THE CIVIL WARApril, 1861 – April/June, 1865

Long Term Causes of the Civil

War

Slavery

Western Expansion

State’s Rights

Internal Improvements

Economic Differences

ENTRY #38

ENTRY #39 TO Secede or Not to Secede…That is the QuestionPros of Secession1)

2)

3)

Cons of Secession

1)

2)

3)

The Last Straw(s)

1850 – Fugitive Slave Act 1852 – Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1854 – Kansas-Nebraska Act / Formation of the

Republican Party 1856 – Bleeding Kansas / Republicans make

strong showing in Presidential election 1857 – Dred Scott Decision 1858 Lincoln – Douglas Debates / Republicans

do well in the mid-term Congressional Elections 1859 – John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry

(and execution...then…

THE Last Straw: The 1860 Election of Abraham Lincoln

The Confederacy Forms In response to the 1860 election, Texas, Louisiana,

Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida secede (leave the Union) in February, 1861.

The Constitution of this Confederacy is similar to the US Constitution, except for limits on the government’s power to impose tariffs and restrict slavery

Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi is elected president (Alexander Stephens of Georgia is vice president)

Crittenden Compromise (John Crittenden of Kentucky)– last ditch effort to preserve the union with a constitutional amendment guaranteeing right to slavery south of 36 30’ parallel. President-elect Lincoln rejects; lame-duck president Buchanan does nothing.

Fort Sumter Charleston Harbor…Union

troops trapped in the fort, cut off from vital supplies and reinforcements by southern control of the harbor

Lincoln announces that he will send food and provisions to these troops, and southern guns thunders their reply, firing on Fort Sumter (April 12, 1861),

After the South Carolina militia fires on Ft. Sumter four more states (Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina) secede from the Union.

President Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to fight the Confederacy’s “insurrection.” , and The Civil War has begun.

The western part of Virginia chooses not to secede (WVa. is born – becomes a state in 1863); Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri follow suit and remain with the Union. These are the “Border States.”

The Union vs. The Confederacy

ENTRY #41 What were the advantages of the North (Union) vs. the South (Confederacy)? Union1)

2)

3)

Confederacy1)

2)

3)

AdvantagesUnion Confederacy

More people (18 million vs. 5 million free southerners)

More Industry, food supplies, and transportation – the North controlled more than 85% of US manufacturing, 65% of US farmland, and 70% of the railroads.

More firearms and supplies of coal and iron (because of industy)

A small, but well-organized, Navy

A strong, well-established central government (vs. south’s tradition of states’ rights)

Able military leaders (especially Robert E. Lee)

They are fighting a defensive battle, whereas the Union would have to conquer an area as large as Western Europe.

High troop morale- fighting for a cause, for its survival

Shorter supply lines

The Confederacy’s Plan Robert E. Lee and Jefferson

Davis’ plan was to strike quickly and decisively in an effort to do enough damage to erode the Union’s will to fight.

Use their cotton to assist their diplomatic efforts to get foreign support for their “war of independence”.

The Capital of the Confederate States of America moves from Montgomery to Richmond. Advantages? Disadvantages?

Union Strategy: The Anaconda Plan

The Anaconda plan, devised by Union general-in-chief, Winfield Scott, has two parts:

1. Use the Navy to blockade Southern ports and cut off essential supplies

2. Capture the Mississippi River, and divide the Confederacy in half.

-Basically to strangle the Confederacy like a snake.

Opponents to the Anaconda plan favored immediately raising and training an army of 500,000 to take Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia quickly and decisively.

Bull Run (a.k.a. Manassas)

July, 1861 First important, true battle

of the Civil War 30,000 Union forces march

from Washington, DC to attack Confederate forces near Manassas, Va.

A surprising Confederate victory, which ends the illusion that this will be a short war and promotes the myth of rebel invincibility in battle

Union troops return to Washington in panicky and disorderly retreat

(Show Ken Burns’ Gun Men and Manassas)

Battle of Hampton Roads(Monitor vs. Merrimack)

March 8-9, 1862 USS Monitor vs.

CSS Virginia(the former USS Merrimack)

First fight between two ironclad war ships.

5 hour duel of cannon shot

Ended in a draw. So what?

Shiloh April, 1862 Bloodiest Battle to

date 25,000 people die in 2

days (in the American Revolution only 4,500 total Americans died)

Union Victory (sort of) Commanded by

General Grant, who is leading the Union’s campaign for control of the Mississippi River

http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-shiloh/videos

Antietam September,1862 Union general finds

Lee’s battle plan to invade the north and Union army intercepts Confederate forces at Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland

23,000 dead in 1 day-the bloodiest day of the war

Lee retreats to Virginia, but Union army (led by General George McClellan) fails to pursue his weakened army…ANGERS LINCOLN!!! http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-antietam

Fredericksburg December,1862

Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862…Burnside's strategy depended upon an unopposed crossing of the Rappahannock.

Tired of General McClellan’s caution and inaction, Lincoln replaces McClellan with Ambrose Burnside, who quickly attacks Lee’s Army at Fredericksburg, Virginia

A huge Union loss

http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-fredericksburg

Stalemate. The first two

years of the war end in a bloody stale mate, during this time period victory for either side seemed equally possible.

THE CIVIL WAR PART 2: 1863-1865 THE UNION PUSH

The Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln is looking for a way to both

hurt the South and to isolate them diplomatically.

