Why the American Civil War lasted for longer than 90 days The North had expected their war with the south to last for no more than 90 days. They not only had more men up in the north but they had more resources as well. Now why couldn't they defeat the south? I have to say it is due to the incompetence of the north's generals commanding the army, and the army itself. On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln called on the states to provide 75,000 militia men for 90 days to put down the rebellion of the south.
On the other hand, the south had the state of Virginia on its side; this gave them a better chance of victory. It was the home of Robert E. Lee, a brave leader who had been Lincoln's choice for commanding the union army. When Virginia
This proved that with proper time and patience the union could've ended the war sooner that possible.
General McClellan built up the army of the Potomac hoping to take over Richmond, Va., the capital of the confederacy. McClellan planned to attack by using the peninsulas. Robert E. Lee now commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. To retrieve information about the union's army, Lee sent Jeb Stuart to give him detailed information about the army's size. In four days Stuart rode around the entire union army, giving Lee the union's size and position of its army. Lee Attacked McClellan on June 26, 1862. The two armies fought for an entire week, in what became known as the Seven Days Battle. The Virginians suffered heavy losses, but in the end McClellan's army was forced to retreat.
If McClellan was observant enough he would have realized that his army too, was unprepared for battle. Lee was smart enough to check out the union's forces before

Rico 4 attacking, if Lee wasn't confident that he couldn't have defeated them then why would he have attacked. Lee realized that McClellan's forces would not hold up against a counter- offensive, so he attacked. When McClellan was moving his army towards Richmond, he expected no one to be there, and he figured it would be an easy win, instead of sending out a recon, he proceeded towards Richmond not knowing who he'd fight when he got there.
The Union only had two great victories which