Most of those termed "scalawags" during Reconstruction had been

A) owners of large southern plantations before the Civil War.
B) non-slaveholding white farmers from the southern upcountry prior to the Civil War.
C) enslaved African-Americans before emancipation.
D) Union soldiers during the war, but then they decided to stay in the South.
E) Confederate officers and Confederate government officials during the Civil War.

Scalawags

Southern white Republicans—some former Unionists—who supported Reconstruction governments.

Non-slaveholding White Farmers

describes white farmers in the southern United States before the Civil War who did not own slaves, often working their own land and living in economically marginal conditions.

Southern Upcountry

A term referring to the inland regions of the southern United States, often characterized by its geography and distinct cultural or economic identity.