Download The North Takes Charge

The Civil War Begins

7 southernmost states form the Confederate
States of America
◦ Began to take over federal institutions
(courthouses, posts offices, forts, etc.)
◦ Only 2 Southern forts remain in Union hands at the
time of Lincoln’s inauguration -> most important
was South Carolina’s Fort Sumter

Day after inauguration Lincoln gets report
that Confederacy asking the troops at Fort
Sumter to surrender or they will attack
◦ Troops stationed there already low on supplies and
food
Stars and Stripes vs. Stars and
Bars

If he ordered Navy to reinforce the fort he
would be the one who started the fighting
◦ Could prompt remaining slave states to secede

If he ordered a retreat he would be
treating the Confederacy as an actual
nation
◦ Weaken the Rep. Party and endanger the Union
Lincoln’s Dilemma





Lincoln decides not to retreat but also does
not send reinforcements.
Jefferson Davis now faces the same dilemma
Confederates open fire on Fort Sumter
As a result thousands of Northern men unite
to enlist in the Union army
Virginia secedes -> does not want to fight the
South
◦ Followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North
Carolina (now 11 states)
◦ Western counties of Virginia anti-slavery
 Secede from Virginia and admitted as West Virginia in
1863
It Begins
Both sides expected a short war
 Union has advantages

◦ Resources, more fighting power, more
factories, more food, and better RxR system

Confederate advantages
◦ Cotton profits, first-rate generals, strong
military tradition, motivated soldiers defending
their homeland
Short War?

Union -> 3 part plan (Anaconda Plan)
◦ Navy would blockade Southern ports
◦ Riverboats and armies would move down
Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in
two
◦ Armies would capture the Confederate capital
at Richmond, VA

Confederacy -> very defensive strategy
with survival of the nation as it’s goal
Different Strategies
First major bloodshed of the Civil War
 30,000 Union soldiers make its way
toward Richmond

◦ Came across Confederate Army at Bull Run

General Irvin McDowell vs General
Thomas Jackson
◦ Jackson and the confederates hold strong
giving the nickname Stonewall Jackson
◦ South wins first major battle
Bull Run

Lincoln responds to defeat by calling for the
enlistment of 500k men
◦ Same thing days later (500k more)
◦ Appoints General George McClellan to lead
 Trains his men who become known as Army of the
Potomac
Western Union forces began fight for Miss.
Rvr.
 1862 Union army invades Western
Tennessee under General Ulysses S. Grant

◦ Capture Fort Henry and Donelson
Union Armies in the West



Grant gathers his troops at Church in Shiloh
Union forces surprised by Confederate attack
Grant calls for reinforcements the next day
and pushes the Confederates to retreat
◦ South realizes Union control of the Miss. Rvr. might
actually happen

Grant pushes toward Miss. Rvr.
◦ Met by David Farragut and 40 Union ships
 Want to capture Louisiana -> largest city and busiest
port
 Hopes to cut Western South off from rest of South
Shiloh

Ironclad
◦ Ship that was very strong and agile
◦ Monitor (North) vs. Merrimack (South)
 Battle became a draw

New Weapons
◦ Rifle and minie ball
◦ Primitive hand grenades and land mines
Warfare Evolves


North tightens blockade on Southern ports
Gen. McClellan becomes problem (too
cautious)
◦ Would not attack Richmond until he had 120k men

McClellan finally marches on Richmond in the
spring of 1862
◦ Met Confederate troops, killed their general, passed
reigns to Robert E. Lee


Lee was opposed to secession but turned
down Northern offer and pledged allegiance
to VA
Seven Days’ Battles
◦ Lee vs. McClellan to stop him from reaching
Richmond
 Lee ends up winning and forcing Union troops to retreat
War for the Capitals

Lee moves on Union Capital
◦ Won second battle of Bull Run
◦ Crossed into Marlyand

Union finds plans from Gen. Lee
◦ Lee and Jackson’s armies would be seperated

McClellan acts agresively
◦ Meet at Antietam and becomes the bloodiest
single day battle in American history
Antietam
Politics of War

South hoped Britain would help them during
the war
◦
◦
◦
◦

They were no longer dependent on Southern cotton
Found new cotton in Egypt and India
Shortage of wheat -> relied on North for this
Britain decides to remain neutral
The Trent Affair
◦ Confederates send James Mason and John Slidell to
gain British and French support in the war
◦ Union ship captures the two men
 Britain threatens war – sends 8k troops to Canada
 Lincoln frees the two men (1 war at a time)
Britain’s Stance


