Warring sides
Strengths and weaknesses of
the Union and the Confederacy
The North entered the war with seemingly-
decisive advantages in almost every
measurable category. This has led to a
common perception, often rooted in analysis
that begins with the Confederate surrender
at Appomattox and works backwards, that
the South faced such overwhelming odds as
to make victory impossible. A corollary to
this idea suggests that the Confederacy
managed to fight as long as it did only
because of superior generalship and a
gallant effort on the part of its common folk
inside and outside the army. In fact, either
side could have won the war, as an
assessment of the contestants' strengths and
weaknesses suggests.Strengths of the North
The North did enjoy a number of
advantages. The 1860 census placed the
population of the United States at about
31,500,000. Of these, the 11 Confederate
states had about 9,100,000 - 5,450,000 of
whom were white, 3,500,000 slaves and
130,000 free black people. The North boasted
a population of about 22,400,000. A number
of factors somewhat altered these basic
figures. A number of white people in states
remaining loyal to the Union - especially the
slaveholding Border States of Missouri,
Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware -
supported the Confederacy. Conversely,
many white residents of the Confederacy -
especially in the mountain areas of western
Virginia, western North Carolina, eastern
Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Texas and
Arkansas - remained loyal to the Union.
Moreover, about 150,000 black men from the
Confederate states eventually served in the
Union army. That slaves did not carry arms
for the Confederacy was offset by the fact
that their labor freed a disproportionate
number of white southern males to fight.
With all factors taken into consideration,
the North enjoyed about a 5-2 edge in
manpower. Roughly 2,100,000 men fought
for the Union (roughly 50 percent of the
military-age male population), while
between 800,000 and 900,000 served in the
Confederate army (nearly 80 percent of the
1860 military-age males).
Hundreds of thousands of men
volunteered on each side during the first few
months of the war, after which enlistment
fell off sharply. Both sides eventually
resorted to national conscription (the
Confederates a year earlier than the United
States), though some men continued to
enlist freely until the end of the conflict.
Little separated the two sides in terms of the
quality and potential of their volunteers.
Haphazard training left many thousands of
men woefully unprepared for the rigors of
active campaigning. Units led by West Point
graduates or other officers with military
experience fared better than those
commanded by volunteers whose
enthusiasm far exceeded their expertise.
Volunteer officers and enlisted men learned
their craft together in camp, on the march
and in the unforgiving crucible of combat.
The North far outstripped the
Confederacy in almost every economic
category. A few comparative figures suggest
the degree of northern superiority. In
1860, there were 110,000 northern
manufacturing establishments employing
1,300,000 workers; in the Confederate states,
just 18,000 establishments employing
110,000 workers. Northern railroad mileage
totalled nearly 22,000 compared with just
over 9,000 in the Confederacy, and the
northern roads generally were more modern
and better maintained. The North produced