• Lincoln inaugurated March 1861
• Unclear how he would respond to SC & the other 6 states
• He assured southerners that he had no intention of interfering with slavery
• He warned that no state had the right to secede

• “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.”
--Abraham Lincoln, Inauguration speech.

• 2 forts in the South were still occupied by
Federal troops
• One was Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC
• Lincoln chose to send supplies to the fort
& allow SC to decide whether or not to allow it
• Confederates began bombarding Ft.
Sumter on April 12, 1861

 Acted as no other president had before him
 Often acting without approval of Congress
 Claim such action as necessary “as indispensable to the public safety.”

 Called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the insurrection
 90 day enlistment period
 Authorized spending for the war
 Suspended the writ of habeas corpus
 Congress was not in session when Lincoln did these things

 After Ft. Sumter 4 other southern states seceded
 Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, &
Arkansas
 The capital was moved to Richmond, VA
 4 slaveholding states remained in the
Union
 Border states:
 Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, & Delaware

 Keeping the border states in the Union was imperative to Lincoln
 Loss of these states would have increased the population of the CS by 50%
 These states were strategically important for the war
 Lincoln was reluctant to push for emancipation fearing alienation of these states

• The War Between the States
• The War for Southern Independence
• Mr. Lincoln’s War
• The Southern Rebellion
• The War of the Rebellion
• The Second War for Independence
• The War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance
• The War Against Northern Aggression
• The War of the Southern Planters
• The War for the Union
• The War for Southern Freedom
• The Lost Cause

 Confederate States of America


The South, CS, CSA, Rebels, Confederates,
Johnny Reb, Secesh
SC, NC, GA, FL, MS, AL, TN, AK, VA, TX, & LA
 United States of America
 The North, US, USA, Yankees, Billy Yank,
Federals, Bluebellies

• Rifled muskets
• Telegraph
• Ironclad ships
• Submarines
• Total warfare
• Workable machine gun
• Aerial reconnaissance
• Field trenches
• Photography of battle
• Repeating rifles
• Bugle call “Taps”
• Income tax

 CS


Fight a defensive war
Move troops shorter distances


Long coast difficult to blockade
Experienced military leaders
 US


Population: 22 million vs. 5.5 million



2.5:1; free males 4.4:1
800,000 immigrants
Freed slaves
US Navy

 CS
 Hoped overseas demand for cotton would draw support from foreign powers, esp. the U.K.
 US




Controlled most of the banking & capital of the US
Wealth produced 3:1 (factory production: 10:1)
 85% of all factories & manufactured goods
Transportation (railroad mileage: 7:1)
 70% of railroads
65% of farmland

 The North


Well established strong central government
Strong leadership of Abraham Lincoln
 The South

Hurt by it’s own ideology of state’s rights
 Lacked a strong central government
 Hoped that the North would turn on Lincoln & get tired of the war




Northern strategy




Capture Richmond
Occupy border states
Divide the CS in two by taking control of Mississippi River
Blockade southern ports & cut off supply line to South
 Anaconda Plan
Southern strategy



Capture Washington, D.C.
Control border states
Gain support of England
Theatres


Western theatre
Eastern theatre




Constitution modeled after U.S. Constitution




One 6-year term for president & v.p.
President had item veto power
Congress could not pass protective tariffs or fund internal improvements
Foreign slave trade was prohibited
Pres. Davis struggled to increase power of the presidency during the war; state governors resisted
The CS faced serious shortage of money during the war—issued more than $1 billion in paper money

Worth less than 2 cents by end of the war

• South named battles after town or settlement
• Battle of
Manassas
• North named battles after nearest water
• Battle of Bull
Run

• First Bull Run (US) or First Manassas (CS),
Virginia (July 1861)
• First battle of the Civil War, July 1861
• “On to Richmond”
• Believed it would be a short war
• US Gen. Irvin McDowell vs. CS Gen. Joseph
Johnston
• US troops initially winning
• CS counterattack led by Thomas (Stonewall)
Jackson sends US fleeing back to Washington, DC
• Ended the illusion of a short war
• Peninsula Campaign (March 1862)
• Gen. George McClellan replaced Gen. McDowell
• Pressured to make a move invaded Virginia
• Stopped by Gen. Robert E. Lee & was ordered back after 5 mos.
• Replaced by Gen. John Pope

