1. Test Your Knowledge: Answer Each Question T/F
Leading up to the Civil War, the South had 2 times as many people as the North.
More leaders from the Confederacy attended West Point than leaders from the Union.
Overall, Union leaders were more experienced than Confederate leaders.
The majority of Civil War battles were fought in the North.
One of the disadvantages of the South during the Civil War was its lack of agricultural diversity.

2. Northern and Southern Advantages and Disadvantages During the Civil War

3. Population North Free: 21,909,269 Slave: 432,632 Total: 22,341,901
South
Free: 5,482,222
Slave: 3,521,150
Total: 9,003,372

4. Number of Soldiers
North
South
2,100,000
1,064,000

5. Farming (Farmland by Value: Millions of Dollars)
51-150
Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut
Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, New Jersey
Tennessee
Kentucky
Indiana
Illinois
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Over 751
New York
Farming (Farmland by Value: Millions of Dollars)

6. Cotton Production

7. Industry/Manufacturing
Workers in Manufacturing
North
Proportion of Nation’s Manufacturing Workers
92% located in the North
8% located in the South
South

8. Manufacturing/Industry

9. Union Leaders Name West Point Graduate Class Rank Military Experience
Nathaniel P. Banks No
N/A
None
Don Carlos Buell
Yes 32
Mexican War
Ambrose B. Burnside 18
Benjamin f. Butler
Samuel R. Curtis 27
John C. Fremont
Ulysses S. Grant 21
George B. McClellan 2
Irvin McDowell 23
John Pope 17

10. Confederate Leaders Name West Point Graduate Class Rank
Military Experience
P.G.T. Beauregard
Yes 2
Mexican War
Braxton Bragg 5
Second Seminole War, Mexican War
Thomas J. Jackson 17
Albert S. Johnston 8
Black Hawk War, Texas War for Independence, Mexican War
Robert E. Lee
John B. Magruder 15
Earl C. Pemberton 27
Leonidas K. Polk
None

11. Railroad Lines

12. Telegraph Lines (Laid During the War)
North
South
15,000 miles
461 miles

13. Home-Field Advantage and Determination

14. Odds and Ends British elites sympathized with the South
If Britain took the South’s side, the North’s chance of winning went down considerably.
Southern slaves
Provided labor while white men fought the war.
North had more money to sustain a long war.
Had ¾ of the nation’s wealth.
South was a newly found country.
Did not have a professional, organized standing army and navy.
North was an established country.
The army and navy were already organized and ready for war.
North had more naval power.
Seized and blockaded many Southern ports.
This reduced the importation of goods the South needed for its war effort (this relates back to industry: the North had all it needed, the South did not).

15. Conclusion
“If the South and the North had the same population and the industrial output and the beginning of the war, there is little reason to believe that the Union could have defeated the Confederacy. Outnumbered and outgunned, however, the Confederacy found their ability to make war slowly whittled away by the Union. Many things could have happened to change this slow bleed type of warfare. If, for example, several of the key Confederate generals had remained loyal to the Union, the war might have been over much more quickly and not have been nearly as destructive. As it was, however, the strengths of both sides largely canceled out each other and resulted in a draw. The North had more resources that allowed them to continue the war longer than the South could, but only after a long, bloody fight.”

16. Test Your Knowledge: Answer Each Question T/F
Leading up to the Civil War, the South had 2 times as many people as the North.
More leaders from the Confederacy attended West Point than leaders from the Union.
Overall, Union leaders were more experienced than Confederate leaders.
The majority of Civil War battles were fought in the North.
One of the disadvantages of the South during the Civil War was its lack of agricultural diversity.

17. Newspaper Article Northern Perspective
The North and the South are on the verge of a possible civil war, and you are a newspaper reporter for the North. You are extremely interested in the tensions that have been mounting between the North and the South. So, over the past week, you have been conducting interviews and carrying out research to learn about the Northern and Southern advantages and disadvantages when it comes to fighting a war. Now, your research is complete, and you need to write an article for your newspaper to inform your readers about the main reasons why the North would defeat the South if the tensions in the United States result in civil war.

18. Newspaper Article Southern Perspective
The North and the South are on the verge of a possible civil war, and you are a newspaper reporter for the South. You are extremely interested in the tensions that have been mounting between the North and the South. So, over the past week, you have been conducting interviews and carrying out research to learn about the Northern and Southern advantages and disadvantages when it comes to fighting a war. Now, your research is complete, and you need to write an article for your newspaper to inform your readers about the main reasons why the South would defeat the North if the tensions in the United States result in civil war.