FREE ESSAY ON WHY THE SOUTH LOST THE CIVIL WAR

WHY THE SOUTH LOST THE CIVIL WAR

Nathan LaFollette
During the first battle of Bull Run the Union troops ran in full retreat back to
Washington DC. During this time General Lee told president Davis that give him ten
thousand troops and he would capture Washington DC, Davis thought he was kidding and just
laughed him off. Had Davis not been mistaken our country might very well be split in
half.
That is just one of the massive blunders the South committed during the war. Some of the
other problems the South had during the war was lack of unity, unorganized, smaller and
towards the end of the war low moral. 
Regardless of all else unity was the biggest challenge faced by the South. When you fight
a war you need a strong united front. When the confederate was formed the central
government. It was created to weak, it couldn't pass taxes or conscript troops into one
main army. When your government can't pass laws for the good of the many then you have a
conflict with unity. 
Another conflict of unity was the confederate troops were loyal first to their states and
second to the confederacy. This an example of is during Sherman's march through Georgia.
When the men from Georgia heard the tales of looting, raping, and pillaging the number of
deserters were in the thousands.
Another problem with the South was it's nature. There size was the South was agricultural
in nature while the North was mostly manufacturing. The North's big crops were wheat and
corn. The South's biggest crop was cotton. The North had the huge food supply while the
South was growing cash crops. To make matters worse was South had less then half of the
population of the North. Further more 1/5 of the South's population were slaves and
couldn't be allowed to fight in the war. 
During the first couple years of the war the South was lucky they were granted victory
after victory. Though with the massive loss of life the South had begun to realize the
North wouldn't give up easily. The South began to get a feel for what war was becoming
with such events like the battles of Gettysburg, and Vicksburg, and the burning of
Atlanta. In my mind this added to the feeling of hopelessness in the Southern moral. 
To coin the phrase There is no I in the word team comes to mind. Had the South created a
strong front, received foreign support, and achieved strategic victory early in the war
they might have won. But without unity no long term victory can be guaranteed.