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Civil War
Weak Southern Govt.
A. Founded on states’ rights which limited
President Davis’s ability to conduct a war
B. They wanted Europeans to recognize the CSA as
a country and declare the North’s blockade
illegal
C. Tried to pressure Great Britain and France to
help us by refusing to sell them cotton.
D. Trent Affair – 1861 –
a. James Mason and John Slidell on the ship
Trent going to Europe as ministers to
England and France
b. Union warship intercepts the Trent and
arrests them
c. England almost declared war on the US but
Lincoln released the 2 men
E. Europe ends up not supporting the South.
VI Civil War
A.1st “modern” war
a. New technology – cone-shaped bullets
b. New tactics – used trenches and
barricades
c. Huge armies of mostly civilians who
used vast amounts of supplies and
equipment
d. Extremely high casualties
e. Attrition – wearing down of one side by
another through exhaustion of soldiers
and resources. Meant the armies had to
keep replacing their soldiers
B. Union comes up with Anaconda Plan –
a. Blockade
b. Send gunboats to the MS River to split
us
C.The North (1862) offered a bounty to get
people to enlist for 3 years. Offered money
as a bonus
D.Militia Act – July 1862 – gave Lincoln the
power to call state militias into service
E. 1863 – Congress passes a national draft
VII Naval War
A. By 1862 Union has blockaded all southern ports
except Charleston SC and Wilmington, NC
B. Idea was to cut off trade between the South and
the rest of the world.
C. The South had 2 ships (built in Gr. Br. ) that
attacked the blockade and Northern ships from a
port in England
D. Union naval commander = David Farragut
a. Captured New Orleans
b. Gained control of MS River
E. 1862 Ulysses S. Grant – tries to take areas
around Cumberland and TN Rivers. That would
cut TN in half and give the Union a route deep
into Confederate territory.
VIII Ground War
A. Grant’s big victories were at Fort Henry and
Donelson. Attacked Shiloh and Union lost 20K
troops
B. CSA forces attacked Perryville – led by Braxton
Bragg
C. Buell was ordered by A.L. to attack Chattanooga
and cut the rail lines so they could cut off
supplies to the Confederacy
D. A.L. replaced Buell with Rosecrans
E. Rosecrans attacked Bragg near Murfreesboro,
TN.
F. Bragg retreats to Chattanooga
G. General McDowell – lost 1st Battle of Bull Run
and he was replaced with Gen George
McClellan.- idea is to capture Richmond (capital
of the Confederacy)
H. So. Commanded by Joseph Johnston and he
was able to split the No. troops and prevented
them from taking Richmond.
I. Robert E. Lee takes over Johnston’s troops and
began attacking McClellan in the “Seven Day’s
Battle”. – Lee took no mercy and forced the
northern troops back to Washington, DC
J. As they retreated Lee started after Washington –
Second Battle of Bull Run – CSA army got
within 20 miles of DC
K. Lee invades Maryland – Meets up with
McClellan at Antietam Creek – becomes
bloodiest one day battle of the war
L. CSA lost so many it had to retreat
M. Antietam convinced Abe Lincoln to end
slavery once and for all.
N. Abe issues “Emancipation Proclamation” - says
any persons still enslaved on 1-1-1863 would be
set free.
O. This proclamation changed to tone of the war
from being about states’ rights to being about
slavery. Because of this the European countries
who were considering coming in to the South’s
assistance decided they wouldn’t .
IX Wartime Economics
A. South hurts because supplies are cut off
B. Food shortages become a big problem’
C. Killed southern morale and led to riots
X Military life
A. African Americans officially allowed to enlist
after the Emancipation Proclamation
B. 54th Massachusetts – 1st Af-Am regiment
officially recognized in the North
C. Medicine
1. no knowledge of infectious disease/germs
2. infections spread quickly
3. smallpox and pneumonia spread in field
hospitals
4. Amputations frequently done to prevent
spread of gangrene and other infections
5. Women served as nurses – most famous is
probably Clara Barton
6. Elizabeth Blackwell –
a.1st female physician in US
b. started training program for nurses
c. US Sanitary Commission started –
provided medical supplies and assistance
to many army camps and hospitals
d. Civil War became the turning point for
the nursing profession
D. POWs
1. Early in the war prisoners captured were
exchanged
2. After Eman. Proc. The So. Refused to
recognize free blacks from the No. and wouldn’t
exchange them
3. Lincoln stopped prisoner exchanges after
that
4. Andersonville Prison Camp
a. in GA
b. thousands of No. troops died there
from disease, starvation, and exposure
c. Henry Wirz was the commander of the
camp – he was the only man executed for war during
after
the war.