The Civil WarChapter 4

The Road to War

Secession seemed the only alternative left to protect southern equality and liberty.

South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860.

The rest of the Deep South followed and formed the Confederate States of America on February 7, 1861.

Buchanan’s reactions to secession Faced with the secession of the southern

states, President Buchanan argued that secession was illegal, but that he lacked the constitutional authority to coerce a state

Last Efforts at Compromise

The Upper South and border states declined to secede, hoping that once again Congress could patch together a settlement.

Crittenden Compromise Proposed extending the old Missouri Compromise

line of 36 31’ and proposed a Constitutional amendment to guarantee the continuation of slavery in the states where it then existed.

The compromise failed because both the Republicans and the secessionists refused to make concessions

Lincoln’s Inauguration

Lincoln sought to reassure southerners that he had no intention, “directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists.”

But he maintained that “the Union of these states is perpetual,” and he intended to hold federal property.

Fort Sumter (Charleston, S.C.)

Lincoln hoped for time to work out a solution, but on his first day in office he was given a message from the commander of the federal garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor informing him that he was almost out of food.

Lincoln’s approach to the crisis Waited for a month before sending provisions.

President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy ordered an attack on Fort Sumter and on April 12, 1861 the Confederates opened fire.

The Confederate States of America

Jefferson Davis (Senator from Miss.) became the provisional president of the Confederate States of America on Feb. 18, 1861.

To allow the U.S. to hold property and maintain military forces in the Confederacy would destroy its claim of independence.

The Outbreak of War

Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers Initial reason for Civil War (North)

Preservation of law and order Commitment to the Union

Upper South secedes When Lincoln called on volunteers to put down the

rebellion, the matter had passed beyond compromise and 4 states in the upper South seceded.

Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia Robert E. Lee’s decision to join the Confederacy

The Outbreakof War

Other slave states remain in the Union

Holding border states was major victory Suspension of habeas corpus to hold Maryland

(possible loss of D.C.) Kentucky’s neutrality

Lincoln sent in federal troops.

Missouri Guerrilla warfare throughout the war.

Delaware, West Virginia (formally becomes a state in 1863)

Advantages

North Enormous advantage

in manpower (4 to 1) Advantage in industrial

capacity, bank deposits, railroad mileage, corn and wheat production, etc.

Political leadership

South Strategic advantage –

to be victorious it only needed to defend its own land and prevent the North from destroying its armies.

Military way of life in the South (Confederate officers)

Opening Moves

Both sides predicted a quick and easy victory

Both sides thought it would be a short war Less than 60 days

Bull Run / Manassas Junction, VA (July 22, 1861) The Confederate victory showed that it would be long. Both sides had underestimated the magnitude of the conflict.

Total War Previous warfare as it had evolved in Europe consisted

largely of maneuverings that took relatively few lives, respected private property, and left civilians largely unharmed.

The North’s Strategy

The Anaconda Plan Proposed by General Winfield Scott Blockade and surround the Confederacy (U.S.

Navy) Cut off its supplies (isolate) Slowly strangle it into submission

South also had to be invaded and defeated Key: Union control of the Mississippi River

The South’s Strategy

King Cotton Diplomacy Looked to diplomacy as a way to lift the blockade. Hoped that Europe would formally recognize the

Confederacy and come to its aid.By 1862, cotton supplies were

dwindling, and France was ready to recognize the Confederacy, but only if Britain would follow suit. The British government favored the South, but it

hesitated to act until the Confederate armies demonstrated that they could win the war.

Meanwhile, new supplies of cotton from Egypt and India enabled the British textile industry to recover.

The North’s Strategy

David Farragut captures New Orleans in April of 1862

U.S. Grant in the West Realized that rivers were avenues

into the interior of the Confederacy.

Forced the Confederates to withdraw from Kentucky and middle Tennessee.

Battle of Shiloh April 6-7, 1862 Nearly 20,000 casualties

Eastern Stalemate

Union generals in the East were cautious or just plain incompetent McClellan did nothing but

train and plan. Lincoln would replace

him with Pope, Burnside, & Hooker.

Eastern Stalemate

Robert E. Lee takes control of the Confederate army. Realizing that the Confederacy

needed a decisive victory, he invades Maryland.

Lee’s invasion fails at the Battle of Antietam Creek. Sept. 17, 1862 23,000 casualties made it the

bloodiest single day of the war. The deaths kept

mounting, and no end to the war was in sight.

Lincoln and Emancipation

Republican radicals pressed Lincoln to support a policy of emancipation. Lincoln at first refuses and supports the Crittenden

Resolution, which declared that the war was being fought solely to save the Union.

