According to Professor of History, Alan Farmer, in his article titled “Why Was the Confederacy Defeated,” despite being led by the famed General Lee, the Southern army suffered from a clear lack of strong leadership within its ranks (2005). Despite advantages in the South’s sheer land mass alone, many Southern generals failed to capitalize, with one even going so far as to surrender Southern lands to the Union without so much as a struggle (Farmer, 2005)! The South also failed to capitalize on several opportunities to draft slaves into service (Farmer, 2005), which would have greatly padded the numbers of armed soldiers fighting for the Confederacy, aiding in battle. Even following Southern victories like the one at the first battle of Manassas, Confederate leadership further stalled (Farmer, 2005), by not aggressing the Union further, again damaging morale, and with it, the Southern cause. Each of these lost opportunities at the hands of a weak leadership only served to further pushed the Confederate Army toward defeat by the
According to Professor of History, Alan Farmer, in his article titled “Why Was the Confederacy Defeated,” despite being led by the famed General Lee, the Southern army suffered from a clear lack of strong leadership within its ranks (2005). Despite advantages in the South’s sheer land mass alone, many Southern generals failed to capitalize, with one even going so far as to surrender Southern lands to the Union without so much as a struggle (Farmer, 2005)! The South also failed to capitalize on several opportunities to draft slaves into service (Farmer, 2005), which would have greatly padded the numbers of armed soldiers fighting for the Confederacy, aiding in battle. Even following Southern victories like the one at the first battle of Manassas, Confederate leadership further stalled (Farmer, 2005), by not aggressing the Union further, again damaging morale, and with it, the Southern cause. Each of these lost opportunities at the hands of a weak leadership only served to further pushed the Confederate Army toward defeat by the