The American Civil War 1861 1865 WHAT MAKES

The American Civil War 1861 - 1865 WHAT MAKES A CIVIL WAR DIFFERENT FROM A FOREIGN WAR?

Beginnings The year is 1861 ◦ 7 Southern states have seceded ◦ They have formed their own government, The Confederacy, and raised an army ◦ Confederate soldiers immediately start taking over federal installations in their states (court houses, post offices, and especially forts)

Ft. Sumter, SC - Confederacy demands Union surrender Sumter - Union Commander Anderson’s food, supplies, and ammo running low - April 12, 1861 – Confederate batteries thunder away on Sumter – bombarded with 4, 000 rounds as Charlestonians cheer. Anderson surrenders - Other states secede – VA, AK, TN, NC - No casualties in actual battle of Sumter

• • • Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis Capital: Richmond, VA Rebs------Rebels---“Johnny Rebs” Graycoats • • • United States of America or Union President Abraham Lincoln Capital: Washington, D. C. Yanks-----Yankees Bluecoats

• • • Born in Kentucky Self-Educated Congressmen from Illinois Abolitionist First Presidential candidate from the Republican Party • • • Born in Kentucky Served as Secretary of War Senator from Mississippi Slave Owner First and Only President of the CSA

North South 22 States 11 States 23 million people 10 million people (includes 4 million slaves) Industrial Economy Agricultural Economy (exports, not food) Majority of transportation Limited manufacturing and railroad lines. Lincoln, a military novice. Asks Robert E. Lee to command Union troops and declines Davis, military experience. (Better military leaders) Belief war is about preserving the Belief war is about states rights, Union and later in the independence and preserving war…slavery. their way of life. “The North’s major advantage would be its economy and the South’s main disadvantage was its economy”

Jefferson Davis Stonewall Jackson Robert E. Lee Pierre T. Beauregard James Longstreet Jeb Stuart George Pickett

Abe Lincoln George Mc. Clellan Ulysses Grant David Farragaut William T. Sherman George Meade Joseph Hooker George A. Custer

v Defend v Quick and delay until Union gives up. victories to demoralize Union v Alliance with Great Britain v Capture Washington, D. C. v Defend Richmond v Sought decisive battle that would convince the Union it wasn’t worth it v Use better military leadership to your advantage and outsmart Union generals.

UNION STRATEGY – Scott's Anaconda Plan - Union has to conquer to win. Scott devises 3 part plan Winfield ◦ A. Union Navy blockades S. ports ◦ B. Union riverboats and armies capture Miss R. and split Confederacy in two ◦ C. Capture Confederate Capital of Richmond, VA ◦ Plan named after the snake – suffocates its victims

Battles Bull Run – July 21, 1861 – (Manassas) ◦ 25 miles from DC ◦ South wins – Union troops retreat to capital ◦ Picnickers watched and got in way of retreat Shiloh – March 1862 - Tennessee - US Grant – battle a draw - Demonstrates how bloody the war had become – nearly ¼ of the battles 100, 000 were killed “Unconditional Surrender” Grant Lincoln on Grant – “I can’t spare this man, he fights!”

Battles - Monitor (N) V. Merrimack (S) – March 1862 ◦ Battle of the ironclad ships ◦ Can splinter wooden ships, withstand cannon fire, and resist burning ◦ Ends in a draw which means the Union blockade stayed in place - Antietam – Sept 1862 – Maryland - Mc. Clellan V. Lee - Bloodiest single day battle in American history - Battle is a standoff but the S retreats across the Potomac River and back into VA - Lincoln fires Mc. Clellan – too indecisive, too cautious – Lincoln says he “has the slows”

Turning Point – Summer of 1863 GETTYSBURG – July 1863 ◦ PA ◦ 3 day battle ◦ Union victory ◦ Professor from Maine – Joshua Chamberlain – holds Cemetery Ridge and the left flank – orders a bayonet charge when they run out of ammo ◦ Pickett’s Charge – attack at the center of the Union line ◦ Cripples South so bad Lee never again goes on offensive ◦ 50, 000 killed or wounded – fly infested corpses lay in July heat

Turning Point – Summer 1863 - Vicksburg, Mississippi ◦ - US Grant steady barrage of artillery ◦ Hit the city from both land river for several hours a day for over a month ◦ Residents forced to hide in caves ◦ Food runs out – people eat dogs and mules ◦ Vicksburg surrenders July 4, 1863 ◦ Confederacy cut in two ◦ Grant moved east to take command of the Army of the Potomac

