The Civil War

1. The Civil War

2. Election of Lincoln • In 1860, Abraham Lincoln ran for president. • If elected, he promised to stop the spread of slavery into new states. • He did not plan on outlawing slavery where it already existed, but Southerners viewed him as an enemy and tried to stop his election. • Lincoln won the election despite winning no southern states.

3. Southern Secession • The Southern states felt that the election of Lincoln, with no Southern support, was a sign that the federal government did not represent their interests. • After decades of debate with the federal government over slavery and states’ rights, some Southern states decided to secede (break away) from the Union and form their own country.

4. The Confederacy • On December 20, 1860, about a month after Lincoln’s victory, South Carolina seceded from the United States. • Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas joined South Carolina and created a new nation called the Confederate States of America. • The Confederate Constitution “protected and recognized” slavery in its states and new territories.

5. The Confederacy, cont. • By May 1861, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee had joined the Confederacy. • The people living in the western part of Virginia opposed secession and became a new Union state called West Virginia. • Four slave states – Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri – decided to stay in the Union. They were on the border between the Union and the Confederacy and did not have high slave populations.

7. Fort Sumter • When states seceded from the United States, they attempted to seize all federal property such as forts, weapons, and buildings that were located in the state. • Forts were important parts of the nation’s defense system, and the federal government refused to vacate them. • On April 12, 1861, Confederate soldiers in South Carolina attempted to take Fort Sumter from the US Army.

8. Fort Sumter, cont. • The fort is located in Charleston, SC. • The Confederates fired on the fort for 34 straight hours until the Union commander surrendered. • The Confederate siege of Fort Sumter is the official beginning of the Civil War. • Abner Doubleday, who fired the first Union shot from the fort, later invented the modern game of baseball.

9. Union Strengths • The Union was better prepared for a long, costly war. • Three times as many people • More factories • Northern farms produced more food and could keep the army well-fed, while most of the Southern farms producedcash-crops that you can’t eat (Cotton, Tobacco, etc.) • Railroads for moving troops and supplies to battles. • Navy that could blockade ports and make it hard for the Confederacy to trade.

10. Confederate Strengths • COTTON! As long as cotton was in demand, the Confederacy had a source of income. • Excellent military officers • Motivated soldiers who were fighting “for a cause” • Homefield advantage – early battles were fought on their territory, and they only needed to play defense to win.

11. Strategy • The Union had to conquer the South to win. • The Confederacy had to defend their territory and hope that the Union got sick of fighting. • This shaped their strategies at the beginning of the war.

12. Union Strategy – “The Snake” • The Union had a three-point plan, called “The Snake” because it hoped to encircle the Confederacy and choke it to death. • #1: Naval Blockade of Southern ports to keep the Confederacy from trading cotton and importing goods. The South did not have enough factories to produce its own goods, and it needed to import goods to win the war. • #2: Take control of the Mississippi River, cutting the Confederacy in two. • #3: Capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia.

13. General Scott’s Snake

14. The First Battle of Bull Run • The first battlefield action of the war happened near a creek called Bull Run, just outside of Washington, D.C. • Rich people and politicians from Washington packed picnics and came to watch the battle, thinking that the Confederates would run away in the face of the Union Army. • The Confederates fought well, and caused the Union (and the spectators) to retreat. • This made people on both sides realize that the Confederates could win the war, and that it would not be over quickly.

15. Stonewall Jackson • The victorious Confederate army at Bull Run was inspired by the sight of a General named Thomas Jackson, who had his army stand up to a Union assault and fight instead running. • This earned him the nickname “Stonewall” and inspired his troops to continue fighting despite the huge odds against them.

16. Battle of Shiloh • In the Spring of 1862, Union forces led by General Ulysses Grant invaded Tennessee. • After early victories, the Union was able to move deep into Tennessee, where they were caught unprepared and attacked by Confederate forces at Shiloh. • Of the 110,000 soldiers who took part in the two-day long Battle of Shiloh, 24,000 were killed or wounded. • This was, at the time, the deadliest battle in American history. It would not even be the deadliest battle fought that year. It proved that the war would not end because of one big battle. • Albert Sidney Johnson, the highest ranking General in the Confederate Army, was killed in the battle.

