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Gen. Winfield Scott, old, crotchety, with bouts of gout, came up with the Anaconda Plan as the best way to defeat the rebellion. |
Part of a series on why the
By March 11, 1861, the new Constitution was approved and sent to the several states for ratification.
The States Rights concept was an integral part of the new Constitution. For example, the central government was forbidden to review the actions of individual state courts; it could not make internal improvements such as roads or harbors; the individual states were permitted to make agreements among themselves; and each state was allowed to maintain its own military force.
And thus, the new Confederate nation, well-intentioned and with a talented population, with enormous resources spread over a huge land mass, was doomed from the outset.
Under the guise of providing for more democracy and less central control, the new nation started without the most fundamental of all powers, that of a nation to defend itself. The South seemed to have all the attributes necessary to call itself a nation; they possessed a shared sense of a common destiny--freedom from an oppressive government. They were politically organized and had a constitution. They certainly had clearly defined boundaries. They had a military--an early call for volunteers had more than 100,000 sign up and that was several times more than the Union government army--and seemed able to defend themselves, but these volunteers all had allegiances to their individual states as opposed to a "national entity. "
This was best represented by Col. Robert E. Lee, considered the best young officer in the Federal Army. When the situation became critical and it looked as if there would be war between the seceded Southern states and the Union, Lee was offered command of the Union Army. He told a friend, "I must side either with or against my section. I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children."
He even told Gen. Winfield Scott, Mexican War hero and the then general in chief of the Army, "Save in defense of my native state, I never again desire to draw my sword." Lee had no "national" sense, nor was this feeling general in the South. The state was the important entity.
In addition, "democracy" was the general concept among most who lived in the South. Each man considered himself the equal of any other, and discipline, the bedrock of all armies, was a sometime thing. Southern recruits adopted some very democratic precepts during their military service, and often decided for themselves which orders they would follow. They even determined their own length of service, and frequently walked away following a battle during which they thought they had fought enough.
As dangerous as the free-thinking person was to military discipline, the individual states were a severe problem to the Confederacy all during its life. The Constitution said that each state could maintain its own military force, and some governors used this law to their own local advantage. Notorious among the states was Georgia and its governor, Joseph Brown. He considered his paramount duty to be the protection of the state, rather than providing soldiers for the common good.
This was totally contrary to the needs of the nation during wartime, where the common goal must be the preservation of the nation. But Gov. Brown was rigid at a time when the more practical policy should have been understanding that his battles with Richmond could be fought only if the war was won. He opposed every measure from Richmond that threatened his power as governor. He fought Richmond on its tax laws; on conscription; he fought for his right to name state militia officers. He especially opposed the use of troops from Georgia when ordered to duty far from the state--he considered that their main duty was the defense of Georgia.
And all his actions were legal. It was all part of the "states rights" laws, part of the Confederate Constitution. These laws were terribly conceived, and ultimately fatal for a nation plunged into war almost before the ink was dry on the piece of paper that made it a nation. What really happened is that Southern laws made it very difficult (some researchers claim it was almost impossible) to manage a war. In a war, a chief executive must have the power to act; but President Jefferson Davis not only was committed to an open society, he did not have the power to act..
For example, during the war, North Carolina held an election for governor, and one candidate wanted to maintain the war effort and the other candidate wanted to end North Carolina's role in the war and make a separate peace. President Davis refused comment either way, and let the election take its course. It seemed to make no difference to Davis who won. The result was anarchy, the very antithesis of how government should function, especially during a war for survival. A detached president: This is another reason why the South lost the Civil War.
Reasons for losing My thanks to all who sent in their own reasons for why the Confederacy lost the Civil War, and I am impressed with how thoughtful all the replies were. Gene Thommen of Bedford wrote, "I would say that the 7th over-all concept [for losing the war] would be the railroads. The ability to move troops and supplies played a vital role in the war. Also, in some cases, the difference in gauges was a factor."A very valid reason, and from the start of the fighting, the South operated under a severe transportation handicap. There were some 31,000 miles of rails in the United States when the war began; about 22,000 of them were in the North, which had woven an integrated rail system into its industrial revolution base. There were four rail lines that ran from major East Coast cities to the Mississippi River, with dozens of north-south lines so that the whole transport network was interconnected. Basically, all gauges were the same.
The South had about 9,000 miles of rail lines, and most of them ran from the interior to the nearest seaport. They were of different gauges, and few lines were connected. It took Jefferson Davis six days of train travel to get from his plantation on the Mississippi to Montgomery to accept the nomination as president of the Confederate States of America. There was no rail line from New Orleans to Mobile. The rail line north from New Orleans stopped at Columbus, Ky.--there was no connection with Cairo, Ill., a scant 20 miles away, which would have opened the Union rail system to the South.
Further, the Confederate rail system had almost no repair and maintenance facilities--prior to the war, it had all been done by Northern suppliers. Heavier than normal usage under wartime conditions soon reduced the South to cannibalizing older cars and engines for parts; add to this the lack of factories to manufacture new rails and the South soon suffered from an inability to move either troops or goods.
No doubt--Thommen listed a real reason for the South to lose the Civil War.
NED HARRISON is a Greensboro, N.C., writer who specializes in military history. His columns about the Civil War appear regularly in North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia newspapers. He wants to hear your opinions about why the South lost the Civil War. Write Ned Harrison, News & Record/T&C. Box 20848, Greensboro, N.C. 27420. E-mail him at n-b-h@mind spring.com.
