July 4th, 1863 was a big day for the North.  On the 3rd, Lee had been defeated at Gettysburg and on the 4th he began his retreat.  On the 4th, Vicksburg fell to the Union.

While historians will argue whether or not these two events were the turning point of the war, they heralded the end of a long war and ended a long string of Union failures.

I bring up the date because there is a difference between winning a battle and winning a war.  If you study the civil war enough, you will realize that the Union always had better resources.  They had more industry.  They had more men.  They had better technology.  I don’t want to say a Union victory was inevitable but it was certainly the most likely outcome.

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