Reading log mc pherson

RaeAnne SmithHL History of the AmericasSoule: Period 38 November 2011

McPherson Reading Log

Part 1: MLA Citation

McPherson, James. "American Victory, American Defeat;" Why the Confederacy Lost. Ed.

Gabor Boritt. New York: Oxford Press, 1992. Print.

Part 2: Major Thesis

McPherson's main thesis is that the will of the northern and southern people was a result of

military victory. His first argument is that the first turning point of the war was in 1862 when the

Union stopped Confederate invaders at Antietam and Perryville. The second major turning point

McPherson argues was in the summer of 1863 when the Union was experiencing defeats at

Fredericksburg and Charlottesville. The final turning point of the war was the battle of

Gettysburg and the capture of Vicksburg.

Part 3: Supporting Evidence

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I. Most interpretations on the topic of the Civil War and why one side lost, while the other won

are broken into two focuses, that being on the Confederacy with the question of "Why the South

Lost" or being on the North with the question "Why the North Won."

A. Internal interpretations focus on the Confederacy

B. External interpretations focus on the Union.

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I. An example of the internal explanation for why the South lost can be seen in the battle of

Gettysburg.

A. Historians blame the Confederate Generals for losing this battle for the Confederacy.

1. Robert E. Lee for mismanagement, overconfidence, and poor judgment

2. Jeb Stuart for riding off on a raid around the Union army and losing contact

with his own army.

3. Richard Ewell and Jubal Early for failing to attack Cemetery Hill on the

afternoon of July 1st and again for tardiness in attacking on the 2nd.

4. James Longstreet for lack of cooperation, promptness and vigor in the assaults

of July 2nd and 3rd.

II. Another interpretation is that the North had more numbers and resources than the South.

A. This interpretation allows the South to preserve their pride in the courage and skill of

Confederate soldiers.

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I. The North's population was two and a half times that of the South, three times its railroad

capacity and nine times its industrial production.

A. This interpretation credits the South's courage and skill, but does not credit their

intelligence, and thus many people began to reject this interpretation.

B. There are several examples of the side with lesser numbers and resources won.

1. An example is the Revolutionary war. Britain had more skill and resources than

the colonists, yet the colonists won.

2. Other examples include the Netherlands and Spain in 1861, Greece and the

Ottoman Empire in the 1820s.

C. The Confederacy waged a strategically defensive war to protect its territory from

conquest and preserve its armies from annihilation.

1. To win this war, the Confederates only needed to hold out long enough to force

the North to the conclusion that the price of conquering the South was too high.

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I. General Joseph Johnston argued that the South undertook a war without the means of waging it

successfully.

A. Beauregard stated that "No people ever warred for independence with more relative

advantages than the Confederates." and that he believed that they blamed the poor

leadership of Davis for their defeat to divert the blame from themselves.

B. The North had to conquer vast stretches of southern territory, cripple southern

resources and destroy their fighting power. Thus, the superior manpower and resources

was necessary but not sufficient for winning the war.

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I. Another internal conflict thesis is that the Confederacy lost because it was plagued by dissent

and divisions.

A. Author Frank Owsley argued that the force of states' rights fatally handicapped the

efforts of the central government and of the army to mobilize men and resources for the

war.

1. Owsley accuses governors Brown and Vance for obstructive policies, of

withholding men and arms from the Confederate army to build up their

state militias, and of debilitating political warfare against the Jefferson Davis

administration.

B. The states' rights thesis focuses on the resistance by many Southerners, including some

national leaders.

1. Vice President Stephens went to such measures as conscription, certain taxes,

suspension of habeas corpus and martial law.

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2. This opposition crippled the army's ability to fill its ranks, obtain food and

supplies, and stem desertions, according to this interpretation. It hindered

the government's capability to crack down on antiwar activists who divided

the Southern people.

