The Civil War
Two economies, one battlefield map redrawn campaign by campaign, until Sherman and Grant made the war unwinnable for the South.
6 topics · 19 questions
Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.
The Union and the Confederacy Compared
- How it worksHow did the Union's naval blockade and the Confederacy's need for European cotton sales shape both sides' strategy.
- Worked exampleCompare the Union and the Confederacy by population, railroad mileage, and industrial output in 1861.
- Going furtherWhat happens to the Confederate economy once the Union blockade actually starts strangling cotton exports.
Your turn1 of 2
In 1861, the Union had a population of about 22 million while the Confederacy had about 9 million, including enslaved people. About how many times larger was the Union's population than the Confederacy's?The Anaconda Plan and the War's Early Battles
- How it worksShow me the Anaconda Plan squeezing the Confederacy with a naval blockade and control of the Mississippi River.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the Civil War's outcome something either side could reasonably predict after just one battle.
- How it worksWalk me through how the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861 shattered both sides' hopes for a quick war.
Your turn1 of 2
Union general Winfield Scott proposed a strategy nicknamed the Anaconda Plan rather than seeking one decisive early battle. How did it work?Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation
- How it worksShow me the single bloodiest day in American history unfold at Antietam on September 17, 1862.
- How it worksHow did the Emancipation Proclamation turn the Civil War into a fight over slavery on top of a fight over union?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't it true that the Emancipation Proclamation freed every enslaved person in the United States at once.
Your turn1 of 2
Lincoln had drafted the Emancipation Proclamation months before announcing it, but he waited for a Union battlefield win before making it public. He got that win at Antietam in September 1862. Why did he wait?Gettysburg and Vicksburg
- How it worksShow me Pickett's Charge failing at Gettysburg on the same days Grant's siege takes Vicksburg.
- Worked exampleTrace Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania and the roughly 51,000 combined casualties at Gettysburg over three days.
- How it worksWalk me through how Grant's siege of Vicksburg finally gave the Union control of the entire Mississippi River.
Your turn1 of 2
In the same week of July 1863, Union forces stopped Lee's invasion of the North at Gettysburg while Grant's siege forced Vicksburg's surrender far to the west. Why do historians call this week the turning point of the entire war?Sherman's March to the Sea
- How it worksHow did total war strategy target the Confederacy's ability to keep feeding and supplying its own army.
- Going furtherWhat happens to Southern civilian morale once an army marches through cutting a 60 mile wide path of destruction.
- Worked exampleShow me Sherman's roughly 300 mile march from a burning Atlanta to Savannah in late 1864.
Your turn1 of 2
After burning Atlanta, Sherman marched his army to Savannah, deliberately destroying farms, railroads, and factories along a 60-mile-wide path rather than chasing down Confederate armies to fight. Why did he treat destroying the South's ability to supply itself as being as important as beating its armies?Appomattox and the War's End
- How it worksShow me Grant's Overland Campaign pinning Lee's army down until it runs out of room to retreat by April 1865.
- Worked exampleTrace the Civil War's roughly 620,000 total deaths against the toll of every other American war combined.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the Confederate surrender at Appomattox the moment slavery legally ended everywhere in the country.
- Ties togetherHow does the war's end at Appomattox hand Congress the unanswered question Reconstruction has to solve next?
Your turn1 of 2
By April 1865, Grant's army had pinned Lee's forces down with no way to resupply or retreat. Lee chose to surrender formally at Appomattox rather than scatter his remaining forces to keep fighting as guerrillas. Why?