The Civil War, 1861-1865
Fort Sumter, SC
Advantages
North
South
Larger population
Defensive war
Loyal Navy
More troops/supplies – shorter
distances
Strong economy, industry
Difficult to blockade East coast
Controlled-banking capital
Experienced military leaders
Logistical support
Demand for cotton brings financial aid
Well-established central government
Mobilizing for War
 Both sides unprepared
 Conscription acts
 April 1862: Confederacy
 Finance
 Union

Federal spending up 15%
 War bonds
 Paper money “greenbacks”
 Legal Tender Act 1862
 $150 million
 National Banking Act 1863
 Confederacy
 Political leadership
 Union
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
Lincoln’s personality and leadership succeed
Overcomes initial problems with respect and Democrats
 Confederacy
 Jefferson Davis strong leader, with enemies
 Lack of political unity
 States vs Davis
First Years of a Long War: 1861-1862
 1st Battle of Bull Run
 July 1861
 Union troops attacked Confederate troops
in VA
 Union close to victory but Stonewall
Jackson saves the day for Confederates
 Ends illusion of a short war
 Promoted rebel myth
 Union Strategy
 Devised by Gen. Winfield Scott
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Use U.S. navy to blockade coast
Divide Confederacy into two using
Mississippi River
Take Richmond
 Peninsula Campaign
 George B. McClellan
 Wanted long period of training for troops
 Invaded VA March 1862
 Stopped by General Robert E. Lee
 Retreated back over Potomac
 2nd Battle of Bull Run
Lincoln replaces McClellan
 General Lee takes advantage
 Drew Union into a trap and attacked
 Union forced to withdraw
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 Antietam
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Lee invades Maryland (Union territory)
Wanted official British recognition
McClellan in charge again for Union
Union intercepted Lee’s plans
Bloodiest single day of combat in war
Lee retreated, McClellan does not pursue
Claimed as a Union victory
Emancipation Proclamation
 Fredericksburg
McClellan replaced with Gen. Burnside
 Recklessly attacked Lee in VA Dec 1862
 Union suffered heavy losses

Big Changes
 Presidential Powers
 Revolutionized finance
 Secured borders by suspending habeas corpus in MD, 1861
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Ex Parte Merryman 1861
Chief justice Roger Tanney declares Lincoln’s actions unconstitutional
Doesn’t stop Lincoln
 “Modern” War
 Railroads
 Telegraphs
 Mass-produced weapons
 Joint army-navy tactics
 Iron-plated warships
 Rifled guns, artillery
 Trench warfare
War continues
 Monitor vs. Merrimac
 North needed to effectively
blockade Southern ports
 March 1862
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Confederate ironclad ship Merrimac
could sink Union wooden ships
easily
Union built Ironclad called Monitor
Five-hour duel, ended in draw
Prevented Confederacy from truly
challenging Union blockade
 Revolutionize future modern
warfare
 General Grant in the West
 Union’s campaign for control of
Mississippi under Gen. Ulysses S.
Grant
 Had stunning victories

Early 1862
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Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on
Cumberland River
Took 14,000 Confed. prisoners
Opened up Mississippi to Union
attack
 Shiloh
 Confederates surprise Grant
 Union holds ground
 Confederates forced to retreat
 April 1862
 David Farragut captures New
Orleans
Virginia (Merrimac) vs. Monitor
Foreign Affairs
 Trent Affair
 1861
 Confederate diplomats on a
British ship the Trent
 Union stopped ship and took
diplomat prisoners
 Britain threatened war
 Lincoln gave in to British
demands
 Confederate Raiders
 South purchased war ships from
Britain

Mainly commerce raiders
 South tried to buy Laird Rams
from British, but blocked by U.S.
minister to Britain Charles
Francis Adams
 Failure of Cotton Diplomacy
 European intervention a lost
cause
 Europe quickly found cotton
from other sources
 Reasons Britain did not recognize
Confederacy


Antietam
Emancipation Proclamation
New Goal of the War
 Confiscation Act 1861
 Did not free slaves, put in army
 Enemy property freed
 2nd Confiscation Act 1862
 Now “free” blacks
 Could be soldiers
 Emancipation Proclamation
 Sept 1862, after Union victory at
Antietam
 Enacted January 1, 1863
 No practical impact, political
 Enacted by Lincoln, not congress
 Changes war
Union Triumphs 1863-1865
 Turning Point
 Vicksburg
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Union controlled Mississippi by
Spring 1863
Confederates surrendered the city after
heavy bombardment
Union controlled full length of river,
cut off west
 Gettysburg
 Lee invaded MD and PA
 Wanted to capture a major northern
city
 July 1, 1863 surprised Union
 Bloodiest battle of the war
 Lee forced to retreat to VA
 Grant in Command
 Lincoln finally had a General
 1864 made Commander of Union
 Approach to “outlast” Lee
 War of attrition

