Download US History I Ch. 16 Notes

Chapter 16 – The Civil War
Section 1
I.
A Nation Divided
i. The war would tear not only the nation, but families apart.
Relatives would fight one another across the battlefield (brothers,
fathers and sons, neighbor and neighbor) or in the work that they
did to support each side.
ii. The Civil War begins at Fort Sumter
iii. It unified the North and brought forth feelings of patriotism and
dedication to the Union
iv. When Lincoln calls for up to 75,000 volunteers, thousands of
young men signed up
1. In response, many thousands of young Confederate men
signed up to fight for their cause
b. The states choose sides
i. When the Civil War broke out, only 7 of the 15 slave states had
seceded
1. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana and Texas
2. After Lincoln calls for troops for the Union, Virginia,
Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee join the
Confederacy
a. Virginia is split into 2 parts: the east (planters)
backed the Confederacy and the west (people in the
mountains) supported the Union
i. In 1863, the western part of the state would
become West Virginia and would be
accepted into the Union as a state
ii. Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri were all slave states
between the Union and Confederacy and had divided loyalties
1. Kentucky started neutral but ended up Union
2. Missouri stayed Union
3. Delaware also sided with the Union
4. Maryland stayed Union but had to have troops sent in to
restrain Confederate sympathizers
iii. War was more than simply between slave and free states, it was
about whether or not the Union could be dissolved!
c. Union and Confederate resources
i. Each side thought that the war could be won in only a few weeks
time
ii. Union Resources/Advantages
1. Had more people (for fighting, working on farms and in
factories, 17 times more textiles)
2. More raw materials and factories (90% of the nation’s
industrial capacity, 15 times more iron, 32 times more
firearms)
3. More money
4. More railroads (24 times more locomotives, for moving
troops and supplies)
5. Large navy (11 times more ships for blockading)
6. Fighting for a cause – to restore the Union
iii. Confederate Resources/Advantages
1. Geographic advantage of fighting on their own turf
a. Familiar land and support of the civilian population
b. Army could be supplied close to home
2. A long military tradition
a. Better at riding horses and handling weapons
b. Officers were made up of US Army soldiers who
sided with the Confederates
3. Major supplier of cotton to Great Britain and France
a. Hoped that this would lead those foreign nations to
side with them
4. Fighting for a cause they truly believed in – right to
separate from the Union and establish their own
government
a. Look at the Union’s attempt to restore the Union as
a violation of Southern independence
d. Presidential Leadership
i. Abraham Lincoln
1. Little experience in political or military matters
2. Thoughtful, forceful and patient leader
3. Skills to handle people and wisdom to choose good cabinet
members
4. Quick to make decisions
5. Declared martial law – allowed the military to arrest
anyone suspected of helping the enemy
a. Writ of habeas corpus, the right of a person
arrested to a court order requiring that the prisoner
be brought before a court to determine whether a
person is being held illegally, was suspended
i. Unless evidence is presented by the
government that the person has committed a
specific crime, the accused must be released
ii. Lincoln ordered that those civilians that
were suspected of being disloyal to the
Union held without trial
6. Did not limit freedoms of speech or the press
a. Allowed Congress to question his policies and
permitted newspapers to criticize his actions
7. Won support for the union cause
ii. Jefferson Davis
1. Much experience from years of public service
2. Dedicated to the Confederate cause
3. Spent too much time figuring military details best left to his
generals
a. Led to many disagreements with generals and
advisors
4. Lacked leadership in dealing with Southern economic
problems
a. Shortages of food and supplies for troops and
civilians
5. Some Confederate state governors resisted Confederate
policies that they believed violated state rights
a. Opposed the drafting of men to serve in the
Confederate Army
Section 2
I.
