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CHAPTER FIFTEEN: “THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865”
MAIN QUESTION FOR CHAPTER:
Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the Union and Confederacy.
KEY POINTS:
Most
Relevant
Battle(s)
MILITARY STRATEGIES
MAJOR BATTLES
KEY LEADERS
RESULTS
Identification
1.
Bull Run (Manassas Junction) The cocky Unionists and raw Yankee recruits
gathered at Bull Run to battle the Confederates in hopes of showing off their superiority and
possibly capturing Richmond. “Stonewall” Jackson got his nickname from this battle after his
defeat of the Unionists. The Union soldiers panicked and fled. Victory turned out to be
detrimental for the Southerners by convincing them that the war was over, leading to lower
enlistment rates. Defeat was good for the Northern Unionists because it proved to them that
the war would not be an easy one.
2.
General George B. McClellan, a perfectionist, who was slow to attack, formulated a
plan to approach Richmond by water, at the base of a narrow peninsula hence the name
Peninsula Campaign. He captured Yorktown and inched toward Richmond when Lincoln told
him to chase Stonewall Jackson instead. General Lee launched a counterattack and drove
McClellan back to the sea. The campaign was abandoned as a costly failure.
3.
The Merrimack was a former wooden U.S. warship reconditioned by Southerners with
sides plated with iron railroad rails. It was renamed the Virginia and succeeded in destroying
two of the wooden Union ships in the Chesapeake Bay. A tiny ironclad ship, the Monitor, built
in 100 days fought with the Merrimack to an impasse. Revolutionized the future of naval
warfare.
Summary
4.
A critical battle, Antietam in Maryland involved the Union finding a copy of Lee’s battle
plans. McClellan succeeded in halting Lee on September 17, 1862 in one of the biggest,
bloodiest, and most decisive days of the Civil War. This was the victory Lincoln needed to
issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
5.
The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) declared “forever free” the slaves in those
Confederate states still in rebellion. Bondsmen in the loyal Border states were not affected,
nor were those in specific conquered areas in the south—all told about 800,000. In fact, the
Proclamation was less effective in terms of emancipation than in belief and morale. In
theory, it freed the slaves just as the Declaration of Independence in theory freed the United
States from England. It was like the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.; it did not make any
change by itself, but it was a founding point for change to come.
6.
A Boston Brahmin, Robert Gould Shaw was a white man who led the 54th
Massachusetts Regiment. The regiment lost almost half of its men, including Shaw in an
attack on South Carolina’s Fort Wagner in July, 1863, as featured in the movie Glory. Today
there is a memorial on Boston Common to the regiment (AK).
7.
David G. Farragut was a Union commander of a flotilla that joined with a Northern
army to seize New Orleans. Union ships going up and down the Mississippi forced supplies
like cattle and food to be amassed at Vicksburg.
8.
Vicksburg, the city that controlled Southern supply lines, was Grant’s best-fought
campaign. Vicksburg at last surrendered and was a major loss for the Confederacy. Winning
on July 4, 1863—the day after victory at Gettysburg—the political significance of this double
victory was monumental.
9. “Shermanizing” Red-haired William Sherman captured Atlanta in 1864 and burned
the city. He then made his way to Savannah and on his way, his 60,000 soldiers cut a
sixty mile wide path of destruction, burning buildings, tearing up railroads and making
off with valuables. His goal was to destroy supplies and weaken morale by making war
on the home-front. He proceeded to South Carolina to “Shermanize” some more,
setting its capital city, Columbia, on fire. Shermanizing was like spreading gossip
about someone you are in a fight with, it damages them, but not on the frontlines
10.
Appomattox Court House was where Grant cornered Lee and his army and the site
of the surrender of Lee’s Confederate army in 1865. This more or less marked the end of the
Civil War.
Other Questions to Consider
A.
The six key components of the Union strategy for total war were . . .
(1)
Suffocate the south by blockading the coast
(2)
Liberate slaves (undermine economic foundation)
(3)
Cut Confederacy in half by seizing control of the Mississippi River.
(4)
Chop Confederacy into pieces by sending troops through Georgia and the Carolinas
(5)
Decapitate it by capturing its capital at Richmond
Which of these components was ultimately most successful?
B.
Which battles were most significant? Why?