The Civil War

1. The Civil War Ch. 11

2. April 1861: Confederates fire on Ft. Sumter…Civil War begins!! • North Advantages • Larger population • Industrial/agricultural capacity • Transportation network • 2.1 million soldiers • Naval advantage

3. The South • 900,000 soldiers • Unstable finances • Financed 60% of the $1.5 billion spent on war printing money and inflation.

4. The Union Solider • Blue Uniform • The Confederate Solider • Grey Uniform

5. Confederate president Jefferson Davis (former senator of Mississippi) had to build a government from square one (during a war). • Lincoln already had an established government, a standing army, stable financial resources, and excellent relations with Europe.

6. The Southerners saw themselves as the only true heirs of the American Revolution and the true defenders of the American Constitution. • President Davis needed to give the South a vision for their future. • Northerners needed a convincing reason to fight.

7. Lincoln overall was a better leader; he handled disagreement better, used humor to diffuse tense situations, had eloquence, and was a man of the people.

8. More States Secede • Virginia was not willing to fight against the Southern states. • Seceded from the Union on April 7, 1861. • Western Virginia was anti-slavery; seceded from Virginia and became West Virginia in 1863. • Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee quickly followed after Virginia. • Seceded in May 1861 • Maryland was vital to the Union, because of its close proximity to Washington D.C. • Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri remained part of the Union.

9. The Strategies… • The Union • Anaconda Plan • The Union navy would blockage southern port so they couldn’t export cotton, nor import much needed manufactured goods. • Union riverboats and armies would move down the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two. • Union armies would capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia.

11. The South • Survival of the fittest • Attack, Attack, Attack!! • Invade the North if necessary • They only had to fight a strong battle on their own territory until Northern opposition forced the Union to give up. • Problems with this strategy • Required more patience than the South had (attach on Ft. Sumter showed that). • Southern resources might give out before the war might end.

12. The Early War • First Battle of Bull Run • July 21, 1861 Beauregard (Confederacy) and McDowell (Union) meet at Manassas (20 miles SW of Washington D.C) • Confederate troops take down a string Union army. • Colonel Thomas J. Jackson earns his name “Stonewall Jackson.”

13. Confederate victory at Bull Run boosted the South’s confidence.

14. War in the West • Confederate forts, Ft. Henry on the Tennessee River and Ft. Donelson on the Cumberland River guarded strategic waterways that connected Tennessee and Kentucky to the Mississippi Valley. • Forts also defended Nashville (Tennessee’s capital)

15. Fort Henry Fort Donelson

16. February 1862, Ulysses S. Grant (Union General) put together a land and river attack against both forts, which caught the unprepared Southerners off guard.

17. By February 16, 1862 both forts fell. • This Union victory closed off the South’s path to the West from Virginia and the Carolinas. • The Confederacy never regained strategic advantage in the West.

18. Shiloh • March 1862 • Grant and his men gathered near small Tennessee church (Shiloh). • However, Grant did not post enough guards on patrol. • Confederate forces came charging in from the woods and attacked. • That night, Grant called in reinforcements, reorganized his men and the following morning attacked Confederate forces. • By mid-afternoon April 7, Confederate forces retreated.

19. Grant’s next move was to attack the main Mississippi port and the rail center of Vicksburg. • David G. Farragut was a 60 year old Admiral took his fleet past enemy fire and 5 days later the U.S. flag flew over New Orleans. • Over the next two month, Farragut took control of Baton Rouge and Natchez.

20. War in the East • With Grant taking care of shutting down the Confederacy in the West, Lincoln shifted his focus on Richmond. • Appointed General George B. McClellan to lead the Army of the Potomac.

21. Richmond • Robert E. Lee (Confederate General) • Modest and willing to go beyond military textbook tactics • Opposed secession • Freed his slaves • Declined offer to head Union army • Wanted to stay faithful to Virginia

22. Seven Days’ Battles • June 25 – July 1, 1862 • Lee’s determination and unorthodox tactics forced McClellan to back away and head down the peninsula towards the sea. • Three Thousand men were killed or wounded on both the Union and Confederate sides.

23. Turning Points • Union naval blockade strengthened as the war continued. • South loses its ability to continue trade, raise money for war needs, and from cash crops leaving the South. • Restriction of trade hurt the Southern cause.

24. The Trent Incident • James Mason and John Slidell (Confederate diplomats) illegally travelled aboard a British merchant ship (the Trent). • Captain Charles Wilkes (Captain of the San Jacinto) arrested the two men. • Britain thought they were Union diplomats and prepared to wage war against the United States. • Lincoln set the two prisoners free, therefore stopping war from starting.

25. The Alabama claims • Britain did not recognize the Confederacy, but sold them ships to use against the Union. • Alabama ship sank or captured 64 American merchant vessels before it sank. • United States gives Britain the $19 million bill in damages, which Britain ignored. • In 1872, the United States and Britain came to an agreement and Britain paid the U.S. $15.5 million .

