Chapter 11: The Civil War

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Chapter 11 The Civil War

• Section 1 From Bull Run to Antietam

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• The first shots fired on Fort Sumter, South
  Carolina, in April 1861 signaled the start of the
  nations Civil War.
• War between the Union states of the North and the
  Confederate states of the South.

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The First Battle of Bull Run

• AKA Battle of Manassas
• Lincoln ordered the Union headed by Gen. Irving
  McDowell into action
• July 16- marched the poorly prepared army into VA
• Manassas- important railroad junction

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• Opposed by smaller confederate force under
  (Pierre Gustave Toutant)P.G.T. Beauregard.
• Because of McDowells delays, Beauregard was able
  to strengthen his army (11,000 men added)

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• McDowell attacked on July 21st
• South refused to give up
• Led by Thomas Stonewall Jackson
• Reinforced by more troops
• Sides
• 35,000 troops on each side
• Union 2,900 casualties Confederacy 2,000s
• Won by the Confederates in July 1861.

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Preparing for War

• North
• More railroad tracks factories
• Balanced economy
• More money in the bank
• Functioning army/ government
• 2/3 of the population

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• South
• Military colleges (officers)
• Didnt need to initiate military action to win
  the war
• Fighting to preserve their way of life

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Union Military Strategies

• After the fall of Sumter, Lincoln ordered a naval
  blockade of the seceded states
• Hoped to keep the south from shipping its cotton
  to Europe prevent them from importing goods
• Plan was to use troops gunboats to gain control
  of the Mississippi cut off the South
• Named the Anaconda Plan

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Confederate War Strategies

• Souths basic idea was to prepare wait
  (defensive war)
• War of attrition
• One side inflicts continuous losses on the enemy
  in order to wear down the strength.

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• More successful for the north
• Stopped exporting cotton
• Sudden loss would cause Great Britain France to
  help the south gain its independence
• failed

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Fort Henry Donelson

• Feb. 1862 Grant advanced south along the
  Tennessee River
• These forts were important water routes into the
  western Confed.
• Feb. 6 Union gunboats pounded Ft Henry into
  surrender a few days later Ft Donelson did too

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The Battle of Shiloh

• In April 1862 General Ulysses S. Grant's army was
  encamped along the Tennessee River just north of
  the Mississippi border
• poised to strike a blow into the heartland of the
  South. Grant had been at this location for about
  a month, awaiting the arrival of additional
  troops under General Buell before he began his
  march southward.
• Twenty miles to the south, in Corinth,
  Mississippi, Confederate General Albert Sidney
  Johnston ordered his troops northward with the
  plan of attacking Grant before Buell arrived.
• The stage was set for one of the Civil War's
  bloodiest battles.

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• Buell's reinforcements finally arrived during the
  night as did forces under General William H.
  Wallace, strengthening the Union lines with
  22,500 fresh troops.
• With the break of dawn, Grant attacked, pushing
  the exhausted Confederates steadily back until
  they finally began a retreat in the early
  afternoon that left the field to the Union
  forces.
• The confrontation had been a slaughter on both
  sides.
• Corpses littered areas of the battlefield to the
  extent that, as General Grant described, "it
  would have been possible to walk across the
  clearing in any direction stepping on dead bodies
  without a foot touching the ground." Nearly
  100,000 troops had faced each other and almost
  24,000 ended as casualties. This horrendous
  outcome was a wake-up call to the nation
  announcing that the continuing war would be
  costly for both sides.

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• April 7th- Union reinforcement arrived overnight
• Defeated the South
• Casualties
• Union 13,000/Confederacy 11,000 including
  Johnston
• Bloodiest single battle- destroyed Northern hopes
  that war would soon be over

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The Peninsular Campaign

• May 1862
• McClellan landed near Norfolk trying to capture
  Richmond
• Strengths- outstanding organizer, excellent
  strategy well liked
• Weakness- very cautious never seemed ready to
  fight

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• Transported 100,000 troops to a peninsula
  southeast of Richmond
• McClellan asked for more troops
• Despite urging from Lincoln to act, he didnt
• Waited outside Yorktown for one month

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• May 31st South suddenly attacked
• Battle of Seven Pines
• (Union victory)

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The South Attacks

• With McClellans forces still threatening Richmond
• Jackson pretended to prepare for an attack on
  Washington
• Lincoln cancelled the orders for McClellans
  additional troops to protect the capital

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• Jackson then joined Lee outside Richmond
  attacked McClellan called the Seven Days Battle
• (Confederate Victory)

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Second Battle of Bull Run

• Gen. John Pope was put in overall command (north)
• Lee divided his army sent Jackson north in a
  sweeping movement around Popes position
• Struck behind Popes army destroyed supplies

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• Pope ordered an attack on Jackson while Lee
  attacked
• Confederate victory McClellan was returned to
  command

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The Battle of Antietam

• Outcome
• The result of the battle was inconclusive but the
  north did win a strategic advantage. 23,100
  casualties.
• Significance of the Battle of Antietam
• The Battle of Antietam forced the Confederate
  Army to retreat back across the Potomac River.
• Bloodiest day of the Civil War.