Union and Confederacy in the American Civil War

Rise of the Union and the Fall of the Confederacy

The eve of the Civil War carried suspense because things were not as they seemed and things did not go as planned. The Union had the ultimate advantage prior to the outbreak of the war because the war would be fought mainly on southern soil, according to Davidson. Families and the general business of life would not be hampered by fighting, as it would be in the south. The Union's primary concern was ensuring they had enough economic resources, which they would have through taxes, which paid for 21% of the Union's expense and only one percent of the Confederacy's expense. (Davidson 435) This advantage was for the Union territory more than Union soldiers but it proved to be most helpful as the war ravaged the South from the inside out. The Confederates, on the other hand, had an upper hand because they were accustomed to living off the land. One military advantage the Confederates had revolved around farming and agriculture. Unlike the North, who was more industrial, the south consisted of many families and communities that survived on farms. Maintaining these farms was not problem because of the slave population. Some slaves even fought in the war. These advantages helped the South endure through much of the war. The Confederates also had the advantage of fighting a defensive war, which meant they had to be conquered. Ultimately, this would mean that the Union would have to invade their territory, outmaneuver them and defeat them. Fighting defensively meant fighting on familiar soil, another advantage that came in handy while fighting. The Confederates also possessed a strong fighting mentality, or will. They knew how to fight. While the North outnumbered the South with soldiers, the Southern soldiers were more experienced. The Confederate army also had a slew of distinguished generals with previous experience.

Time revealed disabling disadvantages for the South. Confederate forces were at a disadvantage in the war with regard to "industrial capacity, natural resources, and labor" (Norton 420). The South lagged behind the north as far as progressive innovation. Prior to the war, the South was not motivated to develop any natural resources necessary for war. This includes coal and iron. As a result, iron was terribly limited when the war broke out and the Confederacy had to make appeals for metal. The South had very few factories and, as a result, very few ways to produce materials needed to fight. In contrast, the North controlled about 90% of the Union's manufacturing ability. The North also had more food than the South. This may seem a difficult concept to imagine, but the major crop in the south was cotton and food supplies did not last long. While farmers did attempt to grow grain, they could never keep up with the demand. Food became a need over ammunition and arms for the simple fact of survival.

One of the South's most debilitating disadvantages was their inability to modernize. They did not choose to progress with the rest of the country because their economy was working well with the utilization of slaves. In Maryland, the lucrative crop was cotton, and it was "more suited to the use of slave labor" (Sutherland 26) but after the invention of the cotton gin, the South "regarded slavery as an economic necessity" (27). Slavery was a business built on greed and the South's desperate clinging to this trade killed them. Slave owners did not want to give up their labor force because without them, they could do little else. All profits went to slave owners so the South "could feed itself, but do little else" (29). The South turned a blind eye to the innovations of the industrial revolution because of selfishness. A few wealthy landowners held control of large portions of the local economy. The South was supported by a working population in the field. It had to purchase most manufactured goods from the North. The effects of the war on the South were indescribable and ironic, according to Davidson, because the "demands of war fundamentally transformed the southern economy, society and government" (Davidson 432). The failing economy and worsening conditions drove many slaves to move from the South. Supplies of "labor, already inadequate, shrank further as men were called into military service" (Olegario). Once things started going downhill, it was difficult to regain strength. While the Southern army was losing energy, the Northern army was gaining energy. They did not have to problems of supply shortages. Once the Union began to figure out how to fight the war, things begin to work in their favor. After the Battle of Bull Run, they fought more forcefully. They used blockades on southern ports to hinder even more a dilapidating flow of supplies. In addition, they took command of the Mississippi River. Preventing European nations from acknowledging the Confederacy was another blow. To avoid failure, the Confederates realized they must centralize their power. Because they were short on labor and natural resources, they felt the agony of losing much quicker than the North. Discontent was another aspect of the war that was unforeseeable and unpreventable considering the circumstances. The emotional toll of the war spread to all areas of the south, not just soldiers and, as a result, many deserted. Once the South began to crumble from the inside, it would never be able to repair itself to its former strength.