The Civil War Years 1861-1865

1. The Civil War Years 1861-1865 Chapter 12

2. Causes of the Civil War • While slavery is viewed as the main cause of the war, different lifestyles and attitudes also played a part. • Southerners believed that Northerners were bad mannered and greedy. Northerners thought Southerners were backwards and unsophisticated.

3. States’ Rights The issues of tariffs and slavery made many in the south feel that southern states were not being treated fairly nor represented fairly in the decision making process in our government. Many believed that the Constitution gave the rights to make decisions like these to the state governments.

4. Resources of the North and South

5. Georgia’s Resources

6. Military Strategies • Anaconda Plan: The original Union military strategy called for a blockade of the south to “strangle” the south into submission. Lincoln did not believe this would work. • King Cotton Diplomacy: The South believed that the North would tire of the war quickly and that European countries would “need” their cotton and come to the aid of the Confederacy. • Neither side believed that the war would last longer than a few months.

7. The War • Fort Sumter: In South Carolina off the coast of Charleston. The first shots of the war were fired here. • Battle of Bull Run: Manassas, Virginia; People from D.C. came out to see the Union forces “defeat” the Confederate Rebels. General Jackson was given the nickname “Stonewall” at this battle. Union forces and the spectators were driven back with a win for the Confederacy.

8. The War • Fort Pulaski: Located at the mouth of the Savannah River. It was captured by Union forces in April of 1862, making Savannah useless to the cause. • The General: This was a train that was boarded in Marietta by 20 Union soldiers dressed as civilians with the intent to ride the train into Georgia and destroy tracks, bridges, and telegraph lines. Confederate soldiers captured the group.

9. The Draft (Conscription)

10. A Soldier’s Life • Southern soldiers were not issued uniforms. Uniforms were mostly home made. • Weapons were scarce in the south. • Food supplies were limited with many living off the land, even eating alligator. There were food riots. • Disease and unsanitary conditions killed many soldiers in both the north and south. • Woman took over many of the roles at home while the men were at war or killed. They worked in factories and farmed.

11. African-American Soldiers • About 200,000 African-American soldiers fought for the Union. • At the end of the war 10% of the Union forces were African-American. • Many Georgia freedman hid on the islands off the coast of Georgia and joined the 21st United Colored Troops and the South Carolina Colored Volunteers. • Although the South approved the drafting of slaves in early 1865, none were ever actually drafted.

12. War Highlights • Robert E. Lee is the commanding leader for the Confederacy. • Ulysses S. Grant is the commanding leader for the United States (Union). • William Tecumsah Sherman leads the march to the Sea through Georgia. • Battle of Antietam: Careless soldiers left a copy of Lee’s battle plans at an abandoned campsite and the Confederate soldiers were defeated as they entered Maryland.

13. More War Highlights • Battle of Gettysburg (Pennsylvania): Confederate forces attempt to invade the North and seize a supply of shoes at a shoe factory. • After 3 days of intense fighting, 7000 soldiers lay dead and 44,000 were wounded or missing. • Lincoln was so moved by the losses suffered at Gettysburg that he traveled to the site for the dedication of a cemetery and gave his famous Gettysburg address.

14. The War Comes to Georgia • In September 1863 General Bragg of the Confederacy defeated Union forces at Chickamauga in northern Georgia. Fighting continued in Chattanooga, Tennessee. • The “Battle Above the Clouds” was fought on Lookout Mountain when 10,000 Union troops forced the 2,000 Confederate defenders off the mountain. • Confederate troops set up camp in Dalton, Georgia for the winter. • Grant sends Sherman and his troops to push the war into Georgia and the Deep South.

15. The Path to Atlanta • Sherman called his path to Atlanta “one grand skirmish”. • From Chattanooga to Atlanta, Sherman circles Johnston’s Army and battles take place at: (see the map on page 271). • Dalton (Buzzard’s Roost and Dug Gap) • Resaca • Adairsville • Kennesaw Mountain • New Hope Church • Ezra Church

16. Atlanta • After losing at Jonesboro, General Hood orders the evacuation of Atlanta and that all military and railroad equipment in Atlanta be destroyed. • 32,000 Union soldiers and 35,000 Confederate troops are killed, wounded, or captured in the fight for Atlanta. It came at high cost to both sides. • Sherman ordered the remaining 1600 people in Atlanta to evacuate and that most of the remaining buildings to be burned. • He provided a tent city outside of Atlanta for the refugees near a railroad station named Rough and Ready.

17. Sherman’s March to the Sea • Sherman’s next goal was to take the city of Savannah. • To provide for this march he issued Field Order No. 120 that ordered soldiers to “live off the land.” They would gather food from fields, collect horses and mules, and other supplies as they “marched” through Georgia. ( see the PP on Sherman’s March to the Sea) • He encountered minimal resistance from the state militia and destroyed most of the area. • In Milledgeville, Governor Brown appealed to the people to resist the invading forces. When Union forces arrived the town was undefended. • Savannah was given to President Lincoln as a “Christmas present.” • Field Order No. 15 gave confiscated lands from Jacksonville, FL to Charleston, SC to freed slaves. The land was later returned to the owners.

18. Surrender at Appomattoxthe end of the war • On April 1, 1865 General Lee sends word to President Jefferson Davis that he can not stop union troops from taking the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond Virginia. • Lee wanted to continue fighting, but his troops were short of supplies, outnumbered, weary from years of fighting, and cut off from reinforcements (other troops). • Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865 at the Appomattox courthouse and three days later about 25,000 confederate troops surrendered their weapons. They would not be tried for treason. • Troops across the South continued fighting for several weeks longer.

19. In the North • People celebrated in the streets of Washington D.C. at the news of Lee’s surrender. President Lincoln gave a speech from the balcony of the White House and talked about his plans to reunite the Union. This angered a Confederate sympathizer by the name of John Wilkes Booth. He decided to assassinate the president. • President Lincoln was hot and killed on April 15, 1865 at Ford’s Theatre.

20. In the south • Union troops moved into Georgia a few days after Lee’s surrender. • They captured Macon and Columbus. General Cobb commanded the troops defending Macon and he was outnumbered 13,000 to 3,000. • A few weeks later Governor Brown formally surrendered the Georgia Militia and its weapons. • Georgia’s political leaders: Brown, Cobb, Alexander Stephens, and Benjamin H. Hill were all arrested. Robert Toombs escaped capture and went to Europe. • Major Henry Wirz, the commander at Andersonville POW Camp was arrested, tried, found guilty, and executed for war crimes. He was the only person convicted and hung.

21. The Confederacy falls • Jefferson Davis was not ready to admit defeat and give up. He hoped that the Union would give up and allow the Southern states to remain independent. Davis and his family were captured near Irwinville, GA on May 10th. • The “War of Northern Aggression/The War of Rebellion” was finally over. • Many Southerners could not accept that the fact that they had lost. For many years after the war ended, Southerners struggled with the outcome. The South will face many challenges as they attempt to • re-enter the Union.