Transcript The Civil War

The Civil War
1861-1865
The war begins
• Lincoln inaugurated March 1861
• Unclear how he would respond
to SC & the other 6 states
• He assured southerners that he
had no intention of interfering
with slavery
• He warned that no state had the
right to secede
• “In your hands, my dissatisfied
fellow-countrymen, and not in
mine is the momentous issue of
civil war. The government will
not assail you. You can have no
conflict without being
yourselves the aggressors.”
--Abraham Lincoln, Inauguration
speech.
Fort Sumter
• 2 forts in the South were still occupied by
Federal troops
• One was Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC
• Lincoln chose to send supplies to the fort
& allow SC to decide whether or not to
allow it
• Confederates began bombarding Ft.
Sumter on April 12, 1861
President Abraham Lincoln’s
reaction
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Acted as no other
president had before
him
Often acting without
approval of Congress
Claim such action as
necessary “as
indispensable to the
public safety.”
Lincoln
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Called for 75,000 volunteers to put down
the insurrection
 90
day enlistment period
Authorized spending for the war
 Suspended the writ of habeas corpus
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 Congress
was not in session when Lincoln did
these things
The South’s Reaction
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After Ft. Sumter 4 other southern states
seceded
 Virginia,
North Carolina, Tennessee, &
Arkansas
The capital was moved to Richmond, VA
 4 slaveholding states remained in the
Union
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 Border
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states:
Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, & Delaware
Border States
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Keeping the border states in the Union was
imperative to Lincoln
Loss of these states would have increased the
population of the CS by 50%
These states were strategically important for the
war
Lincoln was reluctant to push for emancipation
fearing alienation of these states
Civil War Names
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The War Between the States
The War for Southern Independence
Mr. Lincoln’s War
The Southern Rebellion
The War of the Rebellion
The Second War for Independence
The War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance
The War Against Northern Aggression
The War of the Southern Planters
The War for the Union
The War for Southern Freedom
The Lost Cause
Civil War Nicknames
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Confederate States of America
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The South, CS, CSA, Rebels, Confederates,
Johnny Reb, Secesh
SC, NC, GA, FL, MS, AL, TN, AK, VA, TX, & LA
United States of America
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The North, US, USA, Yankees, Billy Yank,
Federals, Bluebellies
First Modern War
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Rifled muskets
Telegraph
Ironclad ships
Submarines
Total warfare
Workable machine gun
Aerial reconnaissance
Field trenches
Photography of battle
Repeating rifles
Bugle call “Taps”
Income tax
Military Advantages
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CS
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Fight a defensive war
Move troops shorter distances
Long coast difficult to blockade
Experienced military leaders
US
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Population: 22 million vs. 5.5 million
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2.5:1; free males 4.4:1
800,000 immigrants
Freed slaves
US Navy
Economic Advantages
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CS
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Hoped overseas demand for cotton would draw
support from foreign powers, esp. the U.K.
US
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Controlled most of the banking & capital of the US
Wealth produced 3:1 (factory production: 10:1)
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Transportation (railroad mileage: 7:1)
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85% of all factories & manufactured goods
70% of railroads
65% of farmland
Political Advantages
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The North
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Well established strong central government
Strong leadership of Abraham Lincoln
The South
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Hurt by it’s own ideology of state’s rights
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Lacked a strong central government
Hoped that the North would turn on Lincoln & get
tired of the war
Strategies
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Northern strategy
 Capture Richmond
 Occupy border states
 Divide the CS in two by taking control of Mississippi River
 Blockade southern ports & cut off supply line to South
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Anaconda Plan
Southern strategy
 Capture Washington, D.C.
 Control border states
 Gain support of England
Theatres
 Western theatre
 Eastern theatre
Confederate States of America
C.S.A.
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Constitution modeled after U.S. Constitution
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One 6-year term for president & v.p.
President had item veto power
Congress could not pass protective tariffs or fund
internal improvements
Foreign slave trade was prohibited
Pres. Davis struggled to increase power of the
presidency during the war; state governors
resisted
The CS faced serious shortage of money during
the war—issued more than $1 billion in paper
money
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Worth less than 2 cents by end of the war
Civil War Battles
• South named
battles after
town or
settlement
• Battle of
Manassas
• North named
battles after
nearest water
• Battle of Bull
Run
Civil War Battles
• First Bull Run (US) or First Manassas (CS),
Virginia (July 1861)
• First battle of the Civil War, July 1861
• “On to Richmond”
• Believed it would be a short war
• US Gen. Irvin McDowell vs. CS Gen. Joseph
Johnston
• US troops initially winning
• CS counterattack led by Thomas (Stonewall)
Jackson sends US fleeing back to Washington, DC
• Ended the illusion of a short war
• Peninsula Campaign (March 1862)
• Gen. George McClellan replaced Gen. McDowell
• Pressured to make a move invaded Virginia
• Stopped by Gen. Robert E. Lee & was ordered back
after 5 mos.
