Transcript Mobilization, North and South

Mobilization, North and South
• War Fever
– Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861
• Lincoln mobilized state militias for 90 days
• Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee seceded from
the Union.
– The general belief was that the war would be short
– War fever led many to volunteer for military service.
– The initial enthusiasm for serving faded, leading to drafts
by both the Union and Confederacy(first American draft)
• Exceptions allowed by each side. In North, hire substitute. In
South, planters with 20+ slaves exempt
Secession!
Mobilization, North and South, cont’d.
• The North’s advantage in resources
– The North had human and economic advantages
• RR, industry, people, banking, gov’t, Navy
– North: 50% of military aged men fought
– South: 90% of the eligible population served.
– South: better leadership, defensive war
FIGURE 15–1 A Comparison of the Union and Confederate Control of Key Resources at the
Outset of the Civil War
Mobilization, North and South, cont’d.
• Leaders, governments,
and strategies
– Confederate President:
Jefferson Davis, new gov’t
not fully established
– Union President: Abe
Lincoln, established gov’t
– Union: blockade South,
take Richmond, control
Mississippi River
– Confederacy: defensive
war, gain European ally,
hold out until North quit
Awaiting combat, 1861: Union
Soldiers from New York relax at
camp awaiting orders to move
to the front.
Note the young African
American with a broom sitting
apart from the soldiers.
The War
• The human toll
– The heavy losses in battle
changed the soldiers’ view of
the war. The early bravado
and enthusiasm was replaced
by the sobering prospect of
death.
– The conditions of medical
care did not improve a
wounded soldier’s survival
chances. Women on both
sides played major roles in
tending the wounded.
– Disease was a major cause of
death: twice as many died
from disease as from wounds
– Religion provided some
solace to the soldiers.
Early Stages of War
• Confederate victories (1st Bull Run, Peninsular
Campaign, 2nd Bull Run)
• Poor Union leadership: Irvin McDowell,
George McClellan
• Good Confederate leadership: Robert E. Lee
and Stonewall Jackson
• Union success in West due to Ulysses S. Grant
Turning Points, 1862
• Antietam: Bloodiest Day
of War
– Lee invaded Maryland in
September 1862, hoping to
cut railroad links in
Pennsylvania.
– Copies of Lee’s orders fell into
Union hands and McClellan
pursued Lee.
– thousands of casualties,
tactical draw, and forced Lee
back into Virginia.
– Britain and France abandon
plans to recognize the
Confederacy
– allowed Lincoln to announce
the Emancipation
Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
– At the start, war was to preserve Union, NOT to end slavery
– Lincoln and others recognized military advantage of freeing
slaves, freeing the slaves would also appeal to the British.
– The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in the
states/areas still in rebellion against the Union.
– The proclamation continued slaves running away to Union
camps that had begun earlier.
– Of the approximately 180,000 black soldiers and 20,000 black
sailors who fought for the Union, over 80 percent were from the
South.
African Americans in the Military
War Transforms the North
• Wartime legislation and politics
– Lincoln used executive authority to silence opposition
• suspended the writ of habeas corpus(imprisoned dissenters w/o cause or
charges).
– The draft aroused conflicts including the New York Draft Riot
that began with an Irish mob protesting the draft.
• The northern economy
– wages increased during the war, prices rose higher
– Labor unions revived
– The northern economy fed, clothed, and armed the Union
soldiers, kept people employed
The Confederacy Disintegrates
• Southern politics
– States’ rights was a major obstacle to the development of
central authority.
– Dissent increased as war continued
• Calls for peace arose as early as 1863.
• Southern economy
– By 1863, the South experienced difficulty feeding its population.
Inflation occurred, bread riots broke out.
– As the war progressed, Southern soldiers had threadbare
uniforms with many garments and arms taken from the Union.
Their families suffered under similar conditions.
– Many slaves stopped working and abandoned the plantations.
– Cotton exports down
Women in the War.
• Northern women
– worked in industry.
– worked as nurses.(Clara Barton)
– The new economic opportunities opened up women’s
options, including admission to higher education.
• Southern women
– managed plantations, working in fields alongside slaves.
– worked in factories making uniforms and munitions,.
– As the war continued, many women helped their deserting
husbands and relatives elude Confederate authorities.
Other roles
Spies
•
•
•
•
Rose O'Neal Greenhow
- leader in Washington society
– Sent secret message to General
Beauregard which caused him to
win the battle of Bull Run.
– Jefferson Davis credited her with
winning the First Battle of Bull
Run.
imprisoned
Still got messages to the Confederacy
by means of cryptic notes which
traveled in unlikely places such as the
inside of a woman's hair.
After her second prison term, she
was exiled to the Confederate states
Coconspirator in Lincoln
assassination:
– Mary Surratt
Frances Clalin served with Federal forces in
Missouri.
Soldiers in disguise
-Female remains found at
Gettysburg and Shiloh
-female soldiers discovered
when wounded, usually
sent home
End of the War
• Union wins: April 1865
– Grant leadership
– Sherman’s March to Sea
– Confederates lack
supplies, men, support
• The Toll of War
– Over 600,000 dead
• #1 in American deaths
– Destruction: especially
in South
• Cotton trade ruined
–
–
–
–
North economic boom
Country torn apart
4 million freed slaves
Abe Lincoln dead