No, it wasn't a technologically superior foe, that's ridiculous. The Confederacy developed the first submarine in the world that successfully sank a ship, in an effort to beat the blockades. They had some very smart engineers and inventors.
The North was industrially superior, with an economic base built on factories, iron works, and shipyards. The South had agriculture as the main economic base, which was badly hurt by the naval blockade, and far fewer factories to support their armies. That was the difference, not a difference in technology.
Bookmarks