re: Had the South won would New Orleans be the largest/most populated city in the US?

New Orleans has always had a problem with corruption.

Think of the 1884 World's Fair. The U.S. government selected New Orleans as a host site because of its wealthy cotton commerce and prosperous trade with South and Central America. It was also a huge peace offering to reunite the country by priming one of the South's major cities. The feds wrote a big fat check for New Orleans, as did the state.

The city blew the money in no time, and had to beg for seconds, which it got, to make it work.

The fair still ended in a financial loss, and the treasurer in charge of the whole thing was found to have pocketed huge sums of cash, and fled the country.

New Orleans was never a good steward of U.S. law, policy, and regulation, and probably never will be, to its own demise.