A number of diverse factors contributed to the Confederacy's ultimate demise. Foremost were the combined forces of Grant and Sherman, who put relentless pressure on the South's two principal armies. While Grant forced Lee's hand at Petersburg, Sherman effectively split the eastern portion of the South in half with his March to the Sea and up into the Carolinas. The combined attacks pushed the already battered and much smaller Southern armies to the brink. The Confederacy could no longer defend itself or its territories, ensuring a Union victory.

A Suffering Economy

The state of the Southern economy was also a contributing factor. The gravity of the situation became evident more than a year before the war officially ended, and it only grew worse as the conflict progressed. Its economy close to ruin, the fledgling nation had neither the credit nor the cash to buy foreign goods for its armies or its people. As a result, consumer goods became increasingly scarce and outrageously expensive, and the army was finally forced to literally beg the civilian populace — most of whom had long grown tired of the war — for food, clothing, and other essential items.

A Lack of Soldiers

Willing, able-bodied men also grew short in numbers as the war went on, forcing the military to take almost anyone willing to fight, including underage boys and old men. At the beginning, prisoner exchanges allowed both sides to maintain strong numbers, but the Union cessation of the program in 1863 hit the Confederacy hard; all of a sudden, tens of thousands of Southern soldiers were languishing in Union prisons. The manpower situation grew so dire toward the end that Confederate officials started conscripting slaves, a concept viewed with derision just a couple of years earlier. The huge number of casualties in many of the major battles also severely depleted Confederate forces. In many cases, the actual number of Union casualties was higher, but the overall percentage was smaller. In other words, the South lost fewer men on average but took a harder hit with the number it did lose. Not surprisingly, Confederate recruitment drives during the final year of the war provided fewer and fewer soldiers willing to lay down their lives for a cause many were starting to believe was hopeless.

Davis's Determination

Amazingly, President Davis had plans to continue the war no matter the fate of the Army of Northern Virginia or the capital at Richmond. An angry Confederate to the bitter end, Davis carried with him up to the moment of his capture the belief that the Confederacy would prevail if given enough time, but he was pretty much alone in that sentiment. By April 1865, the Confederacy had clearly lost its ability to fight, and no amount of rally cries could revive it. Most of Davis's closest advisors and associates knew the cause had been lost months before, but none could convince Davis to bargain for peace.