Foreshadowed Trench Warfare
 Sherman’s March
 Chief instrument of Grant’s
strategy
 Led 100,000 men from
Chattanooga, Tennessee on
campaign of deliberate destruction
from Tenn, through Georgia and
South Carolina
 Took Atlanta September 1864
 Broke the will of the Confederacy
 Election of 1864
 Democrat challenger


General George McClellan
Platform:

Called for peaceful settlement of war
 Lincoln Republican nominee
 VP: Andrew Johnson from Tennessee
 Lincoln crushed electoral vote, but
popular vote much closer
End of the War
 Appomattox
 Confederate government tried
to negotiate for peace
 Lincoln would not accept
 Lee forced to surrender April
9, 1865 at courthouse
 Lincoln’s Assassination
 Urged South to be treated
benevolently in 2nd inaugural
address
 April 14th, 1865


John Wilkes Booth shoots
Lincoln
Loss of Lincoln’s leadership
mourned
Impact of War
 Political Change
 Electoral College

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Functioned throughout war
New factions created
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Republicans
 Radicals
 Moderates
Democrats
 Peace
 Copperheads
 The Draft
 Both Union and Confederacy
forced to draft
 Substitutes allowed
 Draft riots


NYC July 1863
Irish attacked Blacks and wealthy
whites
 Civil Liberties
 Suspension of Habeas Corps
 Ex Parte Milligan 1866
 Political dominance of the North
 With Union victory new definition
of the federal Union

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Nullification and Secession no longer
issues
Supremacy of Federal government
over states solidified
Abolition gave new meaning to
concept of democracy


Advanced cause of democracy
Inspired countries around the world
Impact of the War
 North
 Economic

Republicans favor growth

Financing the War

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Borrowed $2.6 billion through
sale of government bonds
Raised tariffs
 Tariffs 1862, 1864
Instituted first income tax
Issued $430 million in paper
currency called Greenbacks
National Banking System created
in 1863

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Modernizing the North

Manufacturing increases

Pacific Railroad Act 1862
 Authorized Transcontinental
Railroad
Homestead Act 1862
 Promoted settlement of Great
Plains offering 160 acres of
free land
 Had to live on for 5 years
Morrill Land Grant Act 1862
 Encouraged states to use sale
of federal land grants t
maintain agricultural and
technical colleges
Problems
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Modernizing benefitted the rich
Prices increase
Excise taxes, inflation
Wages behind cost of living
Social Changes
 Blacks
 Became Union soldiers


54th regiment
1/10th army
 Freedman’s Bureau 1865
 Equal pay, rights
 Sea Island Experiment
 Reconstruction Experiment
 Gideon’s Band


13th


Education the key
Amendment
1865
Four million “freed”
 Women
 Nursing field open to
women
 Took on responsibilities of
men
 Medicine
 United States Sanitary
commission
 Battlefront nursing corps


Dorthea Dix
Clara Barton

Geneva Convention
 Miasm theory
 Better sanitation
 Civilian
 620,000 dead
 Economic
 Cost $15 billions in war costs
and property loss
 Southern economy ruined
 Greenbacks national currency
 National banking replaces
state banks
 Political
 States right’s argument
disappear
 Characteristics of US
democracy and capitalism
economy strengthened
 Business
 Large-scale business
organization
Impact of the War

Railroad corporations
 Northern industry prospered
Political Cartoon Practice

Marching Through Georgia*
(Henry Clay Work)
Bring the good old bugle boys, we'll sing another song.
Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along
Sing it as we used to sing it fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.
cho: Hurrah! Hurrah! We bring the Jubilee!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The flag that makes you free,
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia!
How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful
sound!
How the turkeys gobbled that our commissary found!
How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground
While we were marching through Georgia.
Yes, and there were Union men who wept with joyful
tears,
When they saw the honored flag they had not seen for
years!
Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in
cheers,
While we were marching through Georgia.
"Sherman's dashing Yankee boys will never reach the
coast!"
So the saucy rebels said, and 'twas a handsome boast,
Had they not forgot, alas, to reckon with the host
While we were marching through Georgia.
So we made a throroughfare for Freedom and her train
Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us for resistance was in vain
While we were marching through Georgia.
Primary Source
Practice
Group Questions
 What was the immediate cause of the Civil War?
 Had there been a background of agitation for the principles
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victorious during the Civil War?
Were personalities involved on either side whose strengths and
weaknesses may have helped determine the outcome of the
struggle?
Were any new and potent ideas stimulating the loyalty of a
considerable number of people?
How did the economic groups line up on the issue?
Were religious forces active?
Did any new technological developments influence the Civil War?
Can the events be partially explained by weakened or
strengthened institutions?
Was the physical environment itself a factor in the situation?