Perceptions of Victory: The Civil War at the End of July 1863

The Battle of Gettysburg – American Civil War. – Full Documentary

Part 1: Setting the Scene and the Union Soldiers’ Take

I. Introduction

Setting the Stage: The Civil War in Summer 1863 (Contextual Background)

By the summer of 1863, the American Civil War had worn on for three grueling years, tearing the nation apart with a ferocity that few could have predicted. The conflict had sprawled across the Eastern and Western Theaters, leaving a trail of blood-soaked battlefields and weary soldiers in its wake. In the East, the Union’s Army of the Potomac and the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia had traded blows in brutal encounters—think Antietam or Fredericksburg—where the losses piled up, but neither side could claim a knockout punch. Out West, the Union had been grinding its way southward, eyeing the Mississippi River as the key to choking off Confederate supply lines. Then came July 1863, a month that felt like a pressure cooker ready to burst. The Confederacy, battered but defiant, rolled the dice on a bold second invasion of the North, hoping to tip the scales, maybe even convince Europe to throw them a lifeline. It was a gamble born of desperation—and it was about to collide with fate.

The Pivotal Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg

July 1863 wasn’t just another chapter in the war—it was the moment everything seemed to hinge on. Two battles, Gettysburg in Pennsylvania and Vicksburg in Mississippi, unfolded almost in tandem, and their outcomes would echo far beyond the smoke and gunfire. From July 1st to 3rd, General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia northward, aiming to rattle the Union’s cage, disrupt its supply chains, and sway Northerners tired of the endless fighting. But General George G. Meade and his Union troops stood their ground at Gettysburg, turning Lee’s grand plan into a three-day slugfest that left the Confederates limping back to Virginia, their ranks gutted. Meanwhile, down along the Mississippi, General Ulysses S. Grant had been hammering away at Vicksburg since May. After a grueling siege, the city waved the white flag on July 4th, handing the Union control of the river and slicing the Confederacy in half like a butcher’s cleaver. Historian James McPherson once called these twin victories “the hinge of fate” for the war—and it’s hard to argue with that.

The Battle of Gettysburg – American Civil War. – Documentary

Focus on Primary Source Analysis (Methodology)

To really get a feel for what people thought as the dust settled that July, this exploration turns to the raw voices of the time—letters scratched out by candlelight, diary pages stained with sweat, official reports dashed off in the heat of the moment. These scraps of paper, penned by soldiers and civilians on both sides, are like windows into their souls. They reveal not just the facts, but the hopes, fears, and gut instincts of those who lived through it. By digging into these firsthand accounts, we can piece together how folks made sense of the chaos swirling around them in the summer of ’63.

Report Objectives and Structure (Roadmap)

So, what’s the goal here? This report sets out to figure out who seemed to be holding the upper hand by the end of July 1863, based on what people wrote at the time. It’ll pinpoint the events and factors—battles won, losses mourned, rumors whispered—that shaped their views of victory or defeat. Did everyone see it the same way, or did perspectives splinter depending on where they stood? To get there, the journey starts with Union soldiers, moves to Northern civilians, then shifts south to Confederate troops and their Homefront kin. A final weave of all these threads will show why opinions clashed and what it all meant for the war’s bigger picture.

II. The Union Perspective

A. Union Military Assessments

Initial Reactions to Gettysburg: A “Thrashing” but with Heavy Losses

For the Union soldiers who staggered off the fields of Gettysburg, the taste of victory was bittersweet, laced with the sting of loss. Captain Waters Whipple Braman, scribbling a letter on July 5th, could barely contain his pride. He called it an “awful fight” where they’d handed the Confederates an “ever-lasting thrashing.” The rebels were on the run, he wrote, with the Union hot on their heels and some 8,000 prisoners in tow. But the cost? A staggering 25,000 casualties split between both sides, a number that weighed heavy on his mind. Lee even tried waving a white flag, Braman noted, only for Meade to brush it off—a sign of just how confident the Union felt.

