Many of best graduates of West Point
Assumption of better fighting spirit in the South
Need to fight only a defensive war
Familiarity with region
Impossibility of North to blockade totally 3500 miles of coastline
Southern disadvantsges
States rights limitations on the Confederacy
Lack of established government
Dependency on single cash crop economy
Lack of resources in Confederate treasury
Northern advantages in war
Greater free population
Financial and industrial superiority
Control of the navy
Benefits of an established government
Sound economic base upon which to finance the war
Northern disadvantages
succession of poor commanders of the Army of the Potomac
McDowell; replaced after 1st Battle of Bull Run
McClellan: replaced by Pope prior to 2nd Battle of Bull Run
Pope; replaced by McClellan after 2nd Battle of Bull Run
McClellan; replaced after Battle of Antietam
Burnside; replaced after "Mud March, January 1863
Hooker; replaced on June 28, 1863
Meade
Strategic plan of General Winfield Scott
Containment of Confederate states on all sides
Inland strikes by separate armies to fragment the South
Not quick or decisive enough to satisfy some Northerners who urged "Forward to Richmond" which resulted in Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run along the Bull Run Creek in Manassas, Virginia
Invasion of North attempted by South after success at Second Battle of Bull Run
Battle indecisive but stopped invasion; strategic defeat for South
Marked the passing of the high water mark of the Confederacy
South on defensive after Antietam
as a result of battle, South lost all chance of British support
Lincoln issued preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, ending possibility of negotiated
settlement; made it a war to free the slaves
Gettysburg
Click here to see a topographical map of the eastern theater of the war
Attempt to draw Union troops away from western campaign
Original goal was to attack and capture Camp Curtin, largest Union military base, south of Harrisburg, PA
South hoped to threaten Washington and Philadelphia and thus convince the North to
stop fighting and recognize Southern independence
Challenge to Lincoln by General McClellan in election of 1864 Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
Mobilization of 300,000 slaves to serve as combat troops in the Confederate army
promise of emancipation
Surrender of Lee to Grant in the McLean farmhouse at Appomattox Court House, 9 April 1865
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14th
Capture of Jefferson Davis in Irwinville, Georgia on May 10th
imprisoned for two years in Fort Monroe, Virginia
inability to find an impartial jury for trial
Execution of Captain Henry Wirtz, superintendent of Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia, on November 10th Ex Parte Merryman , 1861