Civil War Turning Points Essay

The American Civil War was one of the devastating wars that the world and the newly formed country of the United States had ever seen. It was one of the bloodiest wars that the country would see, even into modern times of the twenty first century as well. There were many turning points to the war that helped turn the tide of the war in the favor of the North to win eventually. The war had more casualties than any other war the United States had ever been in, so that goes to show how much both the North and the South were willing to give up to win one of the most important wars in US history.

There were many battles that helped expose the advantages and disadvantages for both sides had during this costly war. The origins of the War Between

The generals that directed the war for both sides had a great effect on how the turning points were to come about during the latter parts of the Civil War. Lee of the South was bound to make more rash and direct decisions for his armies due to the lack of resources for his military, while Mcclellan was more of a strategist waiting for the opposition to make a move first most of the time (Donald 50). Also, many of the generals of the North had continued to grow, while the South stayed the same for the most part, which was eventually the downfall of the South when it came to the turning points of the war (Donald 53). This helped expose the lack of battle strategies for the South that helped them ultimately lose the war due to this turning point. The battle of Antietam showed the point of the war where the North was grasping the advantages it needed to start to turn the tides of the war in their favor. This battle was the one battle during the war that caused the most dead casualties for both sides during the course of the war (Mcpherson 309). Neither side statistically won this costly battle in the war, but this was more of a loss for the South than anything else that would have come from this disaster for them. The South was already wounded previously before this battle, but this was bound to put them over the edge in terms of lack of numbers and resources lost as well (Mcpherson 311). The North’s general Mcclellan was unable to take full advantage of the fact the South was wounded as a whole, but this did not stop him and his troops from finished the job further down the line in the course of the war. Abraham Lincoln, President of the North, wanted to enact the Emancipation proclamation, but McClellan and the North failed to conquer the injured South fully (Mcpherson 311).