Download Am St I CP 111

American Studies I CP
11.1
Pages 380-389
Setting the Scene
• First shots fired on Fort Sumter, South
Carolina
• April 1861
• Both sides felt it would be a quick war
• In July 35,000 Union Troops trained in
Washington
• Less then a 100 miles away from the
Confederate Capital of Richmond VA
The First Battle of Bull Run
• General Irvin McDowel commanded the
Union Troops
• Felt his troops were not ready
• But, these volunteers only signed on for 90
days… time is running out to make an
attack
Lincoln ordered
• The troops to march on the town of
Manassa to interupt an important railway
junction
• July 16th McDowell marched his poorly
prepared troops
Confederate Postion
• Lead by P.G.T Beaureghard (hero of Port
Sumter)
• His smaller force was camped long a
stream call Bull Run, some 4 miles north
of Manassas
Only 25 miles from Washington DC
The Union Army
• Takes 4 days to march the 25 miles to
Manassas
• Lack of training and discipline
• Accompanying the troops was a huge
crowd of civilians from Washington,
planning to picnic and watch the battle
• (remember no one knew what to expect
from the new weapons)
Confederate Troops
• This 4 day delay gave Beauregard to
strengthen his army by adding some
11,000 troops (plus he had info from a spy)
• Confederate troops were packed into
freight cars and sped to the scene
• (first time a train was used to transport
troops)
July 21st
• The two forces faced each other
• Union forces slightly greater than
Confederate forces
• BUT… if McDowell can break the line, he
could take Richmond less than 75 miles
away
After hours of hard fighting
• The Union forces had the advantage
• Virginia soldiers (fighting on their home
soil) lead by General Thomas Jackson
refused to give up!
• Another Confederate officer rallied his
retreating men saying….
Look!
• There is Jackson standing like a stone wall
behind the Virginians!!!
• The Union advance was stopped
• The legion of Stonewall Jackson is born
Tired and discouraged
• Union forces began to fall back
• Then a train load of fresh Confederate
troops arrived
• An orderly Union retreat fell apart
• Hundreds of union soldiers dropped their
weapons and ran home
• A disorganized blend of civilians and
troops raced back to the saftey of
Washinton
This was the first major battle of the
Civil war
• In the North it is known as the first battle of
Bull Run (the stream)
• In the South it is known as the First Battle
of Manassas (after the town and railway)
Both sides realize
• This will be a bloody and costly war
Casualties
• About 35,000 troops on each side
• About 70,000 total
• Union suffered 2,900
• Confederate 2,000
Preparing for War
• The fat is in the fire now!!!
Northern Advantages
• Population
• North had 21.5
• South had 9 million (which included 4
million slaves)
• Railways
• North had 21,700 miles
• South had 9,000 miles
Northern Advantages
• Factories
• The North Had 110,100
• The South had 20,600
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Remember the 3 M’s
Manpower
Materials
Morale (Motivation)
Southern Advantages
• Leadership
• 7 out of 8 military colleges were in the
South and most officers sided with
Confederacy
• Military Tactics
• The south was defending its borders and
all the Confederates had to do was repel
and not attack
Southern Advantages
• Morale
• Many Southerns were eager to fight as
they were fighting on their own land and
for their way of life (plantations, farming,
independence from federal government
which was trying to take their freedoms
(slaves) away)
Union Military Strategies
• Naval blockade of all the seceded states
• Shutting down the South’s port along the
Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico and
Mississippi to split confederacy
• Kept the South from shipping its cotton to
Europe
• Kept South from importing materials
needed for the war and consumer goods
for civilians
Called the
• Anaconda Plan
• Goal was to get the South to seek peace