He wants to emancipate the slaves but he needs a victory to do it or else he looks weak.

Antietam was this victoryhttp://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-antietam/videos/gilder-lehrman-the-emancipation-proclamation?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false

The Emancipation ProclamationJanuary 1, 1863 This proclamation frees (in the eyes of the

Union) all of the slaves in areas under control of the Confederacy on January 1, 1863 (but not in lands already under Union control).

Was partly a diplomatic move, further convincing Great Britain and France to stay out of the war.

To northerners, redefined the war as about slavery….to the south, it ended the possibility of negotiations to end the war

By War’s end more than 180,000 freed African American volunteers will serve in the Union military

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM3HS3rr-w0

VicksburgSpring, 1863 In pursuing the Anaconda

plan, Grant besieges Vicksburg in order to gain control of the full length of the Mississippi River

On July 4, after 7 weeks of siege and bombardment, the defenders, starving, surrender the city and 29,000 soldiers.

Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas are cut off from the rest of the Confederacy.

http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/vicksburg-campaign

Gettysburg - July 1-3, 1863 The turning point of the

war in the East Lee goes on the offensive

again and invades Pennsylvania at Gettysburg

Over three days Robert E. Lee is defeated, a good part of the Confederate army is destroyed, and Lee retreats to Va. He will never again have the strength to invade the North.

Bloodiest battle of the War – 50,000 casualties https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFHsS64_W78

Ulysses S. Grant A complete failure as a

Civilian and a drunk… But man respected by

his soldiers, and a man who has won battles

In early 1864, Lincoln makes him the 4th man to serve as the general-in-chief of the Union Army.

Grant will fight a war of attrition and simply outlast Lee’s army

Total War Definition: a war in which every available

weapon is used and the nation's full financial and physical resources are mobilized, or devoted to the war effort

A war against civilians, as well as military, targets in order to weaken the enemy’s will to fight and economy as much as their armies

Grant’s leadership will include a strategy of waging total war

Sherman’s March to the Sea In May, 1864, William

Tecumsah Sherman and 100,000 troops march from Chattanooga, Tenn., through the state of Georgia, to the sea.

Goal: A campaign of deliberate destruction, meant to break the South’s will and capability to fight.

They destroy everything in their path, burning Atlanta to the ground in September, entering Savannah in December, and finishing the campaign in February by setting fire to the city of Columbia, SC (capital of SC and cradle of the Confederacy)

Sherman’s march destroys much of the South's physical and psychological capacity to wage war.

Sherman's men

destroying a

railroad in Atlanta

Grant Heads Toward Richmond Meanwhile, in the East,

Grant leads Union forces against Lee’s army in a series of horrifying and ferocious battles.

His ultimate goal: Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate Capital.

Petersburg is the last Confederate stand between Grant’s forces and Richmond

Through months of heavy losses on both sides and along 30 miles of entrenched lines, the Union finally forces Lee to retreat, abandoning both Petersburg and Richmond on April 2, 1865 (Richmond is set aflame by retreating Confederates)

Appomatox Court House April 9, 1865

Robert E. Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia

170,000 Confederate troops are still fighting throughout the south, and it will take until June for the last of the Confederate generals to surrender

While enjoying a celebratory night at the theater, Lincoln is assassinated on April 14, 1865, a month after his Second Inauguration and five days after Lee’s surrender. He will not live to see the ratification of The Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery in the United States in December, 1865.

New form of ammunition- The Minie Ball, which was easier/faster to load, and which expanded under pressure to fill the rifle’s grooves

Improvement of range and accuracy of small arms and cannon through Rifling - the process of making grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile, thus increasing its distance, as well as the accuracy of the weapon.

19th century weaponry meets 18th century field tactics…a disaster

The Gatling Gun While it

was not used widely, the Civil War did test the Gatling Gun, the first true machine gun successfully used in warfare

Disease often resulted from Unsanitary Conditions in Camps, Hospitals, and Prison Camps Women added to

the war effort by providing medical care for injured soldiers…One such woman, Clara Barton, will go on to found the American Red Cross

Women and children often joined their husbands/dads in camps, doing laundry and cooking meals

Photography and the new methods of transportation and communications (and US postal system) helped make this a well-documented war, during the war.

ON THE HOMEFRONT

How are Things Changing?In the Union… Industrialization in

the increases to meet war demands

The first income tax

The first conscription (draft)

The first draft riot The sale of bonds and

issuance of paper currency

Civil Rights

Many people do not support the war, such as the “Peace Democrats” (aka “Copperheads”)

Lincoln suspends the right of Habeas Corpus.

Now he can jail people “suspected of disloyalty to the Union” without a specific reason and for almost any period of time.

The Homestead Act, 1862

Daniel Freeman's Homestead Application, Proof of Improvements, and Certificate of Eligibility

The Homestead Act encourages the farming of the Great Plains by making land available at Very Low Prices – first 160 acres free, if the Homesteader lived on the land for 5 years and made improvements to the land.

In the South The Anaconda plan brings about hardship for the South. The blockade quickly destroys the southern economy. The South is forced to depend on their own farms and factories

for food and supplies, made more difficult by the waging of war nearby

Southern wealth has been wrapped up in slaves and land. Without markets for cash crops, these assets are useless

Inflation makes matters worse Confederate leadership faces criticism for conscription, private property seizure, and suspension of habeas corpus