What did the South do with its cotton in the early stages of the Civil War?
1. It placed all its cotton in warehouses to sell later
2. It sold all its cotton to get money to fight the war
3. It burned its cotton to keep the North from getting it
4. It left the cotton in the fields because there was no one to pick it
Option 3 is the most accurate answer. During the early stages of the Civil War, the South adopted a strategy known as the "Cotton Diplomacy." This involved burning and destroying large quantities of cotton to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Union forces. By doing so, the South believed it could both deny the North a valuable economic resource and force foreign powers, particularly Britain and France, to come to its aid.
