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Civil War

Civil War. Battles and The Homefront. Fort Sumter- April 1861. First Battle, Confederates taking federal forts, mints, arsenals. Strategic location- harbor of Charleston, SC Union Major Robert Anderson running out of supplies, asked for more.

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Civil War

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  1. Civil War Battles and The Homefront

  2. Fort Sumter- April 1861 • First Battle, Confederates taking federal forts, mints, arsenals. • Strategic location- harbor of Charleston, SC • Union Major Robert Anderson running out of supplies, asked for more. • Lincoln’s Dilemma: let it fall and look weak or lose other states (only deep S. had seceded) • Resupply but without armies or arms • Confederates attacked, Anderson surrendered • Results: 0 dead, AK, NC, TN & VA. secede. • DE, KY, MD, MO loyal to Union, also W. VA.

  3. Advantages and Disadvantages North/Union South/Confederacy Smaller Population Fewer Factories Fewer Railroads __________________ Excellent Generals (Lee, Jackson) Outdoor tradition- experience with guns Defensive War • Larger population • More factories • More Railroads • Navy __________________ • Had to conquer south

  4. Strategies North/Union South/Confederacy Capture Washington DC, invade the North Demoralize the Union Help from 3.5 million slaves Cotton diplomacy- help from England & France • Capture Richmond (confed. capital) • Anaconda Plan- strangle the south • Gain control of Mississippi River • Naval blockade • Utilize superior numbers & resources but this took time

  5. July 1861 First Bull Run • Lincoln ordered general to Richmond w/barely trained troops, People came w/picnics to watch • Met Confederates, dug in on high ground behind a creek (Bull Run) • Union winning until Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and men stopped them, shouting Rebel Yell: “woh-who-ey! Who-ey!” (eerie sound, chills thru Union troops) • Union retreat, spectators horrified, ran • Results: Both sides realize war longer than 3 months • North shocked/shamed, South proud

  6. Soldiers’ Experiences • Enthusiasm to enlist, boredom set in during training (baseball invented during rest time) • Shortages: food, uniforms (Union-blue, Confederacy- Gray), shoes • Illnesses (influenza, typhoid, pneumonia) & lack of sanitary medical treatment & anesthesia (pain-killers)- many died from infected wounds (including Stonewall Jackson) • As war continued became “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight,” desertion common

  7. Homefront • Women replaced male factory workers (100,000 jobs in arsenals, factories, sewing rooms) • Mary Boykin Chestnut- diary of a southern woman: frustrated with failures of southern leaders, watched “with horror and amazement (as) the only world we cared for, (was) literally kicked to pieces” (Boyer, 378) Mary Boykin Chestnut Source: http://s3.amazonaws.com/findagrave/photos/2002/167/8574_1024321157.jpg

  8. Battle of New Orleans- April 1862 • Importance: cut off supplies to Western Confederacy & move troops up Mississippi R. • Farragut and ships attacked 2 forts guarding approach from Gulf of Mexico • Unsuccessful shelling, decided to sail past, 17 warships during 4/24 am • All but 4 made it to NO, 4/29 city surrendered • Results: Union morale up, victories in the west. • South had lost 50,000 square miles of territory, 1000 miles of rivers, 2 state capitals, largest city

  9. September 1862 Antietam • key turning point • AL waiting to issue Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves in rebel areas but not in border states • Lee on offensive, wanted Brit support (wanted to see if could win on Union soil) • Lee crossed into MD. (55,000 men, 5000 lost) • Union troops found battle plans around cigar box. • McClellan planned counterattack, 75,000 men met Lee at Antietam Creek MD.

  10. September 1862 Antietam • Results: bloodiest single day battle in U.S. history (Confed 13,000 casualties/Union 12,000+) • AL fired McClellan for letting Confed escape to VA. • Raised confidence in the north, Lee Can BE DEFEATED. • Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation • South lost hope of support from Europe- Britain would not enter a war fought against slavery.

  11. Opposition to the War North/Union South/Confederacy Opposed the draft- Confederacy passed 1st conscription act in US history Poor ended up fighting more- plantation owners bought their way out of service Argued for state’s rights • Copperheads- northerners who sympathized with the South • Lincoln suspended habeas corpus- jailed them without trials for the duration of the war • Draft Riots, e.g. in NY after Emancipation- wanted to fight for the Union, not for slaves.

