THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Part I:The Beginning and Major Battles

THE BEGINNING…

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Secession

• With the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860, Southern states started to secede • They based their move on the

argument of states’ rights• What is states’ rights?

South Carolina was the first state to

secede on December 20,

1860

Secession

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

7. TexasFebruary 1st,

1861

5. GeorgiaJanuary 19th,

1861

3. FloridaJanuary 10th,

1861

6. LouisianaJanuary 26th,

1861

2. MississippiJanuary 9th, 1861

4. AlabamaJanuary 11th, 1861

Secession

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

The Confederate States of America

• The states that seceded met in Montgomery, Alabama and formed the Confederate States of America

• Jefferson Davis was named president of the Confederacy

• A constitution was drafted, modeled after the U.S. Constitution (except for states’ rights and slavery)

• The new nation made plans to defend their separation from the Union

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Davis’s Inaugural Address“I enter upon the duties of the office to which I have been chosen with the hope that the beginning of our career as a Confederacy may not be obstructed by hostile opposition to our enjoyment of the separate existence and independence which we have asserted, and, with the blessing of Providence, intend to maintain. Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations, illustrates the American idea that governments rest upon the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish governments whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.”

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Lincoln’s Inauguration• Americans waited for Lincoln’s

inauguration to see what he would do about the crisis

• Lincoln took office on March 4th, 1861 and gave his First Inaugural Address

• He assured the South that he would not abolish slavery

• He spoke against secession and appealed to friendship

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

What will happen?• Lincoln wanted no

invasion, no aggression• He did have government

property in the states that had seceded that he would not abandon

• Forts in the South, like Fort Sumter in South Carolina, would need supplies

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

First Shots at Fort Sumter• Fort Sumter was commanded by a Union

sympathizer• Lincoln informed South Carolina that he

would be sending supply ships to the fort• Confederate leaders attacked the fort

before the ships got there• First shots were fired at 4:30 a.m. on April

12, 1861• The Confederates bombarded the fort for

34 hours, and it surrendered.• The war had begun.

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Soldiers Needed

• When fighting began, Confederate President Jefferson Davis called for volunteers

• Although thousands of Texans immediately joined the army, more soldiers were needed by the end of the first year of the war

• To meet this need, the Confederate Congress passed the Conscription Act– Conscription is the forced enrollment of people

into military service– The Act required men 18 to 35 to serve

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

After Fort Sumter, 4 more states seceded…

11. TennesseeJune 8th, 1861

8. VirginiaApril 17th, 1861

10. North CarolinaMay 20th, 1861

9. ArkansasMay 6th, 1861

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

How many total

Confederate states were

there?

Then why are there 13 stars on the

Confederate battle flag???

The last two stars represent Missouri

and Kentucky. They had representatives

in both governments and regiments in both

armies.THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

NORTH VS. SOUTH…

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

North vs. SouthNorth (Union)• Called the United

States of America• Wore blue• Were called

“Yankees”• President Abraham

Lincoln• General Ulysses S.

Grant• Capital: Washington,

D.C.

South (Confederacy)• Called the Confederate

States of America• Wore gray• Were called “Rebels”• President Jefferson

Davis• General Robert E. Lee• Capital: Richmond, VA

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

North vs. SouthNorth (Union)• 23 states• 22 million people• Had about 85% of the

nation’s factories• More than double the

railroad acreage of the South

• Naval power and shipyards belonged to the North

South (Confederacy)

• 11 states• 9 million people

(3.5 million of those were enslaved)

• Began the war with better generals

• Fought on home territory

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

The Confederate Strategy

1. The South started fighting a defensive war, since they had been invaded

2. The South depended on King Cotton to gain support from Europe

• As the war went on, the South took on the offensive and invaded the North

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

The Union Strategy• The Union’s strategy was called the

Anaconda Plan. It was designed to smother the economy of the South like an anaconda squeezing its prey.1. Blockade the South’s coastline to prevent

exports2. Gain control of the Mississippi River to split

the Confederacy in two3. Take Richmond, the capital

• Lincoln ordered the invasion of Richmond in the summer of 1861

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

IMPORTANT BATTLES (AND SOME OTHER STUFF)…

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)

• The first major land battle of the Civil War

• Fought 26 miles from Washington, D.C.

• The Confederate victory at Bull Run made the South think they had won the war

• It also made the North realize that they had underestimated their opponent

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Battle of Antietam

• Late in 1862, Generals Robert E. Lee and George McClellan faced off in the first battle in Northern territory

• After a string of defeats, McClellan’s victory over Lee provided Abraham Lincoln with an opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation

• It remains as the bloodiest day in American history – with over 22,000 casualties

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

The Emancipation Proclamation

• On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in Confederate territory

• Lincoln did not have the Constitutional power to free slaves in the United States

• This weakened the Confederacy, and changed the goal of the war for the North from preservation to liberation

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Turning Point: Gettysburg

• There are two Northern victories in the war that are considered turning points: Gettysburg and Vicksburg.

• Gettysburg turned back the Confederacy’s advance into the North

• Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address following the battle:

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

The Gettysburg Address “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

The Gettysburg AddressNow we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

The Gettysburg AddressBut, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

The Gettysburg Address

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I

Turning Point: Vicksburg

• The Northern siege of Vicksburg gave control of the Mississippi River to the North, splitting the South in two• The victories at Gettysburg

and Vicksburg swung the tide of war to the North

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, PART I