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CHAPTER
14
CRUCIBLE OF FREEDOM: CIVIL WAR
1861-1865
Analyze the ways in which
controversy over the extension
of slavery into western
territories contributed to the
coming of the Civil War. Confine
your answer to the period 1845–
1861.
INTRODUCTION
Immediately after Fort Sumter’s fall,
volunteers flocked to the Union and
Confederate armies
Filled with loyalty and patriotism for
their respective sides, neither soldiers
nor politicians foresaw the long, bloody
war ahead
As the Civil War dragged on and on
both the Union and Confederate govts.
were forced to impose the draft and
adopt other policies
• One out of every 5 soldiers who fought died
INTRODUCTION
(CONT.)
Most important
the Union, which entered the War with no objective
beyond stopping secession, discovered that in
order to win the war it also had to emancipate the
slaves
INTRODUCTION
(CONT.)
1.) What advantages did each combatant, Union and
Confederate, possess at the start of the Civil War?
2.) How successfully did the govts. and economies of the
North and South respond to the pressures of war?
3.) How did the issue of emancipation transform the war?
4.) What factors determined the military outcome of the
war?
5.) In what lasting ways did the Civil War change the United
States as a nation?
MOBILIZING FOR WAR
Recruitment and Conscription
North and South alike were unprepared for war
In the spring of 1861, the Union had a small army
 16,000
 Mostly in the West
 1/3 of the Union army officers resigned to join the
Confederacy
MOBILIZING FOR WAR
(CONT.)
April 1862
Confederacy passed the 1st
conscription law
The act exempted from the draft
people in several occupations and
those who owned or oversaw 20 or
more slaves
• The 20-Negro law led nonslaveholders to
complain that this was “a rich man’s war but
a poor man’s fight.”
MOBILIZING FOR WAR
(CONT.)
The South managed to procure the arms
it needed but was less successful in
providing its troops with food and clothing
It imposed the Impressment Act
1863
1.) Allowed govt. agents to take food supplies from
farmers at a set price
2.) seize slaves to work for the army
This law was hated even more than the
Conscription Act
MOBILIZING FOR WAR
(CONT.)
Enrollment Act
• 1863
• Made all able-bodied white males ages 20-45
eligible for the draft
• Granted exemptions
• 1.)Permitted men to buy substitutes to serve in
their place
• 2.) Excused those who paid the govt. a $300
commutation fee
By the war’s end 2.8 million men
served on either side
UNION SOLDIERS
FINANCING THE WAR
Both sides sold war bonds and printed unbacked
paper money
Greenback
Union paper money
Did not depreciate unduly
The federal govt. made greenbacks legal tender
Imposed stiff new taxes to keep
The govt. solvent
FINANCING THE WAR (CONT.)
The South
More reluctant to impose and collect new taxes
Tried to pay its bills by printing more and more
paper money
Saw its currency depreciate drastically
FINANCING THE WAR
(CONT.)
The North also passed the National Bank Act
Permitted federally chartered banks to issue national bank
notes
 Backed by the federal govt.
Tax history website
POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
IN WARTIME
Lincoln faced opposition from northern
Democrats
Disliked the National Bank Act
The draft
The emancipation of slaves
He also faced opposition from the Radical
Republicans
End slavery
Criticized his lenient reconstruction plans
Salmon Chase, Charles Sumner, Thaddeus
Stevens
POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
IN WARTIME (CONT.)
In the face of this opposition, Republicans rallied behind
Lincoln
Coalesced into a strong political entity
Rule federal elections for years
POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN
WARTIME (CONT.)
Jefferson Davis was
less successful in
containing
factionalism
Embroiled in
destructive fights
with his VP
(Alexander
Stephens) and other
states’ rights
leaders
Securing the Union’s
Borders
Lincoln wanted to protect Washington D.C.
Needed the border states to stay in the Union
Lincoln occupied the border states militarily
and suspended the writ of habeas corpus
Arrested prosecession supporters without
charge
Securing the Union’s
Borders (cont.)
The Supreme Court in Ex parte
Merryman ruled Lincoln’s actions as
unconstitutional
• Ex parte Merryman Supreme Court Case
• Lincoln defied the Court
With Lincoln’s emergency measures,
MD, DE, KY, and MO stayed in the
Union
IN BATTLE, 1861-1862
Armies, Weapons, and Strategies
• North’s advantages:
•
•
•
•
Larger population
Many more white men of fighting age
Control of 90% of the country’s industry
Control of 2/3’s of the country’s railroad track
ARMIES, WEAPONS, AND
STRATEGIES (CONT.)
South’s advantages:
• Fighting a defensive war on its home territory
• Could use a larger population of its white men for
fighting
• Slave labor carried out nonmilitary activities
ARMIES, WEAPONS, AND
STRATEGIES (CONT.)
The improved bullets and Springfield or Enfield
rifles used during the Civil War increased the
infantry’s firepower
• Reduced the effectiveness of cavalry
• Encouraged the digging of trenches
• Put a premium on the element of surprise in an attack
ARMIES, WEAPONS, AND
STRATEGIES (CONT.)
