What were the important Confederate advantages in the US Civil War?

Answer 1

The high-lying town of Vicksburg was very hard to attack from the West bank of the Mississippi, where Grant had been forced to march his army.

They also had the advantage of the brilliant Joseph E. Johnston as area commander, though this was negated by the interference of the Confederate president.

The general advantage of a more emotive war-mission - to defend the homeland against the invader.

Answer 2

Even though the Union had the high ground, the Confederates had choices. They could choose where and when they were going to attack. Throughout the battle, the Union was mainly on the defense when the Rebels were on the offense.

Answer 3

I live in Fredericksburg, so if you are talking about the battle of Mareys Hights, the Confederates had better fortifications, (The stone wall) and had the upper ground so they could easily cut down any Union soldier with ease. In fact, even though the Unions outnummbered the Confederates, not a single Union soldier got within 20 meters of the stone wall.

Answer 4

The South, meaning the Confederacy, had a number of advantages during the US Civil War. The main one was military advantage of being mostly on the defense. This requires less resources then being on the offensive and normally costs an offensive opponent , The Union, to lose more soldiers by attacking a defensive position. This idea of course hinges on the "defense" being a strong, well thought out one. The second main advantage was that the South did not need to "conquer" the North. The South's goal was to be an independent nation. They were counting on the fact that at some point, the North would find the war too costly to continue or the people of the North would tire of a long drawn out war with little to gain, as far as they could see.

The other main advantage was being able to fight on territory they were familiar with. They knew when rivers would flood, when weather would become hostile and which streams were either passable or impassable.

Answer 5

Many historians and students of the US Civil War find the Battle of Fredericksburg most interesting for any number of reasons. This battle has drawn interest in that it is the first major battle of the Army of the Potomac after the ouster of General George B. McClellan and his replacement, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside.Undoubtedly, the Confederacy was extremely interested in the new commander of the Union's premir army, the Army of the Potomac. The battle of Fredericksburg begins to unfold as Burnside led his troops over the Potomac River into Virginia on November 16, 1862. All remained quiet in Virginia and by November 25, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee thought that Burnside was concentrating his forces opposite the town of Fredericksburg. Its proximity to Richmond caused Lee to order that the defenses of the city be properly situated and strengthened in case of a Burnside offensive. Lee, at the time feared that if Richmond was captured, the war would be over.

As per the norm, Union based newspapers were already saying that Burnside would advance on Richmond from its position near Fredericksburg.

With this in mind, Lee also concluded that if these plans were changed, Northern newspapers would critical of his enemies in the field and in Washington DC.

Lee was well aware of the fact that Union's failure since the first battle of Bull Run and other attempts to capture Richmond was a continuing embarrassment considering that Richmond was less then 100 miles away from Washington DC.

Northern political leaders, the press, and the Northern public were not happy that the enemy's capitol city lay untouched. This seemed even more incredible inasmuch as Confederate President Jefferson Davis had moved the South's capital from the safety of Montgomery Alabama to a position so close to Washington, that the failure to capture it, or even make a serious threat, was insulting. And yes, few were not aware that under McClellan, Union forces managed to reach within six miles of Richmond during the Peninsula campaign.

Lee believed that his best option was to make Fredericksburg his base of operations and face Burnside there.

By the end of November, Lee, however, was not quite sure what Burnside wanted to do. Doubt in war is dangerous.

The first problem that Burnside had was that typically Abraham Lincoln was again making military strategy. Lincoln saw Richmond as the old Napoleonic Era place called the center of gravity. Capture Richmond and the domino effect with end the war. This was also Lee's belief as mentioned earlier. But Lee was not Lincoln nor was he Jefferson Davis.

By now, Lee had guessed correctly in that Burnside was beginning to move his 120,000 man army across the Rappahannock River. Snipers had little effect on the huge Union force. By December 12, 1862, the Union army marched into Fredericksburg and began to loot houses. Something that McClellan never would have allowed. Burnside planned to attack and defeat Lee and proceed from there onto a retreating Army of Northern Virginia.

Burnside's plans were to at the minimum cut off Richmond's communication lines with Lee and elsewhere. The best result of course would be to capture Richmond and chase off any remnants of Lee's army.

Apparently poor communications between Burnside and Washington caused some delays, which Lee took advantage of. Lee entrenched his forces on Marye's Heights. On the top he had his artillery and below guarding the base Lee had his troops, again, entrenched behind a long running "wall".

Reportedly, with Burnside in telegraph communications with Lincoln, Burnside was determined to advance across a wide battlefield and crush Lee's defending army. Between 10 am and 5 pm, Burnside launched 12 types of frontal assaults against thousands of Confederates and their artillery.

It was a serious defeat for the North.