Download Military History of the Civil War

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Military History of The Civil War
Advantages/Disadvantages of the North and South
Directions: Based on the powerpoint slides, create a list of advantages that each side possessed
NORTH
SOUTH
Advantages:
Important Battles
Fort Sumter
Important Battles
Why was the battle was important?
Battle of Manassas (Bull Run)
Fredericksburg & Chancellorsville
Vicksburg
Gettysburg
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Appomattox
Legacy of the War
 Over ______________ men died in the Civil War. Two out of every three died from disease, not from
mortal wounds.
 Why was the Civil War so bloody?
o The technology had not caught up to the tactics
 The ________ musket was extremely accurate (could kill from half a mile away).
Marching shoulder to shoulder across open fields was suicidal given the new
developments in weaponry.
 Why did the South lose?
o The North had superior ____________. The South could not win a long war because it lacked
the manpower and factory capability to supply its army.
o The ___________________ Proclamation freed the slaves in the Confederacy, depriving the
South of its labor force. This caused their army to be underfed and undersupplied
o While Lee is worshipped to this day by millions, some criticize him for being too arrogant and
too much of a risk-taker. Lee was responsible for the Confederate loss at Gettysburg. He
continued to order offensive attacks and open-field charges even though his army was smaller
and could not afford high losses.
The African-American contribution to the war effort
(take notes based on the documentary)
Lincoln and Presidential Power during Wartime
Lincoln and Habeas Corpus
During wartime, civil liberties suffer. The Civil War was no exception. Defeating the South was Lincoln’s
number one priority and he was willing to stretch the Constitution to preserve the union. Maryland was a slave
state but it did not secede from the United States (this type of state was called a “border state”). Even though
Maryland did not secede, thousands of people sympathized with the Confederacy and provided aid to the Army
of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government. Lincoln feared that if Maryland fell to the Confederacy,
Washington D.C. would be surrounded by enemy territory (since D.C. is caught between Maryland and Virginia
– another Confederate state). Lincoln took action to prevent this from happening. One step he took was to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus. This meant that hundreds of Confederate sympathizers who were arrested by
the federal government could be imprisoned indefinitely without a trial. By the end of the war, at least 15,000
individuals had been arrested and imprisoned without formal trials.
Disagreement regarding Lincoln’s actions continues today. Supporters note that the nation was threatened by a
rebellion that aimed to destroy the country. They believe that under such circumstances the chief executive has
the right to suspend civil liberties since the Constitution provides that the writ of habeas corpus may be
suspended “when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it” (Article I, Section 9).
Opponents of Lincoln’s actions believe that only Congress has the right to suspend habeas corpus, and that such
a power in the hands of a president could lead to one-man rule. Most historians agree that Lincoln’s actions
were very limited and were necessary given the challenges of the time period.
1.What right did Abraham Lincoln suspend during the Civil War?
2. Why did Lincoln suspend this right? How did he justify suspending it?
Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation
In August 1862, Lincoln stated: "If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves 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." In fact, by that time, immense pressure was building to end slavery and Lincoln had
privately concluded that he could save the Union only by issuing an emancipation proclamation, which he had
already drafted.
Lincoln hesitated, however. Four slaveholding states (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware) had
refused to secede from the Union in 1861 BUT they remained sharply divided over the war. Lincoln feared that
if he freed the slaves, these states would decide to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. If this
happened, the Confederacy would receive a major boost in economic support and manpower.
Lincoln also questioned whether he had the constitutional right to the free the slaves. No clause in the
Constitution gave the President the power to take away a person’s property.
Faced with these concerns, Lincoln careful crafted the Emancipation Proclamation. On January 1, 1863, he
issued the final document that declared that all slave WITHIN THE REBELLIOUS STATES (only states that
had seceded) were to be “forever free……….” Slavery would not be abolished everywhere until the 13th
Amendment was ratified six months after the war ended.
Why does Lincoln ONLY free the slaves in the Confederate states that are still in rebellion? Why not free
the slaves in all the states (including the border states)?
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