Chapter 14 – The Civil War: 1861-1865
Fort Sumter, 1861
Resolved: States’ rights were the primary cause of the
Civil War
Chapter 14 – The Civil War: 1861-1865
Battle of Antietam, 1862
Do Now: North-South Economic
Advantages & Disadvantages
5 Border
States:
Missouri,
The
Start ofseceded
the
Civil War,
1861
4Kentucky,
more
Southern
states
in
1861 in 1860,
When
Lincoln
was
elected
W. Virginia
when Lincoln
called for military volunteers
(formed
in 1863), Maryland
and Delaware to
remained
with the Union”
“preserve
formed
the Confederate States of America
Union.
7 Southern states seceded from the Union &
The Civil War began
when Fort Sumter
was fired upon by
Confederate soldiers
The Secession Crisis
Strategies & Advantages

The Union strategy during the war was called the
Anaconda Plan:
 Blockade the coast, seize the Mississippi River to
divide the South, & take control of Richmond,
Virginia- the capital of the South
 Exploit South’s dependency on foreign trade & its
inability to manufacture weapons
 Relied on Northern advantages in population,
industry, & military
Take the CSA capital
Take control of the
at Richmond
Mississippi River
Ulysses
Grant in the
West
Divide the West
from South
Blockade the
Southern coast
George
McClellan
was in
charge of
Army of the
Potomac
Strategies & Advantages

The Confederate strategy during the war was an
Offensive Defense:
 Protect Southern territory from “Northern
aggression” but attack into Union territory when the
opportunity presents itself
 Get Britain & France to join their cause because of
European dependency on “King Cotton”
 Drag out the war as long as possible to make the
North quit
Political Leadership During the Civil War
During the Civil War,During the Civil War,
President Jefferson Davis
President Lincoln used
had a difficult time:“emergency powers” to
protect “national security”:
•The CSA Constitution
protected states’ rights
•Suspended habeas corpus
so state governors could
(Laws requiring evidence
refuse to send him before citizens can be
money or troops jailed)
The
national
government
in
the
USA
&
CSA
•CSA currency inflated
•Closed down newspapers
relied
on
volunteer
armies
in
the
beginning,
by 7,000%
that did not support the war
but soon needed conscription (draft) to
supply their armies with troops
New York City Draft Riots
Fighting the Civil War
1861-1865
Fighting the Civil War: 1861-1865

From 1861 to mid-1863, the Confederate army was
winning the Civil War:
 Defensive strategy carried out by superior Southern
generals like Robert E. Lee & Stonewall Jackson
 Disagreements among military & political leaders in the
North
Bull Run (Manassas), 1861:
The 1st battle of the Civil War;
Stonewall Jackson kept the
Union army from taking the
CSA capital at Richmond
Seven Pines,
1862 (CSA)
Seven Days,
1862 (CSA)
Shiloh,
1862 (USA)
2nd Bull Run,
1862 (CSA)
From 1861-1862, the CSA
had success in the East,
but the USA had success
in the West
New Orleans,
1862 (USA)
Antietam, 1862: General
Lee’s 1st attempt to invade
outside the CSA was halted
by McClellan
Antietam (Maryland), 1862
Bloodiest single day loss of lives: 22,000 dead as
McClellan and Lee clashed.
 Even though the Battle of Antietam ended without a
clear winner, it had important effects on the North:
 The battle convinced Britain & France not to
support the Confederacy in the war
 The battle convinced Lincoln that the time was
right to make the emancipation of slaves the new
focus of the war for the North

p428
Emancipation Proclamation
After Antietam, Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation:
This executive
order
freedwithin
all slaves
“…all persons
held as
slaves
anyinState or
Confederate
designated
part ofterritories
a State, the people whereof
It didbe
notinfree
slaves inagainst
the border
butStates,
it
shallthen
rebellion
thestates
United
gave
the thenceforward,
North a new reason
fight
shall be
then,
and
forever free; and
the Executive
Government
United
States,
 Inspired Southern
slavesoftothe
escape
which
forced
including
the military
naval
Southern
whites toand
worry
aboutauthority
their farmsthereof,
will recognize and maintain the freedom of such
persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such
persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may
make for their actual freedom...”

Was the Emancipation too little, too
late? How did the emancipation
edict affect the politics and military
affairs of the North?
States Impacted by the
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln,
“The
Great
Emancipator”
Escaped slaves in NC coming into Union lines
Fredericksburg, 1862
(CSA)
Chancellorsville, 1863
The Confederates won, but
Stonewall Jackson was killed; Lee
said of Jackson: “He has lost his left
arm, but I have lost my right arm”
After Antietam, the
Confederates continued
to win in the East
Despite being outnumbered &
But, the Union Army
wasdominated
having the
under-equipped,
the CSA
success
in the
West
under
the
fighting
in the
East
from
1861-1863
due
leadership
of
Ulysses
S
Grant
to better generals & a defensive strategy
Conclusions:
1861-1863
By mid-1863, the weight
of the Northern population
& industrial capacity will
begin to turn the tide of the
war in favor of the Union
 Essential Question:
 What factors helped the Union win the Civil War
by 1865?
 Note-Taking Questions:
 Why was the Confederacy able to win the
majority of Civil War battles from 1861 to mid1863?
Fighting the Civil War: 1861-1865

