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What struggles did the North face at the start of the Civil War?
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At the start of the Civil War, the North faced internal opposition, mainly from Northern Democrats who opposed the war and favored compromise over conflict. This sentiment resulted in draft and race riots. Additionally, the North was unprepared and overconfident, lacking experienced military leadership as many skilled generals sided with the South. The North underestimated the South, expecting a quick victory, but instead faced the challenge of conquering Southern territory to end the war.
One of the struggles that the North had to contend with was that many people—mainly Northern Democrats—were dead set against the war. They felt that some kind of political compromise could've been achieved with the South on the fraught issue of slavery without the need for armed conflict. Though never more than a minority, Northern opponents of the war were nonetheless large enough and vocal enough to act as a constant thorn in the side of the Lincoln Administration.
As the Civil War dragged on, becoming ever more bloody in the process, anti-war sentiment in the North increased, leading to full-scale draft and race riots in Northern cities. Yet it's important to recognize that the attitudes which gave rise to these serious public disturbances were always there right from the start, bubbling away just beneath the surface.
The North faced some struggles at the beginning of the Civil...
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War. Two of these struggles were a lack of preparation for the war and overconfidence. Since most of the military schools were in the South, many of our better generals fought for the Confederacy. Our best general, Robert E. Lee, said he would fight for whatever side his home state of Virginia joined. When Virginia seceded, Lee fought for the South.
Most northerners believed this war would be a quick and easy victory for the Union. When the first battle was fought at Bull Run, many northerners went to watch the battle as if they were going on a picnic. They expected a decisive northern victory. When the South won the battle, these spectators had to scramble to get back to safe territory. The northerners completely underestimated the South. This wouldn’t be a quick and easy war.
The North also had to conquer the South to end the war. The South had to fight a defensive war and keep the North out of their land. The South didn’t have to invade the North. This presented more issues for the North to face from a military perspective.