The Civil War Starts…
Lincoln’s Dilemma…
Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter!!
The 6 southernmost states that had
already seceded immediately began
taking over federal installations in their
states.
 What are “federal installations”?
 Courthouses
 Post offices
 Forts!

Fort Sumter
By the time Lincoln was inaugurated, only
2 forts in the south were still in Union
hands:
 Most important was South Carolina’s Fort
Sumter.
 The very next day, Lincoln received an
urgent dispatch from the fort’s
commander:

Confederacy was demanding he (Lincoln)
surrender the fort or face attack.
The commanding general at the fort could
only hold out for 6 weeks at the most with
food and supplies…
What should Lincoln do?
STOP!
Look around the room.
Pick one person in the classroom.
Look over at them and smile..wave.
Now –
On a sheet of paper, you and your partner
will pretend to be Abe Lincoln and William
Seward (Sec. of State)
Create a plan that will ATTEMPT to solve the
following:
A. Create a solution that will NOT make you
look weak.
B. Solution ALSO cannot make you look like
you want to start a war.
C. Solution ALSO must not include any acts of
violence….
You have a little less than 10 minutes.
One of you will present your plan to the rest
of us 
Now..If
he ordered the Navy to
shoot its way into Charleston
harbor and reinforce Fort
Sumter, he would be
responsible for…
What??
 If he ordered the fort to be evacuated, he
was treating the Confederacy as a hostile
nation.
 This would:
 anger the new Republican Party
 Make him look weak.
Lincoln pulls a BRILLANT move..
He would neither order an
attack on it or surrender Fort
Sumter to the enemy…how
would this happen?
He dispatched a note telling the
confederate commander that he
was simply reinforcements to
give “food for hungry men”….
He turned the tables on the
south and now it was Jeff
Davis’s dilemma:





If Jeff Davis now did nothing, it would make him
look like a weak confederate president.
On the other hand, if he ordered an attack, he
would turn his peaceful secession into war.
What does he choose?
At 4:30 a.m. on April 12th, 1861 Confederate
batteries began “thundering away”.
The South Carolinians began bombarding the fort
with over 4,000 rounds until the union
surrendered.
The news united the North.
Bad news for the upper southern states how
haven't seceded yet:
Virginia couldn’t fight against other southern
states and seceded shortly after.
Terrible loss for the Union, most heavily
populated state in the south and the most
industrialized.
Americans Expect a Short war
A. Union and Confederate Strategies
1. 2 sides were unevenly matched – Union y
more resources than the south:
- more fighting power
- more factories
- greater food production
- extensive railroad system
2. South also had advantages:
- Cotton – profits help fund their side
- strong military generals
I.
3. Two sides had different military strategies:
-Union:
- blockade southern ports
- Move down rivers to split confederacy in 2
- Capture the captial of Confederate
Richmond!
- Plan was called the
Anaconda Plan.
South’s strategy was mostly defensive…
Lets Review
What were the advantages of the North?
- more fighting power
- factories, greater food production
- extensive railroad system
2. What were the advantages of the South?
- 1st rate generals
- highly motivated soldiers
1.
2 sides had vary different strategies as well:
2 sides had very different
strategies as well
North:
Devised a 3 part simple plan:
1. Union Navy would blockade the South.
2. Union boats move down rivers and split
the Confederacy in two.
3. Capture Richmond.
It was called the Anaconda Plan.
The South wanted to just defend their
territory and then push up northward.
The Politics of War
Britain Remains Neutral:
Britain didn’t depend on the south’s cotton
crop, found new sources in Egypt and
India. – Saw no reason to really help
out..
1. Trent Affair
a. Confed. govt sent 2 diplomats: James
Mason and John Slidell to gain support
form Britain AND France…
A.
2. The 2 men traveled on a British ship the
Trent.
3. An American warship stops the Trent and
arrests the 2 men!
a. Brits threatened war against the U.S. and
sent 8,000 troops to Canada.
b. Lincoln freed the 2 men and backed
down to avoid another war. (Britain was also
VERY relieved)
II. Proclaiming Emancipation!
(What is emancipation?)
A.
Lincoln’s view of slavery
1. Did not believe the Fed. Govt had the
power to abolish slavery where it already
existed.
2. Was urged to change the war into a
“crusade to end slavery”.
3. “My object is to save the Union, and is
not either to save or destroy Slavery”
B. However, he did find a “loophole” around
it to try and end slavery.
Ok..
1. Take out a piece of paper and turn to
everyone in your group. Assign one
person as President Lincoln.
2. The rest of you are his (or her) advisors.
3. You want to abolish slavery and end the
war, but you don’t believe you have the
Constitutional Right to do so.
4. How do you figure out a way around this?
You have six minutes.
Who builds the fortifications and grows the
food for the Confederacy?
(Slave Labor)
2. As Commander in Chief, Lincoln decided
that just as he could order the Union to
seize supplies, he could also authorize the
army to emancipate slaves.
3. The Emancipation Proclamation was
basically a WAR TACTIC.
a. Abolitionist movement was strong in
Britain, there fore they received support
towards the North rather than the South.
1.

