The Civil War 1861-1865

NORTH
THE UNION
SOUTH
CONFEDERACY

• Fort Sumter, South Carolina
– First battle of the Civil War on April 12, 1861, attack on union
• 34 hours of bombardment,
Union surrender.
• Lincoln declared south in rebellion.

• Border States:
– Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri.
• The Division of Virginia
– New state of West Virginia joined the Union in
1863.
• Confederate capital
– Richmond, Virginia.

• Neither side prepared for war.
– Both depended on volunteers.
•Border states joined both sides.
•Families and Friends Divided

At the beginning of the war, the North had several key advantages over the South.
•
What advantages or disadvantages do you think existed?

•North had several advantages
•Population size is larger = more soldiers
•Factories & shipyards
•Better transportation
•Ability to raise more money

• Union General Winfield Scott’s two part strategy.
– To destroy the South’s economy through naval blockade of southern seaports.
– Gain control of the Mississippi
• River to divide the Confederacy and cut its communications.

– The South had many skilled military officers.
– The South needed only to defend itself until the North grew tired of the war.
• In contrast, the North had to defeat southern forces and occupy large areas of enemy territory.

• Defend its territory and to wear down the
Union’s will to fight.
– Its offensive plan focused on taking
Washington D.C.
• Cotton Diplomacy
– They tried to win foreign allies
– Great Britain didn’t bite.

• First Battle of Bull Run.
– First major clash after the attack on Ft. Sumter took place in July 1861.
– Manassas Junction, Virginia.
Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall”
Jackson.

Union commander
George B. McClellan.
Confederate commander
Robert E. Lee

• Most talented officer on either side.
• A graduate of West Point.
• Served in the Mexican War.
• Engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers.
• Led the Federal troops against the raid on
Harper’s Ferry and captured John Brown.
• Lincoln had even asked Lee to command the
Union Army.
• He was against slavery and southern secession.
• When Virginia left the union, Lee resigned from the U.S. Army and went home to Virginia.

• Seven Day’s BattlesFive separate battles;
Lee (Confederacy) force McClellan (Union) to retreat from the area around Richmond.
• Second Battle of Bull RunLincoln ordered a direct attack on Richmond.
•Lee (Confederacy) was able to push most of the Union forces out of Virginia.
Lee now decided to take the war into the North. This decision was highly debated.

Confederate leaders hoped a victory on northern soil might break the Union’s spirit and convince European powers to aid the South.
September 4, 1862: 40,000 Confederate soldiers entered Maryland. McClellan found a copy of Lee’s battle plans which he used to prepare a counterattack.

• September 17, 1862 the two armies met along
Antietam Creek, Maryland.
– Lasted for hours; 12,000 Union causalities and
13,000 Confederate.
– Bloodiest single-day battle of the war.
• Union finally wins a key victory.
• Stopped Lee’s northern advance, Lincoln disappointed he was allowed to retreat.
PICTURES…PICTURES …. PICTURES……

Very few pictures exist from actual battles.
Here Federal troops at Fair Oaks prepare for battle in the Peninsular
Campaign in June
1862.

At the Battle of
Antietam the
Confederate troops of Robert E. Lee were forced to withdraw.
Following the battle
President Lincoln issued the
Emancipation
Proclamation formally declaring all slaves to be free. This picture shows President
Lincoln with Allan
Pinkerton and
Major General
McClernand at
Antietam after the battle.

Airplanes did not exist, yet. Armies used balloons to observe battles from the sky. Here
Professor T. S.
Lowe observes a battle from his balloon the Intrepid

• North had most of the U.S. Navy’s small fleet and enough industry to build more ships.
• Union Navy blockaded the South, cutting off southern trade and hurting the economy.
• A new type of warship, the Ironclad is developed.

• South
Virginia: a captured union ship, built into an ironclad.
• North
– The Monitor: a new ironclad, with a revolving gun turret.
The Monitor forces the Virginia to retreat. North continues the blockade.

• Union strategy in the west focused on controlling the Mississippi River; to cut off food production as well as communication and transportation.

• He was the most important figure in the war in the West.
– West Point graduate.
– Served in the Mexican War.
* Lincoln said, “ I can’t spare this man, he fights!”
– In 1864 was made commander of the Union army.

• April 6, 1862 Grant advances south along the
Tennessee River & is caught by surprise.
• After being reinforced during the night, Grant is successful in his counterattack.
• **The Union now had won greater control of the
Mississippi River Valley!

• Two forts guarded the approach to New Orleans; essential in taking over the River.
• Union commander Farragut
• Unable to destroy the forts, he decided to sail boldly past them.
• He was successful in taking New
Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Natchez, Mississippi.
• Only Vicksburg stood in the
Union’s way!