Early Years of the War
i. Each side hoped for an early victory by capturing the other’s
capital
ii. Confederacy planned to fight a more defensive war, protecting
what they had
1. They also planned to take any chance to move into
Maryland and central Pennsylvania
2. Wanted to break the Union’s blockade as well
iii. Union had a three part plan
1. Try to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond
Virginia
2. Attempt to gain control of the Mississippi and Tennessee
river valleys to divide the north
3. Blockade the Southern coastline to keep goods from going
into and out of the Confederacy
b. A Confederate victory
i. Southern Army led by General P.G.T. Beauregard at Manassas
Junction in Virginia
1. Major railroad center near Washington, D.C.
ii. Northern Army led by General Irvin McDowell
1. Planned to lead his troops against Beauregard and then
proceed to Richmond
iii. They meet on July 21, 1861
1. Called the First Battle of Bull Run
2. Confederates are aided by General Thomas “Stonewall”
Jackson
3. Confederates defeat the Union army, who flee to
Washington
4. Rather than pursue and finish the Union, the Confederate
soldiers celebrate
a. This could have led to the Confederates pushing to
Washington and overtaking it
b. This would have ended the war and the
independence of the Confederacy
5. The defeat at Bull Run ended all hopes for a quick victory
by the Union
a. Because of the loss, Lincoln appoints General
George McClellan to lead the Army of the
Potomac
i. Graduate of West Point
ii. Excellent at training soldiers but slow at
leading them into battle
c. The war in the West
i. While McClellan delays, General Ulysses S. Grant attacks and
captures 2 Confederate forts in Tennessee
1. Took 14,000 prisoners
2. Forced the Confederates to withdraw from Kentucky and
middle Tennessee
ii. Grant and his men are surprised the Confederates at Shiloh, TN
and only win the battle because of reinforcements that arrived and
the Confederates retreat to Corinth, Mississippi
1. 13,000 Union casualties
2. 11,000 Confederate casualties
3. Because of the high rate of casualties, some call for Grant’s
removal which Lincoln refuses
4. Union army would take Memphis, TN in late June
d. The Union Blockade
i. Union navy helped achieve the goal of controlling the Mississippi
River
ii. In April, 1862, Union navy captured the port of New Orleans to
give the Union control of the mouth of the Mississippi River
1. Weakened the Southern economy by shutting off its
supplies
2. By 1863, the Union controlled most Southern ports and
created large supply shortages
iii. North had ship building in the North and trained seamen
1. Began with 47 warships and grew to 671 of many kinds
2. Confederacy ended up with only 37 armored ships
a. Raided Northern ships and stole supplies
b. Couldn’t defend the entire Southern coastline or
rivers
iv. Ironclads
1. Southern navy’s most famous ship was the Merrimack,
which was renamed the Virginia, a captured Northern
warship
a. First ironclad to enter the war
b. Sank several Northern wooden ships off Virginia
coastline trying to break the blockade
2. Famous battle between the Virginia and the Monitor, a
Union ironclad on March 9, 1862
a. Battled for 4 hours with neither sinking
b. Showed the South that the North was unwilling to
give up the blockade
c. After this battle, both sides began to produce more
ironclad warships
e. The Confederacy seeks foreign support
i. South needs help to break the Union blockade
ii. Ask France and Great Britain because of their dependency on
cotton
1. Because its used as a negotiating tool, the Confederates
were said to be using King Cotton Diplomacy’
iii. Sent James Mason and John Slidell to negotiate
1. Neither accomplished much
2. France and Britain didn’t have a shortage of cotton, they
had a surplus from the South prior to the war
3. Cotton from India and Egypt were being used by 1863
4. Didn’t have to depend upon the South anymore
iv. Britain was willing to provide support only if the Confederates
were winning battles
v. France and Britain didn’t recognize the South as an independent
nation, but that they were at war with the North
1. Because of this, private individuals from the South were
able to buy and outfit ships in neutral ports
2. Many of the Southern raiding ships came from British
shipyards, damaging Northing shipping and forcing ships
from the seas
f. The war in the East
i. McClellan was finally ready to head to Richmond of April of 1862,
moving to a peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers
1. Here he paused and waited for reinforcements that never
came
2. By the end of May, Confederate forces led by General
Joseph Johnson went on the offensive and attacked
McClellan, who would have lost had his own backup troops
not arrived
3. Johnson is injured in battle and General Robert E. Lee is
appointed to lead the Confederate Army of Northern
Virginia
ii. General Lee, who was a West Point graduate and a hero of the
