The American Civil War

The American Civil War “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” ~Abraham Lincoln

Confusion of Names North • Union • Federal • Yankee • “Billy Yank” • “Blue” • USA • US • United States • United States of America South • Dixie • Rebels • Rebs • “Johnny Rebs” • “Red” or “Grey” • CSA • Confederacy • Confederate State of America

Name of the War? • The War for Constitutional Liberty • The War for Southern Independence • The Second American Revolution • The War for States' Rights • Mr. Lincoln's War • The Southern Rebellion • The War for Southern Rights • The War of the Southern Planters • The War of the Rebellion • The Second War for Independence • The War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance • The Brothers' War • The War of Secession • The Great Rebellion • The War for Nationality • The War for Southern Nationality • The War Against Slavery • The Civil War Between the States • The War of the Sixties • The War Against Northern Aggression • The Yankee Invasion • The War for Separation • The War for Abolition • The War for the Union • The Confederate War • The War for Southern Freedom • The War of the North and South • The Lost Cause

Causes of the Civil War • Sectional disagreements and debates over tariffs, extension of slavery into the territories, and the nature of the Union (states’ rights) • Northern abolitionists versus Southern defenders of slavery • United States Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case • Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe • Ineffective presidential leadership in the 1850s • A series of failed compromises over the expansion of slavery in the territories • President Lincoln’s call for federal troops in 1861

Secession Continues • With 7 states that had already seceded from the Union, Confederate soldiers began taking over federal installations: • Forts, courthouses, post offices • Other public buildings

Fort Sumter • By March 4, 1861, only 2 Southern forts remained in Union hands - the most important being Fort Sumter located in Charleston, S.C. • Major Robert Anderson, the commander of the fort sends a message to Lincoln: • He either gives up the fort or face attack • Lincoln did not reinforce Fort Sumter and he refused to abandon it

The War Begins • The choice for war was left up to Jefferson Davis ~ he chose war • Attack began on April 12 , 1861 at 4:30 AM • Anderson surrenders on April 13 after being shelled with more than 4,000 rounds for thirty-six hours

Lincoln Calls For Troops • The President calls for 75,000 volunteers for a 3 month enlistment • Virginia was not willing to fight other southern states • April 17, 1861 Virginia secedes • Crucial state because it was the most industrialized in the South • Only ironworks in South and a navy yard

The Confederacy Is Formed • May 1861 – Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina making 11 states in secession • Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri did not secede • Many of the citizens from those states did end up fighting for the Confederacy

Advantages Union • More fighting power • More factories • Greater food production • Better railroads • A skilled leader, Abraham Lincoln, was good at balancing political factions Confederate • King Cotton and its profits • First-rate generals and a strong military tradition • Motivated soldiers who were defending their homeland

Union Strategies • Commanding General Winfield Scott proposes plan to quickly end war • Three-part plan (Anaconda Plan) • Union navy to blockade Southern coast • Union riverboats & armies were to move down the Mississippi River & split the Confederacy • Union armies were to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, VA

Confederate Strategies • Goal was to survive until the Union would recognize them as an independent country • Strategy was most defensive • Southern leaders did encourage their generals to attack if they could and to invade the North • Jefferson Davis tasked with holding the country together until this was accomplished

The First Years of War 1861-1862

First Manassas (Bull Run) • First major engagement of the war • Thomas J. Jackson receives his nickname “Stonewall” from this battle • First use of the Rebel Yell • First victory for the South • Union troops retreat into Washington, DC • Confederate morale soared • With the defeat at Bull Run, President Lincoln called for 500,000 troops and another 500,000 3 days after.

Battle of the Ironclads CSS Virginia • USS Merrimack attempted to be destroyed by Union abandoning the Naval Yard in Norfolk • CSA recovered keel • Confederate engineers worked to create an ironclad to break Union Blockade USS Monitor • Called a “cheese box on a raft” • Only two guns on a rotating turret

Battle of Hampton Roads • March 8-9, 1862 • March 8, CSS Virginia steams out into bay and attacks and sinks several Union wooden ships blockading harbor • Union is unaware Confederates have an Ironclad • Monitor arrives the following day and engages the Virginia • Battle is a draw after several hours of fighting • The era of wooden ships is over – now the era of iron ships

New Weapons • Rifle ~ more accurate than muskets and could be loaded more quickly ~ 3 round per minute • Minie ball ~ soft lead bullet that was more destructive • Used primitive grenades and land mines