Sergeant Calvin A. Haynes, writing a couple weeks later on July 19th, painted a grimmer picture. He’d survived what he called a “terrible battle,” dodging the roar of over 100 Confederate cannons and picking his way through a battlefield littered with the dead and dying. The scenes he described—wounded men left groaning in the open—stuck with him, a reminder that triumph came at a price. Sergeant John Inglis, jotting in his diary day by day, caught the chaos as it unfolded: 500 prisoners nabbed on July 1st, “bloody work” on the 2nd, and by the 4th, word of Vicksburg’s fall paired with Lee’s retreat. “They suffered very heavy,” he wrote of the Confederates, though he admitted, “our loss prety severe too.”

Corporal William Clark McLean, in a letter from July 12th, heard secondhand tales of rebel losses dwarfing their own, and he couldn’t help but notice how Union dead got proper burials while Confederate bodies were left to the elements—a small detail that, to him, screamed superiority. Private E.C. Strouss, camped amid Gettysburg’s carnage on July 4th, wasn’t sure who’d won that day, but he clung to hope: “This Battle will end the war,” he wrote, even as he mourned buddies lost from his company. Samuel Hodgman, on July 16th, recalled the thunder of cannon fire and the grit of soldiers who held the line, their refusal to budge sealing the win. Civil War expert Dr. Sarah Ellis, reflecting on these accounts, notes, “These men saw Gettysburg as a turning point—not just a win, but proof the Union could outlast the rebellion.”

Part 2: Union Triumphs, Tensions, and Civilian Hopes

II. The Union Perspective (Continued)

A. Union Military Assessments (Continued)

Lincoln’s Disappointment Despite Victory: The Missed Opportunity

Not everyone in the Union camp was ready to pop champagne after Gettysburg. President Abraham Lincoln, hunched over his desk on July 14th, 1863, poured his frustration into a letter he never sent to General Meade. He’d watched Lee’s army slip away, battered but intact, and it gnawed at him. “He was within your easy grasp,” Lincoln wrote, his words dripping with regret. To him, Meade had held a golden chance to smash the Confederates for good—especially with Vicksburg’s fall fresh in the air—and end the war right then. Instead, Meade hesitated, letting Lee’s men limp across the Potomac while the Union nursed its wounds. “The war will be prolonged indefinitely,” Lincoln lamented, his distress almost palpable.

Military historian Dr. Thomas Reid weighs in: “Lincoln wasn’t wrong to see a missed shot here. Meade had the numbers and the momentum, but caution won out over boldness.” For Lincoln, victory wasn’t just about holding ground—it was about crushing the rebellion’s spine. That clash of views, between a tactical win and a strategic what-could-have-been, showed how even a triumph could leave a bitter aftertaste among Union leaders.

Initial Reactions to Vicksburg: A “Big Thing” and a Strategic Gain

Out West, the mood was less complicated. When Vicksburg surrendered on July 4th, Union soldiers felt the ground shift beneath them—in a good way. Jerry Smith, scribbling from Jackson, Mississippi, on July 18th, couldn’t hide his glee. “It’s a big thing on Lee,” he wrote, grinning through his words as he tallied up the haul: 28,000 Confederate prisoners, plus 9,000 wounded or sick, all while his own regiment barely broke a sweat. The chase was already on for General Johnston’s ragged forces, a sign the Union wasn’t about to let up.

Capturing Vicksburg wasn’t just a win—it was a game-changer. With the Mississippi River now in Union hands, the Confederacy was split clean in two, its lifeline severed. “This was Grant’s masterpiece,” says Dr. Ellis, the Civil War scholar. “It didn’t just boost morale; it choked the South’s ability to fight on.” For the soldiers who’d slogged through the siege, it was proof they were finally wrestling control of the war’s direction.

B. Union Civilian Assessments

News of Victory and Hope for the War’s End

Up North, the twin victories lit a spark of hope among folks who’d grown weary of bad news. William H. Boyle, writing from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on July 5th, had seen Confederate raiders torch and plunder his valley before Gettysburg. His letter didn’t shout “victory,” but the fact he could sit and write it from a town no longer under rebel boots said plenty. It was a quiet relief, a sense that the tide had turned. Hugh Craig, penning a note to Jennie Warner on July 13th, was more direct. “I rejoice,” he told her, thrilled she’d dodged the “terrific battle” at Gettysburg unscathed. That he could reach her at all meant the danger had passed, and with it came a flicker of belief the end might be near.

