Why Did the Union Win the Civil War?

Last week in class, we completed a scavenger hunt around the school to gather information about the battles of the Civil War. To prepare for the game, each student was assigned a battle and created a Google doc briefly summarizing their battle, listing the battle name, date, location, theater, and victor. Students then created a QR code to scan into the document to allow others to scan the code during the scavenger hunt. After racing through the school to scan into various documents, the class reviewed the information. As a class, we used Padlet to discuss the essential questions and various battles. I enjoyed last week’s lesson as I felt that it gave us an unusual hands-on experience and allowed us to combine the use of technology with a game to learn about historical battles of the Civil War.

During the Civil War, there were three theaters known as the Naval, Western, and Northern Theaters. These theaters were solely based on the location of the battle. The naval theater was primarily dominated by the Union as a result of the Confederates not having enough money or naval power. For example, the Battle of Ironclads in 1862 was held in the naval theater and resulted in a Union victory. This battle was between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. The CSS Virginia faced a defeat due to their short supply of ammunition and their fear of fighting during low tide. In the Northern Theater, the Confederates gained dominance. However, it was not until the latter part of the Civil War that the Confederates began to take control. The Confederates were able to gain dominance by the end of the war as a result of their strength and war tactics used on terrain. For example, during the Battle of Cold Harbor, the Union did not have a clear view of the Confederate positions due to the heavily wooded, uneven terrain. As a result, the Confederates were the ultimate victors. In the Western theater, the Union became the victors due to their insightful war strategies. For example, in the Battle of Shiloh, the Union surrounded the Confederates until they were forced to surrender, leading to a Union victory. Due to the Union victories in both the Western and Naval battles, the North was able to win the Civil War. Although the Union ended up being the overall victor of the war, the Confederates had their share of victories of battles and provided the Union with a worthy opponent.

Many of the results of these battles shared similar reasons for their outcomes. Often, the success or failure of military strategies determined the results of the battles. In the Battle of Bull Run, the Union military commander had overly complicated plans that were difficult for his troops to carry out, resulting in a Confederate victory. On the other hand, during the Appomattox Campaign, the Union army was able to defeat the Confederates by using responsive strategies. In this situation the Union army knew the Confederate army's intentions and beat them to Pittsylvania County where the Confederate soldiers planned on getting needed supplies.

Throughout the Civil War, the Union and Confederate armies used a variety of military tactics that resulted in both successes and failures. With strategic tactics and strength, the Union army was able to defeat the Confederates throughout a series of battles, resulting in a Northern triumph. After this week’s lesson and activity about theaters and battles of the Civil War, I have a much greater understanding about why the Union won the Civil War and how each opponent used various strategies to achieve successes.

F Block Padlet:

Union Victory- Civil War

Created with Padlet

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