Antietam • Lee wins at 2nd Bull Run (Manassas) in August 1862 • Crosses the Potomac River and head into Maryland • Union corporal finds a copy of Lee’s Army orders • Armies clash near Sharpsburg, MD at Antietam Creek in September 1862 • Bloodiest single day battle in American history • Casualty total ~ more than 21,000 • Instead of pursuing, Union did nothing • Battle was a tie • Emancipation Proclamation issued in aftermath

Proclaiming Emancipation • Lincoln disliked slavery and used “victory” at Antietam as springboard • Believes the federal government had the power to abolish it totally • Major reason for fighting the war is preservation of the Union • Lincoln adds emancipation of slaves as a war aim to his goals • Lincoln uses emancipation as a weapon of war • Issued Proclamation in September 1862

Emancipation Proclamation • Took effect January 1, 1863 • Only applied to areas behind Confederate lines outside Union control • Was a military action aimed at the states in rebellion • Did not apply to Southern territory already occupied by Unions troops • Did not apply to slave states that had not seceded

Reactions to the Proclamation • Not much practical effect • Immense symbolic importance • Gave the war a high moral purpose • Free blacks liked that they could enlist in the Union army • Confederates reacted with outrage • War became a fight to the death with the issue of slavery being settled at its outcome

African American Soldiers • 1862 • Congress passes a law to allow African Americans to serve in the military • 10% of the Union army was Black Soldiers by the end of the war • Idea greatly supported by Frederick Douglass, former slave and Abolitionist • Suffered discrimination • Could not rise above the rank of captain • Inequality of pay

African American Soldiers • Mortality rate much higher among African Americans than other soldiers • Assigned garrison duty more often • Likely to catch typhoid, pneumonia, malaria, etc. • African American soldiers were not treated as POWs, usually they were executed or returned to slavery

Confederate Slave Resistance • Union forces push further into the Confederacy • Slaves seek freedom behind Union lines (Contrabands) • Some stay on plantations to destroy the farm implements and fences • Slave resistance will weaken the plantation system • By 1864 slavery is doomed

War Affects Economies Southern Shortages • Food shortage due to a drain on manpower, Union occupation of food growing areas, and the lose of slave labor to work the fields • Meat became scarce • Riots broke out because of food shortages • Confederacy gave out some of its stores of rice • Union blockaded southern ports blocking much need supplies ~ medicines and food stuff Richmond Bread Riots, 1863

War Affects Economies Northern Economic Growth • Effect of the war was more positive in the North • Created an economic boom for the manufacturers and the Western farmers • Downside of boom? • Wages did not keep up with prices • Standard of living declined • Women • Obtained government jobs for the first time • Kept those jobs after the war • Served as battlefield Nurses – Clara Barton • Congress enacts first income tax in 1863

Soldiers Suffer • Soldiers were required to take a bath once a week • Wash hands once a day • No latrines or garbage disposal • Common ailments • Dysentery • Body Lice • Diarrhea • Army Rations: beans, bacon and hardtack

The War Continues 1863-1865

Chancellorsville • May 1863 • Lee outmaneuvered enemy and forced the Union Army to retreat • General Stonewall Jackson, while riding on a night patrol, accidentally shot by own Confederate forces • His arm is amputated • Dies 10 days later • Considered Lee’s Greatest Victory • Southern spirit of invincibility • Attempts to reinvade North

Gettysburg • July 1 – 3, 1863 • Considered to be the turning point of the war • Most decisive battle of the war • After three days of fighting, Lee believes he can break the Union lines • Lee orders an attack at the Union center (Pickett’s Charge) • Casualties • Union ~ 23,000 killed or wounded • Confederacy ~ 28,000 killed or wounded “The Harvest of Death,” Gettysburg Battlefield July 5 or 6, 1863

Siege of Vicksburg • Ulysses S. Grant continues his campaigns in the West and begins a siege of Vicksburg • Residents took shelter in caves they dug out of the side of hills • Food supplies ran low; citizens ate river rats • On July 3, 1863 the Confederate commander sent a message to Grant asking for terms • Vicksburg officially fell on July 4, 1863 • The Confederacy was physically cut in two

Gettysburg Address • November 19, 1863 • A ceremony was held to dedicate a cemetery in Gettysburg • First speaker ~ Edward Everett, noted orator spoke for 2 hours • Abraham Lincoln spoke for two minutes and changed how people thought about the United States

