THE CIVIL WAR The War Begins Fort Sumter

THE CIVIL WAR

The War Begins - Fort Sumter After the Formation of the Confederacy, Confederate soldiers immediately began taking over Federal possessions in the South, like courthouses and post offices. But the most important possessions were the military forts. When Lincoln was inaugurated in March of 1861, only 2 forts remained in Union hands. The most important, Fort Sumter, just outside of Charleston, SC.

Fort Sumter HIS SECOND DAY IN OFFICE LINCOLN HAD TO MAKE A DECISION. FORT SUMTER WAS UNDER A THREAT OF ATTACK AND ORDERED BY THE SOUTH TO EVACUATE. IF LINCOLN AGREES, HE IS WEAK. IF HE RESISTS AND ORDERS TO FIGHT, NOT ONLY WOULD THEY BE STARTING A WAR, BUT MORE SOUTHERN STATES WOULD LEAVE THE UNION AND JOIN THE CONFEDERACY. HE CHOSE TO JUST SEND FOOD TO THE UNION SOLDIERS INSTEAD, WHICH PUT THE DECISION IN THE HANDS OF THE CONFEDERATE PRESIDENT, JEFFERSON DAVIS ORDERED THE ATTACK AND THE WAR STARTED ON APRIL 12, 1861. WITHIN 32 HOURS THE FORT FELL

Secessions WITHIN 1 MONTH OF FORT SUMTER, 4 MORE SOUTHERN STATES LEFT THE UNION TO BRING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CONFEDERATE STATES TO 11. VIRGINIA WAS THE KEY STATE TO LEAVE BECAUSE IT WAS THE MOST POPULATED SOUTHERN STATE AND IT PRODUCED THE MAJORITY OF THE MANUFACTURED GOODS IN THE SOUTH. BUT THE WESTERN COUNTIES OF VIRGINIA WERE ANTI-SLAVERY AND REFUSED TO LEAVE THE UNION. WEST VIRGINIA WAS ACCEPTED AS A STATE IN THE UNION IN 1863.

Northern 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) Advantages Entering the War Total Population: N: 21 Million, S: 9 Million Eligible for Military Duty: N: 4 Million, S: 1. 2 Million Industrial Workers: N: 1. 2 Million, S: 100, 000 Industrial Production: N: 15 -1 over the South Navy Ships: N: 25 -1 over the South Weapons Production: N: 32 -1 over the South Money: North had establish money, South did not. Organized and unified National Government. South was separate state governements

Southern Advantages 1) Home field advantage: Most of the battles will be fought in the South, in familiar land. 2) Strong foreign relationships because of the cotton trade 3) Better, more experienced military leaders 4) Soldiers were motivated. They were fighting for independence and defending their land.

Northern Strategy The Anaconda Plan 1) Blockade the major Southern ports to not let cotton out or manufactured goods in. 2) Control the Mississippi River all the way to New Orleans. 3) Capture the confederate capital of Richmond

Southern Strategy 1) Time: The longer the war lasted, the more and more that Northerners would grow tired of it and want it to end. 2) Fight in the North: This would also encourage Northerners to want to end the war sooner.

First Bull Run July, 1861, 25 miles south of Washington, D. C. , a Union army of about 30, 000 encountered a smaller Confederate army. Everyone, especially the North, thought this would be the only battle of the war. Reporters, officers’ wives with picnic baskets and champagne, were ready to party after this victory. Gen. Stonewall Jackson led this see-saw battle until Confederate reinforcements showed up forcing the Union soldiers to panic and retreat. It was total chaos, but a huge Confederate victory. Result: This was not going to be the quick war everyone envisioned.

War in the West April, 1862, a Union army under the command of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was surprised in their sleep by a Confederate army. But Grant was able to reorganize and get reinforcements to fight the Confederates at The Battle of Shiloh in Tenn. This Union victory was one of the most costly battles of the whole war, with over 25, 000 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured. This was the first big Union victory as part of the plan to take control of the Mississippi River.

Vicksburg After repeated failed and bloody attempts to take the fort of Vicksburg, in Miss. In May of 1863, Grant decided instead to surround the fort and starve them out. Vicksburg was difficult to attack because it sat high on a hill with one side protected by the Miss. River. For 40 days, the fort was surrounded. The Conf. soldiers resorted to eating the horses, mules and even the dogs On July 4, 1863, the Confederate army surrendered, making Vicksburg a Union victory. New Orleans had already fallen to the North in April. The Union now had total control of the Miss. River, thus dividing the southern states, all part of the Anaconda Plan.

New Technology In 1862, Confederates recovered a sunken ship called the Merrimack, and decided to completely plate it with iron. It couldn’t be burnt and cannon balls bounced off of it. March, 1862, the Merrimack, renamed the Virginia by the Confederates, defeated 3 Union ships. The Union responded by building The Monitor. The 2 squared off on March 9, off the coast of Virginia and fought to a draw. Result: Naval warfare has changed forever!!

Battle Over the Capitals The 3 rd part of the Anaconda Plan was to take the Southern capital of Richmond, Virginia. Union General George Mc. Clellan led the Union army against Gen. Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days Battle at the end of June in 1862. Lee forced Mc. Clellan to retreat to the sea despite having a smaller army. Mc. Clellan finally counterattacked at the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862. There were over 26, 000 casualties in one day of fighting making it the single bloodiest day of the whole Civil War. Lee was forced to retreat but the always cautious Mc. Clellan’s failure to pursue Lee and bring the war to an end forced Lincoln to fire him as Commander of the Union Army.

