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The Civil War: 1861 - 1865
"...WE HERE HIGHLY RESOLVE THAT THESE
DEAD SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN; THAT
THIS NATION, UNDER GOD, SHALL HAVE A
NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM; AND THAT
GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE
PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT
PERISH FROM THE EARTH."
-ABRAHAM LINCOLNTHE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
Confederate States of America
 Model constitution after US
 Single six-year term, line item veto power for Pres.
 No power to levy tariff
 No funds for internal improvements
 Prohibit foreign slave trade
 JD = President
 Limited c. gov.
 States more sovereign than “fed” gov.
 Secession of parts of states (GA)
 Money issues
 $1 bil. in CSA $, 10% tax (in kind), impressment (private
property), nat’lization of RR & industrial development
“This country will be
drenched in blood…The
people of the North…
are not going to let this
country be destroyed
without a mighty effort
to save it…Besides,
where are your men and
appliances of war to
contend against
them?...You are
rushing into war with
one of the most
powerful, ingeniously
mechanical and
determined people on
earth- right at your
doors…Only in spirit
and determination are
you prepared for war.
In all else you are
totally unprepared.”
-William Tecumseh
Sherman
 Confederate seizure of Union
Federal Installations in South


For US- defend or give over to CSA?
Fort Pickens- Pensacola, FL
 Fort Sumter- Charleston, SC
  April 12th, 1861: WAR BEGINS!
Use of Executive Power
 Lincoln increase power as chief exec. & CinC- no
authorization from Congress



1. call for 75k troops- put down “insurrection” in CSA
2. OK to spend US $$ for war
3. suspend writ of habeas corpus

Arrest w/ no charge or trial OK
 Copperheads
 MD situation
• Arrest of mayor, police chief, city council - Baltimore
• Taney
• Frank Key Howard- 14 months at the American Bastille
The War is on. . .
 Post- Fort Sumter- 4 more states into CSA b/c
Lincoln willing to use troops in crisis

Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee

Four slave states stayed in the Union:
 Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri
• 1863- WV
 Capital of CSA from Montgomery  Richmond
The Union vs. The Confederacy
Union
 Advantages were their
resources: had more




People
Factories
Food production
Extensive rail system
 3- Point Strategy:



Navy blockade of Southern
ports (Anaconda Plan)
Conquer the MS River/Split
CSA in two
Capture Richmond, VA
(capital)
Confederacy
 Advantages were:
 Highly trained/effective
generals
 motivated soldiers
 resourcefulness/fighting
in own territory
 Strategy:
 Defend the CSA
 Attack Union when
opportunity arises
CSA v. USA: MILITARY
CSA
USA
 Defense = offense
 Must conquer CSA
 Size of Europe
 Short distance for
troops, supplies
 Coast difficult to
blockade
 Experienced military
leaders
 High morale
 Long distance war
 High pop. useful in war
of attrition

+ Immigrants,
emancipation
 US Navy
CSA v. USA: ECONOMY
CSA
USA
 AG based
 Cash crops
 Banking
 King Cotton
 85% of US factories
 Confederate $$ 
 70% of RR
inflation
 Control of capital
 65% of farmland
 Logistic savvy
CSA v. USA: POLITICS
CSA
USA
 Struggle for
 Preservation of Union
independence
 States’ rights issues 
liability

To win- need strong c. gov.,
public support
 Suspension of civil rights
 Victory? Turn people vs.
Union/Abe/War
 Strong c. gov. + public
support
 Suspension of civil
rights
Border States
 Why not DE, MD, MO, KY?
 Union sentiment, federal policy
 MD: pro-secessionist attack Union troops, threats to
destroy RR to DC, PA

 martial law, suspension of HC  state under federal control
 MO- US troops block pro-South forces
 Guerrilla forces throughout war
 KY- vote to remain neutral
 CSA violate  federal troops in
 Loss of border states  CSA population up 50%,
resources, transportation/communication networks
 No emancipation @ start of war to appease Unionists
in border states

"I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky."
First Battle of Manassas
The Battle of Bull Run
 July 21, 1861
 Back & forth between USA & CSA
 North- Brig. General McDowell
 South led by Brig. General P.G.T. Beauregard, General Thomas
Jackson
“There stands Jackson like a stone wall!”
 Col. Francis Bartow- 1st Commander to die in the Civil War

 CSA win
 = war of attrition, rebs as “invincible”
 Improved weapons (minie ball, grenade, submarine), trenches
Strategy of the Union
 Anaconda Plan
 McClellan- Richmond
 MS- Grant, Farragut (sea)
 Blockade
March 8, 1862- Monitor v. Virginia (Merimack)/Hampton Roads
 Effect?

