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Many Northerners felt confident of a quick victory. In 1861,
the Union states had 22.5 million people, compared to just 9 million
in the Confederate states (including 3.7 million slaves). Not
only did the Union have more manpower, it also had a larger navy,
a more developed railroad system, and a stronger manufacturing
base. The North had 1.3 million industrial workers, compared to
the South's 110,000. Northern factories manufactured nine times
as many industrial goods as the South; seventeen times as many
cotton and woolen goods; thirty times as many boots and shoes;
twenty times as much pig iron; twenty-four times as many railroad
locomotives; and 33 times as many firearms.
But Confederates also felt confident. For one thing, the Confederacy
had only to wage a defensive war and wait for northern morale
to erode. In contrast, the Union had to conquer and control the
Confederacy's 750,000 square miles of territory. Further, the
Confederate army seemed superior to that of the Union. More Southerners
had attended West Point or other military academies, had served
as army officers, and had experience using firearms and horses.
At the beginning of 1861, the U.S. army consisted of only 16,000
men, most of whom served on the frontier fighting Indians. History,
too, seemed to be on the South's side. Before the Civil War, most
nations that had fought for independence, including, of course,
the United States, had won their struggle. A school textbook epitomized
southern confidence: "If one Confederate soldier can whip
seven Yankees," it asked, "how many soldiers can whip
49 Yanks?"
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