Download 21-Behind_the_Civil_War

Confederate soldiers immediately began
taking over federal installations in their
states, especially forts. By the time of
Lincoln’s inauguration, only two Southern
forts remained in Union hands, including
Ft. Sumter. The day after his inauguration,
Lincoln received a dispatch from the fort’s
commander, Major Anderson. The
Confederacy was demanding that he
surrender or face an attack, and his
supplies of food and ammunition would
last six weeks at the most.
The news presented Lincoln with a
dilemma. If he ordered the navy to shoot
its way into Charleston harbor and
reinforce Fort Sumter, he would be
responsible for starting hostilities, which
might prompt the slave states still in the
Union to secede. If he ordered the fort
evacuated, he would be treating the
Confederacy as a legitimate nation. Such
an action would anger the Republican
Party, weaken his administration, and
endanger the Union.
War Begins
-Election of 1860
• Lincoln elected
-Secession of lower states
-Confederate States of America
-Firing on Ft. Sumter
• South takes SC fort and
arsenal from the Union
• Lincoln calls for troops
• Officially begins Civil War
-Virginia Secedes followed by
Ark., NC, and Tenn.
-11 States Leave Union
Lincoln executed a clever political maneuver.
He would not abandon Fort Sumter, but
neither would he reinforce it. He would merely
send in “food for hungry men.”
Now it was Jefferson Davis who faced a
dilemma. If he did nothing, he would damage
the image of the Confederacy as a sovereign,
independent nation. On the other hand, if he
ordered an attack on Ft. Sumter, he would turn
peaceful secession into war. David chose war.
On April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., Confederate
batteries began thundering away.
“There is no more thought of bribing or coaxing the traitors who
have dared to aim their cannon balls at the flag of the Union… Fort
Sumter is temporarily lost.”
~Abraham Lincoln
News of Ft. Sumter’s fall
unified the North. When
Lincoln called for 75,000
volunteers to serve for
three months, the
response was
overwhelming.
Lincoln’s call for troops
provoked a very different
reaction in the states of
the Upper South. On
April 17, Virginia,
unwilling to fight against
other Southern states,
seceded the Union. In
May, Arkansas,
Tennessee, and North
Carolina followed. West
Virginia seceded from
Virginia, and the four
remaining slave states
remained in the Union as
border states.
Modern War
-Uses both old and new methods
of war
-Cavalry, Muzzle Rifles,
Battlefield Formations
• Deadlier fighting with more
casualties than ever
-Railroads, telegraph, drafts,
submarines, armored ships,
observation balloons
• Merrimac vs. the Monitor (two
armored ships fighting against
each other)
• Meet at sea, Monitor wins
Smoke Stake
from
the
CSS Virginia
Built in 1862, the USS Monitor was
steam powered and completely
armored. Engineering spaces, crew and
officer quarters, and the galley were all
located below the waterline. The
famous 21 1/2-foot diameter,
revolving gun turret was the first of its
kind.
The CSS Virginia was a Confederate
ironclad built from the burned hull of
the USS Merrimack. The Monitor was
ordered to Hampton Roads in early
March 1862 to defend the Union
against the powerful Virginia. The two
ships clashed on the morning of March
9, bombarding each other for over four
hours with no substantial damage to
either vessel. Although there was no
clear victor in the battle, the Monitor
succeeded in preventing further
destruction to the Union blockade.
On December 31, 1862, while under
tow by the Rhode Island en route to
Beaufort, North Carolina, the Monitor
sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras,
North Carolina, in an area nicknamed
the "graveyard of the Atlantic.“
The wreck of the famous Civil War ship,
the USS Monitor, lies 230 feet below the
surface of the ocean, off the coast of North
Carolina, in the Monitor National Marine
Sanctuary.
The crew of the CSS Virginia destroyed
her shortly after the battle with the
USS Monitor. The ship ran aground
and burned by the crew to keep it from
being captured by the Union.
Strategy-Union
-Constrictor (Anaconda) Plan
developed by Winfield Scott
• Cut access for troops and
supplies to the South
-divide the South through the
Mississippi and control access
to its ports
Three parts
• Control Mississippi River (cuts
CSA in half)
• Blockade the South
• Capture Richmond (CSA
capital)
Strategy-Confederacy
-defensive battle
• “War of attrition” – prepare
and wait
• North must successfully
invade the South
• Works for first two years,
until Lee goes on offensive
-European recognition
• South to convince England and
France to back them
• Slavery stops them
Advantages-Union
-most of the population
• 22 million people in the North
• More people for the army
-large advantages in resources
• More supplies, more telegraph
lines, more railroads
-most of the transportation
and industry
• 90% of industry in U.S.