17. Battles in the East • In the East, the Union army was focused on The Peninsula Campaign, which focused on Virginia and the Confederate capital of Richmond. • Union General George McClellan engaged the Confederates in a series of battles during the first half of 1862, but he could not break through to Richmond. • In the Seven Days Battles, fought outside of Richmond June 25-July 1, 1862, the Confederates lost nearly 20,000 men (1 out of every 7) to death and injury, but were able to push the Union army out of the area and save Richmond.

18. Antietam • After winning The Peninsula Campaign, the Confederates felt confident and were ready to attack the North. • Great Britain, a long time cotton trading partner, was considering supporting the Confederacy in the war. • In September, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee brought his army into Maryland and prepared for an attack on Washington, DC • General McClellan’s Union forces intercepted Lee’s army at Antietam.

19. Antietam, cont. • On September 17, 1862, the two armies fought the deadliest one-day battle in American history. • The Union had 75,000 men, outnumbering the Confederates 2-1. • 3,600 soldiers were killed in the battle, and 17,000 suffered serious wounds. • One out of every three Confederate soldiers was either killed or wounded. • Neither army won the battle, as no territory switched hands, but the battle is considered a Union victory because it kept Lee’s army from attacking Washington, DC. • After the battle, the British decided to stay out of the war and not support the Confederates.

20. Images of Death

22. The Media • The Civil War was the first war fought after the invention of the camera. • Battlefield photography became very popular, and for the first time, the public could see the death and destruction for themselves.

23. The Emancipation Proclamation • The Civil War started as a fight to keep the nation unified. • As the war went on, more Northerners began to see the war as a fight to end slavery. • Supporters of the Abolitionist movement encouraged President Lincoln to create a law ending slavery. • Lincoln did not believe that the Constitution gave the President the power to end slavery where it already existed.

24. Emancipation Proclamation, cont. • The Confederacy used the labor of slaves to grow food and build forts for its army. • Lincoln had the power to order his army to seize enemy resources. • Because the enemy was using slave labor, Lincoln had the authority to “free” these slaves. • Because the slaves were in areas behind enemy lines, they were not actually freed until the Union army moved in.

26. Emancipation Proclamation, cont. • Lincoln’s order, issued January 1, 1863, was called the Emancipation Proclamation because it “emancipated” (freed) the slaves. • Only slaves living outside of Union control were “freed;” slaves in Union-controlled border states were still slaves. • Although no slaves were immediately freed, the proclamation gave the war a moral purpose by turning it into a struggle to free the slaves. • Because the southern states relied on slavery, there was now no chance that they would choose to rejoin the United States unless they lost the war.

27. Emancipation Proclamation, cont. • The Emancipation Proclamation changed the nature and purpose of the war. • Instead of waging a war to return the USA to what it was before 1861, the Union was now fighting to create a country without slavery. • The Union army was now allowed to recruit African-American soldiers. • By the end of the war, nearly 200,000 African-Americans had fought for the Union.

28. Confederate Success • In late 1862-early 1863, the Confederate Army had two impressive victories that made it feel that it could win the war. • General Robert E. Lee had never lost a battle, and his soldiers thought that he was invincible. • The Confederates decided to capitalize on their success and invade the North.

29. Battle of Gettysburg • On July 1, 1863, the invading Confederate army of Robert E. Lee met the Union army of General George Meade in a small town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg. • For three days, the two armies fought the most important battle of the war. • 90,000 Union troops • 75,000 Confederate troops

30. Gettysburg, cont. • On the second day of battle, the Union army had been driven out of Gettysburg but still controlled the hills around the town. • An army that controlled a hill was difficult to beat; they could shoot down on the other army as it tried to go up the hill. • On a hill called Little Round Top, the Union troops held their ground against hours of Confederate non-stop charges, fighting with bayonets when their bullets ran out.

31. Gettysburg, Day 3 • Without the high ground, the Confederates were left exposed and suffered major losses. • After firing at the Union forces with cannons for two hours, the Confederates attempted one last charge. • The Confederate forces were nearly destroyed in the attack, and the battle was over. • Lee lost a battle for the first time. He brought his surviving forces back to Virginia, and never invaded the North again.