Was winning the war enough if slavery was
not ended?
Lincoln does not feel that government has
power to end slavery
◦ “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the
Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery”

Confederates used slave labor for food and
building of forts
◦ Lincoln realized that slaves were technically
Confederate “supplies”
◦ Emancipation would gain Britain’s support
Emancipation

Jan. 1, 1863 -> Lincoln issues the Emancipation
Proclamation
◦ Quote pg. 347
◦ Applied to areas behind Confederate lines
 Did not free any slaves immediately
 Aimed solely at states in rebellion (not Union slave states
or areas in South under Union control)

Proclamation makes war moral – Fight over
slavery
◦ Slaves could now fight in the Union army
◦ Northerners want to preserve the Union
◦ Democrats say this will only prolong the war

Confederates now know that a loss would result
in no more slaves and their way of life
The Proclamation

Divided loyalty – Northerners for the South
and Southerners for the North
◦ How should the respective governments handle
their critics?
◦ How could they ensure a steady supply of fighting
men for their armies?

Lincoln responds with punishment
◦ Sending federal troops and suspending Habeas
Corpus (bringing a person to court)
◦ Seized communication buildings
◦ Northern Democrats who advocate peace with
South also arrested (Copperheads)

Jefferson Davis does the same in the South
Political Problems

A draft that would force members into the
army
◦ Both sides enact a draft

Confederates – all able-bodied white men
between ages of 18 – 35
◦ Could hire substitutes
◦ Exempted planters of 20 or more slaves

Union – white men 20 – 45
◦ Could hire substitutes
◦ Pay $300 to become exempt
Conscription

Poor Union people thought it was unfair to
fight a war to free slaves
◦ Why?

Mobs begin to form
◦ Destroyed draft offices, newspaper offices, and
homes of anti-slavery leaders
◦ Attacked well dressed men and African
Americans
◦ Results in 100+ dead
Draft Response
The North Takes
Charge

South defeat the North at Chancellorsville,
VA
◦ Union gains an advantage
 Stonewall Jackson shot upon his return (mistake)
and dies from pneumonia
◦ Gen. Lee decides to invade the North anyway
 Hope to drive Union troops away from Vicksburg
so he could get well-needed supplies
 Also wanted to win a battle on Union soil
A Sticky Situation for the South


Gettysburg, PA
Shoeless troops hear there is footwear in
Gettysburg
◦ Go to find it and meet up with Gen. Lee’s forces

Rebels run into Union troops led by John
Buford
◦ Ordered his men to take defense on the hills and
ridges surrounding the town
◦ Fighting attracts more soldiers from both sides
◦ South forces the Union troops to retreat and takes
control of the town itself
Gettysburg

South now had to take high ground of Gettysburg
from North at Cemetery Ridge
◦ Lee orders Rebel forces towards the ridge on July 2nd
◦ Colonel Joshua Chamberlain helps push back Rebel forces
 Run out of ammo and men so he orders a bayonet charge
 Rebels surrender and held their lines

Lee still optimistic
◦ Orders artillery attack on July 3rd
 Sends Gen. Pickett to charge the high ground (Pickett’s
Charge)
◦ Rebel troops then move forward and met by Union
artillery
 Union troops hold off the high ground attack
◦ Lee sends troops to flank but they also were stalled
 North goes on the counterattack

Rebels retreat and Lee gives up attacking the
North on their own soil
30% casualties
 Union losses were 23,000 killed or
wounded
 South losses were 28,000 Killed or
wounded

The Result


Gen. Ulysses S. Grant continues fighting in
the West
Vicksburg, Mississippi was one of only 2
Confederate holdout preventing the Union
from taking control of the Miss. Rvr.
◦ Grant sends troops to attack RxR’s and draw
attention away from the city
◦ Sends troops into city and take over Jackson, Miss.

Troops move from Jackson to Vicksburg and
are held 2 different times
◦ Finally send artillery attack and force all people in
the city into caves
◦ “If you can’t feed us, you’d better surrender”
◦ Rebels surrender and days later Hudson, LA falls ->
finally cuts the Confederacy into 2 parts
Vicksburg
Nov. 1863 -> ceremony held to dedicate a
cemetery in Gettysburg
 Abraham Lincoln speaks for a little over 2
minutes
 Pg. 361

Gettysburg Address

South running very low on supplies and men
after Vicksburg and Gettysburg
◦ Know they cannot continue to attack
◦ Hope for armistice (cease-fire) rather than
surrender
◦ South begins to call for an end to the war