Anaconda plan
Union plan at the start of the War
Sealing off the South with a blockade of its
coastline and cutting it in 2 by gaining control of the
Mississippi River
In 1861, the Union did not yet have enough ships
and troops to carry out the plan
Anaconda Plan
ANACONDA PLAN
STALEMATE IN THE
EAST (CONT.)
Battle of Antietam
Sharpsburg, MD
Sept. 1862
Lee hoped with this invasion to:
Seize needed food
Threaten Washington D.C.
Increase peace sentiment in the North
Convince GB and France to recognize the Confederacy
STALEMATE IN THE
EAST (CONT.)
Battle of Antietam (cont.)
• Union forces under McClellan halted Lee’s
advance and forced him to retreat southward
• Stopped Confederacy from advancing North
• Allowed Lincoln to prepare the Emancipation
Proclamation
• 23,000 were killed
THE WAR IN THE WEST (CONT.)
Battle of Shiloh
Southern TN
April 6-7, 1862
23,800 total casualties
110,000 total troops
Union victory
The Soldiers’ War
The typical Civil war soldier (Union or Confederate)
was a volunteer
Came from a farm or small town
Ended up serving in the infantry
Usually enlisted with visions of military glory and
proving his “manhood”
The Soldiers’ War
(cont.)
His real war experiences soon stripped
away romantic illusions
Life in army camps was tedious
The food was bad in the Union army and
scarce in the Confederate
Confederate soldiers often lacked
blankets, clothes, and shoes
Poor sanitation in the camps of both
armies
High rates of disease, lice, flies, ticks, and rats
The Soldiers’ War
(cont.)
The casualty rates in battles were
horrendous
Shiloh and Antietam were the worst
In their letters home, Confederate soldiers
often claimed to be fighting for southern rights
and to protect slavery
Union soldiers at first said little about
abolishing slavery
but mentioned the need for emancipation more often as
the war continued
either for humanitarian reasons or as the best way to
defeat the South
IRONCLADS AND
CRUISERS: THE NAVAL
WAR
The Union gradually tightened its blockade
It further disrupted foreign trade vital to the Confederacy
Captured ports and coastal areas
IRONCLADS AND
CRUISERS: THE NAVAL
WAR (CONT.)
Confederate attempts to break the stranglehold with an
ironclad ship led to the Battle of the Merrimac and the
Monitor
Merrimac=Confederacy
Monitor=Union
March 8-9, 1862
draw
IRONCLADS AND
CRUISERS: THE NAVAL
WAR (CONT.)
MONITOR
MERRIMAC
THE DIPLOMATIC WAR
The Confederacy tried to convince
France and Britain that it was in
their interests to extend diplomatic
recognition
Hoping to establish a colonial empire
in Mexico, Napoleon III of France
had grounds to welcome a
permanent division in the United
States
The South expected active help from
the British, who desperate for the
South’s cotton, might be counted on
to break the Union blockade
THE DIPLOMATIC WAR
(CONT.)
There was tension between the Union and
the British over the Trent affair
Confederate diplomats were captured by the
British
USA was concerned if the British had a right to
capture the diplomats
British let them go after about 2 weeks
Tension also over the commerce raiders
and rams built for the Confederacy in
England
THE DIPLOMATIC WAR
(CONT.)
But the South’s “cotton diplomacy”
failed
The British had stockpiles of cotton
on hand at the start of the war and
then found alternative sources of
cotton supplies
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
won British sympathy for the Union
• Turned the struggle into a war against
slavery
FROM CONFISCATION TO
EMANCIPATION (CONT.)
Lincoln at first resisted calls for
emancipation
• He did not want to push the border slave
states into secession
• He also knew many northerners feared that
freedmen might come north and compete for
jobs
Radical Republicans demanded
immediate emancipation
• pointed out that the South’s use of slave
labor was helping it militarily
FROM CONFISCATION TO
EMANCIPATION (CONT.)
After early Union defeats, many
northerners agreed that it was necessary to
strike a blow against slavery to beat the
Confederacy
Second Confiscation Act
July 1862
Authorized freeing slaves who came within Union
lines
Also authorized using black soldiers
Lincoln hesitated a while longer to
enforce this law
FROM CONFISCATION TO
EMANCIPATION (CONT.)
Lincoln failed to persuade Union
slave states to accept federally
compensated abolition
Lincoln drafted his Emancipation
Proclamation
• It stated that as of Jan. 1, 1863, all slaves in
areas then in rebellion were “forever free”
It only applied in areas not
controlled by the Union
• At first it freed no slaves
FROM CONFISCATION TO
EMANCIPATION (CONT.)