Mexican War, was respected by both sides
1. Lincoln asked him to lead the Union forces, but although
he disliked slavery and secession, refused to fight his
fellow Virginians
2. Lee took over to push McClellan from Richmond, no clear
winner and McClellan retreats
a. Lincoln has General Hallack to take over and sends
McClellan to join up with General John Pope to
attack Richmond
b. Because of McClellan’s slow moving, Lee meets up
with Pope first and with Stonewall Jackson defeat
the Union at the Second Battle of Bull Run
i. Pope is stripped of his command and
McClellan is now head of the Army of the
Potomac
3. Lee’s next plan is to go to Maryland and isolate the Union
capital from the rest of the North
a. McClellan and Lee meet at Antietam, Maryland on
September 17, 1862
b. Bloodiest one day battle takes place
i. 5,000 dead and 18,000 wounded
ii. Neither side wins
iii. Lee falls back to Richmond to protect his
supply lines
iv. Lincoln blames McClellan for letting the
Confederates escape and promoted General
Burnside as the new commander of the
Army of the Potomac
4. Burnside’s first action is at Fredericksburg, Maryland on
December 13, 1862
a. Confederates are in trenches in the hillside and in
better position
b. Union loses the battle and twice as many men as the
Confederates
i. 1862 ends with bitter failure for the Union
on the eastern front
Section 3
I.
The Coming of Emancipation
i. At the beginning of the war, the North said it was fighting to
restore the Union but because of abolitionists and the threat of a
long war began to change Northern views
b. Addressing the slavery issue
i. Lincoln had some concerns about making the war about slavery
1. He was afraid it would anger the border slave states that
were supporting the Union
2. He believed in a gradual voluntary emancipation, releasing
them from slavery, by the states with the government
paying the slaveholders for their loss of property
3. Was worried about the strong prejudice against blacks by
those in the North and the South
a. He looked for places outside of the US for them to
colonize and live if freed
ii. Many Republicans believed in the idea of emancipation
1. They thought it would destroy their economy
c. The Emancipation Proclamation
i. Lincoln gives in to public pressure
1. Waits until a Union victory
a. At Antietam, after McClellan stopped Lee
2. His first proclamation stated:
a. Confederate states that surrendered to the Union in
100 days would get to keep their slaves
ii. Since no Confederate states responded to his offer, on January 1,
1862 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation
1. It stated that all slaves in areas under Confederate control “
shall be…forever free”
a. Didn’t free the slaves in border states
b. Didn’t free slaves in Confederate territory under
Union control
c. Slaves were being freed for the war effort not
because they were human beings
d. Did make the abolition of slavery a goal for the
Union
iii. Many slaves ran off looking for Union troops
1. Only ¼ of the slaves gained their freedom during the war
due to the Emancipation Proclamation
d. The black role in the war
i. At the beginning of the war, free blacks were not accepted into the
Union army
1. 200,000 blacks would eventually join the Army, the
majority freed slaves, and would contribute to the North’s
victory
2. Black soldiers faced many difficulties
a. Placed in all black units with white officers
b. Paid less, $11/month for black soldiers, $13 for
white soldiers
c. Used as guards and workers to do chores
d. Would eventually serve as scouts, spies and
members of raiding parties
e. Some would see action in major battles
i. 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment, first
black unit recruited during the war
f. Some served in the Union navy
ii. Black soldiers and sailors would win medals during the war
iii. Due to the Emancipation Proclamation, slave owners had greater
difficulty controlling their slaves
1. Many walked off when Union forces arrived
2. Union army would give them food and clothing
3. Slave labor was important to the Southern economy
because it raised food and produced goods for the war
effort
4. They didn’t serve in the Confederate army until the end of
the war but by then it was too late
e. The 13th Amendment
i. Lincoln took 3 steps to ensure that slavery was permanently
abolished, not just blacks freed during the war
1. He would recognize loyal state governments in the South,
under Union control, if they abolished slavery in their
constitutions
2. Encouraged the freeing of slaves in border states
3. Called for an amendment to the Constitution outlawing
slavery
a. Became a plank in the Republican platform during
the presidential election of 1864
b. January 1, 1865, by a small margin, the House of
Representatives approved the 13th Amendment
c. This made the cause of restoring the Union and
abolishing slavery, why we were fighting, one in the
same
Section 4
I.
