American Civil War
(1861 – 1865)
Themes
• Compare and contrast North and South
• Highlight some of the important battles of the
Civil War and life for soldiers
President Lincoln
• Seven states had seceded; many thought he
could not handle the situation that was
presented to him
• Lincoln: Morally opposed to slavery and did
not support its spread but would not interfere
where it was legal
• Affirmed authority over all U.S. territory in
states that had seceded from the Union
• Result: Conflict
Fort Sumter
(April 1861)
• Fort Sumter, South Carolina, was low on supplies
• Lincoln informed South Carolina’s Governor he was
sending food and supplies in an unarmed ship
• Confederate soldiers attacked the fort
• Lincoln request 75,000 volunteers to suppress the
rebellion
• No casualties; however war had begun
• After battle four more states seceded:
- Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas
Secession
(1861)
Responses to Secession
• Some in Virginia were opposed towards the
idea of secession
• People from western counties in Virginia
chose a new governor and applied for
statehood in the Union
• Debate also was strong in Tennessee
• Both states would eventually join the
Confederacy
Confederate States of America
(1861-1865)
• States: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia,
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas
• Constitution: States’ rights and protection of
slavery in new territories
• President: Jefferson Davis (Sen. of Mississippi
& former Secretary of War 53-57)
• Capital: Richmond, VA
Border States
• Border States – Slave states that remained
loyal to the Union
• Included: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky,
Missouri, and West Virginia
Secession
(1861)
Lincoln and Border States
• Following confrontation in Baltimore, the area
became occupied by soldiers
• Lincoln suspended writ of habeas corpus
- Confederates could be jailed without charges
indefinitely
Northern Advantages
•
•
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Population:
North: 23 states and 22 million
South: 11 states 9 million (5.5 million whites)
Industrial Production and Transportation:
North: 90% of industrial capacity and 71% of railroad
mileage
- South: 10% of industrial capacity and 29% of railroad
mileage
Ex. 97% nation’s potential capacity for firearms
• Farm Acreage:
- North: 75% of nation’s farms
- South: 25% of nation’s farms
Union Strategies
• Initial Strategy: Anaconda Plan
- Blockade of Southern ports
- Major campaign to control Mississippi River in
order to cut Confederacy in half
*Plan seemed great but Lincoln did not have the
man power to see it through*
Southern Advantages
• “Home Court Advantage”
- Most fighting took place in the South
• Concrete War Aims
- South fought to preserve their way of life
Southern life a little over 3 centuries old
- North fought to preserve the Union
• Officers
- Many of the best officers fought with the
Confederacy
• King Cotton
King Cotton
• Years before the Civil War, Southern cotton was traded
to majority of European nations
- 75% of all raw cotton in Great Britain’s factories came
from South
• Since 1800, cotton in the South will double almost
every 10 years
• Southerners gambled the British would intervene
• Why did “King Cotton” fail?
- British factories had surpluses of raw cotton
- Cotton was imported from Egypt and India
- Emancipation Proclamation: war to free slaves
Early War 1861-62
• Many leaders thought the war could be short
• Battle of Bull Run (June 1861)
- Union forces led by Gen. McDowell against
Confederated led by Gen. Beauregard
• Many people looked upon the battle at a distance
• Union forces were initially successful
• However, Confederate reinforcements (Stonewall
Jackson) arrived and routed Union troops
1st Battle of Bull Run
(Impact)
• Union troops were determined never again to
be humiliated in battle
• Boosted confidence of Confederate forces
• South now believed the war would be over
very shortly
Early War 1861-62
• Lincoln replaced McDowell with McClellan
who created Army of the Potomac
• Transformed unorganized troops into
disciplined army
• Remained cautious during fighting in the East
Shiloh
(April 1862)
• War in the west
• Union forces were led by Ulysses S. Grant
• planned an attack on a railroad near the
border of Tennessee
• However, Confederates staged a surprise
attack on Grant
Shiloh
Shiloh
• Initially Confederate forces were successful
and began to push the Union back
• Once reinforcements arrived, the Union will
then take over the battle field
• Casualties: over 23,000 soldiers
Antietam/Sharpsburg
Antietam/Sharpsburg
• Confederates led by Robert E. Lee invaded
Maryland
- Supplies were needed
- Hoped to have their “Saratoga”
• If Confederates win the battle, they might
receive recognition and foreign aid from
European nations
Antietam/Sharpsburg
• Tactically a draw’; strategically a Union victory
as the invasion was halted
• Bloodiest single-day of fighting in the war
• (24,000 casualties)
Antietam/Sharpsburg
(Impact)
• Antietam- diplomatic victory
• Lincoln reconsidered his views of the war and
slavery
- Was against slavery but did not support
abolition
