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East vs West: Determining the War's Most Important Theater - Part I - Page 2

© Perry Cuskey

Proponents of the East as the war's most important theater will point to a number of factors to support their case. The armies in the Eastern Theater fought most of the war's largest battles, and sustained a higher number of casualties than were suffered by the armies in the West. The East was also the site of both national capitals, most of the total population, and most of the press. The fighting in the East was more closely followed, and tended to have wider repercussions than did the comparatively smaller encounters in the West.

It is argued, and persuasively so, that although the Confederacy lost the war, it was in the East where they came closest to winning it before finally succumbing to defeat.

As well, the battle often regarded as the most important of the war - Gettysburg - was fought in this theater. It is also often pointed out that despite the Union success in the West, the war did not finally come to an end until after the fall of the Confederate capital at Richmond and the surrender of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia...both in the Eastern Theater. The case for the East is compelling indeed.

The Case for the Western Theater

Proponents of the Western Theater will often reply to the above argument with a simple, seven-word sentence: "The war was won in the West." Their case too, is compelling.

The fighting in the East - horrific and bloody as it most assuredly was - was also largely inconclusive. Despite the enormous bloodshed, the two main armies found themselves by the spring of 1864 in virtually the same relative positions they had held three years earlier.

By contrast, one side had gained a clear-cut advantage over the other in the Western Theater by the war's third year.

In 1861 the northern frontier of the Confederacy had reached all the way to central Kentucky. By the spring of 1864, a string of Union victories had resulted in three major western armies poised to enter Georgia, the very heart of the Confederacy, under the command of Union General William T. Sherman. By September the city of Atlanta had fallen, and by November Sherman had embarked on his famous March to the Sea. (Thereby entering the East with his forces from the West.)

By the spring of 1865, it is argued by Western advocates, when Richmond fell and Robert E. Lee finally surrendered, the outcome of the war had already been decided by events in the West. While Lee had guarded the front door in the East it is said, the Union had smashed through the back door in the West, and proceeded to destroy the house.

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