• Replaced by Gen. John Pope
Battle of Mill Springs
• Mill Springs,
Kentucky, January
19, 1862
• US Gen. George
Thomas vs. CS Gen.
George Crittenden
• Confederates
defeated & forced
out of Kentucky
• CS General Felix
Zollicoffer killed
• Enabled US to carry
war into Tennessee
Civil War Battles
• Ft. Henry & Ft.
Donelson,
Kentucky,
February 1862
• US Gen. U.S.
Grant captured
both forts
• “Unconditional
Surrender” Grant
Civil War Battles
• Monitor
vs.
Merrimac
(March
1862)
• Clash of
the
Ironclads
• Shiloh, Tennessee (April 6-7, 1862)
• US Gen. Grant vs. CS Gen. Albert Sidney
Johnston & Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard
• Gen. Johnston mortally wounded
• US victory after reinforcements arrived
under Gen. Buell
• US casualties 13,000, CS casualties
11,000
• Second Manassas or Second Bull
Run, VA, (August 1862)
• CS Gen. Lee vs. US Gen. Pope
• CS victory
• Antietam, Maryland (September 22, 1862)
• Lee’s first advance into northern territory
• Hoped a victory in the North would gain
recognition & support from Britain
• US Gen. McClellan was once again in command
• Knew CS plans b/c a CS gen. had dropped them
• Single bloodiest day in American military history
• Over 22,000 killed or wounded
• US claims victory after CS army retreats to VA
• McClellan replaced by Lincoln for not pursuing
Lee—”bad case of the slows”
• Replaced by Gen. Ambrose Burnside
• Lincoln uses victory to issue Emancipation
Proclamation
Battle of Fredericksburg
December 1862
• US Gen. Burnside vs.
CS Gen. Lee
• Burnside recklessly
attacks entrenched CS
army
• 12,000 US casualties
vs. 5,000 CS casualties
• Robert E. Lee: "It is
well that war is so
terrible, or we should
grow too fond of it."
Perryville, KY (October 8,
1862)
• CS Gen. Braxton Bragg
vs. US Gen. Don Carlos
Buell
• CS offensive into
Kentucky
• US victory
Foreign Affairs
• CS needed foreign support
• Counting on Britain & France’s
dependence on “King Cotton”
• British aristocracy wanted American
democracy to fail
• Why Cotton Diplomacy failed
– Europe found other sources of cotton
• Wool & linen also used as alternatives
– CS defeat at Antietam
– Emancipation Proclamation
Trent Affair
• CS diplomats James Mason & John Slidell
on a mission to Britain aboard British
steamer the Trent
• US warship stopped the Trent, removed
Mason & Trent, & brought them to the US
as POWs
• Britain demanded their release &
threatened war
• Lincoln acquiesced
• They went to Britain; their mission failed
Confederate raiders
• CS purchased warships
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from Britain
CS commerce-raiders
effective against US
merchant ships
CSS Alabama captured 60
ships before being sunk
Britain paid the US $15.5
million after the war for
damages caused
Slavery
Slavery
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Lincoln was reluctant to free slaves during
the war
– Keep support of border states
– Constitutional protections of slavery
– Prejudices of northerners
– Fear that premature action could be
overturned in the next election
Confiscation Acts
May 1861, US Gen. Benjamin Butler refused to
return slaves to southerners calling them
“contraband of war”
 Confiscation Act, 1861
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– Used legal basis of the power to seize enemy
property used to wage war against the US
– Thousands of “contrabands” fled to Union camps
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Second Confiscation Act, July 1862
– Freed slaves of persons engaged in rebellion against
the US
– Empowered the president to use freed slaves in the
Union army in any capacity
Emancipation Proclamation
After Antietam, Lincoln warned that slaves in all
states still in rebellion on 1/1/1863 would be
“then, thencefoward, and forever free.”
 Justified by calling it a military necessity
 It listed each state in rebellion & stated:
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– …I do order & declare that all persons held as slaves
within said designated states are, & henceforward
shall be, free; & that the Executive Government of
the US, including the military & naval authorities
thereof, shall recognize & maintain the freedom of
said persons.
Consequences
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No slaves were immediately freed
– Only applied to states out of Union control
Slavery continued in border states
 Committed US gov’t. to a policy of abolition
 Enlarged purpose of the war
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– Fighting slavery as well as secession & rebellion
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Added weight to the Confiscation acts
– Number of slaves fleeing to Union lines increased
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Authorized the recruitment of freed slaves as
Union soldiers
th
13
Amendment
This amendment to the Constitution was
needed to free slaves in the border states
due to phrases in the Constitution that
seemed to legitimize slavery
 Ratified in December 1865
 “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exit within the U.S., or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.”
