Strengths of the North and South

In several aspects, the North has much more advantages than the South. The North had more than twice as much railroad as the South; this made the movement of the Union troops, food, and supplies faster and easier in the North. There were also twice as many factories than the South has, so the Union was better at producing guns, ammunition, clothes, and other items needed for its army. The North has a well-balanced economy base between on their farming and industry. Moreover, the North already had a functioning government and a small group of army and navy. Most importantly, the North has two thirds of its nation’s population; this made more men available to the Union army and sufficient labor to remain for farm and factory work.

 In the other hand, the Confederates had some advantages too. Seven of the nation’s eight military colleges were located in the South; most officers were also sided with the Confederates. In addition, their military tactics showed that they only have to defend their borders, its army needed only to repel Northern advances rather than initiate military action. In contrast, in order to restore its nation, the North would have to attack and conquer the South. Another advantages for the South is their moral, many southerners were eager to fight they believed that they were fighting to preserve their way of life.

A New Military Strategy

The defeat at Bull Run proves the war will not be short. Lincoln calls for 500,000 new soldiers, chooses a new military policy, and gives command to General George McClellan. President Lincoln ordered a naval blockade of the seceded states, by shutting down the South’s ports along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, Lincoln hoped to keep the South from shipping its cotton to Europe. He also wanted to prevent Southerners from importing the manufactured goods they needed.

 Confederate president Jefferson Davis planned for a defensive war, he believed that the South’s basic plan was to prepare and wait. A Southern strategy called war of attrition planning to continuous losses to Union in order to wear down its strength. Confederates leaders

The First Battle of Bull Run

After the first shot fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861 signaled the start of the nation’s Civil War. General Irvin McDowell, commander of the Union troops was ordered to take action on Confederates troops. Yet, he felt that he needed more time to prepare, the troop was not yet ready to fight. Most of his troops had volunteered for approximately 90 days and their term of service was nearly over. Despite this warning, Lincoln still ordered his general to fight.

 On July 16, McDowell marched his poorly prepared troops into Virginia. It took the Union army nearly four days to travel 25 miles to Manassas, an important railroad junction southwest of Washington. At Bull Run, the troops were accompanied by a huge crowd of reporters, politicians, and other civilians from Washington, planning to picnic and watch the battle.

 After several hours of hard fighting, the Union soldiers appeared to be winning, however General Thomas Jackson refused to give up, and he stood like a stone wall rally behind the Virginian. The Union advance was stopped, Jackson then earned his nickname “Stonewall”. Tired and discouraged, the Union troops began to fall back in the late afternoon. In addition a train load of fresh confederate soldiers arrived and launched a counterattack, the Union army fall apart.

 The first major battle of the Civil War was over, later on it became known as the First Battle of Bull Run. About 35,000 troops were involved on each side. The Union suffered about 2,900 casualties; Confederate casualties were fewer than 2,000.

States joining Confederacy and Union

After the attack on Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s inauguration speech, four more states joined the Confederacy. However, residents of the western counties of Virginia did not wish to secede along with the rest of the state. This section of Virginia was admitted into the Union as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. With Virginia's secession, Richmond was named the Confederate capitol. In June 1861, despite their acceptance of slavery, four states, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri did not join the Confederacy. Although divided in their loyalties, a combination of political maneuvering and Union military pressure kept these states from seceding.

Lincoln’s Inauguration

In February 11, 1861, Lincoln leaves his Springfield, Illinois, home on 12-days journey to his inauguration as the 16th President of the United States. In February 23, 1861, Lincoln's inaugural train was supposed to stop in Baltimore; however the train secretly passes through the city at night to avoid an assassination threat. In many circles he is ridiculed as a coward. At March 2, 1861, to avoid war, Congress passes a constitutional amendment to protect slavery. Lincoln in his inaugural address says "I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.” At Lincoln's inauguration on March 4 1861, before a crowd of 30,000 people, Lincoln takes the oath of office and declares that "the Union of these States is perpetual and that secession is an act of rebellion – not a legal right”. The new president said he had no plans to end slavery in those states where it already existed, but he also said he would never accept secession. He hoped to resolve the national crisis without warfare.

Attack on Fort Sumter

In February 1861 when President Buchanan, Lincoln's predecessor, refused to surrender southern federal forts to the seceding states, southern state troops seized them. The commander of Fort Sumter, Robert Anderson, was asked to surrender immediately. When President Lincoln planned to send supplies to Fort Sumter, he alerted the state in advance, in an attempt to avoid hostilities. However, South Carolina troops repulsed a supply ship trying to reach federal forces based in the fort. The ship was fired and forced to return to New York, its supplies was undelivered. Anderson offered to surrender after he had exhausted his supplies, his offer was rejected. On April 12, the Civil War began with shots fired on the fort. Fort Sumter eventually was surrendered to South Carolina.

A New Nation

When Lincoln was elected president of the United States, South Carolina immediately secedes from the Union. As South Carolina secedes from the Union, Mississippi followed the secession and raises a new blue flag with a single white star over the State Capitol in Jackson. In February 1861 at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, with the seven seceding states they created the Confederate Constitution. To establish the Confederate States of America, delegates from seven seceding states met in Montgomery, Alabama and elected Jefferson Davis as the Provisional President of the Confederate States.

1861: The Civil War Began

Conflict over issues of how much control the federal government should have over the states, industrialization, trade, and especially slavery had increased tension between Northern and Southern states. President James Buchanan struggled with the secession crisis in his final months in office. In November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected president, southern states were outraged at elected someone who is known for his anti-slavery views, threatened to leave the Union. As Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861 the crisis intensified and more slave states left the Union. At the end of 1860 South Carolina was the first state to secede, others followed in early 1861. Southern states that seceded from the Union set up an independent government, the Confederate States of America.  These events led to the outbreak of the Civil War--a brutal, bloody, four-year conflict that left the South defeated and ended slavery at the cost of more than half a million lives.