Civil War

1. Civil War - Two societies at war: mobilization, resources, and internal dissent - Military strategies and foreign diplomacy Emancipation and the role of African Americans in the war Social, political, and economic effects of war in the North, South, and West

2. Two societies at war: mobilization, resources, and internal dissent • When the Civil War erupted at Ft. Sumter SC, in April 1861, both North and South were unprepared for what lay ahead. The US (Union) army was in shambles, and the Confederates had no army at all. Both sides were predicting (and rather counting on) the war being a tidy affair. Lincoln’s initial call for volunteers was for a 90-day enlistment. • The Southerners were hoping to win a decisive battle or two to force the North to recognize their secession, while the North hoped to quickly overwhelm the confederate capital and preserve the union. • Their first meeting at Bull Run (Mannassas) was attended by a gallery of spectators, picnics in hand. Although militarily indecisive, the battle dampened the optimism for a short war, setting the stage for the all-out carnage that would ensue over the next four years. • When it became clear that the volunteer forces called in the early stages of the war would be insufficient, both sides eventually were forced to enact drafts to fill the ranks of their armies.

3. Two societies at war: mobilization, resources, and internal dissent • Each side’s ability to successfully mobilize and deploy military operations was ultimately dependent on the available resources. The South had one advantage in that a significant number of first-rank officers had seceded with their home states- including Robert E Lee- and provided the Confederate forces with a competent and experienced field command. • The South also had an ostensible advantage in that they were poised to engage in a defensive war, united in the cause of protecting their homeland and way of life from northern “invasion.” If nothing else, some Southerners thought this strategy might succeed in beleaguering the North into giving up, and recognizing their “independence.” • Substantial as these Southern advantages were, they were woefully short, relative to the North, on the things that ultimately mattered the most: population, industry, and economy. • The Northern population in 1860 was roughly 22 million, while the South had 9 million, including 3.5 million slaves. • Leading up to the war, the vast majority of the nation’s industrial capacity was found in the northern states. The South somehow managed to arm itself through most of the war, but most other manufactured necessities of war- uniforms, blankets, boots and the like- grew incredibly scarce as the fighting dragged on. • The North claimed ¾ of the nation’s 30,000 railroad miles. As a result, the South suffered throughout the war to adequately supply their armies. • The North retained almost all of the nation’s naval power, including the vast majority of shipyards. • The North retained 75% of the overall wealth of the nation prior to secession. Cotton may have been King, but he was a minority shareholder compared to the North’s combined agricultural and industrial might. Moreover, despite inflation, the Northern economy actually grew during the war, while by war’s end, the Southern economy was utterly devastated.

4. Two societies at war: mobilization, resources, and internal dissent • Both North and South suffered from internal dissent throughout the war. Resistance to the war in the north was highest in the so-called “border states”-MD, DE, KY, MO,- states that allowed slavery but did not secede. Lincoln took the extraordinary measure of suspending basic civil rights (habeas corpus) in these areas, in an effort to keep pro-Southern agitators at bay. • Tensions also ran high in the North over the war’s real purpose. Early on, Lincoln and most national politicians stuck to the aim of preserving the union, angering the abolitionist elements of the north who wanted to seize the opportunity to end the abomination of slavery once and for all. This led to political headaches for Lincoln throughout his presidency, as he tried to reconcile his generally moderate policies with the ardent demands of a small but important constituency of the Republican coalition. • Other episodes of internal dissent include draft riots, most notably in New York City, in 1863. There, a mob ravaged the city for days, pillaging, setting fires, and lynching near 100 people, including many free Blacks. • The South also faced measures of dissent throughout the war. The Appalachian region, where slavery historically had very little impact, was wholly indifferent, if not downright hostile to the Confederacy. West Virginia, for example, seceded from Virginia in 1863.