• 21,000 miles of railroad track
that reached every area of the
country
General Robert E. Lee
Overall Commander of
Confederate Army
2nd in class at West Point
without any demerits
Offered command of Union
Army, but declined due to
loyalty to Virginia
Advantages-Confederacy
-defending their homes
• North would have to kill people
defending homes, honor, and
traditions
-strong sectional pride
• Southern pride and honor
LT. General Stonewall Jackson
Considered by many historians
to be the most gifted tactical
commander of the Civil War
Lt. General James Longstreet
Lee’s Second in Command
54th/56th in class at West Point
Developed Idea of Trench
Warfare
-better military tradition and
leadership
• Most of America’s best
military officers were
Southerners who chose to
fight for the Confederacy
Government Powers
- Both sides had to increase central
government powers
- Eventually angers the South
(states’ rights)
- Raise an army
Drafts
New York Draft Riots
-Supply armies
Take food at expense of citizens –
South suffers most
-Finance the war
Collect taxes
-Suppress any opposition
- Copperheads:
Northern Democrats who oppose
the war
Immigrants in New York riot against the draft,
killing as many as 300 free blacks.
“Your letter shows you to be a cowardly traitor. No traitor can
be my friend; if you cannot renounce your allegiance to the
Copperhead scoundrels and own your allegiance to the
Government which has always protected you, you are my
enemy, and I wish you were in the ranks of my open, avowed,
and manly enemies, that I might put a ball through your black
heart, and send your soul to the Arch Rebel himself.”
A Union Soldier in Response to a Copperhead Friend
Raising Armies
Bounty Jumpers were men
that enlisted in the Union
army during the Civil War
only to collect a bounty and
then leave. Bounty jumpers
commonly enlisted
numerous times in the army,
collecting many bounties
-Northern Advantage
-volunteers at first
-drafts begin
-riots
• Force people to fight in war
• Fights against draft, esp. against
black people
-bounties paid
• Money paid to soldiers to fight;
shopped around until found most
money
A Draftee could gain an
exemption by paying a
fee of $300 or by hiring
a substitute. The
obvious inequity of this
provision prompted the
cry of "rich man's war,
but poor man's fight."
-substitution possible
• Could get other people to fight
for you (pay or force)
-many volunteers
Supplying Armies
-Union Advantages
• North is better-prepared for
the war
-Industrial Capacity
-Transportation Capabilities
-Financial Centers
Confederate Problems
-Foraging the land
• South had to search for food
-Shortages
• Breadlines in the South
“The whole of the laws which I was sworn to execute
were being resisted...in nearly one-third of the
states. Must I have allowed them to finally fail of
execution?... Are all the laws but one, the writ of
habeas corpus, to go unexecuted, and the
government itself...go to pieces, lest that one be
violated?”
Abraham Lincoln
Accused
Confederate spy,
Rose Greenhow,
and her daughter
in Old Capitol
Prison in
Washington. She
was held there
from 1861-1862.
She drowned
when a blockade
runner she
traveled on ran
aground off the
coast of NC. She
drowned with
$2,000.00 worth of
gold for the
Confederate
Treasury sewn
into her dress.
War Politics
-War to Preserve Union
• Lincoln’s official stance
-civil rights were restricted
-Habeas corpus suspended
• Arrest and hold prisoners without
cause; did so with those who were
against Union
-Emancipation Debated
Needed higher cause
(Would also keep South from
getting foreign help)
-Emancipation Proclamation
Jan. 1, 1863
• Freed all slaves in areas of
rebellion (did nothing in reality)
“My paramount objective in this struggle is
to save the Union, and is not either to save
or destroy slavery. If I could save the
Union without freeing any slave, I would do
it; and if I could save it by freeing all the
slaves, I would do it…”
Abraham Lincoln
Others in the War
-African Americans
Robert Gould Shaw and
the 54th Massachusetts
• 200,000 joined the army/navy
Segregated Forces
54th Massachusetts
• Segregated regiment; most
killed at Ft. Wagner
-Women
• Messengers, spies, scouts…
Nursing
Clara Barton
• Found and treated patients on
the battlefield
• Founder of American Red
Cross
“The only regiment I ever looked upon during the
war was the 54th Massachusetts on its departure for
the South. I can never forget the scene as Colonel
Shaw rode at the head of his men. The very flower of
grace and chivalry, he seemed to me beautiful and
awful, as an angel of God come down to lead the
host of freedom to victory."
John Greenleaf Whittier
“I think one’s feelings are wasted in words,
they ought all to be distilled into actions
which bring results.”
Florence Nightingale
“I may be compelled to face danger,
but never fear it, and while our
soldiers can stand and fight, I can
stand and feed and nurse them.”
Clara Barton
Soldier’s Lives
-Disillusionment of war
desertion rate increases
(especially in South)
-Filthy conditions
-Poor food
-Bad medical care
1 out of 4 Civil War soldiers died
Mostly from diseases
-Prison camps
Andersonville
Confederate prison camp
CSA could not feed own men
Warden later hanged for war
crimes
Union soldier
on his release
from
Andersonville
in May, 1865
Andersonville, located in Georgia, was the largest of
the camps established during the Civil War. During the
fourteen months it existed, more than 45,000 Union
soldiers were confined there. Of these, almost 13,000
died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition,
overcrowding, or exposure to the elements.
Handicapped by deteriorating economic conditions, an
inadequate transportation system, and the need to
concentrate all available resources on its army, the
Confederate government was unable to provide
adequate housing, food, clothing, and medical care to
their captives.