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The Beginning of the American Civil War
16.1
Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln’s election of 1860 was the event that triggered
the secession of the Southern states
• S.C. declares their independence prior to Lincoln taking
office.
• More states will follow
War Erupts
• When the Southern States
seceded from the Union,
they took over the federal
forts within the Confederacy
• Fort Sumter, commanded by
Maj. Robert Anderson tried
to hold onto the fort, but
supplies were limited
• Confederate Brigadier
General Beauregard was
sent to confiscate the fort
Lincoln’s Decision
• Sending supplies = war
• Doing nothing = turns a fort
over to the rebels
• Confederate leaders were
informed by Lincoln that he
was sending supplies
• 4:30am April, 12,1861 the
island is bombarded
• After 34 hrs of constant
shelling, Anderson
surrendered the fort
• No one was killed
• The war had begun
Voice from the
past (p.481)
Lincoln Calls Out the Militia
• 2 days after Ft. Sumter Pres. Lincoln
asks for 75,000 militiamen for 90
day enlistment
• They didn’t think it would take long to
put down the Southern uprising
• Citizens of the North responded with
enthusiasm to the call to arms.
A New York woman wrote, “It seems as if we never
were alive till now; never had a country till now.”
• The governor of Kentucky said that
the state would “furnish no troops
for the wicked purpose of subduing
her sister Southern States.”
• In the weeks that followed,
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,
and Arkansas voted to join the
Confederacy
• Southern volunteers rushed to enlist,
just as citizens did in the North
War Enthusiasm
• Young men eagerly enlisted to join the war before
it was over – sense of adventure
• A young Arkansas enlistee wrote, “So impatient did
I become for starting that I felt like ten thousand
pins were pricking me in every part of the body,
and started off a week in advance of my brothers.”
• When Virginia seceded, Lee
resigned from the United States
Army and joined the
Confederacy.
• Although Lee opposed slavery
and secession, he explained, “I
cannot raise my hand against
my birthplace, my home, my
children.”
• Lee became the commanding
general of the Army of Northern
Virginia
Choosing Sides
• The border states—Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri
– slave states that stayed in the Union
• Western counties in Virginia broke away with the help of some
federal troops (became West Virginia)
• If Maryland seceded, then Washington, D.C., would be cut off
from the Union
Strengths & Weaknesses
• The Union had huge
advantages in manpower
and resources
• 22 million people
• About 85 percent of the
nation’s factories
• 2X the RR’s
• Almost all the naval power
and shipyards
• Abraham Lincoln
The Confederate Advantages
• Able generals, such as Robert E.
Lee
• Fighting a defensive war
• (didn’t have to send supplies far)
• Motivated to protect their homes
from Northern invaders
Confederate Strategy
• Defensive position
• “All we ask is to be let alone,” said Confederate
President Jefferson Davis
• King Cotton as a way to win foreign support
• Back fired because of a European surplus
The Union Strategy
• Bring the Southern states back into
the Union
• General Winfield Scott’s Anaconda
Plan
• Blockade
• Control the Miss. River
• Some of the Union leadership wanted
an immediate attack on Richmond
(Conf. capital)
• Pres. Lincoln ordered an invasion in the
summer of 1861
1st Battle of Bull Run
• On the way to Richmond, the Union Army had to
defeat the Confederate troops near Manassas,VA.
• July 21, 1861
Read page 485
Civil War Journal Assignment
• You need:
• 5 sheets of paper
• Fold hamburger style (3 staples along
the side)
• Create a cover page which represents
you and your side (Union or Confederate)
• Write your name and period on the back
page
• Each Journal entry will need to be at least a
paragraph entry (5-6 sentences) and an
illustration!
Entry #1
• Identify who you are and where you come from. How did you feel
after you heard about Ft. Sumter? Describe your excitement/fear for
joining the war.