THE FURNACE OF CIVIL WAR
INTRODUCTION
When President
Lincoln issued a call
to the states for 75
thousand men, he
thought that they
would only be serving
for 90 days. The war
was neither brief
nor limited, and
when four years have
passed, thousands of
men lay dead on both
sides.
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BULL RUN ENDS THE 90 DAY WAR
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The Union army of some 30
thousand men drilled near
Washington in the summer of
1861. They were ill-prepared
for battle, but the press and the
public clamored for action.
Lincoln concluded that an
attack on a smaller confederate
force met at Bull Run. This
battle took place just 30 miles
just outside Washington.
If the Union army was
successful, then it would show
just how powerful they were.
The battle of Bull Run started
on July 21, 1861, where
congressmen and spectators
trailed along with their lunch
baskets to witness the fun.
BULL RUN ENDS THE 90 DAY WAR
Confederate forces arrived unexpectedly and
panic seized the Union troops. The confederate
forces were too confused and feasted on captured
lunches. The Military Picnic at Bull Run bore
political and physiological consequences. Victory
was worse than defeat for the South, because it
created overconfidence.
 Defeat was better than victory for the Union,
because it dispelled all illusions for a one-punch
war and caused Northerners to buckle down to
the task at hand. It also set the stage for a war
that would be waged not merely for the cause of
Union but also, eventually, for the abolitionist’s
ideal of emancipation.
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TARDY GEORGE MCCLELLAN AND THE
PENINSULA CAMPAIGN
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In 1861, George McClellan was
given command of the Army of the
Potomac, as the major Union force
near Washington. He was a redhaired and red-mustached, who is
strong and stocky, and he was also
brilliant, a West Point graduate,
and 34 years old.
As a military leader he was a
curious mixture of virtues and
defects. He was a great organizer,
and drillmaster. He hated to
sacrifice and he was loved by his
men. He was a perfectionist, who
seems not to have realized that an
army is never ready to run without
risks. He always believed that he
was outnumbered, and he spoke to
the President with an arrogant
tone. Privately the general referred
to his chief as a baboon.
TARDY GEORGE MCCLELLAN AND THE
PENINSULA CAMPAIGN
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McClellan at last decided to approach Richmond,
which lies by the James and York rivers. This
encounter was called the Peninsula Campaign.
McClellan inched closer to the capital of the
Confederate capital with about 100 thousand men;
Lincoln then made McClellan move toward
Stonewall Jackson.
Stonewall Jackson was making a move into
Washington DC. As McClellan was waiting, General
Lee made a surprising counter attack and pushed
back the Union forces back into the sea, which ended
this Campaign. This campaign was a huge failure,
and Lincoln temporarily abandoned McClellan as the
commander.
TARDY GEORGE MCCLELLAN AND THE
PENINSULA CAMPAIGN
Lee had suffered 20 thousand deaths, while McClellan lost 10 thousand men.
Lee triumphed and stopped McClellan from taking the Confederate capital,
which would have ended the war. Slavery survived for a time, and Lee had in
effect ensured that the war would endure until slavery was uprooted and the
Old South would have been destroyed.
 Lincoln had an unwillingness to deal with slavery, until now. He now has to
deal with the issue of slavery and he began to draft an emancipation
proclamation.
Union strategy now turned toward total war: They now had six solutions
to win the war.
 1- Slowly suffocate the South with the blockade
 2- Liberate the slaves and hence undermine the very economic foundations of
the old south.
 3- Cut the Confederacy in half by seizing control of the Mississippi River
backbone.
 4- Chop the Confederacy to pieces by sending troops through Georgia and the
Carolinas.
 5- Capture the capital
 6- Try and gage the enemy’s main strength and grind it into submission.
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THE WAR AT SEA
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The blockade was not clamped
down, and a watertight patrol of
some 35 hundred miles of coast was
impossible for the Union navy. The
Union navy decided to
concentrate on important ports and
docks were they would load the
bales of cotton.
The Northern navy enforced the
blockade. The most alarming threat
from the Confederacy was an old
US warship called the Merrimack,
which was later named the
Virginia. This ship destroyed 2
wooden ships of the Union navy in
the Chesapeake Bay: it also
threatened the Union blockade.
A tiny Union ironclad, the
Monitor, but in about 100 days,
arrived on the scene. For 4 hours
the monitor withstood the
Confederate Merrimack. A few
months later the historic battle
destroyed this ship to keep it from
the grasp of advancing Union
troops.