Then there was Vicksburg. A special “wallpaper edition” of the Vicksburg Citizen, printed by Union troops on July 4th, crowed about the city’s fall and the Mississippi’s reopening. “The banner of the Union floats over Vicksburg,” it boasted, a line that must’ve hit Northerners like a shot of whiskey—warm, bold, and full of promise. Civilians clutched these scraps of good news, daring to imagine a finish line after years of uncertainty.

Awareness of Losses and the Horrors of Battle

But the cheering came with a catch. Word of Gettysburg’s carnage trickled back through soldiers’ letters and newspaper columns, and it wasn’t pretty. Sergeant Haynes’ tales of bodies strewn across the fields, some writhing in agony for days, painted a picture no one could unsee. Civilians in Gettysburg itself pitched in, tending the wounded and digging graves, their hands dirty with the war’s grim reality. “It was a victory, sure,” reflects Dr. Reid, “but the cost hit home—literally—for Northern communities.” That sobering truth tempered the jubilation, reminding everyone that even winning came with a butcher’s bill.

Impact of Economic Conditions and Political Developments

Still, life in the North had its bright spots. The Union’s economy was humming along, factories churning out goods while the South starved. That contrast wasn’t lost on civilians—it fed a quiet confidence they could outlast the rebels. “The North had the resources to keep going,” Dr. Ellis notes. “It’s why folks could look at these victories and see a light at the end.” But not everyone was on board. The New York City Draft Riots that same July showed the cracks—anger over conscription and emancipation boiled over into chaos. Some Northerners grumbled, doubting the war’s worth despite the wins. For most, though, the triumphs at Gettysburg and Vicksburg drowned out the noise, fueling a fragile but growing hope.

Part 3: The Confederate Struggle

III. The Confederate Perspective

A. Confederate Military Assessments

Gettysburg: A “Desperate Battle” and a Costly Retreat

For Confederate soldiers, the summer of 1863 turned into a bitter slog, and nowhere was that clearer than after Gettysburg. General Robert E. Lee, ever the stoic commander, sat down on July 8th to write President Jefferson Davis about the mess they’d just escaped. His army had taken a beating, he admitted—numbers down, men worn thin from the march and the fight. Yet he put on a brave face: “Its condition is good and its confidence unimpaired,” he insisted. The Potomac had swelled with rain, slowing their retreat, but Lee swore he’d stand and fight if the Union came knocking. He even pitched a new plan—shift forces to the Rappahannock under Beauregard—hinting at a regroup rather than a rout. Sure, the enemy got “much shattered,” he said, but he couldn’t dodge the truth: the Union could rebuild faster than they could.

Contrast that with George Franklin Robinson, a soldier licking his wounds in a convalescent camp. On July 18th, he wrote his wife a letter soaked in gloom. “I think our confederacy is gone up the spout,” he scrawled, no sugarcoating it. Gettysburg had cost them “20 thousand mens lives for a few cattle horses & wagons,” he reckoned, and the men around him were broken—some wishing for death over another march. “You see the split right there,” says Dr. Sarah Ellis, the Civil War historian. “Lee’s trying to keep the machine running, but the rank-and-file? They’re feeling the weight of a lost cause.” That gap between the top brass and the grunts tells a story of a military teetering on the edge.

Vicksburg: A Significant Loss and a Blow to Morale

The fall of Vicksburg hit like a sledgehammer, even if the letters from late July don’t spell it out in real-time detail. On July 4th, the city caved after Grant’s relentless siege, and with it went the Mississippi River—the Confederacy’s artery. Cut off from its western states, the South was bleeding out, its supply lines strangled. “Vicksburg wasn’t just a loss; it was a gut punch to their whole strategy,” Dr. Thomas Reid explains. “Lee might’ve been licking his wounds up north, but down south, this was the real dagger.” Soldiers didn’t need a map to know what it meant—morale took a nosedive, and the war’s horizon darkened. The silence in the surviving records from late July speaks volumes; it’s as if the shock was too fresh to put into words.

