Ch. 21 Notes
The Furnace of the Civil War
The First Battle of Bull Run
1. With an army unprepared for battle, Lincoln decided
to send his army, under the charge of Winfield Scott
and Irvin McDowell, to attack a smaller Confederate
force at Manassas Junction, VA.
2. Lincoln believed that if they won, it might convince
the Confederacy that the Union army was superior to
theirs and could even lead to the capture of Virginia.
3. Instead, the Confederate forces route the Union
troops and convince everyone in the North that this is
going to be a long, costly war – Confederate troops on
the other hand believed that the win convinced the
North they couldn’t win and many troops deserted
and many many who were planning on enlisting
decided not to.
Union Strategy in the War
1. The Union had three main goals:
1. Blockade the southern ports to prevent the
south from getting their cotton to market (and
destroy their economy in the process) and from
receiving foreign goods - blockade runners have
some success getting through at the beginning of
the war but by the end the blockade is very
effective.
2. Split the Confederacy by taking the MS River (the
Anaconda Plan).
3. Capture Richmond, VA.
The Monitor and the Merrimack
1. The biggest threat to the
blockade was the
Merrimack, a
Confederate ironclad.
2. The Union built their
own ironclad, the
Monitor, to counter the
Merrimack – they fought
to a draw.
3. Confederate troops later
had to scuttle the
Merrimack to prevent it
from being captured by
Union troops.
George
McClellan
1. After the First Battle of
Bull Run, Lincoln put
George McClellan in
charge of the Union
troops.
2. McClellan was a very
capable leader and loved
by his troops but much too
cautious.
3. Lincoln finally had to force
him into action.
4. He sailed his troops to the
south of Richmond (to
avoid Confederate troops)
and fought the Peninsula
Campaign, (Battle of
Seven Days) which ended
in a loss.
The Battle of
Antietam
1.
2.
3.
4.
After the Second Battle of
Bull Run, Robert E. Lee
decided to invade Maryland
– hoping that a win there
would encourage the border
states to secede.
Unfortunately for Lee, Union
troops find his battle plans
and McClellan ends up
defeating him.
After the battle, McClellan
decides not to pursue Lee in
his retreat, believing he’s lost
too many men – Lincoln ends
up replacing him because of
this – only to soon put him
back in charge.
The battle was also
important because it
discouraged European
intervention on behalf of the
Confederacy.
The Emancipation Proclamation
1. After finally getting a victory, Lincoln issues the
Emancipation Proclamation.
2. The Emancipation Proclamation frees the slaves
inside of the Confederacy.
3. In part done to weaken the Confederacy’s war
effort, it also gave the north the moral high
ground in the war and helped discourage
European intervention.
4. The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free all
slaves – Lincoln was afraid if he tried to free the
slaves in the border states they would secede.
Effects of the Emancipation
Proclamation
1. Abolitionists didn’t think the Emancipation
Proclamation did enough – they wanted all the slaves
freed (the 13th Amendment would eventually do this).
2. Other northerners, especially immigrants, didn’t want
to fight a war over freeing the slaves – some soldiers
actually deserted over this issue.
3. It also caused the Republican party to lose seats in
Congress in the next elections.
4. Black soldiers begin enlisting in the Union army (the
south tries to enlist slaves right before the war is over
as they realize they don’t have enough troops to
actually win the war.
Slavery During the War
1. Some slaves run away to the nearest Union troops
when the war starts.
2. After the Emancipation Proclamation, even more will
flee to the Union army – many are put to work by the
Union army and are referred to as contrabands.
3. Other slaves remain where they are and continue to
work, which hurts the Confederacy also because they
have to leave troops in place to make sure they don’t
rebel.
4. Many slaves that do remain on the plantations gain
better conditions for themselves by refusing to work.
Burnside and Hooker
1. After Antietam, Lincoln gives the Union troops
to Ambrose E. Burnside (even though he
doesn’t want them).
2. Burnside is too reckless and loses around 12,000
men attacking Lee at the Battle of Fredricksburg
– he then resigns.
3. “Fighting Joe” Hooker then takes charge – he
loses to Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville
even though he has twice as many men.
4. Hooker will be replaced by George Meade.
Battle of Gettysburg
1. After Chancellorsville, Lee decided to invade the
north again, believing that a win in the north
would get the Union to agree to peace.
2. Meade arrives at Gettysburg first and takes the
high ground – Lee decides to attack anyway.
3. After three days (and Pickett’s Charge), Lee is
defeated and withdraws from the north – this is
the turning point in the war for the Union - the
southern cause is now doomed.
Siege of
Vicksburg
1. The day after
Gettysburg, Vicksburg
surrenders to Ulysses
S. Grant.
2. With the fall of
Vicksburg, the Union
now has control of the
MS. River.
3. After Vicksburg, Grant
will soon be put in
charge of all Union
troops as well, giving
Lincoln the general he
needs to win the war.
The Election of 1864
1. In the Election of 1864, the Republicans join
with the War Democrats to form the Union
Party and nominate Lincoln and Andrew
Johnson.
2. The Peace Democrats, the most dangerous
northern group to the Union cause, run George
McClellan.
3. Things didn’t look good for Lincoln but the
victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg convince
the north that he is capable of seeing the war
through to victory.
Grant in Charge
1. When Grant takes charge, he uses his numerical
superiority to his advantage, attacking Lee’s armies
simultaneously and directly, trying to cause Lee as many
losses as possible.
2. While he concentrates on taking Richmond, he turns
Phillip Sheridan lose in western Virginia to cause as much
destruction as possible
3. He also sends William T. Sherman on his “March to the
Sea” – Sherman marches from Chattanooga, TN, to
Savannah, GA, causing as much destruction as possible.
4. This strategy was known as total war and its purpose is to
not only destroy the enemies ability to fight but also their
will to fight – its highly effective as large numbers of
Confederate troops desert to go home and defend their
land.
William Tecumseh Sherman
The End of the War
1. After taking Savannah,
Sherman moves north
through South Carolina.
2. Grant eventually takes
Richmond (after the nine
month Siege of
Petersburg) and Lee is
trapped between the two.
3. Lee will surrender to Grant
at the Appomattox
Courthouse in Virginia on
April 9, 1865.
Lincoln’s
Assassination
1. Now that the war is
over, the process of
restoring the nation has
to start
(Reconstruction).
2. Before he gets a chance,
Lincoln will be
assassinated by John
Wilkes Booth at Fords
Theater on April 15,
1865.
3. This actually hurt the
south because Lincoln
wanted to make
reconstruction easy for
the south.