5. Military strategies and foreign diplomacy • As mentioned, the North’s initial strategy was to end the war as quickly as possible. But after General George McClellan failed in his attempt to seize the Confederate capital at Richmond in the Peninsular Campaign, the North buckled down to institute longer-term plans. • Chief among these was a strategy of naval blockades, and seizure of the Mississippi River, to split the South in two. This so-called “Anaconda Plan” was intended to choke out the economic life of the South and crush their ability to wage war. • The naval blockade was never drip-tight, but it became more secure as the war dragged on, and severely diminished the South’s ability to conduct trade and resupply itself. The struggle for control of the Mississippi River was finally achieved in summer 1863 with the successful siege of Vicksburg.

6. Military strategies and foreign diplomacy • For the South, military strategy and foreign diplomacy became closely related. The South was desperate for diplomatic recognition, especially from Great Britain, and believed if it could win a decisive victory on Northern soil, it might induce the British to intercede. • To that end, in 1862, Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia into neighboring Maryland, where he met Union forces at Antietam. Although both sides suffered massive casualties, the North was able to repel Lee’s army back to Virginia, crushing the prospects of British recognition in the process. • The following year, Lee tried again to invade the Union, suffering even more losses in the epic three-day battle at Gettysburg. From this point, (coincidentally, only one day before the fall of Vicksburg on the Mississippi- July 3-4 1863) the South was forced to fight an entirely defensive war, a prospect that grew increasingly untenable as the North advanced on all fronts. • In the fall of 1863, union forces captured the important rail center of Chattanooga, followed by Sherman’s brutal, but successful “March to the Sea.” The strategy was now “Total War”- a mandate to inflict maximum damage to force the South to capitulate. Through 1864 and early 1865, Sherman burned and pillaged a swath through Georgia and the Carolinas, effectively cutting off Virginia from the rest of the Deep South. • Meanwhile, Ulysses S. Grant, who had led the Union to victories at Vicksburg, was summoned east to tame Robert E. Lee in Virginia. Over a nearly year-long series of campaigns, the Union steadily reduced Lee’s army, and finally forced his surrender in April 1865.

7. Emancipation and the role of African Americans in the war • Just as the Southerners needed a decisive victory to achieve their diplomatic aims, Lincoln and the Union needed a clear victory to alter the scope of the war and address directly the root issue of slavery. • Lincoln was under pressure from abolitionist factions to make a move against slavery, and the hard-fought victory at Antietam provided a basis to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. While northern abolitionists were happy to see Lincoln taking action, the Proclamation actually freed no one. Set to take effect on January 1, 1863, it applied only to slaves within the areas of rebellion, which the Union didn’t control, not to the slaves within Union territory (border states) or in areas already under Union control, like New Orleans. • Nonetheless, the Emancipation Proclamation represented an important shift in the purpose and psychology of the war, setting the stage for the complete destruction of slavery with the 13th Amendment at the war’s conclusion in 1865.

8. Emancipation and the role of African Americans in the war • African-Americans played a substantial role throughout the Civil War. In the North, over 180,000 Blacks served in the Union armies and navies. They were mostly drawn form the Union’s slave states, but were augmented by a significant number of free Blacks, and later in the war, emancipated slaves. • Although most Blacks were relegated to support functions, several African-American combat regiments fought gallantly, challenging the widely-held notion that Blacks were inherently unfit for battle. • In the South, no major slave uprisings occurred, but there are numerous examples of slaves successfully aiding the Union war effort. Nearly 500,000 slaves in the South abandoned their plantations, fleeing northward, or following the Union armies. The loss of so much agricultural labor furthered hampered the South’s ability to sustain an economy.

9. Social, political, and economic effects of war in the North, South, and West • The social, political, and economic effects of the Civil War were understandably enormous for all regions of the nation. • Most obviously, over 1 million combined casualties (600,000 dead) decimated an entire generation of young men in the U.S. • Total cost for the Civil War has been estimated at $15 billion- not including the long term costs related to pensions for veterans and interest on the national debt. Naturally, the South bore an especially heavy economic burden- its plantations in shambles, cities burned, labor force dispersed, transportation infrastructure destroyed and the entire population virtually devoid of cash. • The political impact of the Civil War also reached far into the future. Resentments from the war, and from the harsh peace imposed on the South, produced a lasting legacy in political relations between North and South.