union. I disagree. The Confederate conscription law even exempted people who owned a certain number of slaves.
And it is inaccurate to say that the planter class got rich during the war. Most lost pretty much everything except perhaps their land, which some of them were able to use to slowly rebuild their wealth.\
A lot of them were doing quite nicely until the rebellion failed. Instead of using their slave labor to feed the poor soldiers and their families, too many of them lived down to the Confederate code of greed and made a killing off high cotton prices.
A book I recommend is Bitterly Divided by David Williams which exposes the myth of the united Confederate home front.