• In spring of 1863, General Grant blocked southern forces from aiding Vicksburg.
• He then surrounded the city with his troops.
– The siege lasted about six weeks.
• As supplies ran out, the people survived by eating horses, dogs, and rats.
• Confederates surrendered July 4, 1863 giving the Union control of the River. Important Date!!

• Fighting also took place in Arkansas,
Missouri, along the Texas coast, and in
New Mexico.
• Battle of Pea RidgeUnion victory gave them the upper hand in Missouri but proconfederate units (territories and American
Indians) remained active in the region throughout the war by raiding forts and towns.

• President Lincoln felt that slavery strengthened and supported the South.
– What should he do??
• Lincoln decided to issue a military order freeing slaves ONLY in areas controlled by the Confederacy;
*Union victory at the Battle of Antietam was the victory he needed for his plan.

• The loss of slave labor hurt the southern economy and the Confederate war effort.
• The order was highly debated.

• Many African American units contributed the Union war effort; 180,000 served.
“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.;…and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned his right to citizenship.”
-Frederick Douglass

• 54 th Massachusetts Infantry - most famous unit, consisting of mostly free
African Americans, played a key role in the attack on South Carolina.

• Copperheads - Northern Democrats who sympathized with the south, objected to abolition, and wanted the war to end.
– Lincoln saw these men as a threat to the war!
– He suspended the right of habeas corpus : the constitutional protection against unlawful imprisonment.
• Union officials could now put their enemies in jail without either evidence or trial.
• March 1863 – A draft also caused problems in the north; riots mostly of immigrants afraid of losing their jobs to free African Americans.
– More than 100 people killed before Union troops stopped the violence.

• The North’s naval blockade took a heavy toll on southerners; lack of food and supplies.
• Value of Confederate money fell as exports dropped.
• The price of supplies went way up; food riots.
• The Confederacy government also disagreed on many issues; the draft.

• People too young or old to fight in the war worked in factories and farms.
• Women provided medical care; Clara
Barton worked at
Field hospitals and her work formed the basis of the American Red
Cross.

• The efforts of women at these hospitals were very important.
• They were uncomfortable and unhealthy.
• About twice as many Civil
War soldiers died of disease than died in combat.

• Andersonville Prison, in southwest Georgia.
• Thousands of Union soldiers were held there with no shelter and little food.
• About 150 people died there a day.

• May 1863: Lee defeated a much larger Union force in Chancellorsville, Virginia.
• General Stonewall Jackson
– Accidentally shot by his own troops…oops.
“Jackson lost his left arm, but
I have lost my right.”
- Robert E. Lee

• Victories at Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg,
VA encouraged Lee to launch another offensive into Union territory
– Is this a good idea?!?
• Goals:
– Break the North’s will to fight
– Capture much needed supplies for his army
– Turn the tide of the war in the Confederacy’s favor.

• July 1, 1863
• Troops accidentally met in a small town in Pennsylvania, called Gettysburg.

• 14,000 Confederates took part in the charge through the field up Cemetery Ridge.
– Disaster!!
• Fewer than half of the men made it to the top of the ridge; all of those who made it to the top were either captured or killed.
• Only 6,500 returned to the Confederate rear.
• Many people feared for Lee’s sanity!!
• Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War; Union 23,000 and
Confederate 28,000.

• A rain storm allowed cover for
Lee to retreat back to Virginia.
– Ha!
• Lincoln was upset…
• The same day that Gettysburg was won by the Union, General
Grant Captured Vicksburg in
Mississippi -- Importance?
• Lincoln was impressed by
Grant; made him commander of the Union army.

• The Wilderness Campaign A series of battles launched by the North from May through June in northern and central Virginia.
• Union suffered incredible losses with twice as many casualties, but Grant continued on b/c he knew he was getting reinforcements and Lee wasn’t!
• Grant was winning the war, but had yet to capture Richmond. This was discouraging to
Lincoln.

• Lincoln needed a victory to help him win re-election in 1864.
• Sherman’s victories’ in the south provided the key victory.
* Total War Very controversial war tactic. Destroy all railroads, industries, farms, homes, crops, livestock, fences, etc, etc. (military and civilian resources)

• After defeating Atlanta, he continued his march to the sea to Savannah.
• He used total war to ruin the south’s economy and its ability to fight.
• Burned plantations, and freed slaves.

• Grant was finally able to break Confederate defenses and forced Lee to retreat from
Richmond.
• Grant was able to cut Lee’s escape and trap him at a small town called
Appomattox
Courthouse .

• April 9, 1865 Lee signed surrender documents.
• The Civil War had deep and lasting effects as the country tried to heal and rebuild.
• Almost 620,000 Americans lost their lives in the four years of fighting.
• Most costly conflict in American history.

.
• April 14, 1865 – John
Wilkes Booth fatally shoots President
Lincoln at a play at
Ford’s Theatre in
Washington D.C