“…..all persons held as slaves within any
State or designated part of a State, the
people whereof shall then be in rebellion
against the United States, shall be then,
thenceforward, and forever free; and the
Executive Government of the United States,
including the military and naval authority
thereof, 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.
Now..Does this mean he freed
ALL of the Slaves?
Now..Does this mean he freed ALL of the
Slaves?
 Noooo.

III. Reactions to the Proclamation
1. Gave the war a higher moral – a purpose
2. Free Blacks began to enlist into the Union
Army.
3. Many Union hated it, no love for
abolitionists or free African Americans.
4. Made the South more determined to fight
to “preserve their way of life”
IV. Conscription..
1. Heavy casualties on both sides would lead
to conscription, a draft to force certain
members of the population to serve in the
army.
2. Both sides ran into trouble.
a. Confederate law drafted all able bodied
white men between 18 and 35.
b. They were allowed to pay and put subs
in their place.
c. Planters with more than 20 salves were
exempted.
South complained “Rich Man’s war with the
Poor Man’s Fight”
. The North
a. Union law drafted men between 20-45 for
3 years.
b. Also allowed them to hire subs.
c. In addition, could pay $300.00 fee to avoid
conscription all together.
Here is the interesting fact:
Only 46,000 draftees actually went into the
army.
How many African Americans volunteered?
180,000.
B. Bull Run..
1. First major bloodshed occurred Jul 21st.
a. Army of 30,000 inexperienced Union
soldiers on its way to Richmond came upon a
Confederate army camp.
2. It was a “see saw” affair – what does that
mean?
3. Confederates would hold, with heir general,
Stonewall Jackson – Union troops retreated
back…
C. Union Armies out West…
1. Union armies now invaded western
Tennessee and at its head was General
Ulysses S. Grant.
2. Failed at EVERYTHING else in life – but
was a brilliant general.
3. In about a week, overtook to Confederate
controlled forts.
D. A Revolution in warfare …
1.The ironclad ship was used for the first time
and contributed to the war’s high casualty
rate.
2. Ironclads could splinter wooden ships and
resist burning.
3. Every Navy in the world took notice when
the North’s Monitor took on the South’s
Merrimack.
4. The Northern Naval Engineer, Gideon Wells
designed it to look like a “Giant Cheese Box”
5. An even deadlier weapon? –
The Rifle and the mini bal:
a. allowed soldiers to load rifles more
efficiently and fire more round during warfare
B. War for the Capitals!
1. Union did tighten its block against
southern ports.
2. - Plan to capture the capital of
Richmond…ran into some problems
3. General of the armies (General McClellan)
was too cautious and command was passd
to Robert E. Lee.
Antietam…
1.
2.
3.
4.
Bloodiest single batttle in American
history.
Causalites totaled more than 26,000 –
the battle was more or less a standoff,
Instead of pursuing the already battered
confederate army, McClellan , again, very
cautious did nothing.
On November 7, 1862, Lincoln fired
McClellan and solved one of the
problems.