Download The Civil War

The Civil War
“A Very Bloody Affair”
Secession
The Nation Splits Apart
Lincoln Elected President
Lincoln won every free state except New
Jersey.
The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was
the final straw for many southerners.
Eleven states seceded from the Union. Four
of these (Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina,
and Tennessee) did not secede until after the
Battle of Fort Sumter that occurred on April
12, 1861.
Order of Secession
Lincoln Asks for Union
In his first speech as president, Lincoln called
southerners his ‘fellow countrymen’ and said
the southern states were still part of the
nation.
He also said the government would hold onto
all of its property in the South (forts, roads,
post offices).
Caught in the Middle
 The states of Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and
Missouri were border states (between the North and
South).
 Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee
eventually decided to secede.
 Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri decided
to stay in the Union.
 People in Western Virginia who did not want to
secede formed the new state of West Virginia, and
remained in the Union.
Violence in Maryland
 Many people in Maryland owned slaves and
supported the Confederacy. Many elected officials in
the state government were in favor of leaving the
Union.
 If Maryland seceded along with Virginia, Washington,
DC would be surrounded by Confederate states.
 Soldiers from Massachusetts were attacked by a mob
as they traveled through Baltimore to Washington,
DC.
 To keep Maryland in the Union, Lincoln placed
Baltimore under military rule and arrested anybody
who supported the Confederacy -- including 31
elected members of the state government.
The Baltimore riot of April 19, 1861.
The first casualties of the Civil War
occurred when the 6th
Massachusetts Volunteers, the first
regiment to respond to Lincoln's
call for troops, was attacked by a
pro-Confederate mob in Baltimore,
Maryland, where a dozen civilians
and four soldiers were killed.
Maryland, despite deep divisions,
remained in the Union, largely
through the Federal government's
use of force.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Both the North and the South had strengths
and weaknesses heading into the war.
Use the information in Handouts 6 and 7,
pages 569-571 in American History text,
and pages 467-468 in Creating America
text to complete a table listing the strengths
and weaknesses of both sides.
North Strengths
106 million acres of farmland
110,000 factories
1,300,000 factory workers
22,000 miles of railroad
97% of nations weapons
22 million people
Lincoln’s leadership
81% of nations bank deposits
South Strengths
“Home field advantage” majority of battles were on
southern soil
Could fight a defensive war
Superior military leadership
Motivated to fight for cause
Excellent soldiers
North Weaknesses
Long supply lines to get materials
to battles in South
Fighting for an abstract idea
(preserving the Union)
Poor military leadership
South Weaknesses
Smaller population
Only 57 million acres of farmland
Only 18,000 factories - fewer
weapons and supplies
Only 8,500 miles of rail
Military Strategies
Different Paths to Victory
The Anaconda Plan
The Union had a 3 pronged strategy to win
the war: 1- blockade Confederate ports to
cut off supplies and ruin the economy of the
South; 2- take control of the Mississippi
River to split the South in half; 3 - capture
Richmond, Virginia and seize the Confederate
government.
This strategy was called the Anaconda Plan.
The Southern Strategy
The South knew they could fight a defensive
war.
They also tried to break the North’s blockade.
They tried to use their role as the world’s
largest supplier of cotton to convince the
French or British to help them.
They also thought they could win if they
captured Washington, DC.
The Battle of Bull Run
A Great Awakening
Bull Run
Both sides thought the war would be over
quickly.
After Ft. Sumter was attacked, Lincoln called
for volunteers to join the Union army for 90
days.
Many people in the North did not want to
wait for the slowly developing Anaconda plan.
They wanted a quick attack to capture
Richmond.
Bull Run
Both sides thought the war would be over
quickly.
After Ft. Sumter was attacked, Lincoln called
for volunteers to join the Union army for 90
days.
Many people in the North did not want to
wait for the slowly developing Anaconda plan.
They wanted a quick attack to capture
Richmond.
Spies Among Us
Many of the large
number of southern
supporters in
Washington, DC and
Maryland served as
spies for the South.
Both sides used codes
to try to keep secrets
from their enemy.
Women in the War
In addition to serving as spies, women ran
farms and businesses while their husbands
and sons were away fighting.
Women served in the military as messengers,
guides, scouts and even soldiers.
Dorthea Dix and Clara Barton organized
women to serve as nurses at military
hospitals.
After Bull Run
The defeat at Bull Run ended hopes for a
quick war.
The North began to put the Anaconda plan
into action.
 By the end of 1861, all southern ports were
blocked off by the northern navy.
In 1862, the Union captured New Orleans and
controlled the Mississippi River.
The Generals
The main generals for the Confederacy were
Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, James
Longstreet, P.G.T. Beauregard and J.E.B.
Stuart.
The main generals for the Union were George
McClellan, Ulysses S. Grant, George Meade,
and William Sherman
A New Kind of War
 In past wars, battles
were fought with less
accurate weapons,
often ending in hand-tohand combat with
bayonets.
 Improvements in rifles,
cannons and artillery
made it easier to kill
large numbers of enemy
soldiers from farther
away.