26. Antietam • Bloodiest single day of fighting in U.S. History. • 2,100 Union soldiers and 2,700 Confederate soldiers died. • 18, 500 other Union and Confederate soldiers were wounded.

28. Emancipation • President Lincoln hated slavery, but his war priority was to keep the Union together. • Lincoln said during this inauguration he had “no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists”. • However, as the war continued Lincoln was getting more and more pressure from Northern civilians, Union soldiers, and Congress to emancipate slavery.

29. The Republican Congress decided to prohibit slavery in the territories and abolish slavery in D.C. • Due to the emancipation of slavery, the district’s slaves called for compensating slave owners and colonizing the freed slaves in Black republics such as Haiti and Liberia. • In July 1862, the Conscription Act ordered the seizure of land from disloyal Southerners and the emancipation of their slaves.

30. Emancipation Proclamation announced by President Lincoln on September 1862, would free slaves in all Confederate states still in rebellion started January 1, 1863. • Slaves in the border states loyal to the Union and in areas under Federal occupation were exempt from the proclamation.

31. The Emancipation unified the Republican Party and strengthened Lincoln’s hand in conducting the war. • The 1862 Conscription Act included slaves with the other Confederate property as the “contraband” of war and subject to confiscation. • After 1863, former slaves served in increasing numbers in the Union army.

32. More than 80% of about 180,000 black soldiers and 20,000 black sailors who fought in the Union were slaves and free black men from the South. • Even though black soldiers were able to fight just as well as white soldiers, blacks were paid less and performed most of the menial duties of the camp.

33. The most celebrated black encounter with Confederate troops occurred July 1863 during an assault by the 54th Massachusetts Regiment on Ft. Wagner outside Charleston, SC. • The Northern press praised the black troops for their efforts.

34. Both Union and Confederate women cared for the sick and wounded. • In 1861, members of the U.S. Sanitary Commission voluntarily came together and attempted to upgrade medical and hospital care.

35. Even when soldiers escaped death on the battlefield and in the hospital, they often died from disease. • Twice as many soldiers died from disease than from battle during the Civil War.

36. Common diseases were typhoid and venereal diseases. • Typhoid is causes by salmonella (contaminated water). • Symptoms – fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea, tired, aches and pains, severe chest congestion.

37. Most soldiers turned to religion to help console them.

38. Soldiers responded to the danger of war in different ways • Yelling loudly • Uncontrollable shaking • Strained relations between enlisted soldiers and officers • Heavy chores • Incessant drills • Boredom

39. Women cooked, cleaned, did laundry and provided sexual services.

40. From Fredericksburg to Gettysburg • After Antietam, Lincoln replaced General McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside. • Burnside rushed to beat General Lee’s army in Northern Virginia, reaching the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg in November 1862.

41. On December 13, 1862, Burnside and the Union army launched a foolish frontal assault on the Confederate army. • Heavy Federal casualties led to Burnside being replaced by Major General Joseph Hooker. • Hooker was just as incompetent as Burnside.

42. From May 1 to May 4, Lee’s army delivered a series of crushing attacks on Hooker’s forces at Chancellorsville.

43. Just after this series of attacks, nervous Confederate troops mistakenly shot and wounded Stonewall Jackson on his return from a mission. • He died a few days later.

44. However, the greatest battle of the war started near Gettysburg.

45. Day 1 of battle • Confederates forced Union troops back from the town to Cemetery Hill. • Day 2 of battle • Confederates took several key locations along Cemetery Ridge before Union troops pushed them back to their previous positions. • Day 3 of battle • Lee’s fateful mistake • As the Confederate infantry marched out for battle, the Union artillery and Federal riflemen tore apart the Southerners,

47. July 4, one day after Gettysburg, Vicksburg the last major Confederate strong hold on the Mississippi surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. • Grant devised a brilliant plan to take Vicksburg calling for rapid maneuvering and expert coordination • Grant had his twenty-thousand Union troops ferried across the Mississippi from the Louisiana side of Vicksburg.

48. On May 22, 1863, Grant settled down in front of the city and cut it off completely. • Many native American tribes in the Trans-Mississippi West spent much of the war battling Federal troops for more territory and resources.

49. War Transforms the North • President Lincoln began using his executive authority by ordering the seizure of telegrams to intercept messages to the South. • Lincoln also suspended the writ of habeas corpus (the constitutional requirement that protects a defendant against illegal imprisonment). • This suspension allowed authorities to hold suspects indefinitely and was permitted by the Constitution “when in cases of Rebellion or invasion the public safety”.

50. Copperheads were Northern democrats who were suspected of aiding the Confederate cause during the war. • Radical Republicanswere a small group that favored the abolishment of slavery at the beginning of the war then advocated harsh treatment of the defeated South.