 Peninsula Campaign
 Gen. George McClellan v. Gen. Robert E. Lee
 Western Theater
 U.S. Grant- TN

Shiloh
Antietam/ Sharpsburg
September 17, 1862
War for Capitals: Antietam
 Sept., 1862: CSA/ANV  DC
 Victory in USA = support/recognition from GB


failure
Lee/ANV cross Potomac  MD

Plans exposed- McClellan takes advantage
 Sept. 17th: USA v. CSA - Antietam Creek.
 Bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. history


22k+ wounded/dead.
Lee back to VA = Union victory.
 Union Gen. McClellan not pursue retreating CSA 
 Lincoln removal from command
 “bad case of the slows”
Emancipation Proclamation
 Abe use as opportunity to change purpose of war.
 Draft of EP prior to battle
 Use to weaken the CSA.
 War powers = seizure of enemy resources/contraband.
Slaves = resource/contraband
 ONLY in CSA

 EP- Sep. 22, 1862  effective Jan. 1, 1863.
 Before EP= war on economics of slavery, states v. federal
rights, to preserve the Union (or Southern independence)
 After EP = war also about moral issue of slavery.
Emancipation
Emancipation
 Why not earlier?
 Need support of border states
 Constitutional protection of slavery
 Racial prejudice of N
 Election of 1864
 EP = Freedman into War
 200k serve in Union army
37k dead
 Army of Freedom



Segregated
Mass. 54th Regiment
Foreign Affairs
 Desire for foreign aid
 GB & King Cotton
 Breakdown of US democratic experiment (pol. & econ. effects)
 Trent Affair
 1861- James Mason & John Slidell on the British Trent
Captured by US, prisoners of war  threat of war b/t GB/USA
 Lincoln apology, release
 No recognition

 Alabama
 CSA buy GB warships, raiders (‘bama- 60+ vessels captured
before sunk by USA)
 Laird ram purchase blocked by US (threat of war w/ GB if sell)
 King Cotton fails
 Cotton from India, Egypt
 Other materials- wool, linen
 No CSA recognition by GB/France
 Lee’s loss @ Antietam
 Emancipation Proclamation
 Benefit of trade w/ USA
Turning Points
Vicksburg
 Spring, 1863- USA control New Orleans, most MS
river/valley
 Grant attempt to take Vicksburg

Fortified, on hill overlooking MS River
 USA destroy rail lines, distract CSA troops near
Jackson

While Union infantry to Vicksburg.
 April 30 = start of siege --> Confederate surrender
on July 4
An Invasion into the North
 Lee intent to invade North = Gettysburg
 Victory  force Union to call for peace, foreign intervention
 Go through MD, into PA
 N support for war minimal.
 soldiers deserting
 Attempts to undermine Lincoln, war effort
 July 1st – 3rd, 1863
 CSA retreat
 No more offensive, no more invasion of N
Gettysburg Address
 November 1863: Ceremony to dedicate cemetery @
Gettysburg
 People to see U.S. in a new way

Was not a collection of individual states, but a UNIFIED
NATION
The War Turns
War of Attrition
 Grant OK w/ war style- attrition
 Grant E to VA- commander of all USA armies
 Victory through…
 Use of population of resource
 Destruction of CSA supply lines
 Wear down CSA army


Vs. Lee  CSA army #s low, retreat to defense of Richmond
Total war

Sherman’s March to the Sea
 100k men- Chattanooga  Atlanta (Sept., 64- election year),
Savannah (Dec.), Columbia (Feb., 65)
Election of ‘64
 Dems- McClellan
 Call for peace! Appeal to war-weary
 Repub = Unionist Party
 Lincoln + Johnson
 Appeal to “War Democrats”
 Gettysburg, Vicksburg  Republican win, reelection
 212 EC to 21 EC
 BUT… McClellan 45% of pop. vote
War Ends
 Successful blockade + Sherman’s march + starvation
in S (winter, ’64-’65)

Lee lines collapse @ Petersburg
 April 3rd, 1865: Union take Richmond
  surrender @ Appomattox Courthouse
 Lee attempt to retreat into mtns- cut off, forced surrender

Abe want restoration of Union vs. Davis demand for continued
independence- CSA gov. negotiation for peace fail
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
 April 9th - Lee & Grant meet, arrange surrender
 generous terms of surrender

Grant took over Lee’s soldiers, sent them home w/ possessions
and few days worth of rations.
 By May, all Confederate resistance collapsed.
  The Civil War ends w/ Union preserved
 Death toll almost as many deaths as all other US wars
combined
Union- 360,000
 CSA- 260,000
 TOTAL: 620,000

Lincoln Assassination
 March, 1865: Booth + friends plan kidnapping
 Lincoln taken to Richmond, VA  exchange for Confederate
prisoners

Lincoln did not arrive at time/place, so plan failed
 April, 1865: Plot to save Confederacy
 Kill Lincoln, VP Andrew Johnson, & Sec. of State William
Seward
 April 14th, 1865: Lincoln’s to Ford’s Theater in DC to
see Our American Cousin


3rd act, “unknown” shooter into box  Lincoln shot from
behind (head)
Sic Semper Tyrannus= Thus always to tyrants!


Virginia, Caesar
Lincoln paralyzed, died April 15th, 1865
Booth caught 12 days later in in Virginia
 Other two parts of plan failed
