1861 - 1862

THE EARLY STAGES OF THE CIVIL WAR

Northerners usually named battles after a body of water or a geographic landmark of some sort. Southerners named the battles after the nearest city or man –made structure. At the start of the war, both sides stil l believed that this would be a short war, and that one side would surrender quickly to the other. The Battle of Bull Run ended these hopes for the Union. After an optimistic start, the men were routed off the battlefield after encountering fierce resistance from General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS JUNCTION – OR, BULL RUN

CONSCRIPTION, OR, THE DRAFT

The naval blockade established by the Union at the onset of the war was extremely successful; so much so that by the end of 1862, only two Southern ports, Wilmington, NC and Charleston, SC were sti l l open for business. And even these ports required “blockade runners” to escape the net of the Union’s navy. By cutting off trade, the Union prevented the South from turning it’s primary commodity – cotton – into more practical needs for fighting a war: guns, cannons, powder, clothes, boots, and other materials.

THE ANACONDA PLAN - BLOCKADE

ENGLAND BUILT THE CSS ALABAMA AND THE CSS FLORIDA, BLOCKADE RUNNERS

The Union was outraged, of course, that England would provide assistance to the Confederacy by constructing these two vessels, although basic economic greed would explain why they did. Eventually, the Union Navy destroyed both vessels. The Alabama was sunk off the coast of France in 1864. The Union Navy captured the Florida in Brazil towards the end of the war.

THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS – 1862 DAVID FARRAGUT AND BENJAMIN BUTLER

During the opening years of the Civi l War, the Union Army’s victories were few and far between, especial ly in the East. In the West, however, Ulysses S. Grant was a consistently victorious general . Although at t imes the casualt ies incurred were astoundingly high, he won.

FORT DONELSON AND FORT HENRY

“Shi loh” was s imply a church which stood near Pi t tsburgh Landing, TN, where two of the largest armies in wor ld h is tory met to do batt le . In the aftermath of the event , over 20,000 men were casual t ies – meaning that the batt le was on the scale of Water loo. Yet , no decis ive v ictory was ga ined. At the end of the batt le , many cal led for Ulysses S. Grant ’s ouster. L inco ln, st i l l b icker ing with George McCle l lan in the east, repl ied, “ I cannot spare th is man. He fights!”

SHILOH

In the aftermath of the Battle of Shiloh, over 20,000 men lay as casualties. During the evening, men who had yet to be evacuated died of exposure. Meanwhile, soldiers listened as feral hogs ate the bodies of the dead. As horrifying as this battle was, dozens of similar battles would rage before the war ended.

Although l i tt le known at the start of the war, General McClel lan won two smal l skirmishes in West Virginia at the onset of the war, and was always wel l -loved by his men, who learned the discipl ine and training of soldering under his command. Irv ing McDowell , who had led the soldiers during First Manassas, was rel ieved of command.

GENERAL GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN

George McClel lan’s men faced off against the Army of Northern Virginia, led by Robert E. Lee.

The standoff took place on the Peninsula – near present day Wil l iamsburg and Yorktown.

McClel lan hoped to land his men on the peninsula, defeat the Confederate l ines, and march onward towards Richmond.

Instead, fearful that he was outmanned, McClel land hesitated and demanded reinforcements. Not wanting to leave Washington, D.C. completely exposed to enemy attack, Lincoln refused him these men. McClel lan held a huge advantage in terms of numbers, anyhow.

Lee successful ly took the offensive, frustrating any efforts on the part of McClel lan to lead an attack. The “Seven Days’ Batt le” was a one-sided series of attacks which resulted in Confederate victories.

When – angered by his hesitation – Lincoln final ly insisted that McClel lan withdraw his soldiers and return to Washington, Lee took advantage of the opportunity to attack Washington during the transit ion of the soldiers. Hence, another victory at the Second Battle of Bul l Run – or Manassas Junction.

THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN

The Peninsula Campaign was a harbinger of things to come. Lee frequently found himself matched against less decisive and less intell igent Union generals. He exploited their hesitance to fight and their l imited battle tactics, frequently taking the initiative in battle and convincing his opponents that they were outnumbered or outgunned – even though they almost never were throughout the entire Civil War.

THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN

The Battle of Antietam is still the bloodiest single day in all American History. Over six thousand men died in a single day – more deaths and casualties than occurred on D-Day (June 6, 1944 in World War II), September 11 th, 2001 during the terrorist attacks, or Pearl Harbor, (December 7, 1941). The victory over General Lee – if you can call it a victory, was not won at great cost in terms of soldiers and morale.

ANTIETAM

The Confederate View :

Robert E. Lee had invaded the North with one goal in mind – winning support from European allies. Lee didn’t have to conquer the North; yet, he believed that a major victory in Northern territory would convince European all ies – l ike England or France, that the cause of the Confederacy was worth supporting. Foreign influence had helped the US gain it’s independence; so, why not solicit the help of European allies now?

The Union View:

Abraham Lincoln also understood what was at stake in the minds of observers worldwide. If the Union appeared weak, or vulnerable, European nations may well intervene. But he also knew that both of the European powers most l ikely to intervene in the war were steadfastly anti-slavery. Thus, if he could frame the war from the perspective of the enslaved – and keep that notion in the minds of Europeans, he might keep them out of the war.

ANTIETAM IN CONTEXT

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure – using his power as Commander-in-Chief. This was the only way he could legally establish the measure. As written, the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in parts of the South actively in rebellion against the United States of America. Thus, enslaved people in the border states, West Virginia, the Hampton Roads area, and Louisiana – near New Orleans – were exempted and remained in slavery.

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

Without explicit ly saying so, Lincoln had changed the goals of the war with the Emancipation Proclamation. Clearly, this was a measure which could not be undone.

Lincoln encouraged African-American men to join the Union Army and Navy during the course of the war – and African-Americans anxious to fight for their own freedom did so in huge numbers – over 200,000 joined the Union Army by the end of the war.

Lincoln’s language regarding the goals of the war changed going forward as well.

“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 here 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.” This passage from the Gettysburg Address seems to imply a major change in the goals of the war.

A CHANGE IN THE GOALS OF THE UNION DURING THE CIVIL WAR