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Total War &
the Republic
Meaning of total war—mass and full commitment
General Winfield Scott,
who developed the
“Anaconda Plan.”
The Demands of Total War
 Southern advantages—defenders of home
country with friendly population
 Lincoln’s leadership—inexperienced, fine
politician, judge of character with human touch
 Suppression in Maryland—suspended
habeas corpus, arrested sympathizers, bullied state
election
 Kentucky’s neutrality—Lincoln patient,
waited for Confederate attack
 Importance of the border states—
population, production, rail centers, Washington,
access to major river systems
Secretary of State William
Seward, who warned European
nations to stay out of conflict.
Opening Moves
The southern
Merrimac battles the
northern Monitor in
the world’s first
battle of ironclads.
 Ironclads—new warfare begun
 King cotton diplomacy
—belligerent status, but King enough?
 Grant’s character—iron will
 Shiloh—“Lick ‘em tomorrow”
Ulysses. S. Grant, the
one Union general
who could and would
take the fight to the
enemy.
The two-day springtime Battle of Shiloh, which
came to be known as “Bloody Shiloh.”
General McClellan, an able
administrator who was loved by his
troops, he was too cautious to be a great
field general.
 Lincoln fears “McClellan has slows”
—arrogance, self-doubt, cautious to a fault
 Lee’s generalship–“Audacity” and
“Stonewall”
 Lee’s invasion fails
—detach Maryland, isolate
Washington; cigars don’t
embolden McClellan at
Antietam, U.S.’s “bloodiest day”
“Burnside Bridge,” over Antietam
Creek, which saw the last decisive
action of the Battle of Antietam.
Robert E. Lee, the
greatest military
tactician of the
war, won many
battles in the war
ordinary generals
couldn’t have
won.
END OF
READING
Emancipation
Lincoln discusses the Emancipation
Proclamation with his cabinet.
 Crittenden Resolution—war aim: preserving Constitution, Union
 Lincoln gives priority to the Union—slavery second to Union
 Congressional attack on slavery—slaves are “contraband,”
then free those used in war effort, then free those owned by rebels
 Lincoln’s decision for emancipation—keep border states in
Union, strike a blow against the Confederacy
 Terms of the Proclamation—after Antietam, in enemy lines
only?—emancipation for military reasons, not necessarily humane reasons
 Reaction to the Proclamation—Europe swayed, redefined war
 Slaves within Union lines—Freedmen face racism, hostility
 Blacks in combat—Douglass: soldiers become citizens
The Confederate Home Front
 Attempts to industrialize—better at industrial goods than
foodstuffs
 New responsibilities, opportunities—women’s roles
expand: spies, smugglers, manufacturers, managers, “government girls”
 Soaring inflation—more money chasing few goods—why?
 Centralization of power—more federal than federal; 1st
conscription law
 Opposition to Davis—state’s rights
 Hostility to conscription
—20-slave exemptions: “a rich man’s war and a
poor man’s fight”
Alexander Stephens, VP of the Confederacy, who
accused Jefferson Davis of trying to be a dictator, he
eventually abandoned the government.
The Union Home Front
 Measures to raise money
—taxes (1st income), bonds, “Greenbacks”
 Western development (finally)
—Homestead and Land Grant
College (land sales proceeds) Acts, 1862
 Corruption and fraud

The Union Congress went ahead with
western settlement despite the war with
–“shoddy,” 20% fraudulent expenditures the Homestead Act and Land Grant
College Act of 1862.
Moral decline
—war brings out the worst—why?
 Women and medicine
—resistance at first;
Clara Barton
A Civil War nurse
comforts a wounded
soldier.
Women staff an outpost of the
United States Sanitary
Commission.
 Women and teaching—another
profession taken over by women
 Suspension of the writ of habeas corpus—across the
North states vs. anti-war agitators; martial law
 The Copperheads—peace Democrats against draft, emancipation
 New York City draft riots—Irish attack draft officials,
Republicans, African Americans—END OF READING
Clement
Vallandigham of
Indiana, labeled a
A crowd of draft
Copperhead and
rioters takes out its
banished to
frustrations on a
Confederacy for
black man—
proposing armistice substitutes part of
(1864 return).
the controversy.
The Civil War
staple hardtack,
sometimes called
“worm castles” by
the Union soldiers.
Gone to Be a Soldier
 Disease and medical care—double
A “boning kit,” used
by Civil War doctors,
whose main
battlefield treatment
was amputation.
died from disease as bullets; doctors considered quacks
 Decline of morality—boredom, horrors, no women
 Southern soldiers and discipline—Americans not
easily molded; southern social structure, elections erode discipline
The “rifled” Colt
musket, which used
a percussion cap
and fired rifled
minie balls like
those to the right.
 Differences between the two armies—acceptance of
organization helps Union
 Impact of technology—rifled barrels, minie balls increased
range greatly increases casualties
 Strength of defense—artillery devastating
defensive, not offensive, weapon, particularly with
exploding shells and canister loads
 Soldiers’ hardening outlook—the
romance of battle is gone
Union “Zouave” soldiers in dress that imitated
French military styles of the time. Most Union
soldiers dressed more like the officer at the right.
The Union’s Triumph
General George Meade faces
off against Lee at a
Pennsylvania crossroads;
some of the thousands of
dead.
 Gettysburg—Lee on
offensive, July 1-3, 1863;
Pickett’s Charge Lee’s greatest
mistake
George Pickett’s men
fought Pickett’s charge.
 Capture of Vicksburg
—July 4 surrender, with Port Hudson, seals Mississippi
 Grant in command—coordinate
with Sherman and push on
 Union’s summer offensive—attrition
Only known
picture of
Abraham
Lincoln at the
Gettysburg
Cemetery
dedication at
which he gave
his address.
 1864 election—remarkable wartime election: Lincoln (abolition)
vs. McClellan (armistice)
 Significance of Lincoln’s reelection—South’s toast
 Thirteenth Amendment—abolition: no compensation
 Abolition as a global movement—Britain spearheads;
serfdom, too
Mac and his running mate
went up the hill to unseat
Lincoln, but both come
tumbling down in cartoon;
Lincoln wins election with a
general that wins battles.
General William
Tecumseh Sherman, who
said, “War is hell, and I’m
going to make ‘em howl”;
a scene from his 50-milewide march through
Georgia.
 Confederacy’s abandonment of slavery—enlist
slaves?; finally, begrudging rejection of values, institutions of “Old South”
 March to the sea—a lesson in total war; in turn north, South
Carolina gets worst
 Lee’s Surrender
—Richmond abandoned,
supplies captured,
nowhere to go
Lee’s surrender to Grant at
the little Virginia town of
Appomattox Courthouse.
Abraham Lincoln shot by John
Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre,
just days after Lee’s surrender,
while watching the English
comedy My American Cousin.
Major Henry Rathbone and his
fiancé were also in the theatre
box. Later in life, Rathbone would
kill his wife, then attempt suicide,
but survive, and would eventually
die in an insane asylum.
 Lincoln’s assassination—made it worse…for the South
 Cost of war —620,000;
South goes from richest to
poorest; U.S. is now singular
 Spiritual toll of war
Lincoln’s elaborate funeral cortege
would make stops in many cities before
his eventual burial in Springfield,
Illinois, his home.