Did the Union or Confederacy Produce Better All-Around Soldiers?

lurid

First Sergeant
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
From my experience in the USMC, the south enlisted the most people but the north and Midwest produced more quality than quantity. I really don't know about the CW, except that maybe at the beginning the south might had the better quality soldier, but during the middle and end of the war it was the north. In all fairness to the south, a lot were conscripted and we all know a lot of times conscription constituted dissent. Subsequently, desertion was prevalent and it started to fall apart. It seemed like morale picked up momentum for the Union rank & file as the war progressed. Nevertheless, at the start of the war who had the better trained soldiers?
 
A whole division and part of another. Even the Yankee mules were steadier on that day.
And in the end you will note that it was the confederates who left the battlefield in Union hands. We can go on and on about this, but the farm boys in the Union, whipped the farm boys of the rebels.

Kevin Dally
 
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And in the end you will note that it was the confederates who left the battlefield in Union hands. We can go on and on about this, but the farm boys in the Union, whipped the farm boys of the rebels.

Kevin Dally
Two fresh Yankee corps rapidly approaching to reinforcing Sherman's already 3-to 1 army had something to do with that.
 
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Admiring them for trying to illegally break up the United States for slavery all the way to the bitter end? You might want to remember that.

Kevin Dally
I knew that was coming. The men I research, fourteen of them were at Fort Tyler and one was killed there. Not one of them ever owned a slave nor did their father ever own a slave. I admire their battle prowess, their dedication to duty. They were simply doing what they promised to do when they enlisted. Secession was not illegal thus not one was ever considered for prosecution for treason.
 
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I knew that was coming. The men I research, fourteen of them were at Fort Tyler and one was killed there. Not one of them ever owned a slave nor did their father ever own a slave. I admire their battle prowess, their dedication to duty. They were simply doing what they promised to do when they enlisted. Secession was not illegal thus not one was ever considered for prosecution for treason.
Nearly everything you said is wrong, they ALL fought for slavery. They made a bad promise to an illegal and bad cause.
They fought against the United States, Lincoln's policy saved them from treason trials. The Confederate soldiers deserve no thanks for their choices. We can give them credit for helping rebuild this Country afterwards, but those 4 years, they fought to tear it up.

It's time to accept those facts, not cover them over, and glorify them.

Kevin Dally
 
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Nearly everything you said is wrong, they ALL fought for slavery. They made a bad promise to an illegal and bad cause.
They fought against the United States, Lincoln's policy saved them from treason trials. The Confederate soldiers deserve no thanks for their choices. We can give them credit for helping rebuild this Country afterwards, but those 4 years, they fought to tear it up.

It's time to accept those facts, not cover them over, and glorify them.

Kevin Dally
The last 12 months of that war - all knew the South would never win. All knew the institution of slavery was over yet they still fought. No, all did not fight for the millionaires to keep their slaves. What a joke to say that. Those fourteen were not fighting for slavery. They fought because their homes hundreds of miles away were being looted and destroyed by Yankees. They fought because their homeland was invaded. I am into American military history and the Rebel soldiers of 1865 should be admired by all.
 
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Yet they ran in panic as late as Bentonville. The Union troops were better runners-- I grant you that.

Idon't remember

I am glad to hear you have familiarized yourself with the 1860 census, such a familiarization should come handy the next time you decide to cite "metrics" indicating the Confederates weren't that heavily out-numbered.
False analogy. Census numbers have nothing to do with how many Union soldiers are present for Duty at a given battlefield. Union troops has I have mentioned many time defeated Confederate troops on the offensive even when outnumbered.
Leftyhunter
 
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The last 12 months of that war - all knew the South would never win. All knew the institution of slavery was over yet they still fought. No, all did not fight for the millionaires to keep their slaves. What a joke to say that. Those fourteen were not fighting for slavery. They fought because their homes hundreds of miles away were being looted and destroyed by Yankees. They fought because their homeland was invaded. I am into American military history and the Rebel soldiers of 1865 should be admired by all.
Again everything you said is wrong. Not one of those fighting you talk about were for the blacks or slaves to have ANYTHING close to the equality THEY had! I have not found one Confederate soldier who desired to free the blacks and have them as equals. They were fighting to keep **** as it was, their whole social, and economic system was based on that fact. As far as their homes being "being looted and destroyed" they, and their sorry Government brought that on when they seceded, and fought the United States. And they did a poor job of defending their homes.
Sherman summed it up best:
You who, in the midst of peace and prosperity, have plunged a nation into war--dark and cruel war--who dared and badgered us to battle, insulted our flag, seized our arsenals and forts that were left in the honorable custody of peaceful ordnance-sergeants, seized and made "prisoners of war" the very garrisons sent to protect your people against negroes and Indians, long before any overt act was committed by the (to you) hated Lincoln Government; tried to force Kentucky and Missouri into rebellion, spite of themselves; falsified the vote of Louisiana; turned loose your privateers to plunder unarmed ships; expelled Union families by the thousands, burned their houses, and declared, by an act of your Congress, the confiscation of all debts due Northern men for goods had and received!”

I'm not admiring them for THAT, nor is a lot of other folk.

Kevin Dally
 
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There were many factors. Those I named are the primary factors.
104k white Union soldiers were Southerners and many were from the Confederate Army per " Lincoln's Loyalists Union Soldiers from the South" Richard Current North East University Press. That is a primary reason why the Confederacy lost. One hundred and eight thousand African American's in the USCT most of whom are Southerners is a primary reason why the Confederacy lost.
While the Confederacy was outmatched in industrial output nonetheless the Confederate Army was well equipped thanks to importing West European arms up until the fall of Wilmington,North Carolina.
Leftyhunter
 
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The last 12 months of that war - all knew the South would never win. All knew the institution of slavery was over yet they still fought. No, all did not fight for the millionaires to keep their slaves. What a joke to say that. Those fourteen were not fighting for slavery. They fought because their homes hundreds of miles away were being looted and destroyed by Yankees. They fought because their homeland was invaded. I am into American military history and the Rebel soldiers of 1865 should be admired by all.
30% of the white population in the south was not millionaires.
You did not need to be one to own a slave.
 
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I knew that was coming. The men I research, fourteen of them were at Fort Tyler and one was killed there. Not one of them ever owned a slave nor did their father ever own a slave. I admire their battle prowess, their dedication to duty. They were simply doing what they promised to do when they enlisted.
One can certainly admire their persistence, courage and loyalty to family and friends. One cannot admire the cause they fought for.
 
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Secession was not illegal thus not one was ever considered for prosecution for treason.
Although there is ample antebellum evidence that secession was unconstitutional and a post-war decision clearly establishing its illegality, there was enough uncertainty in 1860/61 to allow some to attempt secession. The Federal government did consider prosecuting Davis and others for treason but wisely chose not to.
 
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One can certainly admire their persistence, courage and loyalty to family and friends. One cannot admire the cause they fought for.
The same type of irreverent, individualistic, recklessly courageous soldiers, when backed by the industrial power of the US, were unbeatable in pursuit of a just cause, 75 years later. There was nothing lacking in courage and fighting skill. But the US in the Civil War had unlimited gunboats, millions of bls of oats, tons of hay, horses, mules, and the railroads to support them. The outcome was pre-determined as soon as the managers like Grant, Sherman, and Thomas took over. The Confederates could not do much about Foote, Farragut, and S. Phillips Lee. David Porter was going to win.
 
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