• Drafted a proclamation to free slaves, but
waited for a Union victory
Emancipation Proclamation
• Five days after the Battle of Antietam
• Freed slaves residing in states in rebellion against
the Union
• Did not free slaves in states loyal to the Union
• January 1, 1863
• Lincoln maintained support of border states, yet
it pushed them closer to emancipation
• Transform war aims:
- Union soldiers now fought to free slaves
Enrollment Act
(1863)
• Men 20-45 were eligible for draft
• Draftee could hire a Substitute to serve in his
place
• Draftee could also pay $300 to avoid service
*Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight
Draft Riots: New York City
(July 1863)
• Working-class white men rioted and targeted:
- Well-dressed white men, African Americans,
and supporters of war
• Several were injured; at least six blacks were
lynched
Confederate Draft
(1862)
• Similar to North’s “Enrollment Act”
• Twenty Negro Law:
- Provided exemption for owners of 20 or more
slaves
- Created resentment among Southerners
Draft results
•
•
-
Draftees:
Union 48,000
Confederate 120,000
Total size
Union 2,100,000
Confederate 800,000
African Soldiers
• African Americans enlisted in Union Army
after 1862
• Over 180,000 served
• Fought in segregated units and lower pay
Civil War Soldiers
• Camp life was boring, but diseases could be deadly
• Food for Union troops:
- Beans, salted pork, pickled beef, hard-tack
• Clothes were often supplied by the U.S. Sanitary Commission
- Huge civilian organization that coordinated the efforts of thousands
of women’s groups to buy and distribute clothing, food and medicine
• Food for Confederate troops:
- Bacon and cornmeal
• Food and clothing were often short in supply
• Brutality of combat transformed Union and Confederate soldiers
Civil War Soldiers
• Medical care often involved amputations
• Possibly 30% of amputees died following
surgery due to infection
Civil War Soldiers
• Prisoner of War Camps often had poor
conditions
• Andersonville held over 30,000
- Designed for 10,000
- About 14,000 Union POWs died
War Continues
(1863-65)
• Victory began to seem dim for the North
• Confederates defeated Union troops at
Chancellorsville May 1863
- Lee however will lose “Stonewall” Jackson
• Union forces were unable to capture
Vicksburg
• Lee proposed an invasion of the North in 1863
Battle of Gettysburg
(July 1863)
• Confederate forces (now in the North
territory) engaged with Union troops (led by
Gen. Meade) at a small town in Pennsylvania
• Battle took place over 3 days
• Union troops defended Cemetery Ridge
• Pickett attacked Union center July 3rd
• “Pickett’s charge” a huge defeat for the
Confederates
Battle of Gettysburg
(July 1863)
• Gettysburg was bloodiest engagement of the
war
- Over 50,000 Union and Confederate casualties
• Robert E. Lee lost half his army
Vicksburg
(May – July 1863)
• Vicksburg fell to Union troops following a 2
month siege
• Soon after Union forces controlled the
Mississippi
• The “tide turned” in favor of the Union
War Continues
(1863-65)
• Robert E. Lee vs. Ulysses S. Grant
• Both veterans of Mexican War
• Lee was given position of Gen of Union Army
but he succeeded
• Battles at: The Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court
House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Five Forks
• ALL loses for Lee
Atlanta
(September 1864)
•
•
•
•
Atlanta fell to Union troops led by Sherman
Atlanta was the industrial capital of the South
Helped Lincoln win re-election
Prior to election Lincoln was criticized by
Democratic candidate McClellan and radicals
in his own Republican Party during the
election
Sherman’s March
• Once Sherman took Atlanta his troops
marched towards Savannah then to Raleigh
• Everywhere Sherman went he burnt down
crops, towns, and homes
• “Scorched Earth”
- Break the South’s will to fight
Appomattox
(April 1865)
• Lee vs. Grant
• Lee retreated from Petersburg; low on men and
supplies
• Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse April
9, 1865
• Terms of surrender
- Confederates could return home
- Within weeks other Confederate forces had
surrendered
Battle of Palmito Ranch
(May 13, 1865)
• Location: Palmito Ranch near Brownsville,
Texas
• Union: most forces had already pulled out of
south Texas
• Confederates: stationed in Brownsville to
protect their supply lines
• Mexicans: sided with the Confederates
• Battle is recorded as a Confederate victory
Death of a President
(April 1865)
• April 14, 1865 while attending a play, Lincoln
was shot by John Wilkes Booth
• Lincoln died the next day
Results of the Civil War
(1861-1865)
1. Slavery ended – how is the government going
to address the status of over 4 million blacks
2. More than 600,000 Americans died
- more than WWII, WWI, Vietnam, Korean,
Mexican, Revolutionary, 1812 combined
3. Much of the South was destroyed- how would
it be rebuilt
Andrew Johnson
• Johnson will now take over presidential duties
after the death of Abraham Lincoln
• Being a southern Democrat, Johnson is going
to have a difficult time with Radical
Republicans throughout the Reconstruction
Era
• Advantaged of North and South on eve of war
• Outlined key battles of the war