B. Confederate Civilian Assessments

News of Defeat and Growing Despair

Back home, Confederate civilians reeled as the bad news rolled in. In Richmond, folks were piecing things together from Northern papers and wild rumors—no cheery dispatches from their own side to cling to. The Richmond Examiner captured the mood after Vicksburg’s surrender, calling it “not less astonishing than unpleasant.” A fortress they’d banked on as untouchable had crumbled, and the shock rippled through parlors and porches alike. One Vicksburg resident, writing in June during the siege, had bragged about grit and full bellies, scoffing at surrender talk. But by July 4th, that bravado was dust. “The disconnects heartbreaking,” Dr. Ellis reflects. “They built up this myth of invincibility, and when it fell, so did their hope.”

Gettysburg only piled on the misery. With Lee’s army staggering back, the lack of solid updates left room for dread to fester. Families scanned casualty lists, prayed for letters, and braced for the worst. “Information—or the lack of it—was a weapon,” Dr. Reid notes. “The Union crowed about victories; the South got silence or scraps from the enemy’s press.” By late July, despair was settling in like damp rot, eating away at whatever fight was left in the Homefront.

Impact of Economic Hardship and Social Discontent

Life in the Confederacy wasn’t just grim—it was grinding. By mid-1863, inflation had spiraled to a jaw-dropping 300% a year, turning money into kindling and essentials like bread or salt into luxuries. “People were starving while prices soared,” Dr. Ellis says. “It’s hard to cheer for a cause when you can’t feed your kids.” The shortages sparked desperation—think Richmond’s bread riots in April, where women stormed shops with hatchets, begging for food. That unrest didn’t fade; it simmered into July, a sign the social fabric was fraying.

Worse, the war’s burden seemed to spare the rich and crush the people with low income. Laws letting slaveholders dodge taxes or the draft fueled a bitter resentment. “The little man’s carrying this fight,” Robinson’s letter hinted, echoing a growing chorus of anger. Between empty stomachs and a sense of betrayal, civilians started asking what they were even fighting for. “Economic collapse and class tension were as deadly as Union bullets,” Dr. Reid adds. By late July, the defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg weren’t just military—they were a mirror to a society cracking under the strain.

Part 4: Why They Saw It Differently

IV. Diverging Evaluations and Contributing Factors

Comparison of Factors Considered by Each Group

By the end of July 1863, the Union and Confederacy were staring at the same war through wildly different lenses. Union soldiers sized up their progress with hard proof—Gettysburg’s bloody triumph and Vicksburg’s strategic jackpot. Captain Braman’s pride in thrashing the rebels and Jerry Smith’s glee over bagging thousands of prisoners showed how battlefield wins and enemy losses fueled their confidence. For Northern civilians, it was simpler: headlines blaring victory and the Mississippi’s reopening painted a picture of progress. William Boyle’s relief in Chambersburg and that jubilant Vicksburg Citizen edition were lifelines of hope amid the grind.

Down South, things got murkier. Confederate brass like Lee tried to spin Gettysburg as a stumble, not a fall—his letter to Davis clung to talk of “good condition” and a “shattered” enemy. But soldiers like George Robinson saw through the gloss: 20,000 lives for a handful of wagons left them gutted and doubting. Civilians, meanwhile, weren’t tallying battlefield stats—they were choking on inflation, scrounging for salt, and reeling from Vicksburg’s collapse. The Richmond Examiner’s stunned dismay and the bread riots’ echoes told a story of despair, not defiance. “The Union measured success in ground gained,” says Dr. Sarah Ellis, “while the Confederacy was drowning in what they’d lost—land, men, and morale.”

Reasons for Diverging Evaluations

So why the gap? It boils down to a few raw truths. Information was king, and the Union had it in spades—swift, clear reports of their wins flooded Northern papers, boosting spirits. The South? They got rumors, delays, and half-truths from Lee’s camp, leaving folks grasping at shadows. “The Union could celebrate in real time,” Dr. Thomas Reid points out. “Confederates were stuck waiting, and bad news travels slow when you’re losing.”

Geography played its part too. Northerners watched the war from a distance, their towns mostly spared the torch and their pantries stocked by a humming economy. Southerners lived it—fields trampled, cities sieged, and inflation gnawing at every meal. “The South felt the war’s teeth,” Dr. Ellis notes, “while the North could cheer from the sidelines.” Then there were the stakes. For the Union, Gettysburg and Vicksburg were bricks in a wall to rebuild the nation; for the Confederacy, they were cracks in a dream of independence slipping away.

