Beginning of Essay
"In all history, no nation of mere agriculturists ever made successful war against a nation of mechanics. . . .You are bound to fail" -Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman to a Southern friend. The American antebellum South, though steeped in pride and raised ....

Middle of Essay
.... one-sided, with only nine of the nation's 31 million inhabitants residing in the seceding states (Angle 7). The Union also had large amounts of land available for growing food crops which served the dual purpose of providing food for its hungry soldiers and money for its ever-growing industries. The South, on the other hand, devoted most of what arable land it had exclusively to its main cash crop: cotton (Catton, The Coming Fury 38). Raw materials were almost entirely concentrated in Northern mines and refining industries. Railroads and telegraph lines, the veritable lifelines of any army, traced paths all across the Northern countrysi ....