The Emancipation Proclamation President’s Lincoln’s number one goal had always been to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery where it had already existed. But on January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that gave the military the right to free slaves. On paper, slaves were free. But in practice, what did it actually do? It also gave the war effort in the North a new cause, not just preserving the Union, but also now the moral purpose of freeing all slaves.

Our First Draft? Conscription: After suffering heavy losses both sides decided they couldn’t continue with an all volunteer army. 1862: Confederacy passed their first draft law. Originally said that all able adult white males between the ages of 18 -35 had to enlist in the military. (Two years later it was expanded to 17 -50. ) Exceptions: The rich could hire substitutes to fight in their place & if you owned 20 or more slaves you didn’t have to fight.

The Draft, cont. 1863: The Union put into place its first draft saying that all able white men between the ages of 20 -45 must serve. Exceptions: They could also hire substitutes or could pay $300 to opt out of service. Results: In the South, 90% of all eligible white men fought in the war. In the North, 92% of the 2, 000 who served were volunteers. (180, 000 of those were black. )

The Economies During the War South: Huge shortages of food. Why? 1) Many slaves ran away during the war. 2) Many farm owners left to fight the war. 3) The Union cut off the South from the western food growing states. 4) The coast was blocked off from foreign trade

Civil War Economy North: In general, the Northern economy prospered because of the war. To support the war effort, the North’s factories, mills and mines were operating at 100%. Demand for food during the war grew so farmers were prospering. Remembering that the North had millions more people, they could afford to have men not fight the war and stay behind and work the farms, the mines and the factories.

Civil War Prison Camps Although there were huge advancements made in medicines, sanitation and nursing during the Civil War, these things rarely made it to the prison camps. PROBLEMS: 1) Overcrowding: 34 square feet per prisoner in Confederate camps 150 square feet per prisoner in Union camps 2) Little or no shelter from the elements 3) Little to no clean, safe water 4) Overall lack of food Results: About 15% of all northern prisoners died in Confederate camps About 12% of all Southern prisoners died in Union camps

Gettysburg The one biggest turning point battle of the Civil War was the 3 day Battle of Gettysburg. On July 1, 1863, after 1 st day success by the Confederates under Lee, the Union armies regrouped the 2 nd day and forced hundreds of Confederates to surrender while holding the Union line. On the third day, Lee ordered repeated attacks at the middle of the Union defenses suffering huge losses and forcing a long retreat all the way back to Virginia. Result: This was Lee’s last chance to take the battle to the North and was pretty much in retreat until the end of the war 2 years later. Total casualties over 51, 000

The Gettysburg Address November, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in our history at a ceremony dedicating the cemetery at the sight of the Battle of Gettysburg. His 2 minute speech changed the mentality of Americans forever.

Sherman’s March When Ulysses S. Grant was named commander of the entire Union army in March of 1864, Grant had to name his replacement of the Union army in the West. He named Gen. William T. Sherman. From this point on, the Union strategy was to be really aggressive and even though the North suffered heavier casualties, they could replace them but the south could not.

Sherman’s March Sherman entered Atlanta in Sept. , 1864. From this point on his goal was to leave a huge path of destruction, his men eating or destroying all farmland livestock while burning down homes and towns. The idea was to totally destroy the moral of the South. Sherman reached Savannah by Christmas of 1864, then turned north to help trap Gen. Lee and end the war. In the path was South Carolina and were even more destructive here since this is where the war started. So he wanted to leave a bigger mark here.

Election of 1864 The Republicans again nominated Abraham Lincoln despite growing unrest about the length of the war, high number of casualties and recent Confederate victories. The Democrats nominated Gen. George Mc. Clellan, the man Lincoln had fired as commander of the Union army. A third party candidate, John C. Fremont, was nominated by the Radical Republicans, who wanted harsher penalties and restrictions on the South if/when they reentered the Union. Lincoln was expecting to lose. But 3 big battles were won by the North giving Lincoln the election.

Surrender By March of 1865, The Union armies were closing in on Richmond, the South’s capital. President Jefferson Davis ordered the evacuation and burning of the city to leave nothing behind for the Union soldiers. On April 9, 1865, Gen. Lee signed the Confederate surrender at a Virginia town called Appomattox Courthouse. After 4 years of fighting, the war is over. War Deaths: Union: 360, 000 Confederate: 260, 000 More deaths than all previous wars combined.

13 th Amendment By the end of 1865, 6 months after the surrender, enough states ratified the 13 th Amendment that finally officially made slavery illegal.

Lincoln Assassination April 14, 1865, 5 days after Lee’s surrender, Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, could finally go out on a night on the town to celebrate. They went to Ford’s Theater to see a British comedy called “Our American Cousin”. Right at the moment of the most laughter, an actor who performed in that theater, John Wilkes Booth, entered the rear of Lincolns box and shot him in the head. He jumped down to the stage, breaking his leg, shouting “Sic semper tyrannis”, meaning “Thus be it ever to tyrants”.

Lincoln’s Assassination, cont. After surviving the night, Lincoln died at 7: 22 am in the Peterson home directly across the street from Ford’s Theater. It was estimated that over 7 million Americans, one third of the Union population, viewed the train transporting Lincoln from D. C. to his home in Springfield, Illinois. The new president is Vice-President Andrew Johnson, ironically from Tennessee, whose job will be to bring the country back together. He actually becomes the 1 st president to be impeached in the House of Representatives.