Issuing it was a masterful move:
It satisfied Radical Republicans
Appealed to antislavery sentiment in GB and
France
Forestalling their recognition of the Confederacy
Encouraged slaves to run away and join the Union
army
Emancipation Proclamation
CROSSING UNION
LINES
By 1865 about half a million former slaves
were in Union-held territory
Some worked for the army
Others worked for loyal planters
Others worked on abandoned plantation lands
Many Union soldiers were bitterly
prejudiced against blacks
began to change their attitudes as black spies and
scouts helped them
BLACK SOLDIERS IN
THE UNION ARMY
After Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, large
numbers of blacks were accepted in the Union army
By 1865, 186,000 blacks had served
Made-up 1/10 of all Union soldiers
BLACK SOLDIERS IN THE
UNION ARMY (CONT.)
The black troops suffered much
discrimination
Placed in segregated regiments
Commanded by white officers
Received less pay
Suffered a higher mortality rate than whites
Despite unfair treatment, they served the
Union well
SLAVERY IN WARTIME
Southerners attempted to maintain
control over their slaves by:
stepping up patrols
telling slaves horror stories about the Yankees
moving slaves far from Union lines
Nonetheless, slaves ran to Union camps
Others remained on the plantation doing
little or no work
SLAVERY IN WARTIME
(CONT.)
Near the end of the War the Confederate congress passed a
bill to arm 300 slave soldiers
The plan was never put into effect
THE TURNING POINT
OF 1863
In the summer and fall of 1863, the
Union scored important victories
Lee’s invasion of the North was
turned back at Gettysburg in July
Simultaneously, Grant took
Vicksburg, and Port Hudson fell to
another Union force
• The North then controlled the whole
Mississippi River
VICKSBURG
GETTYSBURG
GETTYSBURG
WAR AND SLAVERY,
NORTH AND SOUTH
The War’s Economic Impact: The
North
• War-related industries and the railroads
boomed
• The Republican-dominated Congress enacted
measures that encouraged further business
development:
• Raising tariffs
• Chartering and granting land and loans to the
Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad
corporations
• Build a transcontinental line
• Creating a new national banking system
The War’s Economic
Impact: The North (cont.)
Other legislation benefited the West
Homestead Act (1862)
160 acres of land in the West
Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)
Set up universities
Military tactics, engineering, and agriculture
MSU, WI, KY, PSU, IA State
THE UNION VICTORIOUS, 18641865
The Eastern Theater in
1864
In 1864, Lincoln put
Ulysses S. Grant in
command of all Union
armies
Grant moved his
headquarters to the eastern
theater
Proceeded to attack Lee in
VA
THE EASTERN THEATER IN 1864
(CONT.)
Grant proceeded to
attack Lee in VA
At the same time,
Grant ordered
General Sherman to
invade GA
THE ELECTION OF
1864
Lincoln faced a tough fight
First from the Radical Republicans
Preferred to nominate Salmon Chase
Then from peace Democrats
Nominated George McClellan
To win the votes of prowar Democrats
and Lincoln and the Republicans
nominated prowar Tennessee Unionist,
Andrew Jackson for VP
THE ELECTION OF 1864 (CONT.)
Sherman’s
capture of Atlanta
in Sept. clinched
Lincoln’s victory
in Nov.
Sherman’s March Through Georgia
After burning march of
Atlanta, Sherman
marched across GA to
Savannah
His army lived off the
countryside and seized
or destroyed everything
of possible military
value
Sherman’s March Through Georgia
(cont.)
In Dec. 1864, Sherman
too Savannah and
turned north to SC
The destruction visited
on SC was even greater
than GA
Climaxed with the
gutting of the Columbia
(the capital of SC)
Sherman then
continued into NC
TOWARD
APPOMATTOX
While Sherman swung north, Grant
close in on Lee’s army
By spring 1865, Confederate morale
had broken and men were deserting
in droves
On April 3, Grant entered Richmond
Lee made a last attempt to escape
from the Union army
Soon Lee surrendered to Grant at
Appomattox Courthouse
THE IMPACT OF THE
WAR
The Civil War killed some 620,000
Americans
More than any other war the nation
has fought
It ruined the southern economy but
stimulated industrialization and
capital in the North
While the Civil War did not wipe out
the states’ rights doctrine, it did
greatly strengthen the federal govt.
THE IMPACT OF THE
WAR (CONT.)
There would be no more attempts at secession
The War ended ended slavery
But it left undecided the future of 3.5 million freedmen
CONCLUSION
Historians still debate the question of
why the North won the Civil War
Certainly the North had great advantages
over the Confederacy in manpower,
industry and railroads
But it also had a much tougher task than
the Confederacy
To win, the North had to invade and conquer the
South and destroy it armies and resources
CONCLUSION (CONT.)
The South had only to fight a
defensive war on its home ground
Keeping its territory and armies
intact until the Union tired of
struggle and accepted secession
Some historians attribute the
North’s victory primarily to the
Confederacy’s internal weaknesses
Still others say the North prevailed
because it won key battles, but often
not by much
CONCLUSION (CONT.)
Therefore, chance played an
important part in the outcome
Whatever the reasons for the
Union’s triumph the legacy of the
Civil War is clearer
• It ended slavery
• Forged a stronger federal govt.
• Weakened states’ rights
• Heightened nationalism