Why the Confederacy Lost

A detailed Summary of Why the Confederacy Lost

Throughout history many historians have tried to put their finger on the exact reason for the Confederacy losing the war. Some historians blame the head of the confederacy Jefferson Davis, however others believe that it was the shear numbers of the Northern army that won out. Yet others have blamed almost every general that the Confederacy had, according to James M. McPherson:

Among them Robert E. Lee himself for mismanagement, overconfidence, and poor judgment; Jeb Stuart for riding off an a raid around the Union army and losing contact with his own army, leaving Lee blind in the enemy's country; Richard Ewell and Jubal Early for failing to attack Cemetery Hill on the afternoon of July 1st and again for tardiness in attacking on the 2nd; and above all, James Longstreet for lack of cooperation, promptness, and vigor in the assaults of July 2nd and 3rd.(P.19).

Hopefully, this paper will shed some light on the true reasons for the Confederacy losing the war.

There are two categories that interpretations can fall under, one is internal- internal is looking only at the south, what they did right and what they did wrong. The next one is external-external is looking at both the North and the South

Many have argued that the Northern army defeated the Southern army because of the superior army, and especially the efforts of the generals on the Northern side. A new style of fighting came out of this war; it was adapted from the French Revolutions and Napoleon. "Napoleonic strategy depended on rapid maneuvers with armies dispersing to move quickly or to find, confuse, or engage the enemy; concentrated. Much of this power of maneuver depended on the division, a unit of 3,000 to 8,000 man, able to fight independently because it usually included artillery, cavalry as well as infantry" (50-52). The army's objective was to take and to make sure that they were able to hold onto enemy territory. This style of fighting proved to be a great military advance in the Civil War.

The African American support on the Northern side was a large help and a huge hindering for the South. At the beginning of the war even Northern soldiers were slightly apprehensive about letting black soldiers fight for the North. A Connecticut infantry man was asked what he thought about blacks fighting for the North and he said "I think drove of hogs would do better brought down here for we could eat them and nigers we can't" (148). As the war was dragging on and on many of the minds of the soldiers changed, they wanted any advantage that they could get to win the war. When Lincoln created the Emancipation Proclamation the N

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Approximate Word count = 951
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History