Download Chapter 11 Section 2

Chapter 11 Section 2
THE EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR
Advantages & Disadvantages: Let’s Review
Mobilizing the Troops
 In the early months of the war, Lincoln feels pressure
to attack General Beauregard, who had gathered
troops at Manassas, VA, about 25 miles from
Washington, DC
 Remember that the CSA capital had been moved to
Richmond, VA, closer to the early fighting.
 Lincoln hoped that an early defeat for the
Confederacy would end things.
The Northern Plan
 Known as the Anaconda Plan
 Proposed by Winfield Scott, the General-in-Chief of the
United States
 Idea was to strangle the South by:
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Blockading ports along the Atlantic
Isolating the South from trade with Europe
Cut off the flow of supplies (equipment, money, food & cotton!)
Wear down the South and force surrender
Control the Mississippi with gunboats
Divide the Confederacy (eastern & western)
Capture New Orleans, Vicksburg & Memphis
Cut off shipping to the interior of the Confederacy
Anaconda Plan continued
 Not popular; the public
wanted a quick, decisive
victory and for Lincoln to
attack
 Newspapers started
calling it the Anaconda
Plan as a nickname for
its plan to strangle the
South
First Battle of Bull Run: Why does it Matter?
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Happens near Manassas, VA, not too far from both capitals.
Where “Stonewall” Jackson earns his nickname
Union general was Irwin McDowell
One of the most famous Confederate generals
Battle starts out well for the North and then they are forced to
retreat, which turns into a panic. (remember Southern military
advantages)
Shows that the Union is going to need more troops who are better
trained! (and the South also)
Both North & South had been relying on volunteers who enlisted.
The North had been paying a bounty for 3 years of service.
South passes conscription in 1862 and Congress passes the Militia
Act in July 1862, giving Lincoln authority to call state militias into
federal service
In 1863, Congress institutes a national draft
The Naval War
The Naval War
 Who had the advantage at sea? The North or the
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South? Why?
April 1861: Lincoln announces a blockade of all
Southern ports
Was successful by spring 1862 except for Charleston,
SC and Wilmington, NC
Point was to create economic pressure on the South
Can’t stop them all!
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Blockade runners
The Naval War continued
 Most famous Confederate ships are the Alabama and
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the Florida
The Confederacy had these ships built in Britain
The Alabama captured 64 ships before it was sunk
by the Union in 1864
The Florida captured 38 ships before it was captured
Increased tensions between the North and Britain
A Secret Weapon
Battle of the Ironclads
 The South developed the Ironclad, a ship with iron plates
covering the hull of wooden ships. The first of these was
the Merrimack, which had been captured from the Union
and renamed the Virginia.
 Point of the iron was to withstand cannon fire.
 March 8, 1862: worst day of the war for the Union Navy.
240 sailors were killed when two ships sank that had
been guarding the James River at Hampton Roads, VA.
 The next day, the Monitor, the Union Ironclad,
challenged the Virginia and they fought for hours with
no winner. The Monitor meant the Virginia couldn’t be
used to break the North’s blockade of Southern ports.
The Naval War Continued
 A fleet of Union ships, led by David Farragut,
captured New Orleans and control of the lower
Mississippi River. (why was this part of the
Anaconda Plan?)
 Farragut became a hero
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Was 60 and had been at sea since he was 9
Born in the South, but supported the Union
Instead of relying on attacking the forts, Farragut decided to
send the ships upriver single file to attack from another
position. This was very risky!
The Naval War Continued
 The Trent Affair
 The Trent was a British ship captured during the
blockade. As a result, the Union almost went to war
with Britain because of their support of the South.
The War in the West
 February 1862: General Grant
(Union) begins a campaign to
control the Cumberland and
Tennessee Rivers.
 Strategy was to split Tennessee in
half and give the Union a river
route into the deep South.
 Grant is victorious at Fort Henry
(main fort on the Tennessee
River)and Fort Donelson (main
fort on the Cumberland River).
 These victories mean that
Kentucky and most of Tennessee
are now in Union control.
Battle at Shiloh (TN)
 Confederates launch a surprise
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attack at Shiloh, TN
Grant is advised to retreat but he
replies: “Retreat? No. I propose
to attack at daylight and whip
them.”
This early morning attack comes as
a surprise to the Confederates and
General Beauregard (Confederacy)
is forced to retreat.
Impact: this battle had very high
casualties and stunned people in
the North & South. Over 20,000
deaths & casualties.
