An Unguaranteed Victory: Military Challenges in the Union Army and Lincoln’s Call for a Militia

Authors

Madelaine Setiawan, Lee University

Abstract

Many have assumed that the Union victory in the Civil War was guaranteed. This research paper looks at the challenges the Union army endured that interfered with the likelihood of a victory. Men who had previously fought for the Union retreated to fight for the Confederates, which necessitated President Lincoln to expand the Union army, by calling forth volunteers of 75,000 men. The Union’s advantage of having a larger federal army and national funding did not guarantee a Union victory as the challenges President Lincoln and the Union army faced proved an equal likelihood of a Confederate victory.

Many have assumed that the Union victory in the Civil War was guaranteed. This research paper looks at the challenges the Union army endured that interfered with the likelihood of a victory. Men who had previously fought for the Union retreated to fight for the Confederates, which necessitated President Lincoln to expand the Union army, by calling forth volunteers of 75,000 men. The Union’s advantage of having a larger federal army and national funding did not guarantee a Union victory as the challenges President Lincoln and the Union army faced proved an equal likelihood of a Confederate victory.

First Page

18

Last Page

26

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Setiawan, Madelaine (2020) "An Unguaranteed Victory: Military Challenges in the Union Army and Lincoln’s Call for a Militia," Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 2.
DOI: 10.20429/aujh.2020.100102
Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh/vol10/iss1/2