The North's Goals After The Civil War

Furthermore, politically speaking the North and the South’s goals, were shown by their actions and mindsets after the first shots fired. The North’s overarching political goal was to quickly, bring the succeeded states back into the fold violently if necessary, to “Press on to Richmond” and “Preserve the Union”. From the beginning of the war to the time Grant ordered Sherman to march to Atlanta, several major battles took place that changed the strategic plans and mindsets entirely. Moreover, major battles included, the battles of Bull Run, Shiloh, Seven Pines, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and the Wilderness. Thus, this list includes some of the bloodiest first days of fighting and most intense close quarter tactics used summing up the death toll to be approximately over, 250,000 dead. The speed at which the Union and the Confederate troops were losing men were astronomical and overall made the nation of the North reconsider their political stance to force the South back into the Union. Consequently, 1864 was an election year where Lincoln’s opponent George McClellan ran to negotiate peace, thus the North needed a quick victory to accomplish their goal. The political goal for the
The political goal was to drag out the Civil War long enough, so that the North would recognize that fighting was not a good plan and recognize their sovereignty as a nation. Strategically speaking the South did not have any large scale coordinated attacks unlike their opponents from the North (late in the war). Moreover, individual commanders like General Lee developed their own plans like Lee’s offensive and defensive strategy, but the political decisions were dictated by Jefferson Davis. By and Large, the leadership of the Civil War, on both sides, was dominated by West Point education, and Jefferson Davis was no