USA HISTORY

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR(1861 1865)

CIVIL WAR TURNING POINTS

[SOURCES]
Why did the South rely on rivers for transportation during the Civil War?

(A) ** The South did not have as many railroads as the North

(B) The South had armored gunboats to patrol waterway

(C) The South wanted to build more key river forts

(D) The South’s economy was based on river transportation

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -Answer: The South relied on rivers for the transportation during the civil war because the South did not have as many railroads as the North.

Concept note-2: -Steamboats, which moved across rivers and a network of canals built in the first half of the century, were a cheaper and faster way to transport large amounts of supplies, humans, and animals. Railroads, which developed rapidly after 1830, were also widely used by the Union and the Confederacy military forces.

Concept note-3: -As armies traveled farther from railways, horses and mules also became more and more critical to logistics. Used to haul wagons and cannons, these animals were vital sources of transportation for men, food–both for themselves and the soldiers–and other supplies.

Concept note-4: -All-encompassing sectional differences on the issue of slavery, such as outright support/opposition of slavery, economic practices, religious practices, education, cultural differences, and political differences kept the North and South at near constant opposition to one another on the issue of slavery.

Concept note-5: -The North had an industrial economy, an economy focused on manufacturing, while the South had an agricultural economy, an economy focused on farming. Slaves worked on Southern plantations to farm crops, and Northerners would buy these crops to produce goods that they could sell.