Vicksburg and Gettysburg: Northern Advantages to win the Civil War

The battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg helped the North gain advantage in the Civil War. During the battle of Vicksburg, General Grant succeeded in splitting the Confederacy in two. He did this by laying siege on Vicksburg, Mississippi, where defeated two confederate armies. Five days after Vicksburg surrendered,before which they tried to fight off the Union for 6 weeks, the Union seized control of the Mississippi River. Grant was able to take about 31,000 prisoners, cut off Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas from the Confederacy, and he encouraged thousands of slaves to leave their plantations or demand wages.

The battle of Gettysburg was a Union victory also. During the 3 day battle, the confederates lost many soldiers. They had about 28,000 casualties, which is 1/3 of the Army of Northern Virginia, while General Meade, a Union Commander, had about 23,000 casualties. Mead allowed the Confederate army to escape, which made Lincoln furious because it made the war last longer.

These two battles were an advantage for the North because Southern armies wouldnt invade the North any longer and the Southern citizens began to criticize the south's military effort.

The battles also changed the political situation. In 1862, British shipbuilders supplied the Confederacy with the Alabama, a iron cruiser, but when news reached the British of the Union victories, the British government impounded the ships. The British also became more dependent on wheat from the Midwest, not cotton, and were against slavery.

Northern Advantages in the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation

There are a few reasons why the North won the Civil War. First, the North had better advantages than the South did. They had industrialization, such as the mills, and new technology, which the South didnt really have. Because the North had more industrialization, they also had a better advantage because they had more railroads. These two advantages also set up their other advantages. They had more economic wealth because of industrialization, and the railroads helped because merchants and farmers could send more supplies, such as livestock, wheat, and corn, to the army.

Another advantage that helped the North win the war is the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation stated that slavery would be abolished in all states that weren't in the Union. I think this helped the North to win the war because it helped to free some slaves, which some joined the Union army. The African Americans who joined the army changed the outlook of the white soldiers because of their determination. The battle in Fort Wagner, South Carolina by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry convinced Union officers of the value of having African Americans as soldiers. Lincoln said that without the African American soldiers, he would have abandoned the war withing 3 weeks. By 1865, there were 200,000 African Americans serving in the Union.

Reform Movements: Mormon

The textbook talks about how the Mormon movement started and I thought it was interesting how the book says that to enable Utah to become part of the Union, the citizens ratified a constitution that forever banned polygamy, but the state government has never strictly enforced this ban. But I've watched a show called Sister Wives that follows a polygamist family, the Brown family, who publicly announced that they were polygamist and how they were forced to move from Utah because they were polygamists and the husband could have gone to jail. I dont understand how the book says the law over polygamy isn't strictly enforced, when it actually is. I also dont see why people constantly are fighting over religious beliefs in the US even though everyone has the right to believe in what they want to believe and we also have freedom of speech and can say what we want about our religious beliefs as long as we don't force it on others. I think people and the government should leave families like the Brown family because they aren't doing anything wrong. The husband is a better father than a lot of fathers in the US because he takes care of his own children and loves them, while there many who dont even pay child support or ever see their child.