The Confederacy Dominated the Early Civil War. So Why Did It Ultimately Lose?

The Confederacy won the early battles of the Civil War, led by brilliant generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee (to name a few) against blundering Union commanders like the endlessly dithering George McClellan. The war only turned after Lincoln found the right generals such as Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. This Civil War narrative—that Union generals improved while Confederate ones worsened—is popular and well-supported. Is it accurate, or did circumstances of the war bring out the true character of each general?

The answer isn’t a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but Scott will do his best to explain what makes a Civil War general a good one and how they improved or worsened over the course of the war.