What was some of the North's weaknesses in the US Civil War?

Answer 1

Some of the souths weaknesses were that they didnt have the money to support the war. you hear about wealthy plantation owners, but in reality, very few people in the south could even afford land. Another weakness was that they didnt have the supplies. since the North made most of the food goods, military goods, and the north had most of the railroads. this pu the south at a great disadvantage.

Answer 2

During the course of the fours years of the US Civil War, perhaps the term of "errors" is the best way to speak about the "weaknesses" of the North. Either way, some of the Union's problems could be tracked in real time, other problems more easily pointed out by 20-20 hindsight. Here then is a summary of real time errors followed by hindsight errors:

1. Chain of Command;

a. It had to be clear that for all his intelligence, US President Lincoln, broke the time honored chain of command by "directing" the war, even via telegraph, to give real time advice to his generals. Fredericksburg is a prime example;

b. Another serious problem on this subject relates to allowing a major general Joesph Hooker to report directly to Lincoln and thus skipping over the general in chief and the Secretary of War;

c. The appointment of political generals by the president should have been delegated to senior military West Point generals;

d. The chain of command involves secrecy. On one to many times, Lincoln leaked military plans to his son, who then leaked them to the Northern press. Therefore, knowing this was at least one reason that General McClellan seemed secretive about his plans. This can be noted in McClellan's letters to his wife. No historians have disputed that his letters were "doctored" in any fashion; and

e. The inability to select major military commands without looking like it was a game of "musical chairs". This was clear evidence of indecision, and having McClellan serving twice as commander of the Army of the Potomac was embarrassing as well as counter productive. Lincoln allowed 5 changes in command of the premier army, the Army of the Potomac.

2. Hindsight Errors:

a. Lincoln should have sent a cadre of diplomats and top level US business leaders to London. Their mission, use leverage to insure that England would do no business with the Confederacy. Cotton was not the only crop export to England, so was Northern wheat. In a backhanded way, and with discretion, make it clear to London that aiding the Southern rebellion, was being an accomplice the South's treason;

2. Stonewalling Southern leaders with an army of Northern governors, Washington DC politicians and leading businessmen with all sorts of "peace and business incentive projects" before Fort Sumter. While doing this preparing a qualified military build up;

3. The failure to mobilize its recruiting efforts to double the size of the US armed forces. As an example, in early 1864, ( and much too late ) Lincoln called upon state governors to recruit 500,000 troops. Clearly this should have been done in 1861-1862. The failures to destroy Lee's armies at Antietam, the Peninsula and at Gettysburg was in part due to the fact that with its 23 million population base, not enough soldiers were battle ready when it counted;

4. The failure of the Union high military command to see what their "brothers" in the Confederacy from West Point saw, namely that Vicksburg had been charged off after the fall of New Orleans. The siege and capture of Vicksburg became a propaganda value only because the Union military made it so. Time and troops were wasted in that protracted struggle to capture Vicksburg;

5. In 1862, Lincoln and McClellan debated the Peninsula campaign versus a direct assault south from Alexandria. It was a debate because the Union army had not been properly staffed. Monumental assaults from the Alexandria and the Peninsula would have ended Richmond as the Confederate capital. Ended it a a center of gravity and closing the taunts from Northern newspapers that Richmond, a mere 100 miles south of Washington DC could not be captured; and

6. The creation of a captive people within a ruling and powerful nation, the United States. This development was due to the failure to fix the last five hindsight errors. Because of that, not to mention the Chain of Command problems, would never have required the Lincoln-Grant- Sherman strategy of destroying their own nation, and creating a silent Deep South All -Democratic "nation" that existed for another 100 years.

Answer 3

They did not have much agriculture in the North and in the South there was much crops good farming land.

Answer 4

the difficutly davis's government had on controlling the individual states

Answer 5

Low population - inability to replace casualties and prisoners