Morale sealed the deal. Union victories lit a fire under soldiers and civilians alike—think Strouss hoping Gettysburg would “end the war.” In the South, each loss doused what embers remained. Robinson’s “gone up the spout” wasn’t just one man’s cry—it was a whisper spreading through camps and kitchens. “Psychology matters,” Dr. Reid says. “Win big, and you believe you’ll keep winning. Lose big, and doubt creeps in like rot.”

Part 5: Who Held the Upper Hand—and Why

V. Synthesis and Conclusion

Overall Assessment of Who Appeared to Be Winning (Based on Primary Sources)

By the time July 1863 faded into memory, the Union looked like it was pulling ahead—and the voices from the time back that up. Gettysburg and Vicksburg weren’t just wins; they were thunderclaps that shifted the war’s rhythm. Union soldiers, like Captain Braman with his “ever-lasting thrashing” of the rebels or Jerry Smith crowing over Vicksburg’s haul, saw their side landing haymakers. Sure, Lincoln grumbled about Meade letting Lee slip away, but most in the ranks felt the tide turning. Civilians up North caught the fever too—William Boyle’s quiet relief and that triumphant Vicksburg Citizen edition fueled a belief the end might be in sight. “The Union’s one-two punch in July was a game-changer,” says Dr. Sarah Ellis. “It’s right there in their words—pride, hope, momentum.”

The Confederacy, though? Their story was unraveling. Lee’s letter to Davis tried to patch over Gettysburg’s wounds with talk of “confidence unimpaired,” but George Robinson’s despair—“our confederacy is gone up the spout”—cut closer to the bone. Civilians felt it too—the Richmond Examiner’s shock at Vicksburg’s fall and the grinding hunger back home painted a bleak picture. “The South was reeling,” Dr. Thomas Reid reflects. “You can hear the fight leaking out of them in those pages.” By late July, the Union’s star was rising, while the Confederacy’s flickered dim.

Key Factors Shaping Perceptions of Success

What tipped the scales? First, the Union’s battlefield wins were undeniable—Gettysburg stopped Lee cold, and Vicksburg carved the South in two. That river, now Union blue, wasn’t just a strategic coup; it was a lifeline severed for the rebels. Then there was the economic split: the North churned out goods while the South scraped by on 300% inflation and empty shelves. “Resources win wars,” Dr. Ellis notes, “and the Union had them in spades.” Morale followed suit—Northerners cheered their victories, while Southerners mourned their losses, each blow chipping away at resolve. Information flow sealed it: the Union basked in clear, quick news of triumph; the Confederacy stumbled through silence and scraps. “It’s a perfect storm of factors,” Dr. Reid says, “all pointing one way.”

Explanation of Diverging Evaluations

The split in how each side saw things wasn’t random—it grew from their roots. The Union fought to glue a nation back together, and July’s wins felt like stitches holding. For the Confederacy, every loss was a tear in their bid for a new country, and Gettysburg and Vicksburg ripped deep. The North’s bustling economy and steady news kept spirits up; the South’s shortages and rumors dragged them down. “They weren’t just fighting different wars—they were living different realities,” Dr. Ellis muses. That gap shaped every letter, every diary entry, turning the same July into a tale of triumph up North and tragedy down South.

The Turning Point of the War

July 1863 wasn’t just another month—it was the hinge everything swung on. Gettysburg and Vicksburg slammed the brakes on the Confederacy’s dreams, bleeding their strength and will, while the Union found its stride. The ink from that summer’s pens tells it plain: Northerners sensed victory creeping closer, Southerners felt it slipping away. “This was the moment the war’s end started to take shape,” Dr. Reid says. “Not finished, but foreshadowed.” By late July, the path was clearer than ever—and it was tilting hard toward the Union.