When the Civil War began, most expected the fighting to
end quickly, but the war lasted until 1865 due to:
 The commitment of the Union & Confederacy to “total
war”
 Excellent Southern generals like Robert E. Lee &
Stonewall Jackson
 Improved, industrial weaponry
Main Thrusts, 1861–1865: Northern strategists at first believed
that the rebellion could be snuffed out quickly by a swift, crushing
blow. But the stiffness of Southern resistance to the Union’s early
probes, and the North’s inability to strike with sufficient speed and
severity, revealed that the conflict would be a war of attrition,
long and bloody.
New Weapons but Old Tactics

New weapons:
 Long-range artillery & the Gatling gun (1st
machine gun)
 Cone-shaped bullets & grooved barrel rifles for
more accuracy
 Ironclad naval ships like the USS Monitor & CSS
Virginia

Old tactics such as massed formations & frontal
assaults. Led to huge casualty rates
Technology of Battle

The Technology of Battle
 Repeating Weapons
 Importance of the
Railroad
 The Telegraph
War by Railroad (NARA)
The Course of Battle
Soldiers guard a train on a Union Army-built trestle on the Orange and
Alexandria Railroad near Manassas, Virginia, c. 1863.
(Royalty-Free/CORBIS)
Killing Fields of Antietam, 1862
Why was Antietam such a “turning point” in the Civil War?
Dead Union Soldiers at Antietam, 1862
(Library of Congress)
The Tide of the War Turns in 1863

By 1863, the Confederacy was having difficulty sustaining
the fight:
 Attempts to lure Britain & France into the war had failed
 The Union blockade, limited Southern manufacturing, &
lack of grain fields left CSA soldiers ill-supplied
 To pay for the war, the CSA printed money leading to
massive inflation
Gettysburg,
Vicksburg,1863:
1863:
In July,
Robert
Lee decided
to
Grant
cut offESouthern
access
take
his victory
at
toadvantage
MississippiofRiver
& divided
Chancellorsville
attack
Northern
the South &
into
two halves;
soilGrant
to end
thethen
war promoted
quickly byto
was
crushing
Union Union
moralearmy
lead the entire
Gettysburg proved to
be the turning point of
the war; Lee was
halted, the CSA never
again attacked Union
soil, & the Union army
began winning the
war
Watch Gettysburg 1, 2, 3
The most famous speech in American history is also one of the shortest,
President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of 1863.
 Why does Lincoln say the Union is fighting this war?
 How does this differ from his earlier pronouncements earlier in the conflict?
 To what elements of the American ideological tradition does Lincoln
hearken to in this brilliant polemic and heartfelt eulogy?
We need to make sure that the Union
The
principles
that
our
government
wins the Civil War in order to preserve
were founded
upon
in
1776
our form of gov’t
This Civil War is a test to see if these
principles will last, because other
republics have failed
Fighting the Civil War: 1863-1865

Under Grant’s leadership, the Union army was more
aggressive & committed to destroy the South’s will to fight:
 Grant appointed William T. Sherman to lead Southern
campaign
 Sherman destroyed everything of value to the South &
emancipated slaves during his “march to the sea”
Sherman considered
“total war” necessary to
defeat the South
The Battle of Atlanta was a
huge victory for the Union
because it took out a major
Southern railroad terminus
Fighting the Civil War: 1863-1865
 The election of 1864:
 Lincoln faced a tough re-election campaign
against George McClellan
 The North’s war failures were the key election
issue
 When Atlanta fell during Sherman’s “March to
the Sea,” Lincoln was overwhelmingly
reelected
In his 2nd inaugural address, Lincoln promised
a Reconstruction Plan for the Union with
“malice towards none & charity for all”
Appomattox, 1865: Grant defeated Lee
at Appomattox ending the Civil War
The Start and end of the War
The McLean House in Appomattox Court House
(Royalty-Free/CORBIS)
On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to
Grant at Appomattox Courthouse,
ending the fighting of Civil War
From 1863-1865, the lack of
Southern resources & unity as well as the
Northern advances into the South led to
the end of the Civil War
As the Civil War began, politicians and ordinary
citizens in both the North and the South were
supremely confident of victory. Why did
Southerners believe they would triumph? Why did
the North ultimately win the war?
The Death of Lincoln
Northern celebration was short lived; On April 14, 1865,
Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth
Effects of the War
 Effects of the Civil War:
 618,000 troops were dead; More than any
other U.S. war
 The 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865
ending slavery
 The war forever ended the states’ rights
argument
 The South was destroyed; A plan was
needed to admit Southern states back into
the Union
p421
“Prisoners from the Front”, by Winslow Homer, 1866 This celebrated painting reflects the artist’s
firsthand observations of the war. Homer brilliantly captured the enduring depths of sectional animosity.
The Union officer somewhat disdainfully asserts his command of the situation; the beaten and
disarmed Confederates exhibit an out-at the-elbows pride and defiance.
Grave of William H. Johnson, 1864 Johnson
was a free black man who worked as Lincoln’s
personal valet in Springfield and
accompanied him to Washington, D.C. when
he assumed the presidency. When lighterskinned mulatto White House staffers rejected
him for his dark skin, Lincoln helped Johnson
find other employment in the Treasury and
Navy Departments, writing “The bearer of this
card, William Johnson (colored), came with
me from Illinois, and is a worthy man, as I
believe. A. Lincoln.” In November 1863
Lincoln requested that Johnson accompany
him to deliver his famous address at
Gettysburg, where they both contracted
smallpox. Lincoln recovered in a few days;
Johnson, with a more severe case, died in
January 1864. Lincoln arranged for him to be
buried at Arlington National Cemetery and
wrote the one word epitaph for his
tombstone: “Citizen,” a succinct and stinging
rebuke of the racist reasoning of the Dred
Scott decision.
Dead on the Battlefield
Dead on the Battlefield