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Confederate Conscription Act – April 1862
• The first draft in American history• All able bodied white men from 17-50 were
required to serve for 3 years (originally from 18-35)
• Exemptions for certain occupations and the 20-Negro Law– “Rich man’s war, but a poor man’s fight”– You could also hire a substitute, but that ended in 1863
• Only 1 in 5 in the Confederate army was actually a draftee
Supplying the Confederate Army• Purchased weapons from Europe for the first few
years• By 1862, Confederacy had ordnance contracts with
Southern factories and gave loans to start others• Most supply problems centered around clothing,
shoes, and food– Caused the Impressment Act (1863) – Army officers
could take food from farmers for prescribed prices. Could also take slaves
• What problems with supplies does Doc 2 talk about? What type of war did this lack of supplies create in the South?
The Union Enrollment Act – March 1863
• Made every able bodied, white male from 20-45 eligible for war– Had a loophole to either pay the government $300
or to hire a substitute– Exemptions were for high government officials,
ministers, and men who were the sole support of widows, orphans, or indigent parents
• Bounties were offered for volunteers– This led to many “bounty jumpers”
• 8% of the Union army were draftees or substitutes
Financing the War• Both sides issued bonds, but required them to be
paid in specie– The South’s first bond took almost all of the specie– Northerners preferred to keep their specie
• Began to print paper money– Union: The Legal Tender Act (1862) authorized the
printing of $150 million greenbacks– Confederacy: never made their paper money legal
tender• Caused the value of the paper money to plunge because of
lack of consumer confidence• South responded by printing more (= more inflation)
Outcomes of Financing the War
• The South was broke from the hard currency system as well as the minimal government interference in the economy
• North passed a system of national banking (without those pesky southern Democrats)– The National Bank Act (1863) established the
criteria by which a bank could obtain a federal charter and issue national bank notes
The Leaders of the Confederacy
Pres. Jefferson Davis VP Alexander Stevens
• Had strong differences:• Davis wanted to liberate the South from the North• Stevens wanted a guarantee for protection of states’ rights
Politics in the North
• Republicans fragmented against Lincoln– Caused the
Democrats to win 5 states in 1862
– Republicans then solidified behind their president
Securing the Union’s Borders• Lincoln focused on keeping the border states
within the Union even though they were slave states
• Armed pro-Unionists in Kentucky and defended the state against a Confederate invasion in 1862
• Missouri and Delaware also never left though MO had many who fought for the South
• West Virginia separated from Virginia in 1861 and officially joined the union in 1863
Holding onto Maryland• Suspended the writ of habeas corpus in MD so
federal troops could arrest and hold pro-secession Marylanders – kept MD in the Union
• Led to the case Ex parte Merryman (1861) in which Chief Justice Taney ruled that Lincoln had exceeded his authority by suspending the writ of habeas corpus– Lincoln argued that the writ could be suspended in
“cases of rebellion” and it was his job to determine if rebellion was happening. He ignored Taney’s ruling
Advantages and Disadvantages (Add to chart from before)
• Union had more men, supplies, and infrastructure, but would have to sustain huge supply lines to attack the south. The Union could also not use all of its men since many were required work.
• South had fewer white men, but a higher percentage could fight since the slaves worked. Also had the home court advantage and a fight for independence.
Weapon Development That Helps in the Future• Submarine
• Repeating Rifle
• Gattling Gun
USS Alligator (1862) developed with the help of the French
The Rifle and Minie Ball• The rifling musket or rifle was
used extensively by both sides in the Civil War
• Fired further, faster, and more accurately than a regular musket
• Used a slightly pointed lead slug called the Minie ball
• Huge advancement in weapon technology + almost no advancement in military tactics = much death
Civil WarStrategy• Succession of battles• Victors were the
ones who kept the field, not always the ones with the fewer casualties• Was difficult to
pursue defeated troops because of supply line problems and vast quantities of injured
The Union’s “Anaconda” Plan
• Blockade southern ports and strike down the Mississippi River
• Devised by General Winfield Scott
• In reality the blockade happened and the Mississippi took some time
Lincoln’s Generals
Irwin McDowell
Winfield Scott
George McClellan,Again!
George McClellan
Ambrose Burnside
Joseph Hooker
George MeadeUlysses S. Grant
The Confederate Generals
Jeb Stuart
James Longstreet
George Pickett
“Stonewall” Jackson Nathan Bedford Forrest
Robert E. Lee
Battle of Bull Run (1st Manassas)
July, 1861• Union had to get rid of CSA
troops at Manassas before moving on to Richmond
• Politicians from Washington DC went to watch the battle and picnic…
• CSA reinforcements arrived by train and routed the Union army
• Confederate Victory
Results of Bull Run• Lincoln replaced McDowell General George
B. McClellan who put in place The Peninsula Campaign
• 1862 - McClellan’s hesitation prevented him from attacking Richmond early and by the time he attacked he was not able to reach the city though he did defeat the Confederates.