Works cited

1. Battle History | Gettysburg PA, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.gettysburgpa.gov/history/slideshows/battle-history
2. Civil War Timeline – Gettysburg – National Park Service, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/civil-war-timeline.htm
3. Gettysburg Battle Facts and Summary – American Battlefield Trust, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/gettysburg
4. Surrender (July 4) – Vicksburg National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service), accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/vicksurrender.htm
5. Siege – Vicksburg National Military Park, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/vick/print.html
6. Letters describing the Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg – NYS Library, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.nysl.nysed.gov/mssc/cwletters/index.html
7. Letter From Gettysburg Battlefield, July 4th, 1863: Union Soldier Hopes “This Battle Will End the War” – Shapell Manuscript Foundation, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/union-soldier-gettysburg-july-4-1863/
8. [Samuel Hodgman letter, July 16, 1863, United States Civil War …, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/civilwar1/USCW0027.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
9. A letter from Union soldier Samuel Hodgman to his brother about his …, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/battle-of-gettysburg/sources/1468
10. Letter to George Meade (July 14, 1863) – Lincoln’s Writings, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/lincoln/letter-to-george-meade-july-14-1863/
11. Civilian describes pillaging near Gettysburg, 1863 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/civilian-describes-pillaging-near-gettysburg-1863
12. July 1863/July 2013 – The Rosenbach, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://rosenbach.org/blog/july-1863july-2013/
13. Gettysburg’s Civilian Casualties, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.thegettysburgexperience.com/gettysburgs-civilian-casualties
14. “A Harvest of Death”: The Days After Gettysburg – Emerging Civil War, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://emergingcivilwar.com/2019/07/08/a-harvest-of-death-the-days-after-gettysburg/
15. Civilians of the Battle of Gettysburg – Adams County Historical Society, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.achs-pa.org/civilians-of-the-battle-of-gettysburg/
16. American Civil War – Secession, Slavery, Homefront | Britannica, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Civil-War/The-Southern-home-front
17. Economic history of the American Civil War – Wikipedia, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_American_Civil_War
18. The Divided Union 1863: Key Moments That Shaped America’s Civil War, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.polisciconnect.com/the-divided-union-1863/
19. 1863 | Time Line of the Civil War | Articles and Essays | Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints | Digital Collections | Library of Congress, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-glass-negatives/articles-and-essays/time-line-of-the-civil-war/1863/
20. Draft Riots of 1863, Civil War, conscription, New York City, racial tensions, Union Army, Irish immigrants, anti-draft protests – Bill of Rights Institute, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/the-draft-and-the-draft-riots-of-1863
21. Letter from Gen. Robert E. Lee to Confederate President, Jefferson …, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/letter-gen-robert-e-lee-confederate-president-jefferson-davis
22. A letter from Confederate soldier George Franklin Robinson to his wife describing army morale and movements after Gettysburg, July 18, 1863. | DPLA, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/battle-of-gettysburg/sources/1471
23. Newspapers in Virginia during the Civil War, Confederate, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/newspapers-in-virginia-during-the-civil-war-confederate/
24. emergingcivilwar.com, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://emergingcivilwar.com/2021/07/29/the-economic-challenges-of-the-confederacy/#:~:text=Indeed%2C%20the%20value%20of%20Confederate,a%20crushing%20600%25%20in%201864.
25. The Economic Challenges of the Confederacy – Emerging Civil War, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://emergingcivilwar.com/2021/07/29/the-economic-challenges-of-the-confederacy/
26. Speculation during the Civil War – Encyclopedia Virginia, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/speculation-during-the-civil-war/
27. Economy of the Confederate States of America – Wikipedia, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America
28. American Civil War III – Social and Economic Impact – JohnDClare.net, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://w.johndclare.net/AW24.htm
29. 1863: The Changing Nature of the War | US History I (OS Collection) – Lumen Learning, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ushistory1os2xmaster/chapter/1863-the-changing-nature-of-the-war/
30. 1863: The Changing Nature of the War | US History I (OS Collection) – Lumen Learning, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory1os2xmaster/chapter/1863-the-changing-nature-of-the-war/
31. Union and Confederate Politics – Essential Civil War Curriculum, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/union-and-confederate-politics.html
32. A Letter from Vicksburg During the Siege – Mississippians in the Confederate Army, accessed on April 7, 2025, https://mississippiconfederates.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/a-letter-from-vicksburg-during-the-siege/