People in the North start calling for
Grant’s dismissal because so many
soldiers died. Lincoln supports him
and keeps him in command.
Battle at Murfreesboro (TN)
Southern general is Braxton Bragg
Fighting shifts further east in TN to
Chattanooga
 Lincoln knows that there are lots of
Union sympathizers in eastern
Tennessee and he wants to gain control
of the area
 Sends General Don Carlos Buell to
Chattanooga to cut the railroad lines
and block the Confederacy
 Lincoln thinks Buell is too slow; fires
him and replaces him with William S.
Rosecrans. The two sides fight near
Murfreesboro and the union is forced
to fall back but their lines don’t break.
Fighting goes on for several days with
no clear winner; Union reinforcements
arrive and Bragg retreats.
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War in the East
Fighting in the east had focused on
capturing the Confederate capital at
Richmond, VA
 General George McClellan took over
the union army in the east after Gen.
McDowell’s defeat at the first Battle of
Bull Run. Goal is to capture the CSA
capital.
 McClellan develops the peninsula
campaign: a plan to assemble troops
near Yorktown, VA and march them up
a peninsula where the James and York
rivers meet up to Richmond. This took
30 days; Lincoln thinks this took too
long and only gave the Confederacy
time to gather more troops to defend
the capital.
 During the march up the peninsula,
McClellan’s troops get divided at the
Chickahominy River. The commander
was Gen. Joseph Johnston, who is
wounded and replaced by Gen. Robert
E. Lee.
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Seven Days’ Battle
 Fight between McClellan’s forces and Lee’s forces
 Lee began a series of attacks on McClellan’s troops as
they march up the peninsula.
 McClellan is forced to retreat.
 Attacks last for 7 days and over 30,000 casualties on
both sides combined.
 Lincoln orders McClellan to abandon the peninsula
campaign and bring his troops to Washington, D.C.
Second Battle of Bull Run
 McClllan’s troops are withdrawn and ordered to
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Washington, D.C.
Lee decides to attack the Union capital
Manuvering by both sides bring them back near the
site of the first battle of the Civil War at Bull Run.
Through the fighting, the South again forces the
North to retreat.
This means a Confederate victory only 20 miles from
Washington, D.C.
Battle of Antietam
 Gen. Robert E. Lee and President Jefferson Davis
think that a decisive Confederate victory after
invading the North will force the Union to accept the
South’s independence.
 Also have the goals of influencing the upcoming 1862
midterm Congressional elections (Peace Democrats)
 Want to gain support and recognition as an
independent country from Britain
Battle of Antietam continued
 McClellan and his troops take position along
Antietam creek.
Battle of Antietam Continued
 Turns into the bloodiest single day in US history
 Most casualties of any single-daybattle in the Civil
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War
6,000 deaths
16,000 wounded
McClellan doesn’t break Lee’s lines, but Lee decides
to retreat because of all the dead and wounded.
The outcome of Antietam is a huge turning point for
several reasons….
Battle of Antietam Continued
 Britain had been making plans to try to mediate
between the North & South
 Was also planning to back the South and recognize
their independence if mediation failed.
 Because of Lee’s defeat at Antietam, Britain decides
to delay recognizing the Confederacy and so the
South lost its best chance at international
recognition as an independent country
 All the bloodshed convinces Lincoln that the time
has come to end slavery in the South one way or
another.
The Emancipation Proclamation
 What does it actually say?
 What does it NOT say?
 Who is freed? Who is not set
free?
 Political background: most
Democrats don’t want to end
slavery and Republicans are
divided on the issue.
 Lincoln doesn’t want to lose
support of the border states who
had remained loyal to the Union.
 See p. 1071 in the book for the
text of the Emancipation
Proclamation
 With the casualties of the war
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rising, many Northerners begin
calling on Lincoln to end slavery
to punish the South and to make
the soldiers’ sacrifices worth
something.
Lincoln says that if the Union
wins at Antietam, he will free the
slaves.
September 22, 1862 issues the
Emancipation Proclamation
Only ends slavery in the states
“in rebellion” NOT in the border
states
Switches the war to being about
more than just preserving the
Union; now it’s about liberating
the slaves.
The Emancipation Proclamation
 “We were no longer merely the soldiers of a political
controversy, we were now the missionaries of a great
work of redemption, the armed liberators of
millions.”—Regis de Trobiand, Union soldier
“We shout for joy that we live to record this righteous
decree”—Frederick Douglass
Think about what motivated Lincoln to issue the
Emancipation Proclamation.