Essay on Civil War (1861-1865) Suggestions for improvement?

The Civil War



The great Civil War took place in the United States from 1861-1865, took the lives of many brave Americans. The North, as known as the “Union,” at that time period contained of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The South, known as the Confederacy consisted of; South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The North and South had very different life styles. The North depended on low-waged workers to work in factories, while the South depended on slaves to do work on plantations. The disadvantages of the South and the many advantages of the North help lead them to victory. The Emancipation Proclamation that Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1862 was another big reason why the Union won. The Union won because of the of the surplus amount of resources they had access to that the Confederacy lacked.

Even though most of the battles were fought in the South, the South still lost. One would think that Southerners would know their way around their homeland but that wasn’t the case. The Southern economy relied on cash crops, especially cotton. But in the time of war, having a surplus amount of cotton was pretty useless. Yes, cotton makes uniforms, but you can’t feed your hungry soldiers cotton! What was the Confederacy to do with all this cotton? They couldn’t trade with foreign countries to get supplies thanks to the Union’s plan of the “Anaconda.” The Anaconda plan was simply a blockade of Union battleships that cuts off the flow of trade and supplies that were imported and exported from Confederacy ports. Based of the pie graph on Document 1, the Confederate only had 14% of the factories. In time of war, factories matters a lot. Where else would you be able to make weapons for your soldiers? The South also had only 29% of the population so it was harder for them to replace the soldiers that were dead or wounded. A less population also meant less troops. Only 29% of the railroad mileage were in the south. This forced the southern troops to mainly rely on walking from battle to battle. By the time the soldier got to the battlefield, they were probably exhausted from all that walking to really concentrate on fighting. The many disadvantages of the south had a great impact on the outcome of the war.

On the other hand, the Union’s advantages helped them a great deal. They had about 3 times the population that the Confederate had; having a greater population during the time of war can only help you out. There were more people that were able to take place of the soldiers that died or got hurt and more troops to fight during a battle. The Battle of Gettysburg showed the advantages the North had over the South. In the painting, the Union were shooting canons while the Confederates had rifles. Canons did more damage than rifles because back then, rifles weren’t as powerful and accurate as they are today. Because the North had 86% of the factories, they were able to produce more weapons, more ammos, and more supplies to help the soldiers at war. The Union Army had 3 million dollars, while the Confederate Army had only 1.5 million. Abraham Lincoln, being such a strong political leader also helped lead the Union to success.

The Emancipation Proclamation was beneficial for the North because it recruited more people into the Army. It gave enslaved African Americans the right to become a “free man.” It also have them the ability join the Union Army. Overall, about 180,000 African Americans served in the Union’s Army, and another 20,000 in the Union’s Navy. Combined, they made up about 15% of all Northern forces in the war. African Americas were fighting fort the most significant causes - freedom for themselves and their people.

In conclusion, because the Union had all these advantages over the Confederate, they won the long war after 4 long years.Essay on Civil War (1861-1865) Suggestions for improvement?
Well, it's a start..

A couple of points - the North could make weapons, as you point out, but the South had very few armaments factories. Where do you think they got their weapons from? Also, the Union sea blockade took some time to take effect - do you think that the Confederacy might have been able to trade their cotton for a while? Do you thnk they might have done something as stupid as to deliberately not trade cotton to try to make Britain and France take their side out of economic necessity?

You point out that the Confederacy had many fewer people than the Union - that doesn't just mean fewer soldiers; what about farming?

Also, it wasn't cannon against rifles so much; you might look up a little more about the types of cannon that each side had, and the types of 'rifles' that each side had.

As to the Emancipation Proclamation - that was a multi-edged sword. Sure, it gave the Union a new pool of recruits, but then racism was something that black troops had to struggle against as much in the Union as in the Confederate Army (which also experimented with black troops, but much later and on a much smaller scale). Think about what the Emancipation Proclamation meant to the world and to the Confederacy (especially to the slaves in the Confederacy who did increasing amounts of the critical agricultural work as the war went on).

Your conjecture on walking to the battlefield is not quite accurate - most of the armies were fairly local in area of action, and the Confederate armies were particularly notable for covering surprising amounts of distance and fighting very hard when they got to where they were going. Railroads were important, but more as a means of supply and for strategic movements of men. In fact, one of the earliest uses of the railroads in the Civil War was the unexpected movement of Joe Johnston's force from the Shenandoah Valley to in front of Richmond, which made the Southern victory of First Manassas possible. You should really do a little more research - it may be tedious, but if it's going to have your name on it, you should try to make it the best you can.Essay on Civil War (1861-1865) Suggestions for improvement?
I feel aroused....