- May 2014
In working on a local Civil War project, I have been surprised how many soldiers had been to the west coast before the War. Mostly they sailed around Cape Horn. After the war, they poured out of Maine (the soil is poor here--farming often was simply "re-arranging rocks"). This was true of all New England. The California regiments in the Civil War largely consisted of New Englanders.
Also, why is southern New England much more populous than northern New England is? Is the soil there much better?