“When you have a four to one manpower advantage, and a huge industrial base to back you up, it’s inevitable that you will win in the long run.”
McClellan, Burnside, Pope and Hooker all had those advantages, did they win? Being able to use those advantages to gain victory is Generalship.
Had nothing to do with usage. Meade (at Gettysburg) and then Grant were the first in the East who were willing to pay the Butcher’s Bill.
When Meade and then Grant got hit hard, they didn’t fall back, they kept moving.
Lincoln gave Meade a hard time about letting Lee get away after Gettysburg, but, the weather had more to do with that than Lee or Meade. Meade followed as fast as he could get the army to move. He still had 2 fresh Corps in his Army, while Lee had nothing left.
Meade gets the short stick on a lot of things that happened because Grant was the overall Commander of the US forces. He should be remembered better.
Once it was started, there was a very high probability the North would win it if the will to win it was retained, and Lincoln very much had the will to win it. As I've said, he was far more willing to tolerate the loss of life than was George III.
The lesson about the industrial base has been taken to heart by the Chinese.