The Furnace Of Civil War

1. The Furnace Of Civil War 1861-1865

2. Bull Run • Ends ‘90 day war’ • 1st real battle after skirmishes KY & WVA • July 21, 1861 • Irwin McDowell (N) v. Joseph Johnston & PGT Beauregard (S) Ill trained Yankees head to Manassas • Expected quick suppression of S will prove N superiority • Families watch from hillsides; picnic- ready for follow up victory ball- atmosphere like a sporting event • Initial success by Union, Confed reinforcements arrived; Jackson’s line held • 1st Rebel Yell • Hard battle- US defeat; rout to D.C. • CSA fails to pursue enemy into capitol

3. Tardy George & Peninsula Campaign • McClellan’s goal:  Potomac  coast; attack up James Riv @ Peninsula to Richmond, from S • Confeds raise, recondition Merrimack- plated in 4” Tredegar Iron plate: “Virginia” •  Hampton Roads, to take out Union fleet by Ft. Monroe, but • Union: “Monitor” (iron clad) engaged her in impt battle • All future war ships: iron clad • Monitor retreats; VA stays to guard Richmond

4. McClellan (2) • 34 yr old commander of Army of Potomac. • Drillmaster, organizer- perfectionist • Never took risks, held army w/o moving for months • Approached Richmond: stopped by Magruder (S) • Stonewall Jackson kept other union forces busy in Shenandoah Valley • Jackson’s Valley campaign bcm an offensive • Attacked Harpers Ferry- fought Gen Nathaniel Banks (N) • Lincoln kept McDowell guarding DC instead of sending him to aid McClellan • Ordered Little Mac to move on Richmond

5. Peninsula • Little Mac’s moves force evacuation of Williamsburg, Yorktown • Confed navy protects approach to Richmond • May 62 Gen Joseph E Johnston (S) drew Macs troops ½ way cross Chickahominy River • Attacked at Fair Oaks (7 pines) • 2 days fierce battle; US reinforcements drove Confeds back • June 25: Mac drives toward Richmond- meets Lee in “7 days battle” • Jeb Stuart’s Confed cavalry rode completely around McClellan’s army • Mechanicsville: US victory • Gaines Mill next day: Confed victory, saved Richmond, prolonged war: 3 yrs • Union army driven back to DC; Mac complaining all the way (not enough troops!) July 2

6. Union Strategy: Total War • Suffocate S through oceanic blockade • Free slaves to undermine economy • Cut confederacy in half by seizing control of MS R • Chop Confederacy to pieces by marching through GA & Carolinas • Capture capitol, Richmond, VA • Grind enemy to submission

7. War at Sea • Union blockade leaky at first • Britain, who’d usually protest interference in ‘her’ seas, recognized blockade as binding • Blockade running- smuggling- risky but profitable • Union navy seized British freighters on high seas citing ‘ultimate destination’ (S) as reasons • Biggest Confed threat to Union from VA (Merrimack)

8. Pivotal Point: Antietam • July 62: Second Battle of Bull Run; Lee crushed Gen John Pope (N) • Lee now hoped to invade N to persuade border states to join S and get foreign support • Lincoln puts McClellan back in command • Mac’s men find copy of Lee’s plans wrapped around cigar • Stopped Southerners at Antietam Creek Sept 17 (Sharpsburg, MD) • Lee retreats across Potomac; 4,000 dead in one day • McClellan doesn’t pursue • Union victory ended S hopes of foreign aid • Antietam = display of power on which to announce Emancipation Proclamation: a wartime measure • Didn’t free any slaves

9. Emancipation Proclamation • Effective Jan 1, 1863- War aim shifts; bigger moral cause to justify high cost of war • Link: slavery had divided union • Even bigots didn’t want to hand valuable property back to enemy • Mar 62: slaves freed in DC; no officer can return runaway slaves • July 62 border states rejected compensated emancipation • But loyalty now assured • Freed slaves in not yet conquered S territories • Not Border States or conquered territories • Freed slaves where it couldn’t and wouldn’t free slaves where it could • Controversial: many soldiers refused to fight for abolition; deserted • Many slaves heard of the Day of Jubilee; left plantations • Undermined labor of South • Southerners accused Lincoln of stirring up slave insurrections

10. Blacks battle bondage • As men ran low; black volunteers were enlisted. • By war’s end: 10% of Union army • Till 1864, South refused to recognize Black soldiers as p.o.w.s and executed them as runaways and rebels. • Fort Pillow, TN, blacks who had surrendered were massacred. • Black units later vow to take no prisoners. “Remember Ft Pillow!”

