<Dl> <Dd> "Throughout the South, fences were down, weeds had overrun the fields, windows were broken, live stock had disappeared . The assessed valuation of property declined from 30 to 60 percent in the decade after 1860 . In Mobile, business was stagnant; Chattanooga and Nashville were ruined; and Atlanta's industrial sections were in ashes ." </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> "Throughout the South, fences were down, weeds had overrun the fields, windows were broken, live stock had disappeared . The assessed valuation of property declined from 30 to 60 percent in the decade after 1860 . In Mobile, business was stagnant; Chattanooga and Nashville were ruined; and Atlanta's industrial sections were in ashes ." </Dd> <P> In Charleston, a journalist in September 1865 discovered "a city of ruins, of desolation, of vacant houses, of widowed women, of rotten wharves, of deserted warehouses, of weed - wild gardens, of miles of grass - grown streets, of acres of pitiful and voiceful barrenness ." </P> <P> Reports from Confederate officials show 94,000 killed in battle and another 164,000 who died of disease, with about 194,000 wounded . The Confederate official counts are too low; perhaps another 75,000 - 100,000 Confederate soldiers died because of the war . </P>

The north and south competed for political influence in the west