Chapter 21 - The Furnace of Civil War
A. Lincoln/North expected a quick “90 day war” victory - “On to Richmond” (Confederate capitol)
1. Ill prepared Union soldiers attacked the Confederacy at Bull Run July 21, 1861
2. “Stonewall” Jackson’s army stood their ground until reinforcements arrived, then,
3. “Green” Union troops fled > South got cocky = many troops deserted /Union lost illusion of a 1-punch
war= Union got stronger
B. Peninsula Campaign- McClellan given command of the Union Army of Potomac (p. 454)
1. Took water route to the peninsula between the James and York Rivers
2. Captured Yorktown, then went after Jackson, who was attacking Shenandoah Valley
3. Robert E. Lee (Confederacy) counter attacked – Seven Day’s Battles- June 26-July 2, 1862
a. McClellan driven back to sea, so, he was relieved of command
4. With the loss, Lincoln made slavery a moral issue = wrote Emancipation Proclamation (freed all slaves)
C. North Military Plan by… 1. Slowly suffocate South by blockading coasts, 2. Liberate slaves, 3. Cut
Confederacy in half by seizing the Mississippi River, 4. Chop Confederacy in pieces, 5. Decapitate it by
capturing Richmond, & 6. Engage their main strength and grind it into submission
D. Minor battle between ironclads: South’s Merrimack & Monitor of the North (indecisive outcome)
E. Lee crushed John Pope’s army at the Second Battle of Bull Run - tried to recruit border states,
1. McClellan, back in command, met Lee’s forces at Antietam Creek - fought hard, won on Sep. 17, 1862,
(AKA Battle of Sharpsburg), 1st major battle fought in the North, bloodiest single-day battle is US history
(23,000 casualties), indecisive outcome (South’s attack failed & no foreign help, North lost more men)
2. Victory = Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation - took effect Jan. 1, 1863
3. Emancipation Proclamation “freed” all slaves – let border states keep slaves, did nothing much in the
south because slaves weren’t told = this Proclamation did little other than make the war a MORAL WAR
4. Some blacks did fight for both sides, South to earn “freedom,” North for pride (Mass. 54 th, movie: Glory)
F. McClellan was replaced again, by General A.E. Burnside - “Burnside’s Slaughter Pen” = unfit for command
1. Burnside replaced with “Fighting Joe” Hooker, Lee divided his army - half attacked front, half attacked
flank - Hooker was defeated, “Stonewall” Jackson, shot by friendly fire, died a few days later
2. Another General change for the North put George Meade into command (p. 455 war’s map)
a. Meade and Lee battled at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania July 1-3, 1863, Pickett’s final charge (p.
464) called the “high tide of the Confederacy” failed and broke the back of the Confederate attack –
Lincoln later gave a short speech there (Gettysburg Address), previous battles: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville
G. Western Theatre: Ulysses S. Grant - average West Point student – general in Western Theatre
1. Took Confederate forts Tennessee & led the best fought campaign of the war (Vicksburg 7-04-1863)
2. Sherman’s March to the Sea leads Grant’s army through Georgia = total war, a path of 250 miles of
total destruction (map p. 467) destroying, burning, leveling everything possible ) – this broke southern pride
H. Politics: Congressional Committee - 1861- “radical” Republicans judged the Conduct of War
1. Democrats are divided: “War Democrats” and “Peace Democrats” = extreme Dem. = Copperheads Clement Vallandigham (congressman hated Lincoln - banished to Confederate states, “The Man Without A Country”)
I. Grant takes over for Meade, Grant battled Lee in the “ilderness of Virginia”
1. June 3, 1864 frontal assault on Cold Harbor, Virg. saw 7,000 killed/wounded in minutes = Grant
deemed insane – North is winning the WAR OF ATTRITION (North = biggest number = wins)
2. With a negotiations standstill, Northern troops captured Richmond & cornered Lee in April 1865
J. Lincoln reelected 1864 (beat McClellan 212 to 21 electoral votes, but Lincoln had only 45% of popular vote)
1. McClellan lost big with 21 electoral votes to Lincoln’s 212, but held 45% of the popular vote
2. South sees no hope in fighting after the Linclon’s reelection…Lee surrenders at Appomatix Courthouse
K. April 14, 1865 Abe Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth – there was an entire plot
1. Democratic government wins – southern states were readmitted (not with Lincoln’s 10% Plan)