On paper the North was far stronger than the South. It had two and a
             half times as many people, and it possessed far more ships, miles of
             railroad, and manufacturing enterprises. Southerners, however, had the
             advantage of fighting on home ground with better military leadership. But
             Union superiority in manpower was not so great as the gross figures suggest.
             Half a million people scattered from Dakota to California, could make no
             substantial contribution to Union strength. And every year Union regiments
             were sent to the West to fight Indians. Hundreds of thousands of Americans
             in loyal border states and in southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois worked
             or fought for southern independence. Though, every state furnished men for
             the other side, there was little doubt that more Federals than Confederates
             The South had superior officer personnel. For twenty years before
             Lincoln's inauguration, southern officers had dominated the U.S. Army.
             Another source of southern confidence was cotton. Secession leaders
             expected to exchange that staple for the foreign manufactured goods they
             The South's most important advantage was that it had only to defend
             relatively short interior lines against invaders who had to deal with long
             lines of communication and to attack a broad front. The Confederacy also
             had no need to divert fighting men to tasks such as garrisoning captured
             cities and holding conquered territory.
             In a short war, numerical superiority would not have made much of a
             difference. As the war continued, however, numerical strength became a
             psychological as well as a physical weapon. During the closing years of the
             conflict, Union armies, massed at last against critical strongholds,
             suffered terrible casualties but seemed to grow stronger with every defeat.
             Any staggering Confederate losses sapped the southern will to fight. Every
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