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Chapter 16: The Civil War Begins (1861-1862)
Chapter Guiding Essential Question: What events, leaders, and strategies shaped the
early years of the war?
Section 1: War Erupts
Section Essential Questions:
1. What did Lincoln do about the forts in Confederate territory?
2. What strategy did each side hope to pursue?
3. Why was the Union surprised by the outcome of Bull Run?
I.
II.
First Shots at Fort Sumter
A. Lincoln’s Decision
1. Southern states that had seceded took control of most federal forts
in their borders, but some remained under federal control.
2. Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, was running out of supplies.
3. Fort Sumter: Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina
4. Lincoln risked war by sending supplies and notified the leaders of
the Confederacy that he was sending supply ships.
5. Confederacy: nation formed by Southern states that seceded
6. On April 12, 1861, the Confederate began bombardment of Fort
Sumter
7. Robert Anderson, commander of the fort, surrendered after 34
hours of shelling.
8. This marked the beginning of the Civil War
B. Lincoln Calls Out the Militia
1. Lincoln asked the Union states to provide 75,000 militiamen for 90
days to put down the uprising in the South
2. Uprising: rebellion
3. In the following weeks, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and
Arkansas joined the Confederacy.
Preparing For Battle
A. Choosing Sides
1. Virginia gave the Confederacy a better chance of victory
Virginia was rich and populous
3. Populous: heavy populated
4. In July of 1861, the Confederacy moved it capital from Mobile,
Alabama to Richmond, Virginia
5. Robert E. Lee, from Virginia, resigned from the United States army
to join the Confederacy
6. Robert E. Lee: Confederate general, commander of the Army of
Northern Virginia
7. The border states had to decide what to do
8. Border states: slave states that bordered states in which slavery
was illegal; Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri
9. All four border states stayed in the Union
10. The western counties of Virginia broke away from the Confederacy
and eventually formed the state of West Virginia in 1863
11. West Virginia supported the Union
12. Union had 24 states; Confederacy had 11 states
B. Planning Strategies
1. Confederacy started with a defensive strategy
a) Hoped that Northern support for the war would erode over time
b) Hoped Great Britain and France would eventually help the South
due to their dependence on Southern cotton
c) The South eventually had a more offensive-minded strategy that
included invading the North several times
2. Northern strategy was to invade and conquer the South
a) Anaconda Plan: Union strategy to defeat the Confederacy
1) Developed by General Winfield Scott
2) Naval blockade of the South’s coastline; block supplies
3) Taking control of the Mississippi River; split Confederacy
4) Capture Richmond – the Confederate capital
First Battle of Bull Run
A. Intense Fighting
1. Richmond was only 100 miles from Washington, D.C.; much of the
fighting in the war would take place in this area.
2.
III.
July 16 1861, Union General Irvin McDowell led an army to
Manassas (near Washington) where hundreds of spectators from
Washington came to watch
3. Union forces attacked the Confederates near a creek called Bull Run
4. First Battle of Bull Run: first major battle of the Civil War
5. Confederates, led by General Pierre Beauregard, were driven back
by the initial attack
6. One Confederate regiment, let by Thomas J. Jackson, stopped the
Union advance (like a “stone wall”)
7. Thomas J. Jackson: Confederate general at Bull Run (nicknamed
“Stonewall Jackson” thereafter)
8. Confederates launched a counterattack and a blood-curdling
scream that became known as the “rebel yell.”
9. Union soldiers ran for their lives, some of them all the way to
Washington, D.C.
10. Casualties (both killed and wounded):
a) Union lost 2,700 men
b) Confederacy lost 2,000
B. Lessons of Bull Run
1. Fighting would be bloody
2. War would not be over quickly
3. Southern soldiers would fiercely defend the Confederacy
C. Lincoln called for 3-year enlistments of 500,000 volunteers and appointed
George McClellan as commander of the Union army in the east.
2.
Union Strengths
Large population (22 million)
85% of nation’s factories
70% of nation’s railroad mileage
Most of nation’s naval vessels and shipyards
Confederate Strengths
Vast size of Confederacy
Good generals
Fighting a defensive war to protect home
Union Weaknesses
Had to depend on long supply lines
Fewer good military leaders
Soldiers fighting an offensive war
Confederate Weaknesses
Smaller population (5.5 million free;
3.5 million enslaved)
Few factories, railroads, no navy)
Section 2: Life in the Army
Section Essential Questions:
4. Why did so many volunteer to fight?
5. How was the Civil War different from previous conflicts?
IV.
V.
Civilians Become Soldiers
A. Joining Up
1. Majority of soldiers were between 18 and 30 years old
2. Total ages ranged from 11 to 83 years old
3. Initially, many volunteers rushed to enlist on both sides
4. Enlist: to join the armed forces
5. Many were farmers; many German and Irish immigrants
6. Early in the war, neither side accepted African Americans into their
ranks; the North would accept African Americans by mid-war
7. About 2 million men served in the Union Army; less than a million
served in the Confederate Army
B. Turning Civilians Into Soldiers
1. Volunteers were sent to an army camp for training
2. They lived in tents and had drill sessions
3. Union soldiers wore blue uniforms while Confederate soldiers wore
gray or yellowish-brown.
