FREE ESSAY ON WHY THE CONFEDERACY LOST

WHY THE CONFEDERACY LOST

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, seeing the problems and
the successes of both sides. For and example of an external explanation, when Pickett was
asked what he thought was the reason for the Confederacy losing the Battle of Gettysburg
he said, " I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it" (19). 
The idea that the Yankees had way too many resources, has long been an explanation for
the reason of the Confederacy losing the war. When Robert E. Lee gave his farewell
address at Appomattox he said to his soldiers, " The Army of Northern Virginia has been
compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources" (20). That statement was very
important to the South because, it allowed them, and still allows them to keep pride in
their efforts as fighters during the war. It tells that they lost not due to the fact
that they could not fight, but because they were outnumbered and out gunned.
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 North rejoiced. The Emancipation created a boost to the
moral and support in the North because people were riding so high on the Emancipation.
This not only hurt the South from the point that the North had a new boost in moral it
also hurt in foreign support. The South had been seeking support from Great Britain and
France, however both of them were highly against slavery, and when Lincoln abolished it
and the South still wanted it both of the powerhouse countries decided that they did not
want to help. The black effort in the war showed to be a great asset and one of the large
deciding factors in the Northern victory.
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 leaders of both sides, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were criticized at one
time or another. Rarely are you going to find a historian that does not to some sort
blame Jefferson for the defeat. Lincoln was looked at as doing a lot more good things
then bad. As stated earlier the Emancipation Proclamation was one of the greatest things
that came out of the war.
In my opinion this book was a good one to read to get a perspective on what both the
South and the North did correct as well and wrong. It is hard to put your finger exactly
on what caused the Southern defeat, it was many things that added up to be a big thing. I
feel that James M. McPherson said it the best when he wrote:
To understand why the South lost, in the end, we must turn from large generalizations
that imply inevitability and study instead the contingency that hung over each military
campaign, each battle, each election, each decision during the war. When we comprehend
what happened in these events, how it happened, why it happened, and what its
consequences were, then we will be on our way toward answering the question: why did the
Confederacy lose the war?(42)