Download The Civil War

The Civil War
What led to the Civil War?
• Continual division between the N/S
• Compromise of 1850, Kansas/Nebraska Act, Harpers Ferry,
Dred Scott, Freeport Doctrine, Political Parties (expansion of
slavery)
• Political Issues
• Lincoln was elected President even though he was not on the
ballot in most southern states. Lincoln vowed to eliminated the
EXPANSION of slavery.
• Secession
• South Carolina left the Union on Dec. 20 1860 (followed by
Miss., Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Louisiana.
• Formed a new government called the Confederate States of
America (Confederacy).
• Jefferson Davis is the President of the Confederacy
First Shots of the Civil War
• Feb. of 1861, 7 states had left the Union
• Fort Sumter—US fort located off of Charleston,
SC. Confederate soldiers began to surround the
fort, demanded that the US troops inside give up.
• Lincoln chose to just leave the troops there until
the Confederate (South) began to attack.
• April 12th 1861, Confederate troops fired upon the
fort, the US army surrendered, not one person was
killed.
Reaction of Ft. Sumter
• The news of Ft. Sumter made people want to enlist
in the army. (In Iowa, 20 times the quota
volunteered)
• Virginia decided to leave the Union and join the
Confederacy.
• Big loss of the Union because it had a lot of people, industry,
and most of the best generals.
• Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina all left
the Union as well (now making 11 in the
Confederacy).
• Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware and Maryland
chose to stay in the Union but had people fighting
for both sides
Advantages
• Union Advantages: More men, factories,
supplies, better RR, good leader in Abe
• Confederate Advantages: Cotton was
needed by everyone, by far the best
generals, strong military tradition, defend
their homeland. Problem: They had bad
leaders in their government.
Plans for Victory
•
Union Plan (Anaconda Plan)
1. Blockade the Southern Ports with the Navy
2. Sail down the Mississippi River, then cut the
Confederacy in half.
3. Capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.
•
Confederate Plan—Survive as long as
possible, wear the North down.
Bull Run
• First major battle of the Civil War. 30,000
soldiers from both sides met between Richmond
and Washington DC.
• Most of the soldiers were very inexperienced.
• Stonewall Jackson (Confederate General) was able
to keep his troops together long enough for
reinforcements to come---this caused the North to
retreat back towards Washington DC.
• People had shown up to watch the battle with
picnic baskets, no one expected the South to win.
Northern Generals
• Lincoln chose George McClellan as the leader of
the Union Army of the North. McClellan was
very smart but lacked the “guts” to ever do
anything.
• Ulysses S Grant—head of the Union Army in the
South (invade through Tennessee and cut the
Confederacy in half).
• Grant was an alcoholic and pretty much a failure
in everything except for being a good military
commander.
Shiloh
• Located in Tennessee. Grant’s troops were
resting when they were surprised by
thousands of Confederate troops.
• Grant was able to keep his troops somewhat
together until reinforcements arrived the
next day.
• Eventually they were able to push the
Confederates back into Mississippi.
Results/Lessons from Shiloh
• 25,000 people were killed in the 2 day battle
• War was going to be very bloody, not a
quick end like people had thought.
• Generals need to do a better job of scouting.
• The Confederacy lost a ton of their men and
now were not able to keep Grant from
cutting across the South.
Civil War on Water
• David Farragut—Union General that led a fleet
down the Mississippi River to seize New Orleans.
Very important!
• Ironclads—wooden ships that had metal armor on
them. Good because they could withstand some
cannon fire and wouldn’t burn as easily.
• Monitor and Merrimac were famous ironclads.
The North had many more of them, they were the
first real “ships.”
Other Inventions
• Rifle and minie ball were very important to
the war. Rifle’s could be loaded faster and
were much more accurate then muskets.
• Minie ball was more destructive than
previous bullets (more like a real bullet).
• Both sides also had land mines and
grenades, made the war much more deadly.
Problems for the North
• The North was not able to capture Richmond.
McClellan was too cautious, he spent most of his
time training and not attacking.
• Robert E Lee—main general of the Confederacy.
He was very smart, creative and had been the top
US general before the Civil War. He chose to
remain loyal to his home state of Virginia.
War for the Capitals
• Lee and McClellan fought in a series of
small battles in which McClellan was
winning. However, McClellan retreated
because he was afraid of Lee.
