Trains and Railways
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Where the North's railways was very strong, the South's was relatively weak. The south had less the 9000 miles of track. They were however the first to use railways to their advantage. The South had relied on iron imported from England to make their trains, but when the war started the Union set up the Atlantic and Gulf blockade.That successfully cut off the south's supply and the trains fell into disrepair. Fuel was also a problem, the Confederacy used wood but that quickly was depleted and train crews would sometimes have to get out and cut wood. By 1863 the South's trains traveled around 10 miles per hour.
Submarines
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With the North's huge Navy the South had no chance of defeating them head on, so the resorted to using submarines. The first of these submarines the C.S.S Hunley, a metal tube 40 feet long, 4 feet across, and held an 8 man crews, sank an ironclad warship but itself wrecked in the process. This however didn't stop the use of the Submarine for offensive work against the North's ships.
Telegram
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The importance of the telegram to the Confederacy wasn't about how they used it, but about how it was used against them. They were at a disadvantage in fast and large scale communication. The north had over 4000 miles of telegram wire and sent over a million messages from the battlefield.
The Cotton Gin
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Invented by Eli Whitney, The cotton gin enabled plantation owners to greatly speed up the production of cotton. By the mid-19th century, cotton was the US's leading export. This also gave plantation owners an excuse to mantain and expand slavery, Although a growing number of Americans were against it.