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The Civil War
U.S. History Summer School
2014
Secession
• South Carolina secedes December 20th 1860.
• 6 more secede over the next 2 weeks.
• Before Lincoln is inaugurated, S.C., Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, and
Georgia.
• They meet February 1861 in Montgomery,
Alabama and create new nation.
– The Confederate States of America
• Elect former Senator Jefferson Davis President
First Shots
• Fort Sumter – April 12th, 1861
– Island in Charleston harbor South Carolina
– Needed to be re-supplied
– Lincoln let S.C. know that he was sending no
troops or arms, just food.
– If Fort was not supplied it would have to be
surrendered to the South.
– On April 12th Confederates open fire and
begin bombardment of fort.
– After 34 hours Union Army surrenders
Fort Sumter
Results – Ft. Sumter
• Open act of Rebellion
• As defender of constitution Lincoln feels he must
call up troops to fight the seceding states.
• Southerners saw this as an action against them
• As a result upper south states of Virginia,
Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, join
Confederacy.
• 4 Border states with Slavery do not secede.
Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware
• West Virginia breaks off from Virginia and
becomes new state in 1863
U.S. at Start of Civil War
First Battle
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Battle of Bull Run
July 21st 1861
Union Poorly organized
Confederates significantly smaller
Looked like Union would win
Virginia soldiers under the command of Jackson
refuse to give up and turn the tide of the battle.
• Jackson becomes folk hero after battle with
nickname stonewall.
North – South Advantages
• North
– Railroad Mileage
– Factories more than
double
– Well Balanced
Economy
– 2/3 of Population
• South
– 7 of 8 military colleges
in South
– Just defend
– Fighting to preserve
their way of life
– Home field advantage
North – South Strategies
• North
– Naval Blockade
• Prevents economy from
functioning
– Control Mississippi
River to cut
Confederacy in two
– Defeat Quickly
• South
– Prepare and wait
– Defensive War
– War of Attrition
• Inflict continuous loses
to wear down morale
and strength.
– Stop exporting cotton
• This would force Britain
and France to support
the South because they
needed their cotton
• FAILS!
Strategy
Tactics and Technology
• Rifling
– Spiral grooving cut into the gun barrel
• Causes new Bullets to spin as they are fired going straighter
and further. 500 yards vs. 100 yards
• Artillery
– Exploding Shells
– Canisters
• Filled with bullets turning artillery into giant shotguns
• Generals were slow to recognize that the new
technologies were ahead of military tactics
– Causes mass slaughters of troops
War in the West
• While Lee dominated the Union in Virginia, the Western
Union army was determined to take control of the
Mississippi River.
• Ulysses Grant
– Union general who finds immediate success in west and catches
Lincoln’s eye
– Wins battles of Ft. Donelson and Henry in West Tennessee Feb.
1862
– First significant victories for Union.
– Gives hope to North
• South Starts to have concerns as the Northern Army
grows in west with continued success and the fall of
Nashville.
Civil War 1861-1862
Battle of Shiloh
• Grant was working his way towards
Mississippi, and was nearing Miss/Tenn.
Border.
• South amasses large army to stop him.
40,000 Troops.
• Grant decides to wait for reinforcements
that are on way.
• South under the leadership of Johnston
decides he must attack Grant before he is
reinforced.
Battle of Shiloh
• April 6th, 1862 Johnston surprises Grant and battle
quickly spreads.
• By the end of the first day grant was driven back nearly
across Tennessee River.
• That night Grant’s officers recommended retreat. Grant
replies “ Retreat? No. I propose to attack at daylight and
whip them.”
• Union reinforcements arrive that night and Grant
destroys South army and kills Johnston.
• Union suffers 13,000 casualties
• South suffers 11,000 casualties
• Bloodiest day in U.S. History to that point.
Meanwhile…
• Union Navy works its way up the
Mississippi River
– Captures New Orleans April 25th 1862
– Memphis June 6, 1862
• Port Hudson and Vicksburg are last major
ports in Southern hands.
• Grant heads to Vicksburg
Back in the East
• Union trying to capture Richmond
• Battle of Second Bull Run
• Union get sucked into battle when Lincoln
had ordered them to attack Richmond
• Union gets beat badly
• Lincoln changes commanders again.
• Lee decided to invade North to draw Union
away from Richmond
Battle of Antietam
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Union Lucky by discovering Lee’s orders
Battle Sept. 17, 1862
Lee 40,000 Troops
Union 75,000
Union attacks and suffers great casualties
By the end of the day Lee had 14,000 casualties
and Union 12,000
• Bloodiest single day of War
• Lee retreats to Virginia
Results of Antietam
• Lincoln finally gets victory he needs to
issue the Emancipation Proclamation free
slaves in the rebelling states.
• Lincoln fires general again because he did
not chase Lee and destroy him when he
had the chance.