• Lee decided to chase McClellan towards
Washington DC.
Antietam
• One of McClellan’s men found Lee’s secret orders
in a cigar box. McClellan was able to attack Lee’s
army when they were separated.
• The battle was the deadliest battle in American
History. Over 26,000 troops died in one day
(more than the Mexican American War and the
War of 1812 combined!!)
• Confederate Army was almost destroyed, they
retreated back to the South. McClellan could have
followed and attack (which would have ended the
war) but he didn’t do anything (too cautious).
• Lincoln was very mad at this and fired McClellan
The Politics of War
• Great Britain decided to remain neutral in the
whole conflict. The South had hoped they would
side with them because of the cotton demand. GB
was able to get cotton from other places.
• More and more people in the North began to insist
that Lincoln free the slaves. Initially, Lincoln was
opposed to this, but he changed his mind.
Emancipation Proclamation
• Emancipation Proclamation—Freed the slaves in
the South. This was done to hurt the Southern war
effort and to make GB happy (ensure they won’t
side with the South).
• It did not effect the actual fighting of the war that
much BUT it did give the North a reason to fight
(symbol of freedom).
• Confederates were very upset and became more
determined to fight for their way of life.
Many oppositions to the war
• Lots of people were against the war. Lincoln was
very harsh with people that went against the war.
• He waived the right of habeas corpus (right to a
trial), seized telegraphs, and started to crack down
on a lot of personal freedoms.
• Jefferson Davis did similar things in the South.
• Copperheads—Northern Democrats who were
against the war and wanted peace with the South.
DRAFT
• Conscription—a draft that would force
people to enlist in the army. Both the North
and the South passed separate draft acts
because most of the volunteers had died.
Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s
Fight
• Confederates: All able bodied men (18-35) except
for those who could hire a sub or those how had
more than 20 slaves.
• Union: White men (20-45). People in the North
could hire subs to fight for them as well.
• NYC—many problems with poor/immigrants
fighting for jobs. They did not want to fight for
freeing the blacks because that would mean more
competition for jobs. Huge riots in NYC that left
100’s dead.
African Americans
• African Americans began to serve with the
North. High percentage. Over 180,000
volunteered.
• African American Problems
• Could not advance beyond captain
• they had a high death rate because they were
assigned the most dangerous jobs.
• Executed if caught by the Confederacy
Confederate Problems
• Problems in the South
– Running out of food in the South, Union controlled
most of the food growing areas in the South
– Very high death rate, loss of man power
– Loss of slaves to work in the fields
– Union blockades of Southern Ports
• Got so bad that people: stole from others or traded
cotton to the North for food.
Life in the North
• Good Things
– Industry was booming because of the high demand for
goods
– Women worked in great numbers in Northern factories
• Bad Things
– Business owners treated workers poorly and the quality
of product suffered (wanted to make money)
– Income tax was passed to make money in the North
Daily Life on the Battle Field
• Soldiers:
•
•
•
•
poor living conditions,
bad diets,
horrible medical care
not enough food.
• Nursing
• North did a good job of training nurses.
• Developed a system to treat and transport wounded soldiers
and taught people about sanitation.
– Clara Barton—nurse who showed how brave women
can be (once had a bullet go through coat)
– 3,000 civil war nurses.
Prisons
• Worst possible place to be, horrible conditions
• Andersonville—was the worst Confederate prison
camp. 33,000 prisoners were there, no food or
shelter. They drank water from the same stream
that was used for a sewer.
• Northern prison camps were not any better. They
had better food/sanitation, but most prisoners died
because of the horrible conditions
• About 15% of all prisoners died.
The North Takes Charge
• Chancellorsville—Lee was able to win the battle
by outsmarting Joseph Hooker (McClellan’s
replacement)
• Only good thing for the North was that Stonewall
Jackson was killed in this battle by one of his own
troops.
• Lee decided that the time was right to take a risk
and try to invade the North. (Pennsylvania)
Gettysburg
• The most important battle of the Civil War
• Lee’s troops ran into a few brigades of
Union troops led by Buford.
• Meade (new head Union general) took the
rest of his army and took defensive
positions in the hills around Gettysburg.
• Lee knew that he needed to force the North
to surrender!
