GDG- Capital of the Confederacy

[Smith, David]

Greg-- 
 
I don't know if Atlanta ever crossed their minds.  It just wasn't a huge
place at the time - most of its growth took place after the war.  Its
population in 1860 was under 10,000, compared to Richmond's 37,000
(which swelled to 128,000 during the war).  It wasn't Georgia's state
capital at the time (it didn't become so until 1868), so it likely
lacked the kind of stately government buildings which Richmond had that
could be used to house a government. 
 
I'm sympathetic to the argument that the capital should have been more
in the interior, ever since my older brother told me dramatically in the
1960s that the "South had lost the Civil War" in 1861 when it moved the
capital to Richmond.  But apparently from other posts here on the GDG,
leaving it at Montgomery was less than ideal.  You have to remember that
the Confederates were trying to create a new government, with all the
trimmings.  A stately capital would have helped the new nation's sense
of identity, and they were trying to get recognition from abroad too.
 
David G. Smith,