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From the outset, the Union had a massive advantage in EVERYTHING except cotton; people, industry, etc. The ONLY advantage the Confederates had was....cotton. This was equivalent to some guy in high school that's never even worked out thinking he could beat up the quarterback lol.
The ONLY advantage the Confederates had was....cotton. This was equivalent to some guy in high school that's never even worked out thinking he could beat up the quarterback lol.
227, ^ this is not a good comparison. The South wasn't trying to 'beat up' a bigger opponent. They were trying to separate from them. Their best hope was that the Northern states would stop fighting so hard to keep the states united.
(Example) Lee's brief trip in to the North was designed to demoralize Northern civilians.. hoping public opinion would allow the South to ultimately secede. /peace
227, ^ this is not a good comparison. The South wasn't trying to 'beat up' a bigger opponent. They were trying to separate from them. Their best hope was that the Northern states would stop fighting so hard to keep the states united.
(Example) Lee's brief trip in to the North was designed to demoralize Northern civilians.. hoping public opinion would allow the South to ultimately secede. /peace
"Brief trip"? Is that like Sherman's trip to Georgia? If demoralizing was the point, I think Sherman won that contest.
I think the situation in the south was increasingly desperate as time went on through the 1850s and into the 1860 election. Any real and rational southern leadership would have made an effort to reconcile the situation with the north, recognizing that the peculiar institution was eventually going to be their doom. Instead, hotheads took the lead. The south was all in on slavery, culturally, socially, and economically, even though it was dragging them to their destruction. There is a certain blindness that comes from that level of investment. For them, abolition was the apocalypse and totally unfathomable.
There were a few that saw the future more clearly. John Bell of Tennessee, a prominent politician of the time and slaveowner, was opposed to the expansion of slavery to new states. Sam Houston was in an interesting position in 1860 as Governor of Texas. He was a "Constitutional Unionist" along with Bell, and lobbied against secession and for preservation of the union. He lost the 1860 presidential nomination of that party to John Bell. He was adamantly opposed to secession and the actions of the Texas secession convention and considered them to be illegal. He declared Texas to be an independent country after the secession vote but was soon deposed by the state legislature when he refused to embrace or swear allegiance to the Confederacy. He is quoted from a speech of On April 19, 1861:
Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives, you may win Southern independence if God be not against you, but I doubt it. I tell you that, while I believe with you in the doctrine of states rights, the North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche; and what I fear is, they will overwhelm the South.
The Constitutional Unionist party was strongest along the border region and carried Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee and almost carried Missouri where Stephen Douglas (Democrat) won the state by 571 votes (.26%). Missouri was the only state carried by Douglas in the 1860 election.
From the outset, the Union had a massive advantage in EVERYTHING except cotton; people, industry, etc. The ONLY advantage the Confederates had was....cotton. This was equivalent to some guy in high school that's never even worked out thinking he could beat up the quarterback lol.
Not entirely correct. Strategically the south had the advantage in regards to defense, as defenders always have that advantage in regards to interior lines and the ability to "dig in". They didn't have to conquer territory, they simply had to keep the north out. That is a HUGE advantage. Morale and motivation wise this was also the advantage of what many in the south regarded as defending there home land.
Also the south had the military culture, with many of the best West Point trained Generals and experienced soldiers being from the south.
I can also pick up a few other advantages as well, others have and will do that.
But in regards to the thread title, the South didn't "think" in regards to a war that would last 4 years and stretch from PA to NM territories, nor did the north.
They didn't sit around and discuss their chances of winning anything. And hindsight is 20/20.
Most wanted to preserve their way of life and business, so they had no choice or other desire than to take action. They had full confidence that they'd win. But confidence isn't always enough, obviously.
It had the home-field advantage. It had more trained Army officers. It had interior supply lines.
It had the assumption that, like in the American Revolutionary War, European powers would step in and take the side of the Confederacy.
It had hubris...lots and lots of hubris. Ask any Confederate and they would opine that one Southerner was worth ten Northern hirelings in a fight.
It also had immense delusions about its own ability.
But William Tecumseh Sherman was right about the South.
The South falsely believed that Northerners would let the South break the nation without a fight. The South lacked almost any industrial capacity, but picked a fight against a foe who could manufacture arms, munitions, clothing, and transportation, and who was located right up against the South.
The South needed to score a knock-out punch early on, and have Britain and France step in to halt the fight. That didn't happen.
..............But in regards to the thread title, the South didn't "think" in regards to a war that would last 4 years and stretch from PA to NM territories, nor did the north.
The Elites both in the North and South thought WAR would be a lark, a social event.
Instead we got the bloodiest war in human history up to that point.
From the outset, the Union had a massive advantage in EVERYTHING except cotton; people, industry, etc. The ONLY advantage the Confederates had was....cotton. This was equivalent to some guy in high school that's never even worked out thinking he could beat up the quarterback lol.
To add to what others have already said, in early 1861 the South simply could not imagine the incredible size of the armies that the Union was going to be able to create. Even the South was able to create armies that dwarf anything that came before in North America.
In the American Revolution and the War of 1812, the larger armies were usually 10,000 to 15,000, usually less. In the Civil War, 10,000 to 15,000 was a corps, just one part of an army.
US army size
Before the Civil War --- 16,367 men
Peak during the war --- 700,000 men
For instance, in the 1864 spring campaign Grant had an army of over 100,000 men to go after Robert E Lee and Richmond while Sherman had over 100,000 men to go after Joe Johnston and Atlanta. Probably nobody before the Civil War could picture anything on that scale.
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