Quote Originally Posted by Marshal Murat
Personally it lies in the merits of the general.

A very large well equiped, motivated army (Union army Civil War) led by a lousy general (Burnsides, McClellan, Hooker, etc.) the army would eventually fail.

(A argument against this can be that Lee was against them, but they all went to West Point, merit of the general)
Personally, I have never bought this theory, but then I'm not from the US, so I'm looking at the war from the outside.

The way I see it the difference between the Confederate and Federal armies was not so much the quality of the generals as the quality of the men.

The avarage Conferate soldier was more motivated, determined and had better combat and survival skills than his average union opposite number. He was fighting to defend his homeland aganist a violent aggressor and he really hated his opponent.

The avarage Union soldier was better equipped, better fed and better armed. But he was fighting on foriegn soil. In many cases for a nation he hardly knew and in some cases had only just arrived in. He was lucky in some cases if he even spoke the language. He probably only had the vaguest idea about why he was fighting and in many cases those reason had more to do with a personal rite of passage for him and his family than any glorious intent. His main objective being to do the time and survive to reap the benefits.

The generals as you say mostly came from the same stock and many on the Union side were as highly regarded prior to the war as those on the Confederate. The real problem for the Union Generals was that they were constantly hounded by their political masters to 'do something' and thus many of their actions were driven by political motives rather than strategic ones.

By comparison the Confederate Generals were left a relatively free hand and were able to dictate both policy and doctrine and able to apply personal influence over their men. Generally, they were able to retain their personal honour code and standards of morality thus appearing both fair and just in the eyes of their troops which in turn enhanced the loyalty they received in return. My favourite example of this was Lee's proclamation that he would never force a Confederate soldier to trespass on the land of his brother, that they had joined his army to fight for their homeland not to invade the home of another and therefore those who wished to stay behind could do so. Statement like that show that the Condfederate Generals honestly beleived they had right on their side and were able to expliot that honest belief to motivate their men and enhance their own influence.

The final victory however was not dependant upon military or political superiority but upon economic factors. The South was merely blockaded to death denying it the resources to counter the production capacity of the northern states. It basicly got smothered and many of the final battles were the desperate acts of principled men refusing bow to the inevitable.