Gettysburg—Day 2
• 90,000 Union troops vs 75,000 Confederate
troops.
• Lee ordered his troops to charge up the hills
• They were initially successful but they were
eventually turned back by Chamberlain.
• Chamberlain held off 3 charges and then
ordered a final bayonet charge to cause
most of the Confederates to surrender
Gettysburg—Day 3
• Lee was convinced that one more day of
attacks would break the Union Lines.
• General Pickett attacked the center of the
Union lines (Pickett’s charge).
• Union soldiers were able to push the
Confederates back…Confederates had lost
the battle of Gettysburg.
Gettysburg--Results
• Over 3 days, Union lost 23,000 troops, the
Confederacy lost 28,000.
• The Confederate Army would never be the same
after this battle.
• Meade did not know how badly off the
Confederate Army was, could have ordered a
counterattack and caused a surrender (but he chose
not to).
• Gettysburg Address—famous 2 minute speech by
President Lincoln, told the people why they were
fighting this war..to save America.
Other battles of 1863
• Vicksburg
• —Grant was able to surround the city
(which was held by Confederate Army)
• This was one of the last Confederate cities
on the Mississippi River.
• Grant was able to force the Confederates to
give up Vicksburg on July 3, 1863. Now it
would be easy to cut the Confederacy in
half (Anaconda Plan #2)
Confederate Morale
• People in the South began to doubt if they could
really win the war.
• Many soldiers left fighting and went home when
they heard how bad things had gotten.
• Nobody was listening to Jefferson Davis and the
Confederate Congress could not get along with
each other
• Farmers were mad because they were asked to quit
growing cash crops, etc..
New Changes
• Ulysses S Grant was appointed head of the
Union Army by Abraham Lincoln.
• Grant appointed William Tecumseh
Sherman to be head to the Union Army in
the South.
• Both men believed in “total war”—which
means making war against everyone and
everything…win at all costs!
Grant’s Strategy
• Occupy Lee’s army all the time by
continually attacking.
• Grant did not really care about how many
men he lost because he could afford the
loses, while the Confederacy could not.
• In 2 months, Grant lost nearly 60,000 men
to Lee’s 32,000 (Cold Harbor, Wilderness,
Fredericksburg)
Sherman’s strategy
• Sherman won the city of Atlanta, he then decided
that he was going to go across Georgia and
destroy everything. Sherman’s March to the Sea
• He wanted to make the people of Georgia “so sick
of war that they would never do it again.”
• After arriving at Savannah, Sherman turned North
to help Grant battle Lee.
Election of 1864
• Lincoln (Rep) ran for re-election against George
McClellan (Dem).
• McClellan’s message was to stop the war
immediately, he had a lot of support.
• As it got closer to the election, the North started to
win more battles and people could see that they
war was going to be over soon.
• This caused Lincoln to be re-elected as president.
Surrender
• Grant and Sherman began to surround
Richmond (Confederate Capital)…Jefferson
Davis and everyone else had left the city.
• A few days later, Grant met Lee at
Appomattox Courthouse to go over the
terms of surrender.
• Grant let all the Southerners go home, need
to start rebuilding.
Legacy of the War
• After the Civil War, the federal government had
supreme power, no state has ever threatened to
leave again.
• National Bank Act—set up in 1863, gave the
government more control over banks/interest rates.
• Industry boomed within the North, while the
South was completely destroyed.
• Southern land was destroyed, livestock killed, no
slaves to work anything.
Results of the War
• Economic Gap between the North and the South
widened after the war. The South held only 17%
of the Nation’s wealth.
• Death Toll: North 360,000 vs South (260,000)
• Wounded: North (275,000) vs South (225,000)
• 2.5 million people served in the Civil War (10%)
Other Issues
• Passed the 13th Amendment which said that
neither slavery or involuntary solitude shall be
allowed anywhere in America. This was hard for
a lot of people in the North/South to accept.
• People moved everywhere after the Civil War.
Some moved back home, moved west, or worked
a profession that they had done during the War.
• Clara Barton became one of the founders of the
Red Cross
`Lincoln’s Assassination
• Lincoln was assassinated on April 14th
1865. This was just 5 days after Lee
surrendered to Grant.
• He was killed by a guy named John Wilkes
Booth in Ford’s Theater in Washington DC.
• The question was: Now what would we do
with our country???