U.S. Civil War

1. U.S. Civil War Battles & Events

2. Election of 1860

3. Fort Sumter • By Lincoln’s inauguration, March 4, 1862, seven southern states had seceded. • Confederate States of America • Jefferson Davis of Mississippi – President • The stated issue became the sovereign right of states to secede from the Union • The South seized every federal building, fort, and arsenal except two: • Fort Pickens, Florida • Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor • Lincoln informs S. Carolina officials he intends to resupply the fort • Confederate forces shell the fort for nearly two days • Major Robert Anderson is forced to surrender

4. Fort Sumter

5. Effects of Fort Sumter • South • Shows southern resolve to fight for their belief • Boosts morale as it is a Southern Victory • North • Stirs outrage in the North; a “slap in the face” to every loyal American • Creates an “enthusiasm of patriotism” • Volunteers readily start enlisting in the army to fight

6. First Battle of Bull Run • Known as the First Battle of Manassas in the South • July 21, 1861 – First major land engagement of the Civil War • General Irvin McDowell (U) – 35,000 troops • Hounded by Washington politicians & Lincoln to rush into battle, get to Richmond and end the war quickly • Troops were raw and undisciplined: • “…they stopped every moment to pick blackberries or get water. They would not keep ranks, order as much as you pleased.” • P.T. Beauregard & Joe Johnston (C) – 25,000 troops • Washington sightseers set up picnics nearby to watch the battle • Union army initially gains the upper hand, but the Confederate line holds and forces a Union retreat • ‘Stonewall’ Jackson gets his name • Union Army & sightseers crowd the roads back to Washington in a panic

7. Bull Run

8. Bull Run

9. Effects of Bull Run • Victory for the South • Fits their strategy of fighting a defensive battle • Hold on until Northerners get sick of the war & quit • Shows that this will not be a short, easily won war. • War will require a ‘real’ army to be recruited and properly trained • Lincoln appoints General George B. McClellan to raise & train a new Army of the Potomac • He will work all through the winter of 1861-62 to prepare his 150,000 troops for battle

10. Emancipation Proclamation • Northern Strategy • Based on “preserving the Union” • Economic = Blockade southern ports • No cotton exports / no weapons & supplies imports • Military = Divide the South in two • West – Seize the Mississippi River Valley, cutting off communications & use of the river • U. S. Grant’s Union forces will nearly accomplish this by the summer of 1862 • East – Drive toward Richmond, VA & destroy the government • McClellan is reluctant to engage in battle • “My dear McClellan: If you don’t want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for awhile. Yours respectfully, A. Lincoln” • Sept. 17, 1862 – Antietam: McClellan ‘defeats’ Lee’s invading forces which is enough of a ‘victory’ for Lincoln to issue a slavery statement.

11. Emancipation Proclamation cont. • Issued, in part, to mobilize support from Britain and France toward the Union and away from the Confederacy • In actuality, it “frees” no one, but: • Turns the struggle into a “crusade for freedom” • Makes it know that the nation will never again be half-slave & half free • Recruiters are ordered to accept African-Americans into the army • 215,000 will serve during the course of the war • 54th Massachusetts (movie Glory)

12. Gettysburg • July 1-3, 1863 • Lee leads 75,000 troops into Pennsylvania • Union Major Gen. George Meade led 90,000 troops • Main line was at Cemetery Ridge • On Day 3 of the battle the Confederates stage “Pickett’s Charge” trying to break the lines of the Union • 12,500 Confederate soldiers march across ¾ mile of open field to attack the Union lines • They are virtually wiped out • “We could not help hitting them with every shot.”; “men going down on hands and knees, spinning round like tops, throwing out their arms, gulping blood, falling; legless, armless, headless. There are ghastly heaps of dead men.” • Casualties: North = 23,000; South = 28,000

13. Gettysburg

14. Impact of Gettysburg • Loss removes any hope for the south that any European countries will come to their aid. • The south will never go on the offensive again, fighting simply for some small hope of preserving their way of life via a truce. • Gettysburg Address – just over 2 minutes and 272 words in length • Lincoln called it a “flat failure”

15. Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’ • William Tecumseh Sherman • Captures Atlanta on Sept. 1, 1864 • Much of the city is burned to the ground • Vows to “Make Georgia howl” • Carries out “total war” – crush the will of the civilians who sustained the enemy fighting force. • Passes through 425 miles of enemy territory causing $100 million in damage (burning, looting, etc.) • Reaches coastal Savannah, GA on December 22nd and Raleigh, NC on April 26, 1865 • Boosts Lincoln’s 1864 reelection (which he wins with 54% of the vote • Special Field Orders, No. 15 – provides freed slaves with land taken from white plantation owners (later repealed by President Johnson)

16. Sherman’s march

17. Appomattox Courthouse

18. Southern Surrender • April 1, 1865 – Union forces break the Confederate lines outside Petersburg • By April 4 the Union captures Richmond as Gen. Lee & the Confederates flee • April 9, 1865 – Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia • Terms: • Soldiers could return home with personal possessions & horses • Grant provides 25,000 ration kits to Lee’s army • April 14, 1865 – Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater

19. 1861 Abraham Lincoln 1865

20. Effects of the War • Ends the institution of slavery in the US • Boosts the industrial economy of the North • Subjects the South to years of “third world” poverty and economic dependence • ‘The United States is…’

21. Reconstruction • January 1, 1865 – Congress passes the 13th Amendment ending slavery • Plantation whites see their lifestyle come to an end • Poor whites face competition for jobs from 4 million former slaves • Many slave remain on their plantations • Thousands begin traveling • Looking for loved ones • Seeking jobs

23. Freedman’s Bureau • Establish by Congress in March 1865 • Immediate intent was aiding former slaves with food, medical attention and housing • 21 million rations over 5 years • Aid was also given to poor whites • Established 4,000 schools and 100 hospitals • Later focused on helping former slaves with work opportunities • Negotiated labor contracts

24. Presidential Reconstruction • President Andrew Johnson • A former Confederate state could rejoin the Union when it: • Wrote a new state constitution • Elected a new state government • Repealed its act of secession • Agreed not to repay Confederate war debts • Ratified the 13th Amendment • Johnson refused to included black suffrage as a requirement which put him at odds with Congressional Republicans • Many former Confederate officeholders are reelected to their old office

25. President Johnson

26. “Black Codes” • As Southern states elect new legislatures they begin passing “black codes” • Gave freedmen the right to: • Hold property, marry, sue/be sued in court • Denied freedmen the right to: • Vote, serve on juries, bear arms • Drove many back to the farms by requiring freedmen to find ‘steady’ work and limiting other labor opportunities • Northerners see this as ‘quasi-slavery’ • In 1866 the new Congress will place the south under military rule, hold new elections (including black suffrage) and repeal the ‘black codes’ via 1866 Civil Rights Act

28. Radical Reconstruction (1866-73) • 14th Amendment – African-Americans are citizens with “equal protection of the laws” • Blocks any Supreme Court challenge to the Civil Rights Act via the Dred Scott decision • 15th Amendment – guarantees a citizens right to vote • March 1867 – Congress militarizes the South • Disbands sitting governments • Creates 5 military districts • Only ‘loyal’ Southerners who had not participated in the ‘rebellion’ could register to vote • In order to rejoin the union: • Adopt a new state constitution that supported black suffrage • Elect a new government • Ratify the 14th amendment • Apply to Congress for readmission

30. Failures of Reconstruction • Black codes • “Secret Societies” – harass black voters & white supporters • Ku Klux Klan / Knights of the White Camelia • Favored the democratic party • Intimidation at voting booths • ‘stuffing’ ballot boxes • Vote early, vote often • ‘Solid South’ – vote Democratic for next 100+ years • Leads to segregation policies by the 1870s • Poll taxes, separate schools, etc. • Jim Crow Laws • Slow to industrialize – poor economy • Continued bitterness over northern interference • Carpetbaggers • Northerners who came south to take advantage of the situation • Scalawags • White Southerners who joined the Republican party • Worked along side freedmen and carpetbaggers