• Mill Springs,
Kentucky, January
19, 1862
• US Gen. George
Thomas vs. CS Gen.
George Crittenden
• Confederates defeated & forced out of Kentucky
• CS General Felix
Zollicoffer killed
• Enabled US to carry war into Tennessee

• Ft. Henry & Ft.
Donelson,
Kentucky,
February 1862
• US Gen. U.S.
Grant captured both forts
• “Unconditional
Surrender” Grant

• Monitor vs.
Merrimac
(March
1862)
• Clash of the
Ironclads

• Shiloh, Tennessee (April 6-7, 1862)
• US Gen. Grant vs. CS Gen. Albert Sidney
Johnston & Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard
• Gen. Johnston mortally wounded
• US victory after reinforcements arrived under Gen. Buell
• US casualties 13,000, CS casualties
11,000
• Second Manassas or Second Bull
Run, VA, (August 1862)
• CS Gen. Lee vs. US Gen. Pope
• CS victory

• Antietam, Maryland (September 22, 1862)
• Lee’s first advance into northern territory
• Hoped a victory in the North would gain recognition & support from Britain
• US Gen. McClellan was once again in command
• Knew CS plans b/c a CS gen. had dropped them
• Single bloodiest day in American military history
• Over 22,000 killed or wounded
• US claims victory after CS army retreats to VA
• McClellan replaced by Lincoln for not pursuing
Lee—”bad case of the slows”
• Replaced by Gen. Ambrose Burnside
• Lincoln uses victory to issue Emancipation
Proclamation

• US Gen. Burnside vs.
CS Gen. Lee
• Burnside recklessly attacks entrenched CS army
• 12,000 US casualties vs. 5,000 CS casualties
• Robert E. Lee: "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."

• CS Gen. Braxton Bragg vs. US Gen. Don Carlos
Buell
• CS offensive into
Kentucky
• US victory

• CS needed foreign support
• Counting on Britain & France’s dependence on “King Cotton”
• British aristocracy wanted American democracy to fail
• Why Cotton Diplomacy failed
– Europe found other sources of cotton
• Wool & linen also used as alternatives
– CS defeat at Antietam
– Emancipation Proclamation

• CS diplomats James Mason & John Slidell on a mission to Britain aboard British steamer the Trent
• US warship stopped the Trent, removed
Mason & Trent, & brought them to the US as POWs
• Britain demanded their release & threatened war
• Lincoln acquiesced
• They went to Britain; their mission failed

• CS purchased warships from Britain
• CS commerce-raiders effective against US merchant ships
• CSS Alabama captured 60 ships before being sunk
• Britain paid the US $15.5 million after the war for damages caused


Lincoln was reluctant to free slaves during the war
– Keep support of border states
– Constitutional protections of slavery
– Prejudices of northerners
– Fear that premature action could be overturned in the next election




May 1861, US Gen. Benjamin Butler refused to return slaves to southerners calling them
“contraband of war”
Confiscation Act, 1861
– Used legal basis of the power to seize enemy property used to wage war against the US
– Thousands of “contrabands” fled to Union camps
Second Confiscation Act, July 1862
– Freed slaves of persons engaged in rebellion against the US
– Empowered the president to use freed slaves in the
Union army in any capacity




After Antietam, Lincoln warned that slaves in all states still in rebellion on 1/1/1863 would be
“then, thencefoward, and forever free.”
Justified by calling it a military necessity
It listed each state in rebellion & stated:
– …I do order & declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated states are, & henceforward shall be, free; & that the Executive Government of the US, including the military & naval authorities thereof, shall recognize & maintain the freedom of said persons.







