CONFEDERATE MEXICO: REDRAWING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE U.S. CIVIL WAR

Patrick Kelly, Department of History, the University of Texas at San Antonio

During the Civil War, cotton from the Confederate Trans-Mississippi (the states west of the Mississippi) flowed into northeastern Mexico, where it then was traded for war materiel and consumer goods destined for the Confederate interior. As early as 1861 Mexican cities such as Matamoros, Piedras Negras, and Monterrey were filled with Trans-Mississippi merchants and Confederate purchasing agents trading cotton for military equipment and civilian goods. The network of trade that developed in this region during the 1860s created an expansive Confederate economy that reached south to Monterrey. The creation of this economically integrated international space spanning the Rio Grande was a crucial factor in the ability of the Confederacy to sustain its war effort until 1865.

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Last updated September 3, 2003