• Lincoln ordered McClellan back to DC after the Seven Days Battle
The Western Campaign
• Surprise Union victory at Shiloh led to control of the upper Mississippi
• By abandoning the southern Mississippi to attack Shiloh, the Confederacy left New Orleans open to attack by Farragut and Butler
• Once the Union controlled the West, bands of pro-Union troops began to attack Native Americans to gain control of land
The Naval War
• Union began war with 40 warships while the Confederacy had 0
• South had a 90% success rate with blockade runners at first. This was dropped to a 50% success rate by 1865 as the Union gathered non-military vessels to secure southern ports
• Even with their few ironclads, the Union was clearly the victor on the seas
Diplomatic Issues in War• The South expected both France and England
to recognize the Confederacy and help them break the Union blockade
• Never happened:– England was not as reliant on southern cotton as
once thought– Both were wary to join the war– Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation
Proclamation turned this into a fight against slavery
The Emancipation Proclamation
• Preliminarily issued after the battle of Antietam in September 1862
• Final version issued on January 1, 1863 to immediately take effect:– Freed slaves in areas under rebellion where Union
had no authority (didn’t apply to slave states in the Union or areas the Union had already conquered)
– Really had no effect on slavery until the Union army came near. And then…
African American Troops• By the end of the war, 186,000 African
Americans had served in the Union army• This was 1/10 of the Union soldiers• Were only led by white commanders and
were paid less than white soldiers• Less likely than whites to be killed in action,
but more likely to die of disease• Were not treated as POW’s by the South
when captured – instead were enslaved or killed
Nathan Bedford Forrest(Captured Ft. Pillow)
• Ordered black soldiers killed after they surrendered (many white soldiers were killed as well)– 229 out of 262 African
American soldiers were killed
• Became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan after the war…
The War in the West, 1863:Vicksburg
May 18 – July 4, 1863• Grant’s army tried to
capture Vicksburg on May 19 and 22, when this didn’t work he besieged the city until they surrendered on July 4th
• This coincided with the Southern loss at Gettysburg the day before and the combination is considered a turning point. After Vicksburg, the Union controlled the Mississippi
Extensive Legislation PassedWithout the South in Congress
1861 – Morrill Tariff Act
1862 – Homestead Act
1862 – Legal Tender Act
1862 – Morrill Land Grant Act
1862 – Emancipation Proclamation (1/1/1863)
1863 – Pacific Railway Act
1863 – National Bank Act
Economy in North and South
• The North and South continued to trade as early as July 1861
• Factories in the North were allowed to trade goods (bacon, salt, blankets) with “loyal” cotton farmers in the South.
Dealing with Dissent
• Lincoln was much more willing to crush dissent during the war than Davis was
• Some problems in the North, though few:– Ex parte Milligan (1866): civilians can not be tried
by military courts when civil courts are open• A man was sentenced to death by a military court for
conspiring to free Confederate prisoners
– Clement Vallandigham was banished by Lincoln and sent to the Confederacy! He was working for peace, challenging the administration, and fighting the suspension of habeas corpus
Medical War• United States Sanitary Commission and other
groups helped to clean up Union hospitals• Dorothea Dix was placed in charge of the Union
Nursing Corps (Dragon Dix)• Most hospitals in the South were private and in
homes• Still hadn’t figured out germ theory yet…– Much disease and infection, though some basic
sanitary measures made this war slightly bettter
Original Andersonville Plan
• Planned to hold over 10,000 men, had 32,000 at one time• Provided no shelter for the men, they built tent-like structures out
of blankets• Exposure, lack of food, and disease led to double the mortality rate
of other Confederate camps
Women and the War
• Women expanded their “sphere” by embracing nursing and sanitary work
• In rural areas women worked the fields because the men were at war
• Women tried to propel the fight for abolition into a fight for women’s suffrage, but it did not work
Sherman’s“Marchto theSea” -
Georgia,1864
62,000 troops would make the march from Atlanta to the sea, destroying over $100 million in property
“We will make war so terrible…that generations would pass before they could appeal again to it”
The Fall of Richmond
• On April 3, 1865, Union troops conquered Richmond, VA, the confederate capital. Southerners had abandoned the city the day before and set it on fire as they left to prevent the Union from seizing it.
The Assassin
John Wilkes Booth
Booth shot Lincoln while another accomplice stabbed Secretary of State Seward, and a third accomplice failed to attack VP Johnson.