• Wasn’t as exciting as attacking
Richmond…But, it won us the war
• Materials and Morale
Confederate War Strategies
• Prepare and wait
• Southerners hoped that Lincoln would just
let them go in peace
• Plan was called a War of attrition
• One side inflicts continuous losses on the
enemy in order to wear down its strength
• In the end, it was the North that waged a
successful war of attrition against the
South
War of Attrition
back fires for the South
• Didn’t work for the South because they
had 9 million people (4 million slaves) and
the North had 21.5 million men
Second Strategy
(that back fired)
• The South produced 75% of the world’s
cotton before the Civil War
• Most of this cotton supplied Britain and
France
• So… the south told farmers not to grow
cotton. They hoped this would force
Britain and France to support the south
and recognize the Confederacy
It back fired because
• Britain and France went to India and Egypt
to full fill their need for cotton and would
not recognize the Confederate States of
America
• By the time the south realized this strategy
had failed, the Union Blockade prevented
cotton from leaving the south
No Cotton
• If the south could not sell cotton, then it
couldn’t make money and they needed
money to buy materials for war. Also, you
can NOT eat cotton. Tons of cotton sat in
warehouse while people starved and men
did NOT have materials for war
Tactics and Technology
• European commanders fought by
concentrating their forces and attacking
• But, they did not have accurate cannons
or muskets and they could not rapid fire
these weapons
• THIS ALL CHANGES DURING THE CIVIL
WAR. The first modern war after the
industrial revolution
Problem
• Most Generals were trained in these
tactics which relied on mass charges of
troops to overwhelm the enemy.
Technology
• Gun Makers realized
– No rifling 100 yards
– With rifling 500-600 yards
– Mini ball (bullet shaped) better than round
• Cannons now fired
– Shells which exploded
– Canister
War in the West
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Union forces invaded
Arkansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Tennessee
Goal was to control the Mississippi river
Why?
• Why would the Union Forces want to
control this river?
• Where did it flow to?
Union Leaders
• General George McClellan was the new
Commander of the Union Forces
• General Ulysses S. Grant was the new
commander of western forces
The command base for the West
• Paducah Kentucky, where the Ohio and
Tennessee river meet
Forts Henry and Donelson
Protected Tennessee and
Cumberland rivers
February 1862
• Grant leads Union forces south along
Tennessee River with 15,000 troops
• Gunboats were steam powered boats with
cannons and were designed to work in
shallow rivers
February 6th
• Grant shelled Fort Henry and forced it to
surrender before troops arrived
• Then Grant marched his army east and attacked
Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. After
three days of shelling the fort fell
• Grant continues south towards Mississippi and
Alabama
Note
• The shelling of civilian populations
becomes a tactic of Grants
Battle of Shiloh
• Corinth, Mississippi
• An important railroad center near
Tennessee / Mississippi border
Generals
• For the Union = Grant
• Support from General Don Carlos Buell
who was bring troops from Nashville TN
• For the confederacy = Johnston
Setting the Scene
• Grant stops out side of Corinth to wait for
Buell to bring in reinforcements
• Johnston who has 40,000 troops launches
an attack before Grant can get more
troops
Day 1 April 6, 1862
• Johnston's forces surprise Grant’s troops
• After the first day of fighting at the Battle of
Shiloh union troops are pushed back
almost into the Tennessee River
• That night, Grant is advised by his officers
to retreat. He does not
Day 2 at Shiloh
• During the night Buell’s troops arrived
• The next day Union forces counter
attacked and drove back confederate
forces.
• The Union WINS!!!