Lee Changes Plans
To try to turn the tide of the war, General Lee
make a bold decision to invade the North.
Lee hoped that a victory would cause
Maryland would join the Confederacy and
would convince England to support the
South.
After the bloodiest single day of the war, no
territory had changed sides. The result was
considered “a defeat for both armies”.
After Antietam
 Though neither side won anything, the Union
considered the battle of Antietam a victory since the
Confederate army retreated back into Virginia.
 After the battle, Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation to try to rebuild northern support for
the war.
 The Proclamation ordered that all slaves in
Confederate states would be free if the state did not
return to the Union by Jan. 1, 1863.
 The Proclamation did not apply to the 800,000 slaves
living in the border states that were part of the
Union..
 The South ignored the Proclamation, but for many in
the North it changed the war into a fight for freedom.
Soldiers Wanted
 As the war dragged on, both the North and the South
ran out of volunteers to fill their armies.
 The Confederacy passed a draft law stating that all
white men from 18 to 35 had to serve in the military
for three years.
 The Union drafted men between 20 and 45 years old.
 draft - a system for requiring citizens to join
their country’s military.
Gettysburg
Even after the failure at Antietam, Lee was
willing to try another attack against the
North.
Lee knew many people in the North were
growing tired of the war. A group of northern
Democrats wanted the North to stop fighting
and let the South secede. A Confederate
victory in the North might convince the North
to stop fighting
Gettysburg
90,000 Union and 75,000 Confederate troops
clashed on July 1, 1863 in Gettysburg, PA.
At the end of the first day of fighting the
Union held a four mile stretch of high ground
called Cemetery Ridge.
The Confederates gathered behind the lower
and smaller Seminary Ridge.
Gettysburg
On July 2nd the Confederate troops
repeatedly attacked Union positions from the
flank (sides).
Both sides suffered heavy losses as the Union
fought off the attacks.
Gettysburg
On July 3rd, Lee decided to attack the center
of the Union lines.
In what became known as Pickett’s Charge,
General George Pickett led 13,000 troops
across a mile of open field under heavy Union
fire.
Some of Pickett’s men actually made it all the
way to the top of Cemetery Ridge, but they
were so few in number they were quickly
captured.
The Gettysburg Address
Months after the battle was over President
Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to dedicate a
cemetery for the soldiers who died there.
His brief speech (only two minutes long) is
considered one of the greatest in U.S. history.
After Gettysburg
After the defeat at Gettysburg, Lee asked
Jefferson Davis to replace him as leader of
the Confederate army.
The South never again tried to invade the
North.
The War continued for two more years, but
the South never fully recovered from the loss
at Gettysburg.
Vicksburg
Most of the fighting was along the east coast,
but several key battles took place at sea and
in the West.
The Civil War featured the first military use of
ironclad ships
Vicksburg
The siege of Vicksburg gave the North control
of the Mississippi, a key part of the Anaconda
Plan.
The siege lasted six weeks, during which
residents resorted to living in caves and
eating horses, mules and dogs for food.
The Confederate army finally surrendered the
city of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.
The Massachusetts 54th
After much prodding by abolitionists, in 1862
Congress voted to allow African American
troops to fight for the Union.
186,000 enlisted in the army and 30,000
joined the navy.
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry was one of
the first regiments of black troops.
Two members of the regiment were sons of
Frederick Douglass.
African Americans at War
The bravery shown by the Massachusetts
54th won them widespread respect
throughout the Union.
During the war, 166 different regiments
fought in over 500 battles, often for less pay
and with worse supplies than white soldiers
The End of the War
 After years of searching for a general who was willing
to fight, Lincoln placed Ulysses Grant in charge of the
Union army.
 Grant attacked Virginia with a force of 100,000
soldiers in May of 1864.
 They fought Lee’s army through two straight days of
heavy casualties.
 The fighting continued through several battles as the
Union advanced toward Richmond.
Total War
Grant believed in the concept of total war war that attacks not only the enemy troops,
but also supplies, cities, and anything that
supports the enemy.
While he was moving toward Richmond,
Grant sent General William Tecumseh
Sherman to cause as much damage as
possible to the deep South.
Surrender at Appomattox
As their army weakened, the South’s last
chance for victory was for somebody to
defeat Lincoln in the election of 1864.
Northern Democrats nominated George
McClellan, the former Union general, to run
against Lincoln.
Many people were tired of the war and in
favor of McClellan’s promise to stop the war
immediately if elected.
Surrender at Appomattox
Key Union victories in Virginia and Georgia
convinced voters that the North was about to
win the war.
This allowed Lincoln to win enough votes to
be re-elected as president.
After Sherman’s destruction of Atlanta and
Grant’s capture of Richmond, Lee had no
choice but to surrender.
Legacy of the War
The end of the war came at a terrible cost.
Over 620,000 soldiers were killed.
Thousands more had arms or legs
amputated.
Much of the South was destroyed during the
war.
Lessons learned in the first “modern” war
changed the way future wars would be
fought.