Lincoln finds 2 generals to continue to fight
◦ Worsens to moral of the South
◦ Southern soldiers begin to go home (have to)
◦ In every Southern state but S.C. soldiers beginning
to fight for the Union army
◦ Peace rallies begin to pop up in almost all Southern
states
Confederacy Becomes Tired

Appointed commander of all troops by Lincoln
◦ Appoints William Tecumseh Sherman as
commander of troops in Mississippi
◦ Both believe in total war (on civilians as well)
 Civilians made the weapons, grew the food, and
transported the goods

Grant wants to attack Lee’s army in VA while
Sherman does so in GA
◦ Grant able to lose men and Lee not able to
◦ Many battles fought -> Grant becomes known in
the South as a butcher
◦ “Whatever happens, there will be no turning back”
Ulysses S. Grant at His Best

Sherman's troops occupy the transportation
center of Atlanta
◦ South decides to flank him and cut of supply lines
◦ Sherman decides to abandon his supplies and
marches southeast through GA
◦ Take out Savannah, GA and turn North to help
Grant “wipe out Lee”
◦ Added 25k slaves looking for freedom
◦ March into S.C.
 “Here is where treason began and, by God, here is
where it shall end”
 By the time they get to N.C. they anticipate the end of
war and begin to hand out food and other supplies to
the civilians
Sherman’s March

Lincoln vs. George McClellan
◦ Democrats upset with the war’s length and
high casualty rates
◦ Confederate South chooses John Fremont
◦ Andrew Johnson becomes Lincoln’s running
mate
Fremont withdrawals after hearing that
Atlanta was under Union control
 Lincoln wins second term

Election of 1864

Grant and other troops approaching
Richmond from the west
◦ Sherman from the south

News of Lee’s troops falling at Petersburg, VA

Lee and Grant meet to arrange surrender on
April 9, 1865 in Appomattox Court House
(VA)
The terms:

◦ Jefferson Davis leaves capital and burns it
◦ Grant paroled Lee’s soldiers and sent them home
with their possessions and food
◦ Officers were permitted to keep their side arms
Surrender at Appomattox
Politics of
Reconstruction
Differing Ideas


Reconstruction = period of rebuilding post
Civil War and readmit the Confederate states
Lincoln’s 10% Plan
◦ Believed Confederate states never left Union
◦ Pardon all Confederates who took oath of
allegiance to Union except high ranking officials
◦ Confederate states had to form new state gov’t and
then regain representation
◦ Formation of Radical Republicans
 Wanted to destroy all power of former slave owners

Radical Republicans pass Wade-Davis Bill
◦ Congress had power over reconstruction
◦ Pocket Vetoed by Lincoln

Andrew Johnson was successor to Lincoln
◦ Intended to deal with South harshly
◦ States had to meet conditions
 Withdraw succession
 Swear allegiance to the Union
 Annul Confederate war debts
 Ratify 13th amendment
◦ Failed to address needs of former slaves (land,
voting rights, and protection under the law)
Johnson pardons more Rebels than the
Johnson’s
Radicals likedPlan
(pg. 378)


Congress refuses to admit newly elected
Southern legislators
◦ Felt they had not changed since the war

Freedmen’s Bureau
◦ Helped former slaves and poor whites in South

Civil Rights Act of 1866
◦ Gave African Americans citizenship and restricted
black codes
 Forbid slaves from serving on juries, carrying weapons,
marrying whites, and sometimes own land

Johnson vetoes both
Standstill

Congress joins together to override vetoes
◦ Drafted the 14th amendment ->basis for Civil
Rights Act
 All persons born or naturalized in U.S. citizens
 Amount of male citizens not allowed to vote =
number of seats that state would lose in Congress
Congress feels that if South votes for
amendment they would allow them back
into the Union
 Congressional elections held gave
Republicans majority in Congress =
Congressional
Reconstruction
allowed them to override
Presidential
vetoes


Reconstruction Act of 1867
◦ Did not recognize states under Lincoln/Johnson’s
plan
◦ Broke South into 5 territories overseen by Union
generals
 Voters would elect representatives to draft new state
Constitution (black vote and 14th amendment)

Johnson removed people from office who
tried to carry this out (impeachment?)
◦ Congress passed Tenure of Office Act
◦ Johnson not impeached by 1 vote
What Happens Next?

Democrats knew Johnson would not win
reelection for them
◦ Nominated Horatio Seymour
Republican opponent Ulysses S. Grant
 Grant wins by a landslide
 Introduction of 15th Amendment

◦ No one could be kept from voting based on
race, color, or previous conditions of servitude
Ulysses S. Grant