No slaves were immediately freed
– Only applied to states out of Union control
Slavery continued in border states
Committed US gov’t. to a policy of abolition
Enlarged purpose of the war
– Fighting slavery as well as secession & rebellion
Added weight to the Confiscation acts
– Number of slaves fleeing to Union lines increased
Authorized the recruitment of freed slaves as
Union soldiers

th

This amendment to the Constitution was needed to free slaves in the border states due to phrases in the Constitution that seemed to legitimize slavery

Ratified in December 1865

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exit within the U.S., or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

 After the Emancipation
Proclamation about one quarter of slave population walked away
& sought the protection of the Union army
 Almost 200,000 served in the Union army & navy
 Segregated into all black units
– 54 th Massachusetts
 “Glory”

• CS Gen. Lee vs.
US Gen. Joseph
Hooker
• Thomas
“Stonewall”
Jackson mortally wounded by his own men
• CS victory
• Lee’s greatest victory

• Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (July 1-3, 1863)
• CS Gen. Lee vs. US Gen. George Meade
• Lee’s second invasion of the North
• Hoped to force the North to call for peace or obtain foreign intervention
• Largest battle of the Civil War
• Casualties: 23,000 Union, 28,000 Confederate
• Last offensive for the CS army
• US victory
• Vicksburg, Mississippi (July 4, 1863)
• US Gen. Grant laid siege
• US victory, Union gains control of the Mississippi
River

• Lincoln moved
Grant West in
1864
• Given command of entire Union army
• Grant’s plan was to outlast Lee in a war of attrition

• US Gen. William Tecumseh
Sherman
• Led 100,000 men from Chattanooga,
TN across GA & up into SC leaving a path of destruction
• Destroyed everything in their path—cotton fields, barns, houses, etc.
• Total war
− Wanted to break the will of the people
• Captured Atlanta in Sept. ’64 in time to help Lincoln get reelected

• Presented
Lincoln with
Savannah, GA
12/25/64
• Set fire to
Columbia, SC in Feb 1865
• “War is hell”


Democrats nominated
Gen. George McClellan

Platform: peace

Unionist party (Republicans) nominated Lincoln with loyal Democrat Sen.
Andrew Johnson as running mate

Party changed name to attract “War Democrats”

Lincoln won electoral votes 212/21

McClellan did get 45% of popular vote

• Spring 1865
• Effects of Union blockade &
Sherman’s march were taking their toll
• Grant continued to outflank Lee
• April 3, 1865 Richmond, VA fell
• CS tried to negotiate for peace
• Lincoln wanted restoration of Union &
Davis wanted independence

 Lee surrendered to
Grant
 April 9, 1865
 Grant gave
Lee generous surrender terms




April 14, 1865 Lincoln assassinated by John
Wilkes Booth

Lincoln was at Ford’s
Theatre watching “My
American Cousin”
A coconspirator attacked Sec. of State
William Seward
The North was outraged



Republicans had majorities in both houses but were divided


Moderates (Free-Soilers)
Radicals—who wanted immediate abolition
Most Democrats supported the war but criticized
Lincoln’s conduct of it

Peace Democrats (Copperheads) opposed the war & wanted peace

Congressman Clement Vallandigham, Ohio, briefly banished for his pro-Confederate speeches


Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in
Maryland & other states where pro-Confederate sentiment was high

People could be arrested without being charged with a crime indefinitely



About 13,000 people were arrested on suspicion of aiding the enemy
Democrats called Lincoln a tyrant
Ex Parte Milligan (1866) Supreme Court ruled the government had acted improperly in trying civilians in military courts



US Conscription Act (March 1863) all men between 20 & 45 liable for military service but could find a substitute or pay a $300 exemption fee


Strong opposition from poor laborers
July 1863 draft riots in New York City


Led mostly by Irish Americans against blacks & wealthy whites
Federal troops had to restore order
Both North & South had to use the draft


North

Borrowed $2.6 billion through the sale of bonds

Raised tariffs (Morrill Tariff Act, 1861)

Excise taxes

First income tax

Issued over $430 million in paper currency
(greenbacks)

Caused inflation—prices rose about 80%


Morrill Tariff Act (1861) raised tariff rates to raise revenue & protect US businesses

Homestead Act (1862) promoted settlement of the Plains; offered 160 acres of land free to anyone who would farm it for 5 years

Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants to maintain agricultural & technical colleges

National Banking System (1863)—to manage revenue



Field of nursing was opened up to women for the first time

Clara Barton (right)
Responsibilities taken on by women during the war gave impetus to the suffrage movement






4 million slaves freed
620,000 people died
$15 billion in war costs & property losses
Devastated the economy of the
South
Transformed the
US into a modern industrial society