Roscoe Conkling’s Wartime Cotton Speculation

New York History Spring 2015© 2015 by The New York State Historical Association 167 Roscoe Conkling’s Wartime Cotton Speculation Jeffrey D. Broxmeyer, University of Toledo The American Civil War catapulted a new generation of political leaders into positions of influence. In New York, Roscoe Conkling was chief among this crop of ambitious politicians and he remained a dominant figure well into the 1880s. In the war’s aftermath, and the eclipse...