Advantages Of The Union During The American Civil War
Rokhaya Kane
Mrs Coulibaly
American History
March 14, 2016
The advantages of the Union during the American Civil War.
The American civil war was a period of clash, between the Union under the command of Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederacy (seceded southern slave states), on the issue of slavery. This war determined the future of the nation. Whether it would be “the largest slaveholding nation in the world” (McPherson, 2014) or the sovereign country where all men have equal rights. As the war continued, both the North and the South had their proper advantages. However, the Confederacy saw itself continuously defeated by the Union. Which, had considerably benefited from its developed industry, its advanced technology and the complex …show more content…
The entire industrial life of the Union was mobilized toward the war effort. The South used the free slave labor to work the cotton and then sell it to Britain. Unfortunately for them, when the Civil war started, Britain had just stopped buying cotton and had newly converted to wheat and corn from the North. Additionally, the advanced and effective methods employed by the Union made the production of highly demanded goods faster and ready to be commercialized abroad. Which consequently boosted their economy. Battle wise, it allowed them to produce enough food supply to sustain the soldiers’ needs on the battle fields. Unluckily for the South, their agricultural based economy did not favor the production of the goods/food they needed. Therefore, they were very often in poor conditions while the northern soldiers had more than sufficient food supply, so much that it was sometimes wasted. It gave them a huge advantage on the starving southern …show more content…
The transportation of supplies such as food, weapons and medicines was much faster in the Union due to the extended railroad system. Some busy lines could carry around 800 tons of supplies a day. A journey, by train, from the North to the South would take approximately 7 days. In contrast, it would take about 2 months- by road - for southern soldiers to reach the North. The Confederacy did possess few railroads, however, most of them were privately owned and did not serve that much in the war effort. On one command of the president, thousands of new men could be sent to back up their brothers in the battle fronts in a short time period. It was a huge advantage because it would take the confederacy’s army months to replace their men. It gave an advantage the fresh Union to troops by allowing them to win over exhausted southern soldiers. The winter of 1863 is clearly describing how the insufficiency of rails in the Confederacy was fatal to their soldiers. The southern troops of Virginia starved during that winter because of the lack of supplies, even though they were not so far from the capital,
Mrs Coulibaly
American History
March 14, 2016
The advantages of the Union during the American Civil War.
The American civil war was a period of clash, between the Union under the command of Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederacy (seceded southern slave states), on the issue of slavery. This war determined the future of the nation. Whether it would be “the largest slaveholding nation in the world” (McPherson, 2014) or the sovereign country where all men have equal rights. As the war continued, both the North and the South had their proper advantages. However, the Confederacy saw itself continuously defeated by the Union. Which, had considerably benefited from its developed industry, its advanced technology and the complex …show more content…
The entire industrial life of the Union was mobilized toward the war effort. The South used the free slave labor to work the cotton and then sell it to Britain. Unfortunately for them, when the Civil war started, Britain had just stopped buying cotton and had newly converted to wheat and corn from the North. Additionally, the advanced and effective methods employed by the Union made the production of highly demanded goods faster and ready to be commercialized abroad. Which consequently boosted their economy. Battle wise, it allowed them to produce enough food supply to sustain the soldiers’ needs on the battle fields. Unluckily for the South, their agricultural based economy did not favor the production of the goods/food they needed. Therefore, they were very often in poor conditions while the northern soldiers had more than sufficient food supply, so much that it was sometimes wasted. It gave them a huge advantage on the starving southern …show more content…
The transportation of supplies such as food, weapons and medicines was much faster in the Union due to the extended railroad system. Some busy lines could carry around 800 tons of supplies a day. A journey, by train, from the North to the South would take approximately 7 days. In contrast, it would take about 2 months- by road - for southern soldiers to reach the North. The Confederacy did possess few railroads, however, most of them were privately owned and did not serve that much in the war effort. On one command of the president, thousands of new men could be sent to back up their brothers in the battle fronts in a short time period. It was a huge advantage because it would take the confederacy’s army months to replace their men. It gave an advantage the fresh Union to troops by allowing them to win over exhausted southern soldiers. The winter of 1863 is clearly describing how the insufficiency of rails in the Confederacy was fatal to their soldiers. The southern troops of Virginia starved during that winter because of the lack of supplies, even though they were not so far from the capital,