Download Impact of Slavery on the Civil War

Alex Boyer
Impact of Slavery on the Civil War
From around 1860 to 1865, the issue of slavery quite literally divided the relatively new
nation of the United States of America in two. The Union was the northern half that ended up
being largely against the institution of slavery, while the southern Confederacy wanted to defend
their way of life, mainly their right to keep slaves. This conflict of interests between the two
sides ended up causing the American Civil War, in which slaves played a major role. Not only
were slaves the main cause of the American Civil War, but they also had a massive impact on the
outcome of the War by fighting it and contributing to it, as well as impacting the War in several
various other ways.
Slaves were really the main reason behind the Civil War. The War would likely never
have started had slavery not existed. James M. McPherson says that “secession and the refusal of
the United States government to recognize its legitimacy [brought war and opened the door to
freedom for the slaves]” (McPherson, 3). However, he also states that “seven states seceded and
formed the Confederacy because [Abraham Lincoln] won the presidency on an anti-slavery
platform” (McPherson, 3). Therefore, although secession and the federal government’s refusal to
take it seriously is what officially caused the war, Abraham Lincoln being elected President on
an anti-slavery platform is what caused the states to secede in the first place. Barbara J. Fields
agrees with McPherson in that regard, stating that “Brigadier General David Ullmann,
commander of a brigade of black soldiers in the Union Army, put the matter [of the relationship
between the War and slavery] with vivid precision: ‘The first gun that was fired at Fort Sumter
sounded the death-knell of slavery. They who fired it were the greatest practical abolitionists this
nation has produced’” (Fields, 178). Fields uses this quote by Ullmann in order to reveal to the
reader that the American Civil War would impact slavery, and vice versa.
During the War itself, slaves (and free black people) contributed and fought for both
sides, despite the common misconception that only the Confederacy kept slaves. However, many
Confederate slaves escaped the Confederacy and ran to the Union side of the road in the middle
of Williamsburg, where they knew they would be treated better (Historical Tour of Williamsburg
Given by Drew, 7/27/14). It was Union General Benjamin Butler who was the reason why this
was allowed. He was working at Fort Monroe for the Union while the Confederacy was working
at Sewell’s Point nearby, when three Confederate slaves named Mallory, Townsend, and Baker
stopped building fortifications at Sewell’s Point and escaped to Fort Monroe and sought shelter
there. The next day, their master came to Fort Monroe to get his slaves back, and Butler would
be required to give them back to him under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. However, Virginia
had seceded from the United States of America by this point, so the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
did not apply there. Benjamin Butler was a practiced lawyer, so he knew his way around the law.
He told the owner of Mallory, Townsend, and Baker that he was not legally required to give him
his slaves back. He called the slaves that he kept under this new rule “contraband” (Fort Monroe,
7/28/14). This was considered the beginning of the end for slavery, which also makes it
something of a turning point in the Civil War. Slaves also dug trenches for battles and pretty
much did all the work that white soldiers would not have done without being paid (Battle of
Williamsburg Earthworks, 7/28/14).
Slavery did not just impact the American Civil War in that it was the main cause of the
War and it had slaves participate in it. Slaves impacted the way that both sides fought as well.
Even though the Confederacy had far fewer numbers that the Union did, they still felt confident
enough to fight a war with the Union because of their slaves. According to Stephanie McCurry,
“It was an article of faith in the Confederacy that slavery would be a great element of strength in
the war. ‘This it is which makes our 8 million of productive fighting material equal to the 20
million of the North’” (McCurry, 255). Clearly, the Confederacy felt that the slaves would be the
x-factor in the War, even though most of them would not actually be fighting. However, this plan
backfired on the Confederacy when women began complaining that without their husbands and
sons, they needed their slaves to do some of the work around the house. According to a woman
quoted by Drew Gilpin Faust, “We who stay behind may find it harder than those who go. They
will have new scenes and constant excitement to buoy them up and the consciousness of duty
done” (Faust, 1204-1205). Faust argues that the fact that most of the women of the South were so
reluctant to do work on their own without their husbands or sons or slaves to help them is what
caused the Confederacy to lose the Civil War. If the women had not been so reliant on slaves in
the first place, perhaps they would have contributed more to the Confederacy, and the
Confederacy may have even won the war.
Slavery was arguably the hottest issue in the United States of America during this time.
The institution of slavery itself had a massive impact on the American Civil War, not only in that
it was the primary reason why the War started, but also that it caused many extra people to
participate and occasionally fight in the War, as well as other various reasons such as that the
slaves changed the fighting style of the War and that they were a major factor in the Confederacy
eventually losing the War. All of this is historically significant because without the institution of
slavery, the Civil War may have not even happened, and the United States of America may not
have ever lasted as a nation.