Businesses could commercialize their products in further places, because the development of rapid manufacturing and transportation systems decreased the time needed for transactions and, this enhanced productivity and decreased production costs.
There was a progressive market integration, as markets grew from the local sphere and started to function all over the nation and even internationally, increasing the amounts supplied (and the competitiveness of firms), and decreasing the prices of products. Consumers could choose from different producers as now they could also purchase from companies located in far off places apart from local ones, and they also could buy cheaper due to the increase in competitiveness. Hence, consumers were also benefited by the technological progress.
It was the CSS Virginia that was the Confederacy's first ironclad vessel, built on the hull of the Union ship, USS Merrimack, although it turned out to not be terribly useful in wartime
