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Civil War
Chapter 16
Fort Sumter
• US fort in South Carolina
• Was running low on supplies
• Lincoln decided to re-supply the fort but let Confederate States gov’t know
he was doing that so wouldn’t provoke war
• Confederates attacked the fort before supplies could come
• April 12, 1861, first shots were fired of the Civil War
• 34 straight hours of shelling by the Confederates
• No one was killed but the Union surrendered the fort to the Confederates
Union raises an Army
• Lincoln asked each Union state to send militia men to stop the Confederate
uprising
• He wanted 75,000 soldiers in total
VA changes the Confederacy
• VA joined Confederate states after Fort Sumter
• VA was heavily populated and wealthy which both would help Confederacy
during the war
• Robert E. Lee resigns as officer in Union army to join the Confederate Army
• Confederate capital was moved to Richmond, VA in 1861
Border States
• Slave states that bordered the free states (MO, KY, MD, DE)
• All border states stayed with the Union and didn’t join the Confederacy
Southern Strategy
• Defensive strategy that would lead to a longer war (make Union invade
South) which they thought would weaken support in the North
• Also invade the North several times
• Also were expecting help from British and French b/c of how much cotton
they bought from South, but help never came
Union Strategy
• Invade and conquer the South as fast as possible
• Anaconda Plan (General Winfield Scott’s idea)
• Block supplies to the south from the sea with a blockade
• Control Mississippi River which would split Confederates in two
• Capture Confederate capital of Richmond, VA
Union strengths
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22 million population
85% of nations factories
70% of nations railroads
Almost all of nations naval ships and shipyards
Union Weaknesses
• Had to use long supply lines which meant took longer to get supplies
• Fewer good military leaders
• Soldiers fighting an offensive war
Confederate Strengths
• Size of the confederacy (square miles)
• Good generals
• Soldiers fighting a defensive war to protect their homeland
Confederate Weaknesses
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Small population (5.5 million)
Few factories
Few railroads
No naval power
1st Battle of Bull Run
• July 16, 1861 at Manassas, VA (near Washington DC)
• Spectators gathered to watch the battle
• Union forces attacked near a creak called Bull Run
• General “Stonewall” Jackson gets his nickname here for holding off the
Union attack “like a stonewall”
• Confederates let out a loud yell when they counter attacked and it become
known as the “rebel yell”
• Confederates won the battle
Lessons of Bull Run
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Fighting would be bloody (4700 casualties combined)
War would not end quickly
South would fight fierce to preserve their way of life
Militia would not work for the Union and Lincoln called for a 500,000 man
army with 3 year enlistments (General George McClellan put in charge)
Soldiers
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2 million fought for Union
1 million fought for Confederates
German and Irish immigrants fought in large numbers
Union soldiers wore blue uniforms
Confederates wore grey uniforms
Uniforms were not of the bst quality for the Union
• Confederacy had trouble supplying uniforms for its soldiers
• Both sides struggled to feed their soldiers and many had to find food on
their own (hunting, etc)
• After battles, Confederate soldiers took uniforms, boots, etc from dead
soldiers
New kind of War
• New weapons made the war very deadly
• Primitive medical care often lead to death and disease
• Didn’t know that dirt spread disease so doctors would perform surgery without washing
hands
• Amputation was common for simple injuries
• more soldiers died of disease than they did from battle wounds
Camp Life
• Filthy conditions help spread disease
• Soldiers went weeks without bathing or washing clothes
• Lice and fleas were everywhere
Prison Camps
• Elmira, NY was worst Union prison camp (24% of prisoners died in a year
from exposure and disease)
• Andersonville, GA was worst Confederate prison camp
• Drinking water was from a creek that also was a sewer
• 13,000 died from starvation, disease, exposure
New weapons
• Both sides built trenches whenever possible
• Grenades were used for first time and would explode on impact
• Union mounted large cannons on railroads to use as weapons against the
South
• Rifles instead of muskets improved accuracy and effectiveness
• Ironclad ships were ships covered with iron for protection
• Monitor vs Merrimack ended in a draw/tie
• First naval battle between ironclad ships
Union Army problems
• In the east, General McClellan spent too long drilling and training his new
army instead of sending them out to fight and attack
• In the west, General Ulysses S. Grant was leading the Union army to
victories
Battle of Shiloh
• April 6, 1862, in TN
• Fiercest fighting up to that point in the war
• General Sherman had three horses shot from under him during the battle
• 20% of Union soldiers were casualties (13,000)
• 25% of Confederate soldiers were casualties (11,000)
• Congress wanted Lincoln to fire General Grant but Lincoln said he couldn’t
bc “he fights”
New Orleans
• April 25, 1862, Union navy captures New Orleans, the largest city in the
South
Lee takes over
• First battle as commander of Army of Northern VA (Confederates) was the
Seven Days Battle
• 16,000 Union casualties and 20,000 Confederate casualties
• This battle forced Union General McClellan to abandon his plan to capture
Richmond, the capital of Confederacy
• Lee uses his cavalry, or soldiers on horseback, led by General Jeb Stuart to
spy on Union army and report back to him the enemy’s size, strength, etc
which helps him win this battle
• Confederates win a 2nd battle of Bull Run, forcing the Union out of VA and
back into Washington DC
Confederate’s Northern Invasion
• Reasons for invasion
• Victory in North might force peace talks to end war
• South could steal supplies from North during the invasion
• Give VA farmers a rest from the war during the harvest season
• Show England and France that Confederates were a legitimate country and would then
help South in the war
• Lee decided to invade the Union while it was “on its heels” in fall of 1862
Battle of Antietam
• A confederate officer accidentally left Lee’s master plan for the invasion at a
campsite and Union soldiers found it
• Bloodiest day in American history (23,000 killed or wounded combined)
• Confederate Army retreated back into VA and “cautious” General McClellan
for the Union refused to follow them and finish them off and end the war
• He was fired by Lincoln b/c of the this