What advantage was the Confederacy missing that might have turned the war in its favor?
1 Answer
Man power.
Explanation:
The confederacy was in a catch 22. The confederacy might have won the their independence if the south had made use of the man power of the African American slave population. At least one confederate general advocated the use of the African American in his army.
The employment of African Americans in the war effort would have effectively freed the slaves. The catch 22 is that the war for many southerns was not only for independence but to preserve slavery. The south had a choice independence and end slavery or keep slavery and lose their war of independence.
The south had legitimate reasons for wanting independence from the north. The tariffs imposed by the northern dominated federal government were always for the benefit of the industrial north, and for the detriment of the agricultural south. Tax money collected from the south was used to build roads and railroads in the north. Western expansion was engineered to favor the north.
This legitimate reasons were not as strong as the desire to preserve slavery and the caste social system of the south. So out of fear of armed former slaves and fear of losing their beloved slave system the south refused to use the man power available and necessary to win their independence from what they saw as the abuses of the north.
