The Civil War
Chapter 14
A Divided Nation
The Civil War had a
profound impact on daily
life in South Carolina.
Before the Civil War,
plantation owners had made
a good living on cash crops.
Slave labor made the
plantation owners wealthy
and gave them social and
political status; therefore
the plantation owners
defended slavery and the
southern way of life.
A Divided Nation
When Abraham Lincoln was
elected president, plantation
owners were afraid that they
were going to lose everything.
South Carolina’s legislative
meeting voted to break away
from the Union and form their
own country, the Confederate
States of America, in order to
defend slavery and state’s
rights. Richmond, Virginia,
became the Confederate’s
capital and Jefferson Davis
became the Confederate’s
president.
A Divided Nation
The North (the Union) didn’t
see the South as a new
nation, they saw the South
as being states in rebellion
and fought to keep the
Union together. The South
(the Confederacy), saw
themselves as independent
and fought to get the
invading Northern army off
of their land.
The solid color red states were the slave states
that seceded and formed the Confederate
States of America. The striped states are slave
states that remained part of the Union.
A Divided Nation
When the South seceded,
the North was better
prepared for war in terms
of population, number of
states, weapons, money,
railroads, factories (to
make weapons and supplies),
and having a working
monetary system in place.
The South had a strong
military tradition and skill,
and a cause for which they
were willing to fight.
Battle Strategies
The military strategy of
the North was threefold:
1) to blockade Southern
ports to cut off supplies
from Europe, 2) to break
the Confederacy in two at
the Mississippi River, and
3) to attack the
Confederate capital at
Richmond, Virginia. This
was known as the
Anaconda Plan.
The Anaconda Plan was designed to squeeze
the South the way an Anaconda snake
squeezes it’s prey.
Battle Strategies
Cotton was so important to the
South that there was no question in
their minds’ that cotton was king.
The Southern strategy was to
fight a defensive war, using
supplies from Europe gained
from the sale of cotton, until
the Northern forces tired of
the war. South Carolina used
the King Cotton Diplomacy
strategy. They quit selling
cotton to European countries to
get them to enter the war. This
plan didn’t work and the South
ended up with no supplies and a
lot of unusable cotton.
Battle Strategies
The Northern blockade
was effective in South
Carolina despite the
efforts of blockade
runners and the use of a
new technology, such as
the submarine the H.L.
Hunley. The blockade
was devastating to the
South because it kept
the Confederate Army
from receiving supplies.
A map of the Union barricade, and The Hunley
The Civil War Begins
Although most of the fighting of
the Civil War took place in
northern Virginia and along the
Mississippi River, there were
several battles that took place in
South Carolina.
The first shots of the war were
fired at Fort Sumter when
northern ships attempted to resupply the federal fort in
Charleston Harbor. This and the
Battle of 1st Manassas in Virginia
were major victories for the
South and made them hopeful of
winning the war.
The Battle Continues
The first major setback for
the Confederate Army was
when Union troops captured
the areas surrounding Port
Royal Sound along the coast
near Hilton Head. These
areas remained under Union
control throughout the Civil
War and the Union
prevented ships from
importing or exporting from
South Carolina ports.
The Port Royal
Sound battle
ground across
the river from
the soldiers.
The Battle Continues
The 54th Massachusetts
regiment and Colonel
Robert Gould Shaw
Union forces laid siege to
Charleston attacking from
Port Royal and bombarding
the city for over a year.
During this campaign, the
54th Massachusetts
regiment of African
American soldiers, along
with their Colonel Robert
Gould Shaw, led the charge
on Fort Wagner at the
mouth of Charleston
Harbor.
The Poor Man’s Fight
An unnamed private in the Union Army.
When the war came, many
of the wealthiest slave
owners volunteered and
served as officers in the
Confederate army. Others
were exempt from service
under the “20 slave” law.
The war became known as
“the rich man’s war, the
poor man’s fight” when
many rich got out of
military service, while the
poorer could not.
The Poor Man’s War
Most Confederate soldiers
had grown up on farms in the
rural areas and had
experience with guns for
hunting, but they had little
formal military training. Many
Union soldiers were from
cities such as New York,
Boston and Philadelphia. Many
had worked in factories and
manufacturing plants. Some
were recent immigrants to the
United States.
New York’s 71st Infantry Regiment
The Poor Man’s Fight
Soldiers on both sides
experienced the devastation
of war. Disease spread
rapidly through military
camps because of unsanitary
practices and close
quarters. Soldiers on both
sides were tired, sick,
hungry, wet, scared, and
lonely. No matter which
side, the soldiers fought
bravely to defend their
cause.
Civil War Living
As the men went off to
fight, women were left
behind to tend to the
farms and run the
plantations. The lives of
women were made
especially difficult
because of shortages of
supplies such as clothes
and food needed by the
southern soldiers.
Clothing was often patched to make it last so that
soldiers could have the use of new clothes.
Civil War Living
Women found substitutes
for many products or did
without, especially as
inflation made
Confederate money
worthless. Some women
served as nurses to the
wounded or raised money
for the cause. Many were
forced to flee their homes
as Union forces advanced,
only to return to ruins.
Civil War Living
The Civil War also had an
impact on children. Both slave
and free children assisted
around the farm or plantation.
They suffered the same
hardships and shortages as
everyone else during the war.
Some boys as young as 10
enlisted in the armed forces,
served as drummer boys and
standard (flag) bearers, were
sometimes caught in the
crossfire and died for their
cause.
Johnny Shiloh was only 10 years-old
when he joined the Union army.
Civil War Living
Henry Louis Stephens’ painting of a
man reading a newspaper entitled
“Presidential Proclamation/Slavery”
During the war, many slaves fled
to nearby Union lines to claim their
freedom, while others stayed on
the plantation and waited for the
Union army to free them.
President Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation,
declaring that all slaves in areas
that had not yet been captured by
the Union army were free. These
states, still under the control of
the Confederacy, did not obey the
Union president.
Civil War Living
Because the unoccupied
Confederate states ignored
Lincoln, the Emancipation
Proclamation never actually
freed a single slave. What it
did do was allow African
Americans to fight for the
Union Army and many
volunteered immediately.
Although African American
troops served as well as any
other soldier, they were
often discriminated against.
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Map of the route taken by Sherman and his troops.
Union General William
Sherman marched into South
Carolina after his capture of
Atlanta and his march-tothe-sea. Sherman’s goal was
to make “total war”, bringing
the war home to civilians to
convince the South to
surrender. This had a direct
impact on the civilians in
South Carolina, destroying
homes, plantations, railroads
and towns along the way.
Sherman’s March to the Sea
The state house in Columbia
was under construction as
Sherman marched through
state’s capital. The capital
building was and was shelled
by Sherman’s troops and the
city was set on fire, even
though there is some
controversy over who
started the fire. Sherman
especially wanted to convince
South Carolina to surrender
since it was the first state
to secede from the Union.
“Sherman's March of 1865 burned the majority of
downtown Columbia to the ground. This is a view
down Main Street, taken from the capitol.” Sciway.net
The Aftermath
When the Civil War
ended, many plantations
had been destroyed.
War brought an end to
slavery and the
plantation owners lost
the fortunes that had
been tied up in slave
property. The difficult
period of rebuilding had
just begun for South
Carolina and other
Southern states.