Life During the War
i. As war went on, both sides needed more food supplies and other
goods for both their armies and their people
ii. Also, the need for money to finance the war and people to fight in
it increased
b. Production and finance
i. The South had a harder time meeting its needs for the army and the
people
1. Difficult to get goods from foreign countries due to the
Union blockade
2. Built more factories and mills to produce the items they
needed
3. Planters cut back on cotton to grow wheat and other foods
4. Harder to move goods because of what the Union army had
taken over (waterways and railways)
ii. The North had it easier
1. Highly industrialized
a. More profits for individuals
2. Farming was highly mechanized, making it quicker and
producing larger quantities of foods
a. Producing for army and the people, as well as
exporting to other countries
iii. Financing the war was hard for both sides
1. The South borrowed some from foreign countries, raised
taxes and sold government bonds to the people
a. South also printed billions of dollars in Confederate
currency
i. Because of the lack of gold and silver to
back up the money, inflation takes place
ii. At the end of the war, the Confederate dollar
was worth about two cents
2. The North had an easier time raising money
a. Money gained from import duties
b. Selling government bonds to the citizens
c. Printed large amount of money backed by the
government, greenbacks, but not by gold
i. This will cause some inflation in the North
ii. At the end of the war, the greenback was
worth 75 cents, as it rose and fell with
Northern success and failure on the
battlefield
c. Serving in the war
i. Was easier to get recruits at the beginning of the war than after it
started
ii. The Confederacy instituted a draft (ages 18 to 35) in 1862 but one
could hire a substitute to serve in their place and it exempted
certain professions (teachers, civil servants, clergy and masters of
more than 20 slaves or their overseer)
1. Many viewed it as a rich man’s war fought by the poor
2. By 1864, the draft changed to all white men (17 to 50) but
still did not include large slave owners
iii. The Union would also have recruitment problems
1. 1863, all men 20 to 45 were liable for service in the army
a. Allowed recruits to hire substitutes or pay $300 to
be excused from duty
2. Becomes quite unpopular
3. Many did not want to die to win the freedom of slaves
4. Leads to riots in some cities like New York in July 1863
a. More than a dozen blacks are lynched (put to death,
usually by hanging)
b. 120 people die before federal troops restore order
5. Government would begin to issue bounties (rewards) of up
to $1,000 to enlist in the army
d. Life of the ordinary soldier
i. Union soldiers called Billy Yanks
1. Ate and drank: coffee, beans, salt pork and hardtack – a
hard biscuit that resisted spoiling
ii. Confederate soldiers called Johnny Rebs
1. Lived on bacon and cornbread
2. Many went days with little or no food
iii. Most had little or no fighting experience
1. Many aged 18 or 19, oldest being about 30
2. During the war, children aged 10 and men over 30 served
3. When not fighting, some read, wrote letters, played cards
and even baseball. They also sang.
iv. After a day’s battles, soldiers from both sides might have spoken
about pay, the weather, home life and peace.
e. American Indians and the war
i. Like the blacks, there were regiments of American Indians led by
white commanders
ii. The war would divide tribes
iii. Fighting between tribes and whites would extend parts of the war
to the far west of the frontier
1. Many times, the Indians were simply trying to keep its
lands and maintain its way of life
2. Occasionally led to massacres by the army commanders
f. Women in the war
i. Women served on both sides
1. Many as nurses and establishing hospitals
2. Some served as spies
3. Some took the place of men in factories and farms
4. Even with being vital to the war effort, women would not
be equal with men politically or economically.
Section 5
I.
