To Kill and To Heal: North vs. South

Excerpted from: illinois.gov

Despite their sharp philosophical and moral divisions over the expansion of slavery and the election of Abraham Lincoln, Northerners and Southerners actually shared some common practical background as the Civil War approached. Both sides had similar weapons and military training, as well as medical knowledge and education. They also shared a lack of preparedness for a long and costly war. Although more than 620,000 soldiers died during the Civil War, countless others were sick and wounded, yet survived. Providing appropriate medical care was a complex challenge for both sides.

While both the North and the South were inexperienced, ill-equipped and unprepared to fight a protracted war, the North had numerical and material advantages over the South before the Civil War began, including greater industrial capacity, a transportation network that integrated more than 22,000 miles of railroad track, canals and macadamized roads, and a population of 22 million
that was augmented by a steady influx of immigrants.

The South, in comparison, had only 9,000 miles of inefficient, deteriorating railroad track and an 1860 population of just over 9 million people, 38.7% of whom were slaves. In addition, the southern economy was based on agriculture (cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane) and used slave labor to produce those commodities.

Unlike plantation owners who grew cash crops, most southern farmers were subsistence-based.
With so many adult men engaged in fighting away from home, the South did not have the manpower
needed to produce sufficient foodstuffs and was unable to feed its military and civilian population
causing severe hardship. What the South lacked in resources, they hoped to obtain from Europe; but the Union blockade effectively closed southern seaports. Another disadvantage the South faced was that transportation of supplies, munitions and soldiers was inefficiently managed, and their financial and industrial infrastructure was underdeveloped. While the South had the raw ingredients necessary to support their military, the Confederates lacked the strategic organization and decisive political and military leadership to plan, coordinate and maintain the fight.

This combination of factors resulted in the Confederacy’s inability to sustain a prolonged war effort.

Posted in: Confederate medical