Civil War
Leaders, Events, and Issues
Goals
• At the start of the War the goal of the Union
was reconcile their differences with the
South, and to reunite the nation.
• After the Emancipation Proclamation was
issued, the goal changed to that of ending
slavery.
• The goal of the Confederacy was to establish
themselves as an independent nation and
resist northern invasion, and to protect
slavery.
Union Strategy
1. Invade the Confederacy
and destroy their will to
resist.
2. Secure the loyalty of
borders states: Missouri,
Kentucky, Delaware, and
Maryland.
3. Establish a naval
blockade of the entire
southern coastline.
4. Prevent European powers,
France and Britain, from
siding with the
Confederacy.
Confederate Strategy
1. Defend
Confederate
lands.
2. Prevent the
North from
destroying the
Confederate
army.
3. Break the
Unions will to
fight.
Union Leaders – Abraham Lincoln
• President of the United States
during the Civil War.
• Considered by many Historians
as the greatest American
president.
• Self-educated and a lawyer
from Illinois.
• Decided to go to war rather
than let the Southern states
secede, he wanted to preserve
the Union at any cost.
• Freed southern slaves (only)
with his Emancipation
Proclamation.
• He was assassinated five days
after the Civil war ended.
Union Leaders – Ulysses S. Grant
• Union General
• Won the first major victories for
the Union.
• Won important battles in the
West; captured forts along the
Mississippi River, which gave
the Union control of the river.
• Won the battles of Shiloh in TN,
and Vicksburg in MS.
• Became commanding general
of all Union troops in 1864
• Defeated Lee’s troops in
Virginia and finally accepted
Lee’s surrender at Appomattox
Courthouse in 1865.
Confederate Leaders – Jefferson Davis
• President of the Confederate
States of America.
• Former senator from Mississippi.
• Did not really want to be
president; he was not suited for
the job; he was not good at
compromising and did not like
anyone to criticize him.
• The task he had to accomplish
were difficult, form a new
government and wage a war at
the same time.
• He had to keep the South united
during a bloody and costly war.
Confederate Leaders – Robert E. Lee
• Confederate General
• Respected by Northerners and
loved by Southerners.
• Commander of the Army in
Northern Virginia
• Won early victories in 1862 and
forced Union troops out of
Virginia
• Invaded the North twice; the
first time he retreated after he
lost the battle of Antietam in
Maryland in 1862; the second
time he lost the battle of
Gettysburg in Virginia in 1863
• He lost several battle in Virginia
and surrendered at Appomattox
Courthouse.
Civil War events – Firing on Ft. Sumter
The first shots were fired here, this
begun the Civil War.
• After southern states
seceded, they began to take
over federal (U.S.) buildings
in their states – post
offices, courthouses, and
forts; Ft. Sumter was a fort
on an island in Charleston
South Carolina.
• Federal troops in the fort
were running out of
supplies, so Lincoln sent a
supply ship. Confederates
did not want these supplies
to reach the fort, so on April
12, 1861 they attacked the
fort before the supply ship
arrived, the Civil War
began.
Emancipation Proclamation
• Freed all the slaves in the
Confederate States of America,
only.
• issued by Lincoln on January 1,
1863.
• Because it only freed slaves in
Confederate states, Lincoln did
not have the power to enforce
it, in reality, it freed very few
slaves.
• White southerners and some
white northerners were unhappy
w/ it, Northerners and African
Americans loved it.
• Many slaves in the South
escaped after learning about it.
Battle of Vicksburg
The Union controlled the
Mississippi river and the
Confederacy was split in two.
• Confederacy lost control of the
Mississippi River
• Vicksburg Miss. was the last
Confederate stronghold along
the Mississippi River
• Union General Ulysses S.
Grant attacked it in May 1863,
but was unable to defeat it so
he settled in for a long siege –
the Union troops surrounded
the town and would not allow
food to be delivered
• Confederates ran out of
supplies and surrendered a
month later
Battle of Gettysburg
This was considered a turning
point battle, the South never tried
to invade the North again.
• Important southern
defeated; only time the
South attacked the North.
• The battle in Pennsylvania
took place in July 1863.
• Pickett’s Charge was the
turning point in the battle.
General Pickett led a charge
of southern troops right into
the middle of the Union
forces; it was a disaster and
the Confederate troops had
to retreat.
• Lincoln gave the Gettysburg
address there in November
1863 to honor the dead
soldiers. Union and
Confederate.
Lee’s Surrendered @ Appomattox
Courthouse
• Ended the Civil War
• On April 9, 1865 General
Robert E. Lee
surrendered to Union
General Ulysses S.
Grant.
• Grant offered generous
terms of surrender –
southern soldiers could
return home after laying
down their weapons.
Lincoln’s Assassination
• He was the first
president to be
assassinated.
• John Wilkes Booth, a
Confederate supporter,
shot Lincoln in Ford’s
Theater in Washington
D.C. on April 15, 1865.
• Lincoln’s Assassination
meant there would not
be good leadership
through Reconstruction.
Lincoln’s Ideas
• Union - He believed that the Union should be preserved at
any cost; he believed that the South should not be allowed to
secede.
• Government – Democracy for all Americans, not just white
Americans, was the best form of government and it was worth
defending with one’s life.
• Liberty – The government must defend an individual’s
freedom including those who were enslaved.
• Equality – He believed in the position that all men are created
equal.
• Slavery – In one important area, slavery, Lincoln’s ideas
changed during the course of the war. Lincoln never liked
slavery, but at the beginning of the war he did not think that
the North should free the slaves. At some point in middle of
the war, he believe that North was fighting to end slavery in
the South.
Lincoln’s 1st Inaugural Address
• The speech was delivered on the occasion of his first
election.
• He said that the North would not invade the South,
but it would defend federal property in the South.
i.e. Fort Sumter.
• Southerners and Northerners were friends and
brothers, not enemies.
• He did not want to abolish slavery.
Gettysburg Address
• Delivered at the site of the
Battle of Gettysburg to honor
the dead.
• “Four score and seven years
ago..”
• He was honoring those who
died on each side.
• Connected the goals of the
north to the Ideals of the
Declaration of Independence,
“all men are created equal.
Quiz
1. List the names of the Civil War Presidents.
2. List the names of Civil War generals.
3. True of False, the Emancipation Proclamation
ended slavery in the USA.
4. Which event of the Civil War is considered a
turning point? (hint, the South never invaded the
North again)
5. The first shot fired in the Civil War happened at
______?
6. Where did Lee surrender?
7. What is the name of the Battle the gave the Union
control of the Mississippi River?
8. This image was made to show the strategy of the
Union army, what is the name of the plan?