Civil War Review

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Civil War Review
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The Events Leading to the Conflict
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Compromise of 1850

• Actually 5 separate bills
• California would enter Union as a free state
• New Mexico Utah were created
• Popular Sovereignty would decided slavery issue
• Slave trade ended in Washington D.C.
• Fugitive Slave Law enacted
• Fees encouraged commissioners to certify runaways
• No jury trials allowed

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Kansas - Nebraska

• In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska bill was introduced
  by Stephen Douglas
• Called for
• Kansas and Nebraska to be created
• Slavery question again determined by popular
  sovereignty
• The 36º30 line prohibiting slavery in Louisiana
  was erased

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Bleeding Kansas

• Northern free soilers, abolitionists
  pro-slavery settlers from Missouri invade Kansas
• Pro-slavery forces win control of territorial
  legislation enact severe slave code
• Violence erupts necessitating the calling in of
  federal troops
• John Brown attacks Pottawatomie Creek

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The Dred Scott Decision

• Test case brought forth by anti-slavery groups
• Basis - Scotts owner had taken him to posts in
  free states and free territories
• Therefore, he should be free
• Became the 1st freedom case to be heard by the
  Supreme Court in 1856

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The Decision

• Chief Justice Taneys 1857 decision spoke for a
  6 - 3 majority finding
• Scott not a citizen, therefore has no standing in
  Court
• Scotts residing in a free state and territory
  did not make him free since he returned to
  Missouri
• Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in a
  territory - this voided an act of Congress for
  only the second time

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Harpers Ferry1859

• John Brown seized the federal arsenal in an
  attempt to insight a slave rebellion
• Religious fanatic and abolitionist crusader
• Brown was wounded, arrested and tried for treason
  against the state of Virginia, among other
  things, and was executed on December 2, 1859.
• Branded a madman (think Osama) by the South and a
  martyr by the North

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Politics of 1860

• Lincoln, a republican, wins election with just
  under 40 of the popular vote but majority of
  electoral vote (180)
• Secession began when South Carolina adopted an
  Ordinance of Session on December 20th.
• President Buchanan refused to coerce the states
  even when secessionists began seizing federal
  property

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Secession

• By Lincolns Inauguration, 7 Southern states had
  seceded from the Union
• Lincoln's Speech emphasized his belief that the
  union was perpetual
• In addition he promised
• Not to interfere with slavery in the States
  where it exists
• But denied secession legality
• And vowed to preserve the Union in the face of
  insurrection

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Fighting Begins

• The Confederate government ordered General
  Beaureguard to deliver an ultimatum to federal
  troops occupying Fort Sumter.
• Shots were fired and 36 hours later Sumter
  surrendered
• Lincoln called up 75,000 militia for 3 months to
  suppress the rebellion

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Northern Advantages

• 22 million white men of military age
• Over 90 of nations manufacturing including
  heavy industry
• Diverse agriculture which was able to greatly
  expand (aka the west)
• Greater amount of capital wealth
• Superior transportation systems
• Most of the civilian shipping and navy
• Nationalistic and centralized governmental
  structures already in place

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Southern Advantages

• Vast geographic area that was
• Familiar to southern combatants
• And would have to be invaded and conquered by
  unfamiliar northern solders
• South had a strong military tradition (think the
  Citadel)
• Many veteran military leaders remained loyal to
  the South
• But the South was hampered by commitments to
  states rights which led to increased political
  bickering

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Economic Impact

• War contracts brought prosperity even though
  workers wages did not match inflation
• Speculation, profiteering and corruption were
  widespread
• The South became more urbanized, industrial and
  centralized both politically and economically
• Northern factory workers became unionized and
  increasingly militant

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1861 - 1863Southern Victories

• Manassas/Bull Run
• July 21, 1861 - first initial major battle
• Union soldiers and civilian spectators fled to
  Washington
• Lincoln called up 100,000 troops for 3 years
• George McClellan became Union General-in-Chief
• The South under Lee successfully routed the North
  again during the second battle of Bull Run

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• Shenandoah Valley
• Jackson successfully diverts Northern troops from
  Richmond
• The West
• Grant drove the Confederates from Kentucky wining
  victories over Johnson at Forts Henry Donelson
  in western Tennessee
• Heavy casualties were suffered by both sides at
  the battle of Shiloh

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• Sharpsburg/Antietam
• Lee invaded Maryland in September 1862 in an
  attempt to bring the war North
• This engagement proved to be the bloodiest day of
  fighting of the entire war
• McClellan failed to pursue Lee, however Lincoln
  claimed victory and then presented the
  Emancipation Proclamation
• A proclamation which only freed the slaves in the
  South and NOT in the Union

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• Fredericksburg Chancellorsville
• December 1862, the Union suffered a serious
  defeat at the hands of General Lee
• In May of 1863, the Union again suffered a
  serious defeat at Chancellorsville
• Lee maneuvered brilliantly but lost possibly his
  most valued general - Thomas Stonewall Jackson
• This loss proved to be the turning point of the
  war

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1863 - 1865A Northern Turning Point

• Gettysburg -July 1-3, 1863
• Lee moved north in an attempt to take both
  Harrisburg and Washington
• Clashed by accident with the Army of the Potomac
  at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
• The North under the direction of General Pickett
  implemented a new defensive advantage in the form
  of Breech-loading rifles with new Burton bullets
• The Army of Northern Virginia retreated however
  the union soldiers under General Meade failed to
  follow

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• Vicksburg
• Fell the day following Gettysburg
• Independence day - July 4, 1863
• Grant had besieged the city for 6 weeks before
  its fall
• With its fall, the CSA lost its supply route from
  the west - the Mississippi River
• Tennessee
• A series of Union victories opened the way for
  Sherman and his devastating offensive
• Lincoln, who had been searching for an aggressive
  general, found what he was looking for in Grant
• Grant was sent from the west to confront Lee in
  the east

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• Georgia
• Shermans army invaded Georgia using his total
  war tactics (no mercy)
• Atlanta fell in September of 1864 after a
  month-long siege
• Sherman reached Savannah by December 21, 1864 and
  continued on to take South Carolina and invade
  North Carolina by the end of the war
• Sherman became a hero to the North and a devil to
  the South after his march to the sea created a
  swath of unparalleled destruction thru the South

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• Virginia
• Grant pursued Lees army south into the heart of
  Virginia
• The fighting reached Petersburg after a series of
  battles
• Outnumbered Lees army endured 10 months of
  trench warfare before abandoning the city
• At the same time Sherman was devastating the
  Shenandoah Valley

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End of the War

• Richmond was evacuated on April 2, 1865
• By April 9th Lees army, trapped and depleted,
  surrender at Appomattox Court House
• Jefferson Davis was arrested a month later
• By that time Lincoln had been assassinated by
  John Wilkes Booth
• The remaining Confederate forces surrendered by
  the end of May effectively ending any remaining
  combat

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Result of the War

• More men were lost in this conflict than in any
  other either before or since
• 360,000 Northern men were killed while 275,000
  were wounded
• 260,000 Southern men were killed with wounded
  numbering approximately 231,000

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• For Perspective
• In 1860 the American population was about 30
  million
• 620,000 men were killed during 1861 -1865
• During WWII the American poplation averaged 135
  million
• 300,000 men were loss during 1941 - 1945
• This was less than 1/2 of the men killed in the
  Civil War or less than .002 of the population