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The Civil War Continues. The war in the Far West Chancellorsville Gettysburg. The Far West . California had only recently been added as a result of the Mexican War in 1840s 1849 Gold Rush: loners, no ties to Union. Rapid settlement
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The Civil War Continues The war in the Far West Chancellorsville Gettysburg
The Far West • California had only recently been added as a result of the Mexican War in 1840s • 1849 Gold Rush: loners, no ties to Union. Rapid settlement • “We don’t care a straw whether you dissolve the Union or not,” a gold miner wrote in 1860 to his sister back home. “We just wish that the Republicans and Democrats in the Capital would get into a fight and kill each other all off.” • Calls for secession in 1861; forge own alliances with China, Japan – not Europe • In Oregon, settlers continued to clash with the Paiute, Shoshone and Bannock tribes in Oregon, Idaho and Nevada • Role in the Civil War: Both Oregon units were used to guard travel routes and Indian reservations, escort immigrant wagon trains, and protect settlers from Indian raiders. Several infantry detachments also accompanied survey parties and built roads in central and southern Oregon. • Oregon Senator Col. Edward Baker was killed leading Union troops in October , 1861.
Trans-Mississippi theater 1861–1865 • Missouri – 3rd most battles of any state • Bushwhacking • Irregular warfare: sometimes well organized, mostly independent actions • Kansas – “Jayhawkers”, raids into Missouri, as a reaction against “Federal Invasion” • John Mosby (Confederate) in Shenandoah Valley – “Partisan Ranger” • Both sides carried out large-scale atrocities against civilians. Never gave up, even when war was over (“Outlaw Josey Wales”) • In Missouri, Bushwhacking led to the death of about 1/3 of population. • Many of the most brutal bushwhacker leaders won national notoriety. A group of their followers remained under arms and carried out robberies and murders for sixteen years after the war, under the leadership of Jesse James
Indian Territory: Union after 1863 • Mostly Oklahoma -- unorganized region set aside for Native American tribes • Over 7,000 officers and soldiers supplied to the Confederacy from Native American lands coming from the “5 Civilized Nations” • The Union did not incorporate Native Americans • Before the war, the US government relocated all soldiers in Indian Territory to other key areas, leaving the territory unprotected from Texas and Arkansas, which had already joined the Confederacy. • The Confederacy saw a possible source of food in the event of a Union blockade, a connection to western territories, and a buffer area between Texas and the Union-held Kansas.
Indian Territory • All major tribes agreed to be annexed by the Confederacy in exchange for certain rights, including protection and recognition of tribal lands. • Native Americans loyal to the Union were expelled into Kansas and Missouri • Formed volunteer regiments known as the Indian Home Guard. • Contributions did not matter in the end. Territory opened to white expansion in the late 1870s. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPFP_XazE5U&feature=related
Texas • Texas remained in Confederate hands throughout the war, but was cut off from the rest of the Confederacy after the capture of Vicksburg in 1863 • When Texas seceded, it replaced its governor, Sam Houston, because he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. • Texas declaration of secession: “We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.” • Texas was mainly a "supply state" for the Confederate forces: horses for cavalry and some cotton. • Union capture of the Mississippi River made large movements of men, horses or cattle impossible. Some cotton was sold in Mexico, but most of the crop became useless because of the Federal naval blockade of Galveston
Confederate Memorial Day • Also known as Confederate Heroes Day (Texas) • Official holiday and/or observance day in parts of the South as a day to honor those who died fighting for the Confederate States of America. • Eight states officially observe Confederate Memorial Day: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas
New Mexico Territory • Confederate and Union claimed ownership and territorial rights over it. • 1861 the Confederacy claimed the southern tract as its own Arizona Territory and began New Mexico Campaign in an attempt to control the American Southwest and open up access to Union California. • Confederate power in the New Mexico Territory broken after the Battle of Glorieta Pass in 1862. • New Mexico Campaign from February to April 1862 • Confederate General Sibley invaded northern New Mexico Territory in an attempt to gain control of the Southwest, including the gold fields of Colorado and the ports of California. • To open an additional theater in the war would take pressure off war-weary theatres in the East • The Confederates successful, but failed to capture Fort Craig or force the surrender of the main Union Army in the territory. • At Glorietta Pass, the Confederates defeated another Union force from Fort Union but were forced to retreat following the destruction of their wagon train containing most of their supplies.
New Mexico • Consequences: • Confederate success in this campaign would have denied the Union a major source of the gold and silver necessary to finance its war effort, and the Union navy would have had the additional difficulty of attempting to blockade several hundred miles of coastline in the Pacific. • A Confederate victory would have also diverted Union troops which, following the invasion, were used to fight Native American tribes in the West.
Confederate Territory of Arizona • Claimed by the CSA in 1862 • Goal: capture gold/silver mines of Colorado and California • Included parts of the modern states of New Mexico and Arizona • The territory was officially declared on August 1, 1861, following the Confederate victory at the Battle of Mesilla. • Confederate hold ended after the Battle of Glorietta Pass • “Gettysburg of the West” • Confederates hoped to decisively remove Union troops • Confederate supply train, horses/mules destroyed • In the end, the dreams of a Confederate stronghold in the Southwest were impractical; New Mexico did not provide enough food or sustenance for any prolonged Confederate occupation. • Furthermore, the approach of the Federal "California Column" eastward through the New Mexico Territory during the summer of 1862 would have seriously jeopardized any Confederate claims to the region. • However, the territory continued to be represented in the Confederate Congress and Confederate troops continued to fight under the Arizona banner until the war's end.
The Apache Wars • Settlers, the United States and\or Confederate States Army against many Apache tribes in in the Southwest • Two leaders struck an alliance, agreeing to drive all Americans out of Apache territory. They were joined by Geronimo. • Their goal was never realized • Later, the California Column marched through this area in order to defeat CSA troops.
The California Column • Union volunteers marched from April to August 1862 over 900 miles from California, across New Mexico Territory to the Rio Grande and then into western Texas. • At the time, this was the longest trek through desert terrain ever attempted by the U.S. military • Goal: drive CSA troops out of New Mexico
The Pacific Coast Theater • California, Oregon, and Nevada, Washington Territory, Utah Territory and later Idaho Territory. • During the secession crisis following Lincoln's election, a group of Southern sympathizers in California made plans to secede with Oregon to form a "Pacific Republic". • mostly against Indians in this theater. • Union and Confederate regular forces did not meet directly within the Pacific Department, however operations were directed against Confederate irregulars in California and southern New Mexico Territory, which had strong secessionist sympathies. • Confederate States Navy warships operated along the Pacific/American coast, ultimately firing the last shot of the American Civil War in the Bering Sea • Attempts by the Confederacy to buy or seize ships for commerce raiding on the West Coast never successful.
1863: A Turning Point • Stalemate in N. Virginia • General Hooker vs Lee at Chancellorsville (May) • Confederate victory with only 13,000 casualties (17,000 for Union) • Gettysburg: July 1863 • Vicksburg: July 4, 1863