• Lee loses 1/3 of his army
Lee’s big Victories
• Fredericksburg - Dec. 13th 1862
• Chancellorsville – May 1, 1863
– Both Victories hurt morale of Union
• The worst for the South though was that General
Jackson was wounded by own men at
Chancellorsville and would die of wounds.
• Lee states he has lost his right arm and most
brilliant general.
• Loss of Jackson also hurts Southern morale
where Jackson is folk hero
Mood in Washington
• Lincoln fires Burnside after Fredericksburg
and then fires Hooker after
Chancellorsville.
• Rumors Lincoln would resign
• Some Northern leaders suggested making
peace with the South.
• Lincoln said “If there is a worse place than
Hell, I am in it.”
Lee’s big decision
• Union Blockade of the South was starting to
take its toll on supplies and weaken Lee’s
Army by the spring of 1863.
• With all of the Battles in Virginia, supplies
there had become hard to find.
• Lee decided to go find some in Pennsylvania.
• He also hoped a Southern victory on
Northern soil would convince the North to
give up.
June 1863
• Lee moves North to find supplies
• Union Army to stay between Lee’s Army
and Washington.
• Union Army moves North to find Lee
• July 1st, Confederate Soldiers enter town
of Gettysburg looking for shoes, run into
small group of Union Cavalry.
• Starts as small skirmish, Both Armies
move in Quickly
Gettysburg July 1-3 1863
• Largest battle ever in North America
• Lee wanted to inflict a defeat on Union on
Union soil.
• Lee’s supply lines were getting long and
they were running out.
• Word was Gettysburg had supplies and
food.
• Meade had been ordered to prevent Lee
from attacking Washington.
Battlefield Layout
Aftermath of Gettysburg
• Lee never again will have the strength to
attack the North.
• Lee offers resignation, but is rejected
• Meade is fired by Lincoln because he does
not pursue Lee and allows him to escape
back to Virginia
• Tide of war turns in favor of the Union
Vicksburg
• Final stronghold on Mississippi river
• Protected well on three sides
• Between December 1862 and April 1863 Grant
made several attempts to capture the city. All
failed
• Grant then decides to attack Jackson, the state
capital.
• This pulls troops from Vicksburg to try and save
Jackson.
• Jackson falls before they arrive and Grant
engages southern Army, wins but cannot
destroy their army. They flee back to Vicksburg.
Siege of Vicksburg
• With the army dug back in at Vicksburg, Grant
tries a new idea. Siege
• 2800 shells per day for over a month.
• Residents dug caves, lived in basements.
• People were forced to eat dogs, horses, mules,
and even rats
• By late June the food for the army was running
out.
• On July 4th 1863 30,000 soldiers marched out of
Vicksburg and surrendered
1864
• Grant becomes head of all union forces
and has new strategy for destroying army
of Virginia
• He is determined to use the Unions huge
advantage in men and supplies.
• The result is some of the bloodiest battles
of the war.
Election of 1864
• Former General McClellan, fired twice by
Lincoln, opposes him.
• He says he will end war and make peace
with the South.
• A year earlier and he may have won but
with the victories at Gettysburg and
Vicksburg it is clear the Union is closing in
on victory.
• Lincoln wins easily
Grant Chases Lee
• Grant knows Lee will defend Richmond at all
costs.
• To draw Lee into battle all Grant must do is
move towards Richmond.
• Many battles are fought and many are Southern
Victories.
• Grant continues on losing thousands of men, but
Lee cannot reinforce at even close to the same
rate.
• By 1865 it was clear the Confederacy could not
win and their last chance for survival was the
election which Lincoln won.
Grant Chases Lee
Sherman’s March
• While Grant was in charge in the East Sherman
took control in the west.
• Applying a “Scorched Earth” policy he lays ruin
to the south from Atlanta to the sea in
Savannah.
• When Atlanta finally falls there is no confederate
army left to oppose him.
• He was determined to cause as much
devastation as possible to force the
confederates to surrender.
• Sherman “War is cruelty, there is no use trying
to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be
over.”
Sherman’s March
13th Amendment
• Congress passes the 13th amendment in
February 1865 outlawing slavery in the
United States of America
• It was ratified and became law December
18th 1865
• This ended the most divisive issue in U.S.
history, slavery.
Lee Surrenders
• April 9th 1865 Appomattox Courthouse
• Many of Lee’s officers wanted Lee to
continue to retreat and fight a guerrilla
war.
• He refused fearing it would bring even
more devastation to Virginia.
• 5 days after Surrender, Lincoln is
assassinated.
Aftermath of War
• Over 600,000 DEAD
• In all other U.S. wars combined barely
620,000 total U.S. dead.
• 2/3 of southern shipping industry
destroyed
• 9000 miles of railroad destroyed
• Value of southern land drops by 70
percent
Casualties