Casualties
• Union suffers 13,000 casualties
• Confederates suffers nearly 11,000
including General Johnston
• North and south know now for sure that
this will be a long a bloody war
Back East
• Union war ships maintained the blockade
of Virginia's coast and the Atlantic coast
• But, the confederates have a secret
weapon
• A ship that looked like a barn roof, and
which cannon shot bounced off of
The Merrimack (confederate)
Era of the Ironclads
• Now the north raced to create Ironclads of
their own to fight the Merrimack
• Unlike the southern ship which was an old
wooden ship (The Virginia) covered in
iron, the Union ship would be made of iron
and completed in 100 days (Union spies
told Lincoln of the new weapon which
allowed the Union to build its own)
The Monitor
Monitor guns
Monitor arrives off Virginia coast
• March 9th 1862
Battle between Ironclads
• After several hours of fighting the
Merrimack withdrew
• Neither ship was seriously damaged
What ever happened to
• May 1862
• The Merrimack was blown up by the
Confederates at its base in Norfolk,
Virginia so that it did not fall in Union
hands in
The Monitor
December 1862
The Monitor sinks in a storm
Mariners Museum VA
Peninsular Campaign
• Union General George McClellan
• Little “Mac” was a great strategist, well
organized, and well liked by his men
• But, he was overly cautious
• Lincoln orders him to attack the Capital at
Richmond VA. This will be the Union’s
second attempt to take the seat of the
Confederate Government
March 1862
• McClellan orders the Army of the Potomac
out of Washington
• He transports 100,000 troops to a
peninsula southeast of Richmond
• McClellan meets a small group of
confederates
• McClellan pulls back and asks Lincoln for
more troops… and then he waits
May 31st
• McClellan attacks
• Confederate commander General Joseph
Johnston (he gets killed at Shiloh on April
7th 1862)
• Battle of Seven Pines
• Both take heavy casualties
• South won because they were willing to
take chances
Why retreat??
• McClellan has taken fewer casualties and
still has more men
• He is within 50 miles of Richmond
• Argh!!!! Fight little mac!!!
In the mean time…
– Lincoln is furious with McClellan and his
missed opportunity
– He fires McClellan and replaces him with
General John Pope
– He demands that McClellan returns to
Washington and turn his troops over to the
command of General Pope
– Lee knows, if both army combine, he will be
severely outnumbered. He must attack
Pope’s troops before the two combine
Richmond still in danger
• But, Lee knows that McClellan would be
too afraid to attack even though he had
more troops than Lee
Opposition to the war
The Copperheads
• Because of the early Northern loses
• Remaining Democrats in Congress
(remember, most Democrats were from
the South)
• This group of Democrats were call the
Copperheads, after poisonous snake.
Brilliant Confederate strategy
• General Stonewall Jackson pretends to
prepare to attack Washington DC
• Because of the threat to Washington DC,
Lincoln will not send reinforcements to
McClellan
• Jackson then sneaks away to join Lee
Near the railway junction of Manassas
The Second battle of bull run
• Lee again divides his army giving Jackson
half
• Jackson sweep around Pope’s troops and
attacks the back.
• Pope turns all his troops to face Jackson
• Then Lee attacks the new rear of Pope’s
troops
• Pope is under attack from both ends
The battle of Bull Run
• Confederate Victory
• General Pope is removed from command\
• General McClellan was returned to his
post
• Lincoln is not pleased with McClellan
– We must use what tools we have
– He has the slows
– If he can’t fight, he makes others ready to fight
Richmond is safe
• Lee now decides to attack the North
• Political goal: to get the European support
for the South and to weaken Northern
Support for the war.
The Battle of Antietam
• September 17,1862
• Confederate General = Lee
• Union General = McClellan (again)
• Lee’s army slips past the troops guarding
Washington and heads towards Maryland
Which way did he go
• McClellan has NO idea where Lee is
• Really??? He can’t find the Army of
Northern Virginia
A pack of cigars saves the Union
• A confederate Officer drops Lee’s plan
which are wrapped in a pack of cigars
• Union soldier finds plans and gives them
to McClellan
• McClellan takes 16 hours to react
• By this time… Lee realizes that the Union
knows his plans
September 17, 1862
• Lee’s 40,000 troops
• McClellan’s 75,000 troops with 25,000
In one day Lee loses 1/3 of his army
The confederates retreat
• The battle of Antietam became the
bloodiest day of the civil war
• 26,000 dead most in the first 3 hours of
fighting
• Three days of fighting at Gettysburg
52,000 dead…
Antietam
• Sets up the Emancipation Proclamation
• Is the first big Union Victory