  12. British Cartoon Showing Pensive Lincoln after NY Draft Riots: shows fears about emancipation, racism among northern whites Source: http://www.historygallery.com/prints/PunchLincoln/1863riots/1863riots.htm

  13. April 1863 Chancellorsville • AL switched to “Fighting Joe” Hooker daring plan • Divide troops into 3: cut off supplies, attack both flanks • Men in forest wilderness, near Chancellorsville, VA. • Lee divided his troops, Stonewall Jackson + 30K through wilderness to outflank Hooker • Hooker heard movements, assumed confed retreat • Lee & Jackson attacked from 2 sides, Hooker withdrew in defeat • Results: Jackson died (shot by own troops in arm, infection, 8 days later died) • South morale boost, AL turned “ashen”, Sumner “…all is lost”

  14. July 1-3 1863 Gettysburg • Fresh off victory, Lee decided to invade north • Resupply & feed troops with seized goods • Lee to PA. With 75K troops, AL ordered Hooker to attack, Hooker hesitated & was replaced w/Meade • Confed near Gettysburg, scouts heard of shoe supply • 2 Union brigades on high ground NW of Gettysburg, fired on approaching shoe raiders • Day 3: Pickett’s Charge: ordered 15K men to rush Union atCemetery Ridge, ½ survived, no 2nd attack • Lee retreated, Meade could not pursue (bad weather)

  15. July 1-3 1863 Gettysburg • Results: Union: 23,000 casualties, Confed 20,000 • Gettysburg Address-dedication of cemetery- statement of democratic ideals: • “Four Score and 7 years ago our fathers brought forth … a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” • “It is rather for us to… highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” • Turning point: Union won, but failed to end the war • Lincoln “Our Army held the war in the hollow of their hand and they would not close it.”

  16. Charleston, SC July 1863 • 54th Massachusetts Infantry • July 1862 act and Emancipation Proc encouraged blacks to enlist • Union unable to gain control of forts near Charleston • 6,000 troops in desperate frontal attack on Fort Wagner at entrance to harbor, 54th led the charge (expected great losses) • July 18, night, 54th clawed their way to top of sloping walls, • Siege ended September 6 when confed evacuated. • But African Americans not given =: less than ½ pay until 6/1864, no command)

  17. May 1863 Vicksburg • Grant had to take Vicksburg to gain control of Mississippi River. • Plan: march into enemy territory, bottled up 1 force in Jackson, raced west to trap other enemy force inside Vicksburg • 6 week Siege of Vicksburg, prevented confederate reinforcements, eating mules/rats • July 3, 1863 Grant and Pemberton under oak tree, surrendered next day • July 8 confederates at Port Hudson, LA. also fell • Results: Union gained totalcontrol of Mississippi River, cut off Ark, LA., TX from confed.

  18. Summer 1864 Campaign • Lincoln promoted Grant to chief general b/c able to use N. soldiers/supplies • War of attrition: Grant’s plan to march on Richmond, until S. out of men/supplies/will • Pushed into Wilderness (Chancellorsville) losing men, pushed on • May 10-19 Spottsylvania Court House, VA losing men, kept on • Mid-June Petersburg VA. RR center, called off assault, siege to Petersburg • Results: 60,000 Union casualties, but strategy succeeding because the Union had more men

  19. Sherman’s March to Sea • Union general William Tecumseh Sherman • Sherman commander of Ten army, campaign to destroy S. RR/industries • 100,000 troops toward Atlanta, outmaneuvered Johnston, defeated Hood • Atlanta fell September 2, 1864, Sherman burned it • Result: Confed. Lost last RR link across Appalachian mts. • President Lincoln (in danger of not getting nomination) re-elected over McClellan • Renewed hope that conflict would soon end

  20. Sherman’s March to Sea • Sherman towards Savannah, took supplies, destroyed things for Confederates • Uprooted crops, burned farmhouses, slaughtered livestock, tore up RR • Strategy of total war against troops and economic resources, • “must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war…” • Result: effective but left deep/bitter scars across the South • Reached Savannah in 12/1864, resupplied by Union navy (Xmas gift to AL)

  21. April 1865- Appomattox • April 2, 1865, Lee withdrew from Richmond, army ½ size of Grant’s • Lee tried to flee westward to join more troops, Grant cut him off • Lee asked for surrender terms: house in tiny village, talked of Mexican War days • Confederate officers could keep side arms • Soldiers fed and allowed to keep horses/mules • None tried for treason

  22. April 1865- Appomattox • Conciliatory tone (quotations, p. 395) • Lee rode off, Union troops celebrating, Grant silenced them: • “the war is over, the rebels are our countrymen again.” • Lee to his men, did all I could, you did duty, leave rest to God, return home • April 26, 1865 General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Sherman under similar terms at Durham Station, NC

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