Download The Crucible of War 1861-1865

Girding for War: The North& the South,
1861-1865
Chapter 20
A.P. US History
I.
“And the War Came”
A. Inauguration and Secession
• Lincoln’s inaugural address was carefully written to convey
firmness and conciliation toward the South - it also expressed his
will to oppose secession and maintain unity of the Union
• Lincoln’s strategy focused on (1) avoiding acts that might push
the ‘Upper South’ [N. Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware,
Arkansas] into seceding, and (2) reassuring the ‘Lower South’ [S.
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana] that Republican’s would not abolish slavery
• It was hoped this would buy time so that southern emotions
could cool and enable ‘Unionists’ to assert their influence in the
already seceded states to overturn their ‘ordinances of secession’
I.
“And the War Came”
B. South Carolina Assails Fort Sumter
• Jefferson Davis, his counterpart, was equally determined to
establish the ‘Confederate States of America’ [‘CSA’] as an
independent republic
• Davis and the Democratic Party ultimately chose to make
war rather than let the nation survive – Abraham Lincoln
and the Republican Party were left to accept war rather than
let the ‘Union’ perish
• The initial focal point between these two positions lay on a
tiny island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor – site of
Fort Sumter
I.
“And the War Came”
C. Brothers’ Blood & Border Blood
 In the vital ‘Border States’
‘Unionism’ prevailed because (1) Lincoln ordered
large numbers of federal
troops into those states to
suppress southern
sympathizers, and (2) in
Maryland, Lincoln ordered
martial law and suspended
the ‘Writ of Habeas
Corpus’ [setting aside
constitutional protections
for citizens charged with
crimes]
States by Order of Secession
& the ‘Border States’
I.
“And the War Came”
C. Brothers’ Blood & Border Blood (cont.)
 In the ‘Border States’, the
war was particularly
divisive, pitting significant
numbers of people who
felt little affection for the
Confederacy against those
who did – even within
families
 In the South, most whites
supported secession and
defended the ‘peculiar
institution’ – despite the
fact only 25% of white
southerners owned slaves
[estimated investment $3
billion in 1860]
II.
The Combatants
D. The Balance of Forces (cont.)
• By the summer of 1861, mobilization for war was well underway
– and both sides had devised military and diplomatic strategies
aimed at nullifying the other’s advantages and winning the war
• The ‘Union’s’ offensive strategy called for
• (1) a naval blockade of the entire southern coastline from Virginia to
Texas to prevent supplies from getting in and cotton from getting out,
• (2) regaining control of the Mississippi River from Tennessee to the
Gulf of Mexico, thereby cutting the Confederacy in two,
• (3) waging a diplomatic offensive against Britain and France to prevent
any likelihood they might aid the Confederacy with troops and arms,
and
• (4) invading and defeating the South
II.
The Combatants
D. The Balance of Forces (cont.)
• The Confederates devised an ‘offensive-defensive’ strategy
calling for
• (1) defeating Union armies anywhere they attempted to invade
the South’s vast 750,000 sq. mi. of territory,
• (2) avoid battles that risked destruction of Confederate armies,
• (3) waging a diplomatic offensive to bring England and/or
France into the war on their side,
• (4) strike Union armies under conditions that favored a
Confederate victory, and
• (5) out-lasting the Union’s will to fight
• The South’s confidence in it ability to win the war rested on
its estimation of the economic clout of its principle crop –
cotton
II.
The Combatants
D. The Balance of Forces (cont.)
• The South’s strategy failed
to consider the North’s
huge advantages –
including (1) a population
of 22.3 million from which
to draw soldiers, (2) an
industrial capacity that
supplied 90% of the
nation’s industrial goods,
13X as much textiles as the
South, 16X as much iron,
32X more firearms, (3)
71% more railroad track
miles, etc
Resources of the Union & the Confederacy
II.
The Combatants
D. The Balance of Forces (cont.)
 The South believed
England’s economy
depended on cotton, a
factor that would force help
them win the diplomatic
war – of the nearly 900
million pounds of cotton
imported annually, more
than 700 million came from
the South
 Lincoln understood one
overriding fact – if he did
nothing, the South would
win by default
Bridge on the Orange &
Alexandria Railroad
II.
The Combatants
E. Leadership - A Comparison
 “Wars are won not just on
battlefields but also in the
political arena as well”, and
mobilization required
effective political leadership
 Davis seemed to possess all
of the qualities necessary to
ensuring success as a leader
– a West Point graduate, a
proper gentleman from a
Mississippi planter family, a
Mexican-American War
hero, and experience as a
Senator and Sec. of War
II.
The Combatants
F. Mobilization - A Comparison (cont.)
• The South had to build
factories to manufacture
rifles, ammunition, artillery,
gunpowder, uniforms,
tents, blankets, and other
supplies needed by its
armies
• Josiah Gorgas, head of the
Confederacy’s ‘Ordnance
Bureau’, performed virtual
miracles in manufacturing
weapons and gunpowder
for their armies
Invented by French Captain Claude
Minié in 1848, the ‘Minié Ball’ was
both accurate and deadly
II.
The Combatants
F. Mobilization - A Comparison (cont.)
• The Confederate war effort was hampered difficulties in
transporting supplies to its armies because (1) southern
railroads were few and generally connected plantations with
ports rather than connecting cities and towns together, and
(2) as the war progressed, Union armies destroyed or
captured many of these railroads
• The South, like the North, financed wartime costs through
the sale of war bonds, taxes, and by printing paper money –
however, it financed the greater part of its expenses
through printing paper money which led to an inflation rate
of 9,000% [compared to about 80% in the North]