Confederacy Wears Down • The Gettysburg and Vicksburg defeats • Cost the South fighting power • No foreign support from England or France after double defeats • Low on food, shoes, uniforms, guns, and ammunition • Morale began to deteriorate as the war progressed • Many soldiers deserted • Jefferson Davis had a hard time governing because of internal discord

“Onto Richmond!” The beginning of the end of the Confederacy

Grant and Sherman Ulysses S. Grant William T. Sherman • Lincoln appoints U.S. Grant commander of all Union armies • Grant would travel in the field personally battling Lee • Grant appoints William Tecumseh Sherman commander of the military division of the Mississippi • Both men believed in total war • Believed it was essential to fight the army, the government and the civilian population • Reasoning ~ civilians grew food, made weapons, and transported goods for the army and the people’s will kept the war going

Grant & Lee in Virginia • May 1864 – June 1864 • Grant’s strategy immobilize Lee’s army Grant’s casualties twice as high as Lee’s • Series of battles known as the Overland Campaign • Grant tries to “sidestep” around Lee • Last “On to Richmond Campaign” of the war

Grant & Lee in Virginia • Siege of Petersburg • June 1864 - April 1865 • Soldiers began to dig siege lines and trenches as shelter • Battle of the Crater, July 1864 • Grant was called a butcher because of his total war policy • Lincoln did not interfere because Grant told him he would not turn back Ulysses S. Grant The Wilderness

Sherman’s March to the Sea • May 1864 – December 1864 • Sherman abandons supply lines heads towards Atlanta • “Bummers” live of land • Mid- November ~ Burns Atlanta (industrial area) • Sherman continue his March to the Sea and gives Lincoln a Christmas present: Savannah, Georgia

The End is Near • March 1865: End of the Confederacy is near • Grant almost surrounding Richmond • Sherman marching through Carolinas heading to unite with Grant • April 2, 1865: Lee overcome by forces at Petersburg • Confederate government abandons Richmond and purposely set it afire • Flames destroy 90 buildings and damage hundreds more • Lee’s Army attempts to flee into NC, but unable to escape Grant’s army

Surrender at Appomattox • Lee attempts to escape Grant’s forces by heading west of Richmond • Army tired, underfed, underclothed • Many simply collapse from exhaustion • April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia • Grant paroles all of Lee’s soldiers and sends them home with their personal possessions, horses, and 3 days of rations • Officers allowed to keep side arms • By May 1865 all Confederate resistance ended and Jefferson Davis is captured • Civil War is declared over on May 26, 1865

Legacy of the War • Political Changes • Federal government assumed supreme national authority and no state has ever seceded again • States’ rights has not gone away it has just changed how it has been viewed • Political/Economic Cost • Both governments spent an estimated $3.3 billion • Economic Changes • Northern states economy boomed • Large scale commercial agriculture boomed by the end of the war • Southern states economy devastated • Slavery taken away and region’s industry wrecked

Legacy of the War • Human Costs • Union casualties (deaths) ~ 360,000 men • Confederate casualties (deaths) ~ 260,000 men • Union wounded ~ 275,000 soldiers • Confederate wounded ~ 225,000 soldiers • Total serving during the war ~ 2.4 million out of a population of 31 million • Disruption of education, careers, and families • Almost every American family was affected

Assassination of Lincoln • Lincoln wanted to unify the nation but never got the chance • Assassination on April 14, 1865 • Lincoln along with his wife, Mary went to Ford’s Theatre • Larger conspiracy to decapitate US Government is planned • John Wilkes Booth, a 26 year old actor and Southern sympathizer crept into the unguarded Presidential Box • Shot Lincoln in the head with a single shot Derringer

Assassination of Lincoln • Booth leapt to the stage but broke his left leg in the process • He yelled “Sic Semper Tyrannis” (Thus always to tyrants) • Escapes out of theater and into Maryland Countryside • Cornered 12 days later in a Virginia Tobacco Barn by US Army • The barn was set on fire • He refused to surrender • Union soldier then shot Booth and pulls body from barn

Assassination of Lincoln • The unconscious body of the President carried across the street to Peterson Boarding House • Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 at 7:22 am • This was the first time a president had been assassinated • Funeral train took 14 days to go from Washington, DC to Springfield, IL

Photos of Lincoln Assassination

The American Civil War