
Why the Confederacy Lost
Throughout history many historians have tried to put their finger on the exact reason for the Confederacy losing the war. Some historians blame the head of the confederacy Jefferson Davis, however others believe that it was the shear numbers of the Northern army that won out. Yet others have blamed almost every general that the Confederacy had, according to James M. McPherson:
Among them Robert E. Lee himself for mismanagement, overconfidence, and poor judgment; Jeb Stuart for riding off an a raid around the Union army and losing contact with his own army, leaving Lee blind in the enemy’s country; Richard Ewell and Jubal Early for failing to attack Cemetery Hill on the afternoon of July 1st and again for tardiness in attacking on the 2nd; and above all, James Longstreet for lack of cooperation, promptness, and vigor in the assaults of July 2nd and 3rd.(P.19).
Hopefully, this paper will shed some light on the true reasons for the Confederacy losing the war.
There are two categories that interpretations can fall under, one is internal- internal is looking only at the south, what they did right and what they did wrong. The next one is external-external is looking at both the North and the South, seeing the problems and the successes of both sides. For and example of an external explanation, when Pickett was asked what he thought was the reason for the Confederacy losing the Battle of Gettysburg he said, “ I’ve always thought the Yankees had something to do with it” (19). 
The idea that the Yankees had way too many resources, has long been an explanation for the reason of the Confederacy losing the war. When Robert E. Lee gave his farewell address at Appomattox he said to his soldiers, “ The Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources” (20). That statement was very important to the South because, it allowed them, and still allows them to keep pride in their efforts as fighters during the war. It tells that they lost not due to the fact that they could not fight, but because they were outnumbered and out gunned.
The African American support on the Northern side was a large help and a huge hindering for the South. At the beginning of the war even Northern soldiers were slightly apprehensive about letting black soldiers fight for the North. A Connecticut infantry man was asked what he thought about blacks fighting for the North and he said “I think drove of hogs would do better brought down here for we could eat them and nigers we can’t” (148). As the war was dragging on and on many of the minds of the soldiers changed, they wanted any advantage that they could get to win the war. When Lincoln created the Emancipation Proclamation the North rejoiced. The Emancipation created a boost to the moral and support in the North because people were riding so high on the Emancipation. This not only hurt the South from the point that the North had a new boost in moral it also hurt in foreign support. The South had been seeking support from Great Britain and France, however both of them were highly against slavery, and when Lincoln abolished it and the South still wanted it both of the powerhouse countries decided that they did not want to help. The black effort in the war showed to be a great asset and one of the large deciding factors in the Northern victory.
Many have argued that the Northern army defeated the Southern army because of the superior army, and especially the efforts of the generals on the Northern side. A new style of fighting came out of this war; it was adapted from the French Revolutions and Napoleon. “Napoleonic strategy depended on rapid maneuvers with armies dispersing to move quickly or to find, confuse, or engage the enemy; concentrated. Much of this power of maneuver depended on the division, a unit of 3,000 to 8,000 man, able to fight independently because it usually included artillery, cavalry as well as infantry” (50-52). The army’s objective was to take and to make sure that they were able to hold onto enemy territory. This style of fighting proved to be a great military advance in the Civil War.
The leaders of both sides, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were criticized at one time or another. Rarely are you going to find a historian that does not to some sort blame Jefferson for the defeat. Lincoln was looked at as doing a lot more good things then bad. As stated earlier the Emancipation Proclamation was one of the greatest things that came out of the war.
In my opinion this book was a good one to read to get a perspective on what both the South and the North did correct as well and wrong. It is hard to put your finger exactly on what caused the Southern defeat, it was many things that added up to be a big thing. I feel that James M. McPherson said it the best when he wrote:
To understand why the South lost, in the end, we must turn from large generalizations that imply inevitability and study instead the contingency that hung over each military campaign, each battle, each election, each decision during the war. When we comprehend what happened in these events, how it happened, why it happened, and what its consequences were, then we will be on our way toward answering the question: why did the Confederacy lose the war?(42)
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