Why were Union factories and railroads so advantageous to the Union's war efforts?

Answer 1

Union munitions, food, clothing and medicine plus viable railroads dwarfed those same resources and the logistics of the South The South ,arguably (but not too arguably)had better Generals and officers than the North did. Many were West Point graduates such as General Robert E. Lee. The Southern soldiers too,with some exceptions, were better fighters than those of the North. Most were from rural backgrounds and had used firearms all of their lives, riden horses & mules and knew how to live off the land and in the woods while many Northern troops from urban areas had opposite backgrounds. The huge advantages that the North had over the South were factories that produced guns, ammunition, uniforms, food & supplies and medicine. They also had more railroads, both in number of railroad companies and miles of track, to get those resources & troops to where the greatest need was. When General William Tecumsah Sherman made his foray into the South and his infamous "march to the sea", one of the main objectives that he had was to totally destroy Southern railroad tracks (using "Sherman Bow Ties" among other methods) food supplies and buildings that could be used to manufacture anything at all which Southern troops could use to fight or Southerners in general could use to feed even themselves. It was a "scorched Earth" tactic which had been used before,and would be used again. It was used very effectively to cripple an Army and the people for whom they fought. Sherman had lived in Louisiana prior to the war (he was the first president of the school that would later become LSU) and actually liked the South and its population. He is still hated by many Georgian descendants of Confederate veterans and citizens who were raised hearing horrible tales of an very cruel man. In actuality, he was not so cruel as he was militarily wise. The North's much larger pool of soldiers who were better supplied, fed and cared for than the limited number of Southern troops with(out)their severely limited resources doomed the South to defeat even after their early routs of Northern troops at Bull Run(aka 1st & 2nd Manassas) and other battles.