4. Contractors often supplied poor-quality clothing
5. Contractor: private supplier
6. Many soldiers took coats, boots, or other clothing from dead
soldiers after a battle.
A New King of War
A. Unhealthy Conditions
1. Military camps were filthy from odors of garbage and latrines
2. Soldiers often went without bathing or washing their clothes
3. Poor hygiene resulted in widespread sickness
4. Hygiene: conditions and practices that promote health
5. Doctors performed surgery without washing their hands
6. More soldiers died from disease than on the battlefield.
B. Civil War Prison Camps
Prisoners of war faced terrible conditions in prison camps
2. Elmira, New York: In one year, 24% of Elmira’s 12,121 prisoners died
of sickness and exposure to severe weather
3. Andersonville, Georgia: 13,000 died from starvation, disease, and
exposure
C. Changes in Military Technology
1. New weaponry increased casualties and changed battlefield tactics
2. Rifles and minié balls
a) Grooved barrel spins a bullet through the air
b) Rifles with minié balls could fire farther and more accurately
than old-fashioned muskets.
c) Mounted charges and assaults did not work as well
3. Naval Warfare
a) Ironclads were naval warships covered with iron
b) Ironclads were faster and better-protected
4. The Monitor vs. the Merrimack
a) the Monitor: Union ironclad ship
b) the Merrimack: Confederate ironclad ship, later renamed the
Virginia
c) Day-long battle between the two ironclads ended in a draw
d) First battle in history between two ironclad ships
5. Despite new technology and new tactics, neither side was able to
defeat its enemy in the first two years of the war
1.
Section 3: No End in Sight
Section Essential Questions:
6. In 1862, how close did the Union come to achieving its goals?
7. In 1862, how close did the South come to victory?
VI.
Union Victories in the West
A. McClellan in the East
1. George McClellan was given command of the Union army in the
East in the summer if 1861
McClellan restored soldiers’ confidence and organized and trained
the army
3. McClellan continuously drilled his troops instead of attacking
Richmond; Lincoln said that McClellan had “the slows.”
B. Grant Opens Up the South
1. Ulysses S. Grant: Union general who won battles in the west
2. Grant failed at many things in civilian life.
3. Simple strategy: “Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon
as you can. Strike at him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.”
4. February 1862, Grant captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on the
Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, respectively.
5. Union gunboats could no travel by river to northern Alabama safely
6. A week later, Union troops marched into Nashville.
C. The Battle of Shiloh: bloody battle in Tennessee won by Grant
1. April 6, 1862, General Albert S. Johnston, confederate commander
on the Western front, surprised the Union forces under Grant near
Shiloh Church
2. William Tecumseh Sherman: Union general at Battle of Shiloh; had
three horses shot out from under him at Shiloh
3. General Johnston was killed, and General Pierre Beauregard took
over
4. Union boats ferried fresh troops to Grant and he led an attack at
dawn the next morning that forced the exhausted Southern troops to
retreat
5. Casualties:
a) Union: 13,000 (out of 65,000 total)
b) Confederate: 11,000 (out of 41,000 total)
6. After bloody battle, members of Congress urged Lincoln to replace
Grant, but Lincoln replied, “I can’t spare this man-he fights.”
D. The Fall of New Orleans
1. On April 25, 1862, a Union fleet led by Admiral David Farragut
captured New Orleans, the largest city in the South
2. This move almost complete split the Confederacy in two; only the
heavily armed Confederate fort at Vicksburg, VA held it together
2.
VII.
Southern Success in the East
A. Lee’s Victories
1. McClellan began slowly marching his army to Richmond
2. Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in
June 1862
3. Lee sent Jeb Stuart and his cavalry to spy on McClellan
4. Cavalry: soldiers on horseback
5. Stuart’s 1,200-man cavalry brigade rode around the whole Union
army and reported back to Lee
6. Seven Days’ Battle: Confederate victory in Virginia, during which
Lee stopped the Union campaign against Richmond
7. Casualties for the Seven Days’ Battle:
a) Union: 15,849
b) Confederacy: 20,000
8. Even though the Confederacy lost more men, McClellan’s army was
forced to retreat
9. The Confederates won a second victory at Bull Run
10. These victories by Lee’s army helped to renew Confederate hopes
of wining the war
B. Lee Invades the North
1. Lee invaded Maryland in early September 1862 after crossing the
Potomac
2. Lee’s reasons for taking the war to the North:
a) He hoped a victory in the North might force peace talks
b) Give Virginia farmers a rest during harvest season
c) Confederates could plunder (steal from, ransack) Northern farms
for food
d) Show that the Confederacy could win the war and convince
European nations to side with the South
C. Fighting to a Draw at Antietam
1. Union troops discovered Lee’s plans for attack by accident
2. McClellan went on the attack, though moving slowly as ever
3. September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, MD,
McClellan’s army attacked Lee’s
Battle of Antietam: battle in Maryland that ended Lee’s first
invasion of the North
5. Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history
6. After fighting all day, neither side had gained any ground by
nightfall.
7. Casualties:
a) Union: 12,400 men
b) Confederacy: 10,320 men
8. Lee lost about one quarter of his fighting force and had to
withdraw.
9. McCllellan did not follow and missed a chance to finish off the
crippled Southern army.
10. Lincoln fired McClellan in November 1862.
4.