I. Three flaws exist in this internal conflict thesis

1. Evidence has suggested that the Confederate war effort of states-rights

sentiment has been exaggerated. Although some leaders did criticize the

president's leadership, they took initiative in areas of mobilization

including raising regiments, equipping them with arms and uniforms,

providing help of for the families of soldiers, organizing war production, supply

and transportation, building costal defenses, etc. The Confederacy enacted

conscription a year before the Union and raised a larger portion of its

troops by drafting than the Union. The Confederacy suppressed unionists more

ruthlessly than did the North

2. The second flaw is the "fallacy of reversibility." This means that if the North

had lost the war, the same thesis of internal conflict could be used to

explain the Northern defeat. There was bitter division in the North over

conscription, taxes, suspension of habeas corpus, martial law and the

emancipation of the slaves as a war aim. The opposition in the North may

have been more powerful and effective in the North than in the South

3. Americans during the Revolutionary War in 1776 were more divided than they

were in the Confederacy in 1861 but the United States won its

independence from Britain, but the Confederacy did not

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I. Another interpretation was the "internal alienation" thesis.

A. Two large groups were alienated from the war effort in the Confederacy: the

non-slaveholding whites and slaves. Non-slaveholders made up two thirds of the

Confederacy's white population and many of them opposed secession in 1861.

B. They formed enclaves of unionism in Western Virginia, creating a new Union

state and in east Tennessee where they carried out guerilla operations against the

Confederacy.

C. Other non-slaveholding whites who supported the Confederacy became

alienated because of inflation, shortages of food and salt, high taxes, and a

growing conviction that they were risking their lives and property in a war to

defend slavery.

1.Bread riots occurred in parts of the South in 1863 and many soldiers left

the army to return home and support their families.

E. Slaves were essential to the Confederate work force.

1.They allowed for 3/4 of white men to join the military while the slaves

stayed to contribute to the war effort.

2. Many slaves believed that a Northern victory would bring them

freedom so thousands of slaves escaped to the Union and were used for

labor and eventually military manpower for the Union.

a. This affected the Confederate manpower because many white

men returned home or did not join the army so they could

stay home to control their increasingly restless slave population

II. There are also flaws with this thesis:

A. The American population during the Revolutionary War most likely had

greater alienated elements than the Confederacy during the Civil War. During the

Revolutionary War, slaves ran away to the British and Loyalist whites weakened

the American cause more than the non-slaveholding whites in the South during

the Civil War

B. The fallacy of reversibility is also a flaw to the internal alienation argument.

1. There were large amounts of people in the North were who alienated

from the Lincoln administration's war policy.

a. One third of the border state whites supported the Confederacy

and many others were only lukewarm unionists.

b. There also existed guerrilla warfare behind Union lines in pro-

Confederate areas.

c. In free states, the Democratic party denounced conscription,

emancipation, certain war taxes, the suspension of habeas

corpus, and other measures to mobilize men and resources.

2. The Democrats attempted to cripple the Lincoln administration.

a. While the South had bread riots, the Union had draft riots, which

were arguably more violent and threatening, soldiers deserted both

the Confederate and Union armies, the South had slaves

who wanted Yankee victory, while the North had Democrats

and border-state unionists who opposed emancipation, etc.

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I. Another internal interpretation is the "lack of will" thesis.

A. A thesis by southerner, E. Merton Coulter, in his book The Confederate States of

America states that the South lost the war because "people did not will hard enough and

long enough to win."

1. The Confederacy lacked a strong sense of nationalism since the Confederacy

did not exist long enough to establish a deep-rooted political and cultural

tradition.

a. The Confederate national flag was red, white and blue with an

arrangement of stars and stripes like the American flag.

b. Confederate money and postage stamps had the portraits of

Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and other

American heroes.

c. Many Southern whites also felt guilty about fighting a war to preserve

slavery.

d. The Confederates were religious and believed that God was on their

side.

II. Flaws exist with this thesis:

A. The Confederates regarded themselves as the true heirs of American nationalism with

the ideals of the founding fathers in 1776 and that the Northerners were the ones

who repudiated those ideals.