“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” “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.”

Emancipation Proclamation

Reason Lincoln wanted to hurt the Confederacy militarily. By making it a war against slavery the South would

not be able to get help from Great Britain or France.

The Proclamation On September 22, 1862 in the aftermath of the

victory at Antietam, Lincoln announced that all slaves within rebel lines would be freed unless seceded state returned to their allegiance by January 1, 1863.

When that day came, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect.

Emancipation Proclamation

Excluded from its terms were the Union slave states and areas of the Confederacy that were under Union control.

In all, about 830,000 of the nation’s 4 million slaves were not covered by its provisions.

Since Lincoln justified his actions on strictly military grounds, he believed he had no legal right to apply it to areas not in rebellion.

Importance It had immense symbolic importance, for it

redefined the nature of the war. The North was fighting, not to save the old Union, but to create a new nation.

Thirteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1865.It freed all slaves

without compensating their owners.

Slaves within the Union lines: Uncertain reception Menial tasks in army Work on plantations Blacks in combat

Blacks in CombatIn adopting the policy of emancipation,

Lincoln also announced that African Americans would be accepted in the navy and the army. Served in segregated units under white officers. At first, given undesirable duties such as heavy labor and

burial details. Capture might mean death.

The Confederate Home Front

The New Economy With the Union blockade, the production of foodstuffs became

crucial. More and more plantations switched from cotton to raising

grain and livestock.Soaring inflation

The Confederate government printed paper money not backed by specie.

Inflation ate away at their standard of living.Hostility to Conscription

The first national conscription law in American history (1862) The draft provoked an outcry because the rich were allowed

to provide substitutes and exempted one white man for every plantation with 20 or more slaves.

Rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.

The Union Home Front

Because the war was fought mostly on southern soil, northern civilians rarely felt its effects directly.

Measures to raise money First federal income tax (1861) and the

creation of the Internal Revenue Bureau Issued paper money (greenbacks) and taxed

state banknotes out of circulation. Created the first uniform national currency.

The Union Home Front

Civil Liberties and Dissent Suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Democrats attacked Lincoln as a tyrant.

The Copperheads Republicans labeled those who opposed the war

Copperheads. Constituted the extreme peace wing of the Democratic

party. Opposed emancipation and the draft.

New York City Draft Riot (1863) Irish workers went on a rampage, attacking draft

officials and lynching African Americans. Lasted 4 days and left over 105 people killed, the worst

loss of life from any riot in American history.

Turning Point (1863)

Siege of Vicksburg Grant wants to gain control of the Miss. River Vicksburg surrenders on July 4

Gettysburg (July 1-3) The Union army under General Meade defeats Lee’s

Confederates during an attempt to invade Pennsylvania Lee retreats to South after losing 1/3 of his men

Grant defeats Confederate forces in Chattanooga in November.

After that, it was just a matter of time.

War of Attrition

Grant Orders commanders to wage total war. Begins 10 month non-stop attack on Lee.

William T. Sherman burns Atlanta in 1864 and begins “March to the Sea” to Savannah before heading to South Carolina. 300-mile March to the Sea through Georgia and

South Carolina. Sherman’s army covered about 10 miles a day,

cutting a path of destruction 50 miles wide.

The Union’s Triumph

Richmond, Virginia is captured and Lee, who is out of food, decides that it was senseless to continue

On April 9, 1865, Lee Surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia With Lee's surrender of the main Confederate army,

the Civil War soon ended.

On April 18, Johnston surrendered to Sherman near Durham, North Carolina

Cost of the War

630,000 men died Almost as many as in all the other wars the nation has

fought from the Revolution through Vietnam combined.

$20 billion More than 11 times the total amount spent by the

federal government from 1789 to 1861. Southern wealth decline 43 percent

Even without adding the market value of freed slaves, southern wealth declined 43 percent, transforming what had been the richest section of the nation on a white per capita basis into the poorest.

Abraham Lincoln assassinated on April 14, 1865

Outcome of the war

Union is perpetual Ends slavery

1861 Union blockade proclaimed

Significant Events

Battle of Bull Run

Chapter 16

First Confiscation Act 1862 Monitor vs. Virginia

Battle of ShilohSlavery abolished in the District of ColumbiaNew Orleans capturedBattle of Antietam

1863 Emancipation Proclamation issuedUnion institutes conscriptionBattle of Gettysburg

1864 Sherman’s march to the sea 1865 Lee surrenders

Lincoln assassinated