THE PIVOTAL POINT: ANTIETAM
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Lee moved northward, and had
the second battle of Bull Run; he
encountered a federal force under
General John Pope. In this
encounter, pope was very talkative
about always seeing the backs of
people, and now meeting Lee, he
attacked Pope, inflicting a crushing
blow.
In Lee’s success, he now turned to
Maryland. He would hope to strike
a blow that would encourage foreign
intervention. Those who were in
Maryland did not respond to Lee.
These events led to a crucial
battle in Antietam. This battle was
the bitterest and bloodiest days of
the war. Antietam was more or
less a draw militarily. But Lee
retired across the Potomac, and
McClellan was removed from the
field.
THE PIVOTAL POINT: ANTIETAM
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The battle of Antietam was one of the most decisive
engagements of world history, and maybe during the whole
Civil War. The union army was close to victory, but the Union
army displayed unexpected power at Antietam, and the threat
of European powers stepping in, and this launched Lincoln’s
emancipation proclamation.
Bloody Antietam was also the long-awaited victory that
Lincoln needed for launching the proclamation. He believed
that he needed to issue the proclamation on the heels of this
victory, and was forced to call upon the slaves to murder their
masters. Lincoln therefore decided to wait for the outcome of
Lee’s invasion.
The halting victory of Lee’s offensive was just enough to
justify Lincoln’s issuing. This hope giving document
announced that on January 1, 1863, the president would
issue a final proclamation.
Now the civil war was now on a moral crusade, and the
character of the war will be changed. It will be one of
subjugation…the old south is to be destroyed and replaced by
new propositions and ideas, according to Lincoln.
A PROCLAMATION WITHOUT
EMANCIPATION
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Lincoln’s emancipation declared that slaves were forever free, but the
presidential pen did not formally strike the shackles from a single
slave. The proclamation was stronger than the emancipation.
What did happen is that some liberation did take place. Thousands of
slaves flocked to the Union armies. One in seven slaves ran away to
Union camps. Their presence in the camps and their perseverance
against all odds convinced many Northern soldiers of slavery evils
and helped put the emancipation atop Lincoln’s agenda.
Lincoln’s proclamation is going to clearly foreshadow the ultimate
doom of slavery, which was the 13th Amendment.
Many believed that the proclamation did not go far enough, but
some say that he way too far. The Proclamation cause an outcry to
rise from the South that Lincoln was trying to stir things up, and
European powers were inclined to sympathize with Southern protests
The North now had a stronger moral cause. In addition to
preserving the Union, it had committed itself to freeing the slaves.
The moral position of the South was correspondingly diminished.
BLACKS BATTLE BONDAGE
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Lincoln took steps to enlist blacks in the armed forces.
In previous wars there were a few blacks enlisted, but
the War Department refused to accept free Northern
blacks who tried to volunteer. They would most
likely find black volunteers as mainly cooks,
stewards, and firemen.
As manpower ran low, blacks were now accepted in
the Confederacy, but sometimes with many protestors
from the North and mostly the south. By war’s end,
there were 180,000 blacks in the Union army. Blacks
accounted for 10 percent of the total enlistments,
including the two Massachusetts regiments raised
largely through the efforts of Fredrick Douglas, who
was an ex-slave.
BLACKS BATTLE BONDAGE
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Blacks in the civil war: Blacks in the civil war offered a
chance to prove their manhood and to claim their full
citizenship. Their participation in 500 engagements they
received 22 Congressional Medals of Honor, which is the
highest military honor. The casualties were high: most of
them died from battle, sickness, or reprisals from vengeful
masters. Many were captured and even put to death.
The South recognized them as prisoners of war. Some
were even massacred after they had surrendered, many
black soldiers vowed to take no prisoners.
The South could not bring itself to have slaves in their
army, and by the time that they wanted to enlist it was too
late. Many of the slaves were forced into labor battalions,
and the building of fortifications, the re-supplying of
armies. Some kept the white man’s farm running while
they were fighting.
LEE’S LAST LUNGE AT GETTYSBURG
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After Antietam, Lincoln replaced McClellan and put in
Burnside, who was known as sideburns. He proved himself
at a frontal attack against Lee in Fredericksburg. More
than 10 thousand soldiers were wounded and even killed,
and because of this slaughter Burnside yielded command to
Joseph Hooker.
Lee split his army and sent Stonewall Jackson to attack
the Union flank. Stonewall beat Hooker, and this victory
in Chancellorsville, Virginia was lee’s most brilliant
strategy, but Stonewall Jackson was killed a few days after
this battle. Lee lost his right arm when Jackson died.