Sherman’s March to the Sea - When Grant moved east he appoints William Tecumseh Sherman – commander of Mississippi ◦ Believes in total war – must break civilian morale ◦ Fall 1864 and into early 1865– Marches from Chattanooga to Atlanta to Savannah, Charleston and into NC ◦ Path of destruction – burn homes, crops, destroy RR ◦ Sherman says he will make Southerners “so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it. ”

Medical care on the battlefield - Clara Barton - Union nurse – “the angel of the battlefield” ◦ Often cared for soldiers on the front lines ◦ Helped improve battlefield care – sorting wounded, clean bandages, clean water supply, sterilizing instruments ◦ Barton helped found the American Red Cross in 1881

The Politics of War Lincoln on Slavery - Lincoln personally disliked slavery but did not believe the federal gov should abolish it where it already existed - He did believe it shouldn’t be allowed to expand into the territories - He saw his official duty as preserving the Union - Jan 1, 1863 – Emancipation Proclamation – ◦ Frees slaves in rebellious slaves (behind Confederate lines) ◦ Doesn’t immediately free anyone ◦ Important symbolically AL: “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. ” EP: “All persons held as slaves within any State…. the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…. . ”

Emancipation Proclamation 1. ) War now being fought to end slavery 2. ) Helps keep Great Britain from siding with the South 3. ) Civil War now being fought to ◦ Abolish slavery ◦ Preserve the Union ◦ Compromise no longer an option ◦ Free blacks can now fight ◦ Famous Massachusetts 54 th (GLORY)

Political Problems - Both the N and S had sympathizers with the other’s cause - Lincoln dealt forcefully with disloyalty ◦ Suspension of habeas corpus – habeas corpus requires authorities to bring a person held in jail before the court to determine why they are being held. Lincoln suspends this ◦ More than 13, 000 suspected Confederate sympathizers in the Union – arrested and held without trial ◦ Copperheads often targeted – N. Democrats who opposed the war, spoke out against it, and advocated peace with the South.

Conscription - Heavy casualties led both the N and S to conscript or draft soldiers North – drafted all able bodied white men (20 -45) ◦ Could hire a substitute ◦ Commutation – pay $300 to avoid conscription South – drafted all able bodied men 18 -35 (later 17 -50) ◦ Could hire a substitute ◦ Exempted planters who owned 20+ slaves ◦ “rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight”

DRAFT RIOTS NYC Draft Riots – Poor white workers (many Irish immigrants) riot against draft. ◦ Why should they fight to free blacks? ◦ Free blacks will compete with them for jobs ◦ Summer 1863 – when officials begin to draw names for draft – riots break out ◦ Rioters wreck draft offices, homes of antislavery leaders, and Republicans ◦ Riots last 4 days and over 100 killed

Gettysburg Address - Nov 1863 – Lincoln dedicates the Gettysburg National Cemetery - his 2 minute address “remakes America” - Before “the united states are” after “The United States is” - One nation, unified, worth dying for - “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. ”

LEE SURRENDERS Spring 1862, Jefferson Davis abandons Richmond – sets it afire to keep the North from taking it - Flames destroy 900 buildings - Lee and Grant meet at a private residence in a small village called Appomattox Courthouse – April 9, 1862 - As Lincoln requested – the terms were generous ◦ Grant paroles Lee’s soldiers ◦ Officers permitted to keep side arms

th 13 Amendment - Ratified in 1865 - Officially ends slavery - “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States. ”

Legacy of the War….

Civil War Devastates Southern Economy - Takes away South’s source of cheap labor (slavery) - Wrecked most of the region’s industry - Confederate inflation 7, 000% - prices 70 times higher at end of war than at beginning - Public lost faith in Confederate issued currency – its value plummeted and prices soared - Outcome – economic gap between N and S widens dramatically

Total US Deaths in all Wars

Lincoln’s Assassination - April 14, 1865 (5 days after Lee surrenders) – John Wilkes Booth kills Abraham Lincoln -Lincoln and his wife watching a play at Ford’s theater -- Booth sneaks up behind Lincoln and shoots him in the head -Booth jumps down on stage, breaks his leg, but escapes -Union troops capture and kill him 12 days later -Lincoln unconscious through the night – dies the morning of April 15 -First presidential assassination

Lincoln’s Death - Lincoln’s body carried on funeral train from Dc to Springfield, Ill - 14 day journey - 7 million Americans (1/3 population) turned out to publicly mourn the slain president

LINCOLN MEMORIAL - DC

Looking Ahead…. . 1. ) How do we restore the Southern states to the Union and mend the wounds? 2. ) How to integrate 4 million newly freed African Americans into national life?