11. Bondage (2) • Many (fear, loyalty, lack of leadership, strict policing?) stayed on plantations. • Others walked off when Union armies conquered territory nearby • British anti-slavery society delighted; ended chances of S getting British support • No other European nation would help them now • Peace Democrats in DC ready to return to status quo & slavery just to end war (Copperheads)

12. Western setbacks • Braxton Bragg (S) turned back by Buell & Sheridan at KY • Possible further invasions of N • Grant at Xmas driven back from N. MS to Memphis, TN

13. East • McClelland removed; Burnside in • South to Fredericksburg, VA v. Lee & Longstreet • Burnside lost 3,000 dead, 8,000 wounded un uphill frontal assault • No real advantage to be gained • His commanders pulled him back Dec 62 • Fighting Joe Hooker badly beaten at Chancellorsville, VA • Here Lee divided his small army in half and sent Stonewall Jackson to attack the Union flank • His own men mistakenly shot him at dusk; died

14. Gettysburg July 1-3, 1863 • Lee moved up Shenandoah Valley MD Cumberland Valley  almost PA capitol: Harrisburg • Hooker, behind Lee- attack one of Lee’s armies or dash for Richmond? • Hooker replaced by Meade..> moved N drew Lee into battle at Gettysburg • Day 1: Lee on NE side of town at Seminary Ridge • Meade v. Hancock on SW side of town- Cemetery Ridge • Day 2: Lee orders flanking attack- Union lines held • Day 3: Picket’s charge across open field of peach orchard • Union lines held on high ground atop low ridge (little round top) • Confederates take heavy fire; scatter • Lee retreats across Potomac • Meade fails to pursue/ destroy • Months later: Gettysburg Address: About Moral cause: shifting war aim- • So that they shall not have died in vain

15. Ulysses S. Grant • Mediocre WP grad, alcoholic, fought under ideal of Immediate & Unconditional Surrender • Won at Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson • Lost hard battle at Shiloh (Apr 62) in TN • Spring 62: David G. Farragut joined No Army with flotilla to seize New Orleans.

16. Vicksburg • Grant took V. on MS R. after long siege from South after Union secured rest of MS R (July 4, 63) • Grant, Sherman cross river and take town from SW • Secured MS River. • Victory 1 day after N. Victory at Gettysburg

17. Sherman’s march to the sea • After Grant cleared out TN; Gen William Tecumseh Sherman given command to march through GA • Captured, burned Atlanta before heading to Savannah on the coast • His men cut 1 mile wide path of destruction: burning fields, cutting up RR tracks, destroying everything • Destroyed all sources of food- left discouraged, hungry people

18. Politics of war • Congressional Committee on Conduct of the war, created 1861- dominated by ‘radical’ Republicans • N. Dems split after death of Stephen Douglas • War Dems supported Lincoln; Peace Dems did not • Copperheads totally opposed war, denounced President (the IL ape) and his ‘n***er war’ • Most famous copperhead: Clemet L. Valandigham: denounced war/ imprisoned, banished to S, came back to OH illegally; left alone

19. Election 1864 • Republicans joined War Dems to form Union Party • Renominated Lincoln opposition • Copperheads & Peace Dems ran McClellan • Union party: Dem Andrew Johnson to ensure War Dems would vote for Lincoln • Victories at New Orleans, Atlanta right before election • N. soldiers pushed to vote- Lincoln victory

20. Grant outlasts Lee • Grant could send thousands to die just so Confedswd lose • He knew he cd afford to lose many men while Lee cd not • Series of Wilderness encounters: Grant fought Lee • Grant lost 50,000 men • Cold Harbor, union soldiers w. papers pinned on backs showing names and addresses rushed fort- over 7000 died in a few minutes • Public outraged over gore, death: pushed for his relief • He stayed

21. Petersburg • Last battle before Richmond • 10 month siege till P fell • Sheridan in Shenandoah harassed Lee from rear • Sherman plows through SC: major devestation • Sherman’s march through NC much tamer • Grant captured Richmond; burned it • Chased Lee to Appomattox Courthouse, VA April 65 • Surrender in Wilmer Mclean’s house

22. Martyrdom of Lincoln • April 14- shot in head in Ford’s theater • Watching My American Cousin • Shot by actor John Wilkes Booth • Died a few hours later, across the street • Southerners cheered his death at first, later it worsened their fate • He would have treated S better than Radical Republicans during Reconstruction

23. Aftermath • 600,000 died • Cost: $15 Billion • Destroyed slavery • Forever ended the question of whether a state can nullify a law or secede from the union