Fight to the Finish
i. By 1863, the war was becoming a burden
1. The Confederates were having a hard time getting food and
other supplies
2. The Union needed a couple of victories to boost morale
b. A turning point
i. In May 1863, Confederate General Lee defeats Union General
Hooker at Chancellorsville, Virginia
1. Caused heavy Union losses
2. Stonewall Jackson, on his way back to camp, is mistakenly
shot as a Union soldier and dies
ii. From May 1863 to July 1863, General Grant (cut off from his own
supplies and marching into certain death) starves the city of
Vicksburg, Mississippi into submission
1. Takes control of the entire Mississippi River
2. Cuts off Confederate supplies in the East
iii. June and July 1863, General Lee hopes to achieve a major victory
by invading the Northeast
1. Takes his troops across the Potomac to Gettysburg, PA.
2. 3 Union troops led by General Meade are positioned in
high ground giving them the advantage
a. Confederates attack to try to move the troops and
fail
3. Rather than fall back, General Lee attacks the strongest part
of the Union line
a. General George Pickett leads a group of soldiers
across a field and charged Cemetery Ridge
b. The Union kills wave after wave of men in Pickett’s
Charge
4. On July 4, General Lee retreats back to the Potomac
a. Because of the high level of the river, they can’t
cross it
b. The Union had finally defeated the great
Confederate General Robert E. Lee
5. Confederacy is never able to launch another massive
offensive against the Union
a. Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg turn
the tide of the war in favor of the Union
iv. In November of 1863, Lincoln goes to Gettysburg to honor the
thousands of dead
1. Gave a short speech to dedicate the national cemetery there
2. The Gettysburg Address
c. The Union offensive
i. Union General Sherman would begin his march through Georgia
and the Carolinas
ii. The Union and Confederates would meet at Chattanooga where the
Union would take this important city
1. It was a gateway to the rest of the Southeast
iii. Confederates would turn right around and defeat the Union at
Chickamauga
1. The Union would fall back to Chattanooga and be
surrounded and under siege by the Confederates
2. Grant would arrive with troops from the Vicksburg
campaign and attack the surrounding Confederates,
defeating them
3. This would open up the way to head into Georgia
d.
e.
f.
g.
iv. Grant’s victories would earn him a promotion to general in chief to
all the armies of the Union
The Union will hold presidential elections in 1864, during the war
i. Democrats run General McClellan
ii. More and more people wanted the war over and for peace
negotiations to begin
1. Those that favored peace at any cost were called
Copperheads
2. Openly opposed the Union war effort
iii. Lincoln thought he would lose the election due to low morale and
McClellan’s popularity
1. With General Sherman’s victory in Atlanta, the Republican
party united under Lincoln
2. Lincoln wins the election
After his victory in Atlanta, Sherman would cut himself off from supplies
and communication lines and live off the land while he marched through
the South
i. They destroyed anything with military or economic value
1. Railroads, crops, businesses and homes
ii. Captures Savannah Georgia and then heads to Petersburg Virginia
to meet up with General Grant
Surrender at Appomattox
i. From May 1864 to the spring of 1865, Generals Grant and Lee
meet repeatedly
1. Battles at Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor would
cost Grant 60,000 men and Lee 30,000
2. Generals Sherman and Sheridan would reinforce Grant as
he laid siege to Petersburg Virginia after trying and failing
to take Richmond
3. General Lee would try to break through the Union lines
only to abandon the effort and retreat West
4. Grant send troops out to cut off Lee’s escape South
a. Lee, exhausted and out of supplies, knows the end
is near
ii. April 9, 1865, Lee and Grant meet in Appomattox Courthouse
Virginia
1. Set terms of surrender
2. Shook hands
3. Great admiration for one another
Effects of the war
i. North rejoiced
1. Short lived as on April 14, 1865 Lincoln is assassinated
ii. Thousands of women left widowed or unmarried
iii. Lots of orphans
iv. 4 million freed African Americans with no certain future
1. Not equal citizens (it would be 100 years for governmental
protections and freedoms: Voting Rights Act and Civil
Rights Act)
v. Set in concrete that the federal government was supreme over the
states
1. Settled the issue of states having the right to secede from
the Union
2. States could not nullify federal law
vi. During the war, Republican Congress pass laws to encourage and
direct the nation’s economic development
1. High tariff bill (1861)
2. Homestead act (1862)
3. Set aside public land for agricultural colleges, gave land to
railroads to build a transcontinental railroad and established
a national banking system