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Freedmen
 After the Emancipation
Proclamation about one
quarter of slave
population walked away
& sought the protection
of the Union army
 Almost 200,000 served
in the Union army &
navy
 Segregated into all
black units
– 54th Massachusetts
 “Glory”
Chancellorsville, VA (April
1863)
• CS Gen. Lee vs.
US Gen. Joseph
Hooker
• Thomas
“Stonewall”
Jackson mortally
wounded by his
own men
• CS victory
• Lee’s greatest
victory
Turning Point of the war
• Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (July 1-3, 1863)
• CS Gen. Lee vs. US Gen. George Meade
• Lee’s second invasion of the North
• Hoped to force the North to call for peace or obtain
foreign intervention
• Largest battle of the Civil War
• Casualties: 23,000 Union, 28,000 Confederate
• Last offensive for the CS army
• US victory
• Vicksburg, Mississippi (July 4, 1863)
• US Gen. Grant laid siege
• US victory, Union gains control of the Mississippi
River
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
• Lincoln moved
Grant West in
1864
• Given command
of entire Union
army
• Grant’s plan was
to outlast Lee in
a war of attrition
Sherman’s
March
• US Gen. William Tecumseh
Sherman
• Led 100,000 men from Chattanooga,
TN across GA & up into SC leaving a
path of destruction
• Destroyed everything in their path—cotton
fields, barns, houses, etc.
• Total war
− Wanted to break the will of the people
• Captured Atlanta in Sept. ’64 in time to
help Lincoln get reelected
Sherman’s March
• Presented
Lincoln with
Savannah, GA
12/25/64
• Set fire to
Columbia, SC
in Feb 1865
• “War is hell”
Election of 1864
Democrats nominated
Gen. George McClellan
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Platform: peace
Unionist party (Republicans)
nominated Lincoln with loyal Democrat Sen.
Andrew Johnson as running mate
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Party changed name to attract “War Democrats”
Lincoln won electoral votes 212/21
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McClellan did get 45% of popular vote
End of the war
• Spring 1865
• Effects of Union blockade &
Sherman’s march were taking their
toll
• Grant continued to outflank Lee
• April 3, 1865 Richmond, VA fell
• CS tried to negotiate for peace
• Lincoln wanted restoration of Union &
Davis wanted independence
Appomattox Court House, VA
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Lee
surrendered to
Grant
April 9, 1865
Grant gave
Lee generous
surrender
terms
Lincoln’s Assassination
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April 14, 1865 Lincoln
assassinated by John
Wilkes Booth
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Lincoln was at Ford’s
Theatre watching “My
American Cousin”
A coconspirator
attacked Sec. of State
William Seward
The North was
outraged
Effects of the War
Politics
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Republicans had majorities in both houses but were
divided
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Moderates (Free-Soilers)
Radicals—who wanted immediate abolition
Most Democrats supported the war but criticized
Lincoln’s conduct of it
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Peace Democrats (Copperheads) opposed the war & wanted
peace
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Congressman Clement Vallandigham, Ohio, briefly banished for his
pro-Confederate speeches
Civil Liberties
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Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in
Maryland & other states where pro-Confederate
sentiment was high
People could be arrested without being charged with
a crime indefinitely
 About 13,000 people were arrested on suspicion of
aiding the enemy
 Democrats called Lincoln a tyrant
 Ex Parte Milligan (1866) Supreme Court ruled the
government had acted improperly in trying civilians
in military courts
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Conscription
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US Conscription Act (March 1863) all men
between 20 & 45 liable for military service but
could find a substitute or pay a $300 exemption
fee
Strong opposition from poor laborers
 July 1863 draft riots in New York City
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Led mostly by Irish Americans against blacks & wealthy
whites
 Federal troops had to restore order
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Both North & South had to use the draft
New York Draft Riots
Financing the war
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North
Borrowed $2.6 billion through the sale of bonds
 Raised tariffs (Morrill Tariff Act, 1861)
 Excise taxes
 First income tax
 Issued over $430 million in paper currency
(greenbacks)
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Caused inflation—prices rose about 80%
Republican legislation
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Morrill Tariff Act (1861) raised tariff rates to
raise revenue & protect US businesses
Homestead Act (1862) promoted settlement of
the Plains; offered 160 acres of land free to
anyone who would farm it for 5 years
Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) encouraged states
to use the sale of federal land grants to maintain
agricultural & technical colleges
National Banking System (1863)—to manage
revenue
Effects on women
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Field of nursing was
opened up to women for
the first time
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Clara Barton (right)
Responsibilities taken on
by women during the
war gave impetus to the
suffrage movement
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4 million slaves
freed
620,000 people
died
$15 billion in war
costs & property
losses
Devastated the
economy of the
South
Transformed the
US into a modern
industrial society