Download THE TWO RIVALS: NORTH AND SOUTH - tpc

THE UNION VERSUS THE CONFEDERACY
Advantages enjoyed by the North at the start of the war
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It had a larger population: 18.5 million (not including the 3 million people living in the
border states) versus 8.8 million in the South (5.3 million free and 3.5 million enslaved).
It had better agricultural resources (with the exception of the two cash crops: cotton and
tobacco, which were useless to the south as long as the naval blockade was maintained).
It had more industry: five times the number of factories and ten times the industrial
workforce and value of production.
It had double the railway mileage.
It had double the gold reserves.
It had most of the arms factories.
It had many more warships than the South, and most of the naval commanders.
Northern soldiers were more accustomed to taking orders, having mostly worked in
factories, where discipline was necessary.
Many people in the South (mainly those from Greater Appalachia) regarded secession as
treason, so refused to support the rebel cause. Tennessee, for example, saw more of its
men join the Union Army than the Confederate, even though it was a Confederate state.
The Union had the better political leader – Abraham Lincoln.
It had recognition from the rest of the world as the legitimate government of America.
It had moral right on its side, once Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation (1862).
Advantages enjoyed by the South at the start of the war
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It had better officers (Lee and Jackson, in particular), since the army was a favoured
profession in the South. Seven of the nation’s eight major military academies were in the
South.
It had an easier military task. To win the war, all it had to do was defend its territories.
The North, on the other hand, had to conquer the South in order to win.
Its eastern borders were easy to defend (protected for much of their length by the
Appalachian Mountains).
The South had a reasonable chance of receiving diplomatic recognition from Britain
(since Britain needed cotton for its textile mills), thereby allowing it to break the Union
naval blockade.
Before they joined the army, Southerners were usually well trained in using weapons,
riding horses and living ‘rough’.
Because the Civil War was mostly fought in the Southern states, the Confederates were
more familiar with the terrain and better able to handle the local conditions. The civilian
population was also more willing to help them.