A Nation Sundered: The Civil War, 18611865

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A Nation Sundered The Civil War, 1861-1865
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Fighting the Civil War
The Secession Crisis South Carolina first to
secede, Dec. 1860 six additional lower South
states seceded by Feb. 1861, when Confederate
States of America was established. Crittendens
Compromise plan to extend Missouri Compromise
line to California rejected by Lincoln, defeated
in Congress
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• Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861
• President Lincolns effort to re-supply fort in
  Charleston Harbor
• Confederate shore batteries opened fire fort
  surrendered two days later
• Lincoln called for 75,000 militia troops to put
  down rebellion
• Virginia and three other Upper South states
  seceded and joined the Confederacy

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• Southern (Confederate) Advantages
• Defensive strategy survival means victory
• Morale belief that the South was fighting for
  self-determination
• Superior military leadership (e.g. Robert E. Lee,
  Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson)
• Some sympathy in Europe

• Southern Disadvantages
• Inadequate manufacturing base
• Lack of railroads
• Political philosophy (states rights) that
  hampered war effort

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• Northern (Union) Advantages
• Population
• Economic superiority
• A navy
• Abraham Lincoln
• Kept Republican party together
• Kept border states in Union
• Emancipated slaves
• Good cabinet officers other subordinates
• Inspiration for the Union to persevere

• Northern Disadvantages
• Military leadership
• Offensive strategy had to conquer to win
• European hostility

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Major Campaigns and Battles
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Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862
Bull Run (Manassas), July 21, 1861 Antietam,
Sept. 17, 1862
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• Bull Run (Manassas), July 21, 1861
• First major battle, fought 25 miles from
  Washington, D.C.
• Confederate victory after counterattack broke
  Union ranks
• Revealed both sides lack of preparedness and
  likelihood of long war

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Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862 Union forces under
command of Ulysses S. Grant had
driven Confederates from Kentucky and middle
Tennessee Surprised by Confederates at Shiloh
and driven back to Tennessee River With
reinforcements, Grant counterattacked on
following day and drove Confederates from the
field
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• George B. McClellan
• Named commander of the Army of the Potomac after
  Bull Run
• Able, but arrogant
• Excellent at organization and training, but
  reluctant to fight
• Commanded during Peninsula Campaign,
  Spring-Summer 1862, and at Antietam.

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• Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862
• First invasion into northern territory by Robert
  E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia
• Bloodiest single day of the war, with combined
  23,000 casualties
• Union victory, but Lee able to escape back into
  Virginia
• Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation five
  days later

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• The Emancipation Proclamation (Jan. 1, 1863)
• Lincolns main objective at outset of war was to
  save the Union and not necessarily end slavery
• Drafted proclamation during summer of 1862
  cabinet members advised waiting until the Union
  achieved a victory. Antietam provided the
  opportunity.

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• The Emancipation Proclamation, effective Jan. 1,
  1863, abolished slavery in areas still in
  rebellion but not in areas occupied by Union
  armies or in border states still loyal to the
  Union
• Altered the character of the war, which now
  became one to both save the union and abolish
  slavery

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Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863
Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865
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Vicksburg, July 4, 1863 Atlanta and the March
to the Sea, September- December 1864
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• Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863
• McClellan fired after Antietam
• Humiliating defeats for the Union at
  Fredericksburg (Dec. 1862) Chancellorsville
  (May 1863) Lincoln appointed George Meade to
  command Army of the Potomac
• Lees second invasion of the north armies
  collided at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
• Picketts Charge
• Lee ordered disastrous frontal assault on Union
  center
• Considered the high water mark of the
  Confederacy

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• Vicksburg, July 4, 1863
• Grant had moved away from supply lines behind the
  city and followed up with siege
• Surrender of Vicksburg and Port Hudson gave Union
  total control of the Mississippi River, cutting
  the Confederacy in two

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• Ulysses S. Grant
• Undistinguished military career out of the army
  when war began
• Demonstration of willingness to fight and win
  impressed Lincoln
• Brought east, promoted to Lieutenant General, and
  put in command of all Union armies in March 1864

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• Robert E. Lee
• Had taken command of Army of Northern Virginia in
  1862
• Member of Virginias planter elite
• Distinguished military career refused command of
  the Union army when Virginia seceded

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• Atlanta and the March to the Sea,
  September-December 1864
• William Tecumseh Sherman
• Replaced Grant as commander of Union armies in
  the West
• Captured Atlanta, September 2, 1864
• Devastating march to the Atlantic coast through
  Georgia and then into South Carolina

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Grant fought continuous battles Against Lees
Confederates in Virginia, May 1864-April
1865. Lees troops finally surrendered
at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865
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War, Government, and Society

• The Union
• Economic Measures
• New national banking system
• Federal taxes on goods, services, incomes
• Paper currency backed by faith and credit of the
  government (greenbacks) problems with
  inflation
• Government borrowing from citizens and banks

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• Raising the Union Armies
• Volunteers three-year terms
• National conscription (March 1863)
• All young, adult males eligible
• Conscripts could avoid service by hiring a
  substitute or paying a 300 fee
• Widespread opposition to the draft, especially
  among laborers, immigrants, and anti-war Democrats

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• Lincoln in Command
• Use of Presidential War Powers
• Sent troops into battle without war declaration
  insisted on referring to the conflict as a
  domestic insurrection

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• Treatment of War Protesters
• Suppressed anti-war Democrats (Copperheads)
• Martial law in certain locations
• Military arrests and detention of civilian
  dissenters
• Suspension of the right of habeus corpus (right
  to a speedy trial)

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• Election of 1864
• Republicans built coalition of groups that
  supported the war the Union party
• Andrew Johnson, pro-war Democrat from Tennessee,
  nominated for vice president
• Democrats nominated General McClellan, denounced
  the war, and called for a truce
• Shermans capture of Atlanta and soldiers votes
  helped Lincoln win reelection

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• The Confederacy
• Confederate States of America formed in
  Montgomery, Alabama in February 1861 capital
  moved to Richmond after Virginias secession
• Constitution similar to that of the United States
  except it
• Acknowledged sovereignty of individual states
• Specifically sanctioned slavery and made
  abolition practically impossible
• Jefferson Davis of Mississippi chosen president

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• Financing the War in the South
• Requisitioning funds from states
• Income taxes and borrowing from citizens and
  European banks
• Printing of paper currency by Confederate
  government, states, cities, private banks 9,000
  percent inflation over course of the war

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• Raising the Confederate Armies
• Volunteers
• Conscription Act of 1862
• All white males between 18 and 35
• Three-years of military service
• Draftees could furnish substitutes
• Exemption for one white man on each plantation
  with twenty or more slaves

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• States Rights vs. Centralization
• States rights enthusiasts obstructed national
  governments efforts to conduct the war
• Restricted President Daviss ability to impose
  martial law and suspend habeus corpus
• State governors often obstructed conscription and
  hoarded supplies for use of state militias
• Confederate government nonetheless made
  substantial progress in centralizing power
• Impressed slaves to work as laborers on military
  projects
• Seized control of railroads and shipping
• Imposed regulations on industry and limited
  corporate profits

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• Women and the War (She Ranks Me video excerpt
  from Ken Burnss The Civil War)
• U.S. Sanitary Commission
• Clara Barton/Sally Tompkins/Mary Ann Bickerdyke

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• African Americans and the War (Bottom Rail on
  Top video excerpt from The Civil War)
• New York City draft riots, 1863
• 54th Massachusetts