What were the advantages that the union had at the beginning of the war to those of the confederacy?

Answer 1

At the beginning of the Civil War, railroads connected most of the union. They did not connect much of the Confederacy. The Union had more foundries and factories. The Union had far more farmland. The Union had more people. The war would occur in areas controlled by the Confederacy. Both sides saw this as an advantage at first. The Confederacy did not need to change anything. Union factories could change from civilian manufacture to making war materiel. Winchester in Connecticut could switch from making sewing machines to manufacturing rifles. The main advantage was potential rather than actual. While railroad tracks ran all over the Union States, they did not use a standard gage. To manufacture guns at in New England and ship them to Illinois, the railroad cars needed to be unloaded or have the wheels replaced. Then they could go on. The union would establish standard gage railroad track so freight could be loaded anywhere and sent anywhere else. That took time.

The Union had the Navy. Slowly it took port cities out of the picture. Thus, the Union had the ability to grind slowly away at the Confederacy.