150-years ago ominous clouds of war loomed over the American socio-cultural landscape. The issue of slavery had deeply divided the nation for a period of years and had led to deep divisions in the national psyche.

The Southern states in increasing measure had seceded from the Union of States and had chosen to form their own confederation, hence the name confederacy and headed, inevitably, on a collision course with the Northern states. To better understand the horrendous path of war on which the United States was about to embark, and its outcome, it is instructive to examine the conflict in light of demographics and resources.

The Northern states (the Union) and the Southern states each had unique strengths and weaknesses which shaped the momentum and direction of the war. The North, for example, had a much larger population than the South.

With 21-million people, the North could much better staff its military and civilain workforces so essential to the war effort. The Confederate states on the other hand had only 9-million people of whom 3.5 million were enslaved African-Americans (Myers, 1999).

As a result, though less than one half the North's white male population, of fighting age, actually fought in the Civil War, the number of soldiers in the Union Army far outnumbered their counterparts in the Confederate Army (Myers, 1999). Because of this, the Confederacy had far fewer people to operate the farms and factories so foundational to producing food and war materiel for their military forces than did the Union.

The North, then, had a much greater ability to manufacture locomotives, artillery, and uniforms and could replace worn-out war commodities than did the South. The South, on the other hand, had to obtain war materiel and other products from European nations which made resupplying efforts very time consuming and expensive (Myers, 1999).Moreover, the North had a much more extensive network of rail lines than did the South which meant that the Union (the North) could resupply their military forces much more cost effectively and efficiently than could the South.

The Union also had an extremely effective Chief Executive in the person of Abraham Lincoln who had the courage and political skill to lead the Northern states and to rally them around the idea that ending slavery and preserving the Union were deeply linked to the ideals of freedom and democracy (Myers, 1999). President Lincoln passionately believed in the rights of all people and in the tragic but necessary task of forming a more perfect and just union on the anvil of war.

The Confederacy, however, also had a very distinctive set of strengths, the chief of which was military leadership. General Robert E. Lee, a Virginian, was a brilliant strategist and battlefield tactician. Additionally, Confederate soldiers and field commanders were better trained and more experienced than their Union counterparts (Myers, 1999).

Coupled with the leadership advantages that the South enjoyed, they also had the advantage of defending their homeland only and of not having to conquer new territory (Myers, 1999). They had motivational advantages of defending their "home turf" and of defending their land, homes, and way of life. They also had the strategic and tactical advantage of knowing their homeland much better than the Union forces did. Depicted below are the relative economic strengths of the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War:

Northern and Border States

• Railroad Tracks--22,000 miles
• Number of Factories--110,000
• Value of Products--$1.6 billion
• Bushels of Corn, Wheat, and Oats--728-million
• Total Weight of Rice and Tobacco--279-million pounds
• Total Number of Cotton Bales Produced--4,000

Southern States

• Railroad Tracks--9,000 miles
• Number of Factories--21,000
• Number of Workers--111,000
• Value of Products--$155 million
• Bushels of Corn, Wheat, and Oats--331-million
• Weight of Rice and Tobacco Produced--386-million
• Total Number of Cotton Bales Produced--5-million

Over the course of about four years, through the horrific cauldron of war, the North prevailed, the Union of the nation was re-established, and the freedom of African-American slaves obtained. The cost of the war, however, was extremely high with about 650,000 soldiers and the fabric of the country having been rent asunder which would take many years to recover from.

Source: Myers, Peter J. et al. (1999). Preparing for War, Chapter 10, Section 1, p. 186-188. U.S. History: Globe Fearon Foundations Series, Global Fearon Educational Publisher, Upper Saddle River, NJ. www.globefearon.com/