B. The Confederates felt that they were forming a new government that would conserve

the heritage of the old America

C. Confederate nationalism was perhaps stronger than that of the Union.

1. Letters and diaries from Southerners expressed fierce patriotism and more

passionate dedication than the Union

D. Although some people felt guilty about fighting a war to preserve slavery, there were

far more quotations saying that the institution was positive and the best labor system.

E. With huge casualties and losses, the Confederates began to question whether God was

on their side after all.

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I. The next thesis is that the North had more superior leadership than the South.

A. The North arguably had better generalship.

1. by 1864, the North had generals including Grant, Sherman and Sheridan who

had emerged to top commands and had a firm grasp of the need for

coordinated offenses, a concept of the total-war strategy, the skill to carry out

the strategy and the relentless and even ruthless determination to keep

pressing despite high cost in casualties.

2. The South had brilliant leaders as well such as Lee, Jackson and Forrest but the

South had no generals who rose to the level of overall strategic genius

demonstrated by Grant and Sherman.

B. The second category of leadership was management of supplies and logistics.

1. By 1862, the North had a group of top and middle level managers who

organized the northern economy and the logistical flow of supplies and

transportation to the Union armies with unprecedented efficiency.

a. The South could not match the northern skill in organization nor did the

south manage its economy as well as the North.

2. The Union had a system of taxation, loans and treasury notes to finance the war

without unreasonable inflation,

b. the Confederacy relied mostly on fiat money and suffered a

crippling 9000 percent inflation.

C. The third category of leadership was the Executive leader.

1. Lincoln proved to be a better leader than Davis. Lincoln was more

successful in communicating with the people, more skillful as a political

leader in keeping factions working together for the war effort,

better able to endure criticism and work with his critics to achieve a

common goal, he was flexible, pragmatic, and had a sense of humor.

2.He had chosen good administration and he knew how to delegate authority to

them.

3. Davis was austere, rigid, humorless, he suffered ill health and was frequently

prostrated by sickness. Davis had feuds with two of the Confederate

generals, Joseph Johnson and Beauregard.

II. Flaws exist with this thesis as well.

A. Although the Union did have many good leaders, it had very poor leaders as well such

as McClellan, Pope, Burnside, and Hooker who nearly lost the war to the Confederates in

1862-1863.

Part 4: Values and Limitations

Origin: James McPherson published his book, "American Victory, American Defeat" in 1992 by

Oxford University Press.

Purpose: McPherson's purpose in publishing "American Victory, American Defeat" was to

provide multiple theses on why the South lost the Civil War and why the North won. He

provides both support and flaws for all of the possible interpretations. He also writes about his

own personal thesis, which is that the will of the northern and southern people was a result of

military victory.

Values: McPherson is a prominent Civil War historian. He received his PhD from John Hopkins

University. He then became a professor at Princeton University. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his

work, Battle Cry of Freedom. In 2003, he became the president of the American Historical

Association. He won a 100,000 dollar prize for his skill in military history writing. All of these

accomplishments of McPherson give him good qualifications as a historian. In "American

Victory, American Defeat" McPherson does an excellent job of providing both the evidence and

flaws for many different interpretations. Noting the flaws as well as evidence prevents bias in his

work.

Limitations: McPherson was criticized by some Southern societies for being biased in a

comment he made in the Sons of Confederate Veterans. McPherson also published his book 19

years ago. This time span gives room for new interpretations and opinions on why the South lost

the Civil War and why the North won.

Part 5: Essay Outline

IB Question: Why did the North win the Civil War?

Introduction:

Background 3-4 sentences.

The Civil War in America was fought between the North and Southern factions of the United States from 1860-1865. It appeared from the very beginning that the North would surely win the war. They eventually did just this. The North had superior leadership in areas such as generalship and superior executive leader. The North had more resources and manpower as well. These, along with other factors, led the Union to win the war against the Confederacy and restore the Union.

Thesis Sentence

The North was able to win the Civil War with its superior generalship, ability to manage supplies and logistics, and superior executive leader, Abraham Lincoln.

