2.1-2.2 notes part 1

In the east, Northern forces were mobilized from December 1862 to July 1863 to capture Vicksburg, a crucial Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River.
A setback occurred at the Battle of Pickett's Mill on the Georgia-Tennessee border.
However, Union victory at Chattanooga in November 1863 allowed the North to control Tennessee and shift their offensive into Georgia in May 1864.

In August 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered his commander in the Shenandoah Valley, Phillip Sheridan:
- "Give the enemy no rest. Do all the damage to railroads and crops you can. Carry off stock of all descriptions, and negroes, so as to prevent further planting. If the war is to last another year, we want the Shenandoah valley to remain a barren waste."
- Scorched Earth Tactics: Employed in Sheridan's campaign, aimed to destroy local infrastructure to deprive the enemy of resources.
- This policy had devastating consequences for the civilian population.

General William Tecumseh Sherman led a similar total war strategy in Georgia and South Carolina.
Sherman's march from the Tennessee border through Georgia to Atlanta involved burning state capital buildings, operational supplies, and employing scorched earth tactics.
Sherman's army advanced into South and North Carolina, continuing the destruction and demoralization of Confederate support.

Grant took over at the general-in-chief level in March 1864, leading to a decisive conclusion with a contrast of static trench warfare in Virginia.
Petersburg fell in April 1865, leading to the swift end of the war.
The Civil War was prolonged and deadlier than anticipated, marked by the resourcefulness of the South under Lee's command and the North's initial struggles with leadership and strategy.

Lincoln served as the commander-in-chief and head of government, although he lacked military background.
Following the shelling of Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for a coastal blockade of Confederate states and requested 75,000 volunteer soldiers for a three-month enlistment, facing partial success.
Initially appointed General Winfield Scott as commander, who anticipated a prolonged conflict and designed a comprehensive long-term strategy known as the Anaconda Plan to strangle the South economically.

Jefferson Davis served both as president and commander-in-chief in the Confederacy, bolstered by experienced military officers from the US Army.
Confederate Congress authorized an army increase from 100,000 in March 1861 to over 480,000 by January 1864.

Southern tactics under Robert E. Lee focused on direct confrontation to defeat Union forces; pivotal battles included:
- Antietam (1862): First Northern victory, the bloodiest single-day battle.
- Gettysburg (1863): The furthest Southern advance into Union territory resulted in over 20,000 casualties on each side; the North's larger population allowed it to weather these losses more effectively.

Post-Gettysburg, the North shifted its strategy to minimize large-scale confrontations, focusing on resource control and territory occupation to exhaust Southern resistance without excessive engagement.
General Grant implemented aggressive continuous warfare against Lee's forces, leading to significant Northern casualties but ultimately achieving strategic dominance by late 1864.

Internal divisions affected the South more severely than the North due to factors such as states' rights and socio-political factions.
Davis’s leadership was scrutinized post-war, with failures in bonding efforts and strategic consistency compared to Lincoln's more adaptive and cohesive governance.

The North possessed a strategic advantage in economic resources, population, military production, and infrastructure, including superior railways for troop movement.
As enumerated:
- Population Dynamics: The North had a significant demographic edge, influencing war resources and manpower.
- Economic Disparities: Wealth generation was skewed more towards the North as industrial output soared, especially in war materials as the South lagged.
Meaningful support for Southern economies came from transitory cotton wealth but did not translate effectively into wartime resources as logistical challenges arose.

The Civil War's cost was estimated at 1.5 times the USA’s GDP in 1860, with governmental expenditures reaching significant levels for both North and South:
- Government expenditure:
  - Total (North/South): 3,362/$1,334 million
  - Direct Northern taxation vs. Southern counterparts showed a broader tax base in the North due to stronger financial infrastructure.
Southern attempts at economic adaptation faced systemic failures due to logistical hindrances and stubborn control measures yet still struggled with inflation and viability of support items.

Historical perspectives repeatedly cite the disparity in institutional capacity and resource management. The North's material and financial advantages shaped its capacity for sustained warfare compared to the Confederacy's challenges with internal divisions and logistical constraints.