The effects of geography on the Civil War:
The distance between the Confederate capitol and the Union lines
Richmond was less than 100 miles away from the Union held state of Maryland.
-The close proximity of the Confederate capital to Union teritory eventually enabled the Union armies to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, which was a major blow to the Confederacy since it boosted Union moral, was a great symbolic victory for the Union, and deprived the Confederacy of its political center.
The Mississippi River
A map of the Union campaign to take control of the Mississippi River.
-The presence of the Mississippi River in the Confederacy enabled the Union to heavily damage the Confederacy since the capture of this river split the Confederacy in two, thus preventing those two areas of the Confederacy from supporting each other.