32. Effects of Gettysburg • 23,000 Union soldiers killed or wounded • 28,000 Confederate soldiers killed or wounded • More than 30% of all soldiers who fought in the battle were killed or wounded. • Deadliest battle of the war. • After this battle, people began to realize that the Confederacy could not win the war.

33. Gettysburg Address • After the battle, the first military cemetery in the country was created at Gettysburg. • President Lincoln was invited to speak at the opening ceremony. • His two-minute speech is considered to be the best speech in American history. • Lincoln honored the sacrifices made by the soldiers, and how they inspire all Americans to work to make America a democracy where all men are equal.

35. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal.” • Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow, this ground-- The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here. • It is rather for us, the living, to stand here, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, 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.

36. Battle of Vicksburg • Vicksburg was a Confederate fortress in Mississippi that was located on a cliff above the Mississippi River. • The guns of Vicksburg could fire at boats on the river and sink them, controlling who used the river and who didn’t. • General Grant brought his army to Vicksburg because he wanted the Union to control the river.

37. Vicksburg, cont. • Grant tried to attack the city from the front, and failed twice. • In May 1863, he had his army surround the city, which cut it off from supplies. • Grant had the Union Navy fire explosive shells at the city for several hours each day, forcing the residents of Vicksburg to dig caves for shelter.

39. Vicksburg, cont. • The siege of Vicksburg lasted for three months. Residents had to eat dogs and mules to survive. • On July 4, the people of Vicksburg surrendered, giving control of the Mississippi River to the Union. • In a period of 24 hours, the Union won at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, giving them a huge advantage in the East and the West.

40. Total War • In 1864, Grant was promoted to General of the entire Union Army. • He was replaced in the West by General William Tecumseh Sherman. • Sherman’s goal was to destroy the Southern population’s will to fight. He felt that once they lost their desire, the Confederacy would collapse. • The strategy of “Total War” was to weaken the enemy by attacking its civilian population and the industries needed to fight. • This moved the war beyond the battlefields and into the cities and farms.

41. Sherman’s March • In Spring 1864, Sherman began a march that crossed through Georgia. • Georgia was the “Breadbasket of the Confederacy” – it provided the South with what it needed to keep fighting. • Sherman ordered every house to be burned, destroyed livestock, crops, and railroads. • “I want to make the people of the South so sick of war that generations will pass away before they consider fighting again.” – General Sherman

42. To the Sea • In November 1864, Sherman’s troops burned the city of Atlanta to the ground. • From Atlanta to the Georgia coast, Sherman’s men freed slaves and destroyed property. • 25,000 freed slaves joined Sherman’s army. • After reaching the coast at Savannah, Sherman’s march was complete, and the South was crippled.

43. The Election of 1864 • Lincoln was up for re-election in 1864. • The war was unpopular and there were candidates running against him who promised to end the war immediately. • Sherman’s March inspired the North and convinced voters that Lincoln’s plan was working. • Lincoln is re-elected.

44. Confederate Surrender • On April 3, 1865, the Union Army captured the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. • On April 9, General Lee met with General Grant in a small town called Appomattox Court House, Virginia to discuss peace. • Lee offered his surrender to Grant. • Lincoln requested that Lee’s soldiers be treated generously. They were sent home with food and their possessions. • Within a month, the entire Confederate Army had collapsed, and the war was over.

46. Thirteenth Amendment • The Emancipation Proclamation had freed only the slaves who lived in the Confederacy. • After the war, the Confederate states were allowed to rejoin the United States. • At the end of 1865, the Constitution was amended to make slavery illegal in the entire country. Four million people were set free. • The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, but allows forced labor as punishment for a crime.

47. Assassination of Lincoln • On April 14, 1865, a week after Lee’s surrender, President Lincoln was shot in the head as he watched a play. • Lincoln died the next day, and became the first president to be murdered. • Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, one of the most famous actors in America. • Booth supported the Confederacy, and hoped that the war would continue with Lincoln dead.

49. Lincoln’s Funeral • Booth escaped but was found and killed two weeks later. • Lincoln’s body was embalmed and put on tour – a “moving funeral” that brought his body home to Illinois by train. • Seven million Americans, 1/3 of the Union population, turned out to see Lincoln’s body and pay respects. • In death, Lincoln became a hero for his work to keep the nation together.