Lee is now preparing to attack the North again, and this
time through Pennsylvania. This victory would help bring
foreign countries to help the South. General Meade will
now take the place of General Hooker, and by accident he
will take his place atop of a low ridge flanking a shallow
valley near Gettysburg.
LEE’S LAST LUNGE AT GETTYSBURG
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Meade had 92,000 men in blue locked into combat with
Lee’s 76,000 men. This battle took place for 3 days, and the
outcome was in doubt until the very end. General Pickett
charge finally broke the back on the Confederate attack
and broke the heart of the Confederate charge.
Pickett’s charge has been called the high tide of the
Confederacy. It defined both the northern reaching point
and the Southern force and last real chance for the
Confederates to win the war.
The victory belonged to Lincoln, who refused to allow the
Confederate peace mission to pass through Union lines.
From this day on, the Southern cause was doomed.
Later, Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to dedicate the
cemetery. He read a 2 minute address, followed by a 2 hour
speech. The Gettysburg address did little at the time,
but the President was speaking for the ages.
THE ELECTION OF 1864
The election of 1864, was at first was in doubt.
The war was going badly and Lincoln was
thinking that some were going to dump him and
put someone else into place. The President
pulled through. At election time many Northern
soldiers were sent home to support Lincoln at the
polls. Other Northern soldiers were permitted to
cast their ballots at the front.
 Lincoln won 212 to 21 electoral votes. He
netted 45 percent of the popular vote as well. The
Confederacy was hoping that with the removal of
Lincoln, they would be finally being free of him.
When Lincoln triumphed, desertions from the
sinking Southern ship increased dramatically.
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GRANT OUTLASTS LEE
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After Gettysburg, Grant was brought in from the West
over Meade. Meade was blamed for failing to pursue the
defeated but always dangerous Lee. Grant was determined
and with more than 100,000 men, went to Richmond. He
engaged Lee in a series of furious battles in the
Wilderness of Virginia.
Grant ordered a frontal assault, and in a few minutes,
about seven thousand men were killed or wounded. People
in the North were furious with this type of fighting. But
Lee’s rate of loss was the highest of any general in the war.
Grant lost one in ten, while Lee lost one in five. With this
loss Lee could not seize the offensive anymore.
In February 1865 the Confederates tasted defeat. Lincoln
himself with the Confederate reps went abroad a Union
ship at the Hampton Roads to discuss peace terms. But
Lincoln could accept nothing short of Union and
emancipation, and the Southerners could accept nothing
short of independence.
GRANT OUTLASTS LEE
The end came when Northern troops captured
Richmond and cornered Lee at Appomattox
Courthouse. Grant met with Lee and he accepted
generous terms of surrender. The Union soldiers
cheered, while Grant reminded them that the
rebels are our countrymen again.
 Lincoln traveled to conquer Richmond and sat
in Jefferson Davis’s evacuated office just 40 hours
after the Confederate president had left it.
Lincoln Quote: “Thank God I have lived to see
this.”
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THE MARTYRDOM OF LINCOLN
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On the night of April 14, 1865,
only five days after Lee’s surrender,
Ford’s Theatre in Washington its
most sensational drama. John
Wilkes Booth slipped behind
Lincoln as he sat in his box and
shot him in the head. After lying
unconscious all night, he passed
away.
A large number of his countrymen
had not suspected his greatness,
and many others had even doubted
his ability. But his dramatic
death helped to erase the memory
of his shortcomings and caused his
nobler qualities to stand out in
clearer relief.
Andrew Johnson now happily the
president by bullet, was crucified in
Lincoln’s stead. The implication is
that if he had lived; he would
suffer Johnson’s fate of being
impeached by members of his own
party. The reason being was
because they wanted the South to
suffer, while Johnson offered them
forbearance.
THE AFTERMATH OF THE NIGHTMARE
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The Civil War took a toll on America. Over 600,000 men died in
action of disease, and in all over a million were killed or seriously
wounded. The number of dead was 2 percent of the entire nation’s
population, which greatly exceeded that of American’s killed in WWII.
This would equal 6 million Americans today. In addition, tens of
thousands of babies went unborn because potential fathers were at
the front.
Direct costs of the war were 15 billion. This did not include
continuing expenses. Those costs were dislocations, disunities, wasted
energies, lowered ethics, blasted lives, bitter memories, and burning
hate.
The lost cause of the south was lost, but few Americans today would
say that the result was not for the best. African Americans were
at last in a position to claim their rights to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.
America still had a long way to go to make the promises of
freedom a reality for all its citizens, black and white. But
emancipation laid the necessary groundwork, and a united and
democratic United States was free to fulfill its destiny as the
dominant republic of the hemisphere-and will be for the world.