Winner of the Drawing for a free copy of Forsaken Dreams is Joy Isley!! Congratulations,Joy!
Those of us who love to learn about history, often find
the Civil War in America fascinating. Not because of the cruelty and death, but
because a nation could be so torn apart on the issues of slavery and economics
that they saw the need to split into two nations and fight brother against
brother! Even more remarkable is that,
despite the animosity and hatred, history proves that the two halves became a
whole again. Surely the hand of God played a huge role in that.
But did you know that a great many Southerners fled the
South after the war? Frustrated and disillusioned, they abandoned the country
of their birth and took off for greener shores. Think about it, what would make a person do
that? What would make you do that? Let’s take a peek at the reasons
The post-Civil War South was unrecognizable.
J.S. Pike from South Carolina comments
“The banks were ruined, railroads destroyed. Their few manufactories
were desolate, their vessels swept from the seas and rivers their live-stock
was consumed. Notes, bonds, mortgages, all the money in circulation, debts,
become alike worthless. The communities were without clothes and without
food. Lawlessness, poverty fear, hunger
violence ruin and social disorder were to mark the south for many years. Northern
merchants and speculators moved into the Southern states after the war, taking
away economic opportunities from Southerners. The southern landscape was in
shambles. . .never was there greater nakedness and desolation in a civilized
community.”
In addition, almost every family mourned the loss at least
one relative in the war. Then to make matters worse, Congress declared 150,000
leading Southern citizens guilty of treason without a trial and denied them
rights of citizenship.
From the diary of confederate officer Douglas French Forrest:
“the whole country for miles around was filled with predatory bands, utterly
irresponsible, recognizing no rights of property, utterly demoralized”
Many Southerners felt that had no choice but to leave. So
they did!!
Three million people migrated from the former Confederate
States in the decades following the Civil War. Most moved to sparsely settled
lands in western North America, to the larger cities of the north, to Canada,
and to Mexico. But some went to Brazil’s golden shores!! We don’t know how many
actually went to Brazil because few had passports and they just boarded ships
and went down. However a study of
available figures, newspaper reports and data gathered from descendants makes
it safe to estimate that at least 20,000 Southerners came to Brazil Their descendants
now number over 100,000 and are spread
over the country.
Most of these “Confederados”, as they came to be called, were
professional farmers and planters. However, others included generals, admirals,
governors, senators as well as mechanics, machinists, preachers, teachers, and even
a few freed slaves.
In 1869 George Washington Keyes, formerly of Montgomery,
Alabama, from his plantation in Brazil, wrote to a friend back in America “I left
the United States because of anarchy which I expected to prevail, poverty that
was already at our doors, and the demoralization which I thought and still
believe will surely cover the land.:
Fifty years after the war Dr. Robert Norris, another
immigrant to Brazil replied to an American visitor as to why he never returned
to the U.S. “You folks made our lives so impossible in the United States that
we had to leave. We were welcome here in Brazil. This is our country now and
here we are going to stay. “
In fact, you may find it interesting that a few miles
outside the Brazilian town of Santa Barbara, at least four times a year, a
group of people gather at a small chapel and cemetery in the middle of
sugarcane fields. What’s so weird about that? They are all dressed in costumes
of 19th century America, sing old Protestant hymns and listen to a sermon.
Afterward, they share a meal of fried chicken and biscuits and gravy and dance
to the tune of Dixie. If you look real close, among the Brazilian features, you
may find some blue eyes here, some red hair and freckles there and you may even
hear English spoken instead of Portuguese.
These are the descendants of the Confederados who fled to
Brazil after the Civil War.
And this is the history upon which my new series, Escape
to Paradise is based.
Disclaimer: I am neither in favor of the North or the
South. I abhor war and slavery and am proud of my country for finally freeing
the slaves. Death and atrocities occurred on both sides of this war. However,
my series is told from a Southern perspective.
Don’t miss book 1 in my Escape to Paradise series,
Forsaken Dreams!!
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