The Homefront And The Battlefront In The Civil War

When examining the role the homefront and the battlefront played during the Civil War, historians often make a glaring error by regarding the homefront and battlefront as independent entities. However, most battles took place on Southern soil, blurring the line between the Confederate homefront and the battlefield. To understand a war that split the country over regional differences, examining the impact the homefront had on the battlefront and exploring the ways these two environments overlapped and impacted each other is essential. Despite the Confederacy’s inferior resources, in the first years of the war, victory was possible. Yet, as the distinction between the homefront and battlefront blurred, the Confederacy’s ability to supply the military the resources required to sustain a war effort deteriorated. The Confederacy lost the war because its success was dependent on a limited resource supply that the homefront could not maintain on soils ravaged by the battles Northern armies brought to its home. The Confederacy’s agrarian economy contrasted with the Union’s industrial society in ways that ultimately became handicaps during the war. During the first half of the nineteenth century, while the North

If the Confederacy could successfully shift the conflict north, separating the homefront and battlefront, perhaps it had a chance at victory. Lee’s offensive strategy culminated with the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest conflict of the war. The Confederate forces suffered a major defeat by a larger Union army. Lee’s army retreated after losing 28,000 men, “more than a third of Lee’s army” (McPherson, 664). The Battle of Gettysburg would be the last battle during the Civil War fought on northern territory. For the south, with the retreat of Lee’s army to Virginia, the homefront and battlefront would remain