Chapter 16

A New Birth of Freedom, 1862-1865

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Slavery & the Civil War

• Confederacy wanted to keep slavery out of the war

- non slaveholders in South

- recognition from Britain

- proclaimed liberty rather than slavery

Fredrick Douglas

• “to fight against slaveholders, without fighting against slavery, is but a halfhearted business, and paralyzes the hands engaged in it” – Fredrick Douglas

The Decision for Emancipation

Civil War became a “total war”

- must end slave labor in South

- tower of strength

- Lincoln’s cabinet

- Lincoln waited for the right time

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Lincoln on Emancipation

• It is a “military necessity, absolutely essential to the preservation of the Union. We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued. The slaves are undeniably an element of strength to those who have their service, and we must decide whether that element should be with us or against us.”

- Abe Lincoln, July 22, 1862

The Battle of Antietam

• Sharpsburg, Maryland (1862)– Union victory?– single bloodiest day in American history– 23k casualties

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The Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln followed Antietam with Emancipation

• portrayed as a means to saving the Union

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Lincoln on Emancipation

• “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”

• - Abe Lincoln, September, 1862

• Emancipation Proclamation• Did not go into effect until 1-1-1863• Only freed slaves in areas under rebellion

“Contraband of War”

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Economic Problems in the South

• food shortages & inflation (p 417)

• Richmond Bread Riot (1863)

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Problems in the North

• Antiwar Protestors denounce draft

• Suspension of the writ of habeas corpus (A4)– Rioters and antiwar activists arrested

Angels of the battlefield

Women’s wartime profession

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Chancellorsville

• Casualties: 13k South & 17k North

• “My God,!” exclaimed Lincoln when he heard the news of Chancellorsville. “What will the country say?”

The Gettysburg Campaign• Lee moves north into PN (7-1-1863)

• Union army devastated on first day of battle

- Lee’s critical decision

“The enemy is there, and I am going to attack him there”- Robert E. Lee, Gettysburg

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Gettysburg (continue)

• Union army regroups• Lee orders attacks on

union flanks, they fail • “Pickett’s Charge”:

attack in the center, it fails

• Lee retreats 7-4-1863 (50k total casualties)

Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863

The Vicksburg Campaign

• Grant assaults Vicksburg for control of the MS River

– marched 180 miles & won 5 battles

– Vicksburg surrenders (July 4)

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Result of Vicksburg

• Union control of MS river

• Confederacy split in two

• Lincoln’s response:

“Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the war”

The Year of Decision

• Gettysburg & Vicksburg: turning point of Civil War

- Southern defeatism

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Emancipation Confirmed

• Thirteenth Amendment– Ratified by states December 1865

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Black Men in Combat

• 54th Massachusetts Infantry

– Fought bravely at Fort Wagner

POWs

• Prison camps– Overcrowded– Andersonville (GA) - 13k Union soldiers died

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Sherman’s March, 1864-5

• destroys Confederate property, railroads etc

• burned Atlanta and Savannah (01/1865)

• Force Confederacy to surrender

The Road to Appomattox

• Lee’s Army stands alone

• Grant attacks in Richmond

• Confederacy defeated

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Lee surrenders at AppomattoxApril 9, 1865

“There was nothing left for me to do, but to go and see Grant, and would rather die a thousand deaths”

– General Robert E. Lee

The Assassination of Lincoln

• Ford’s Theatre, April 1865

• John Wilkes Booth

• Confederate armies continued to surrender April – June

• Jefferson Davis: captured in Georgia

(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

Conclusion

• Civil War was a “total war” (p 436)

• Civil War cost 625,000 lives - 1.1 million casualties• 1865: 13th Amendment abolished

slavery and ensured liberty of all Americans

• Regional transfer of power from South to North

• Reconstruction (1877)

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