"Do you believe, as I am beginning to believe, that the war in the West was prolonged"
David,
I can agree with that in some ways. I think it could have ended a year earlier, but I don't think it had anything to do with cotton. I think it had to do with who was in command. Once Lincoln put Grant in charge and he turned the western army over to Sherman, that was really the beginning of the end for the rebellion. Grant and Sherman put the plan they used together in Cincinatti in December of 63 and Lincoln "signed off on it" and then the pressure that Sherman put on Johnston and later Hood plus the pressure that Grant was able to put on Lee lead to the final collapse in the south. That could have happened in the summer of 64. As far as the cotton market was concerned, the north had plenty and in the end, England and France had all they needed. The big mistake in the cotton market was made by the rebel goverment with their cotton boycott in my opinion. Took England a while but they were able to develop both the Indian region and the African region that also included Egypt and the need for southern cotton never did recoved did it? I am not sure about that but I think it did not recover.
FC