Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strategies

    Looking back on the Civil War it is important to keep in mind the strengths and weakness that the Union and the Confederacy had.  Many on both sides believed that the war would be over in a short amount of time, when Lincoln asked for volunteers their enlistments were over after 90 days.

Union Strengths:
          Heavily industrialized, majority of factories, weapons, railroads, more money, more farm land for crops, larger population, and the leadership of Abraham Lincoln.

Union Weaknesses:
            The North was divided over the war, many Northerners did not want to fight a war to keep the country together some felt that the war was unjust.  Major cities such as Philadelphia and New York experienced riots when residents protested against the draft.  The Union army suffered leadership issues  as Lincoln struggled to find a commanding general to combat the Confederacy.

Confederate Strengths:
         Southerners were fiercely loyal to the Confederacy and many were fighting to protect their families and for their future.   With a majority of the battles fought in the South, Confederate forces had an advantage of being familiar with the terrain.  Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Thomas Jackson and Patrick Clereburne were excellent military leaders that were a clear advantage for the Confederacy.

Confederate Weaknesses:
       With the Southern economy based on agriculture the South never developed a strong industrial center.  Southern troops lacked weapons and technology that was available to the Union troops. With a smaller population Confederate casualties were harder to replace than Union ones.

        General Winfield Scott was the commander of the Union army at the onset of the Civil War. Although from Virginia, Scott believed that his loyalties were with his country not his home state.  Scott devised a strategy that would defeat the Confederacy but his plan had it's critics.  Scott's plan called for an embargo around all Southern ports, cutting off the South from European markets. Unable to sell cotton and other cash crops the Southern economy would collapse and weaken the Confederate war effort.  The second part of his plan was to divide the Confederacy in half by taking control of the Mississippi River.  Once this was completed, the Union would be able to conquer a now divided South.
Scott knew that many Americans would find this plan unappealing because it would take a long time to work but he felt confident that the embargo and division of the South were essential to a Union victory.

     Facing an enemy that was greater in numbers and better equipped, the Confederate's war plans relied more on defense.  If the advance of the Union army could be halted long enough, the South believed that the North would eventually give in to the Confederates and ask for peace.  With the North divided over the war, Confederates believed that President Lincoln would be forced to let the South go if enough people protested the war.  Some people in the Confederate government hoped that if they won enough battles then Great Britain would come to their assistance. The "Cotton Diplomacy" was based on the belief that the British needed American cotton for their economy.

    After the fall of Fort Sumter, many American demanded that the army attack the Confederate capital of Richmond.  As the spring of 1861 became summer Lincoln and his top generals began to feel the pressure from the public mount.  In July, an inexperienced and untrained army left Washington D.C. to take Richmond.