Body Paragraph One

Topic Sentence The North had superior generalship.

Introduce Grant, Sheridan and Sherman were a group of top commanders that

Argument #1 had a firm grasp of the need for coordinated offenses in all theatres.

Specific supporting evidence

Grant won the first major battle for the Union at Shiloh, Tennessee in 1862.

Explanation of evidence – WHY does the evidence provided explicitly help prove the argument (connect to the topic sentence)

Many of the battles prior to this had been lost by McClellan, but Grant was able to bring the Union to its first victory. This lifted the spirits of the Union and demonstrated the military power of the Union through Grant.

Introduce Argument #2

These three military geniuses furthermore had the skill to carry out strategy.


Grant chases Lee around Virginia in 1865. He captures Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. Grant forces Lee to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia in 1865.


With Grant's military genius and skills, he is able to force Confederate general, Lee to surrender, bringing the Civil War to an end.


Grant, Sherman and Sheridan had ruthless determination to keep pressing forward despite a high cost in casualties until the South surrendered unconditionally.


Sherman led Union troops to Atlanta in 1864. They burned the city and then headed to Savannah burning everything in sight. "Sherman's March."


Sherman used this strategy of "total war" to inflict a psychological effect on the Confederates. This shocked the Confederates as he attacked the civilian population as well. His tactics, although brutal, proved to the Confederates, as well as the Union that he would go to extreme measures to win the war.

Conclusion With the superior leadership of Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, the Union was eventually able to bring Lee to surrender, ending the war in 1865.

Body Paragraph Two

Topic Sentence The North also had superior management of supplies and logistics.


By 1862, the Union had a group of top and middle class managers.


These managers organized the northern economy and the logistical flow of supplies and transported the Union armies with unprecedented efficiency.


With an organized flow of supplies, soldiers of the Union armies could quickly and efficiently receive much needed supplies, enabling them to be prepared to fight.

Introduce The Union better organized its economy.

Argument #2


The Union had a balanced system of taxation, loans and treasury notes to finance the war without unreasonable inflation.


This balanced system prevented the Union from acquiring nearly as much debt and inflation as the Confederacy, which had a 9000 percent inflation.

Conclusion With an organized group of officials managing the flow of supplies and managing the Union economy, the North was better prepared than the South.

Body Paragraph Three

Topic Sentence The leadership of Lincoln was superior and helped to bring the Union to win the war.


Lincoln was more successful in communication.


He more effectively expressed his war aims, and kept working factors together to support the war cause.

Explanation of evidence – WHY does the evidence

Because Lincoln could communicate with the people more effectively, he could keep the factions together and prevent severe divisions within the union.

provided explicitly help prove the argument (connect to the topic sentence)


Lincoln had a strong physical constitution.


Lincoln was healthy and was present at all necessary engagements. Davis on the other hand, was always sick and was not always present when needed.


Good health is important because as Lincoln is the leader of the Union, he should be present for all major decisions and be able to lead the people to win their support.


Lincoln chose good administrative subordinates.


Lincoln chose good administrative subordinates that he could delegate authority over and who did not frequently quarrel with him. Davis went through five secretaries in four years and spent too much time on administrative details that should have been left to subordinates.

Explanation of evidence – WHY does the evidence provided explicitly help prove the argument (connect to the

Lincoln had god administrators that allowed his job to be slightly easier because he did not have to put energy into arguing with them and looking for new administrators unlike Davis.

topic sentence)

Conclusion The superior leadership of Lincoln over Davis was significant in winning the Union the Civil War.

Conclusion Paragraph

Rephrase Thesis

With the superior generalship, managers of supplies and logistics and President, the Union was able to defeat the Confederacy and ultimately win the Civil War.

Other possibilities

The Union also had other advantages such as greater manpower and supplies.

Thoughts to Ponder / wider connections

Without the superior leadership in the North, the Union would have likely lost the war, the United states today could have been two separate countries.

Reading log mc pherson

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