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The Civil War Begins
Strategy, Military,
and Manpower
October 19, 1860
Springfield, Illinois
Miss. Grace Bedell
My dear little Miss.
Your very agreeable letter of the 15th. is received.
I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters. I have three
sons -- one seventeen, one nine, and one seven, years of age.
They, with their mother, constitute my whole family.
As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think
people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it
now? Your very sincere well-wisher
A. Lincoln
Crittenden Compromise
• last ditch effort
• maintains slavery where
it was
• extends 36 30 (Missouri
Compromise) line to
California
- slavery allowed S.
of the line
• Fails! – war is inevitable
South Carolina Secedes
• Dec. 20, 1860
• Why?
- election of Lincoln
- believe Lincoln will
end slavery
“his opinions and purposes
are hostile to slavery. He
declared, “Government
cannot endure permanently
half slave, half free.”
Confederacy Forms
• SC joined by
Mississippi 1-9
Florida 1-10
Alabama 1-11
Georgia 1-19
Louisiana 1-26
Texas 2-1
• February 1861
The Charleston Mercury announces South Carolina’s secession from the
Union
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
The Border States
• Slave states that stayed: Delaware,
Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri
• losing them would add 50% to the
Southern population
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Jefferson Davis
• President of Confederacy
FYI
- Black hawk war 1831
- cotton planter
- member of US House of Reps
- colonel Mex. Am War
- Senator
- Sec. of war for Pres. Pierce
- inaugurated Feb. 22 1862
We feel that our cause is just and holy; we
protest solemnly in the face of mankind
that we desire peace at any sacrifice save
that of honour and independence; we ask
no conquest, no aggrandizement, no
concession of any kind from the States
with which we were lately confederated;
all we ask is to be let alone; that those
who never held power over us shall not
now attempt our subjugation by arms.
Jefferson Davis
Richmond Virginia
Alexander Stephens
• Vice President of the
Confederacy
FYI
- lawyer
- planter/slave owner
- Georgia House and Senate
- US House of Reps
- voted against secession in
GA convention
-
"African Slavery … was the immediate cause of the late
rupture and present revolution." He went on to assert
that the then-prevailing "assumption of the equality of
races" was "fundamentally wrong." "Our new
[Confederate] government is founded … upon the great
truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that
slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his
natural and normal condition," and, furthermore, "With
us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or
poor, are equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the
negro. Subordination is his place. He, by nature, or by
the curse against Canaan, is fitted for that condition
which he occupies in our system."
Cornerstone Speech in Savannah, Georgia
Alexander Stephens
Lincoln’s Inauguration
• “no State upon its own mere
motion can lawfully get out of
the Union”
• “I am loath to close. We are
not enemies, but friends. We
must not be enemies. Though
passion may have strained, it
must not break our bonds of
affection. The mystic chords
of memory, stretching from
every battlefield and patriot
grave to every living heart and
hearthstone all over this broad
land, will yet swell the chorus
of the Union, when again
touched, as surely they will be,
by the better angels of our
nature.”
Northerners Affirm the Union
• Northerners considered secession
unconstitutional and treasonable
• Lincoln: “no State can lawfully get out of
the Union” and could “only do so against
law, and by revolution.”
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Fort Sumter Crisis
• 1861
• federal fort in Confederate
territory
- Ft. Sumter Charleston, SC
- Ft. Pickens Pensacola, FL
• Lincoln’s choices
- send in troop = aggressor
- leave it to Confed = weak
- chooses ½ way send in
supplies
Lincoln chose resupply & the attack
began on April 12, 1861 at 4:30am…the
war was on!
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
• April 12,
1861 rebels
attack the fort
• 2 days later it
falls to
Confederacy
Reaction to Fort Sumter
• “So Civil War is
inaugurated at last, God
defend the right.”
- NY lawyer George
Templeton Strong
• “Woe to those who
began this war if they
were not in bitter
earnest.”
- SC Mary Chestnut
Lincoln Reacts
• calls for 75,000
militiamen
• 4 more states secede
Virginia 4-17
Arkansas 5-6
Tennessee 5-7
N. Carolina 5-20
• April 19 calls for a
blockade of southern
ports
United States Of America
Confederate States Of America
Blue, Yankees
Grey, Rebels
Choosing Sides
• Robert E. Lee- VA
• Son of “Lighthorse Harry” Lee a
Revolutionary Hero and married to
a descendant of Martha Washington
• offered command of the
Federal forces (Union)
• decides he cannot go against
his “country” (VA)
• He could not “raise my hand
against my birthplace, my
home, my children.”
Choosing Sides- a House Divided!
• In every state except SC regiments were organized to fight in the
Union
• approximately 100,000 Southerners fought for the Union
• 1 of every 5 from Arkansas killed in the war fought for the Union
• In Texas German Americans opposed Secession and the war
- Confederates send in troops to repress Union sentiment
- Any German criticizing the Confederate cause was hanged,
shot, or whipped
- killed 35 German-Am trying to escape to Mexico
• Confederacy kills several members of the Arkansas Peace Society
Economic Comparison
Union
• 23 states including 4
border
• 22 million people
• 2x Railroads
• more industry
• produced 97% of
countries firearms
• more farm production
• more access to capital
Confederacy
• 11 states
• 9 million people
(4million are slaves)
Military Comparison
Union
• navy grows from 90
ships to 650
• better leaders by end of
war
Confederacy
• defensive war
• knowledge of land
• more experienced leaders
- strong military tradition
in South
- Citadel and VA Military
Institute
- West Point
Union Strategy
Anaconda Plan
1. Blockade Confederate Seaports
- choke off flow of foreign funds
2. Go after the Capital-Richmond
3. Penetrate the Heart of the Confederacy
- take the Mississippi River
- Divide the Confederacy
Southern Strategy
• Defend
- the Union will give up and leave them alone
• Get support from Europe
- GB and France
- similar to Revolutionary War
- believe King Cotton Diplomacy will ensure aid
Territory
750,000 sq. m
Coastline
3,500 miles
Financing the War
Union
• taxes
- 1st income tax
• paper currency
- “greenbacks”
- not backed by gold &
silver
- causes inflation
• borrowing
- sold bonds to people
- loans from banks
Confederacy
• 1st attempt-requisition
funds from states
• 1863 income tax
• borrowing
- ineffectively sold bonds
- could not convince
Europe
• focused on paper money
- huge inflation!
Raising an Army
Union
• begins w/ voluntary
recruitment
• March 1863 Draft law
-avoid draft by
1. hiring
replacement
2. pay $300 fee
Confederacy
• begins w/ voluntary
recruitment
• April 1862 Conscription
Act = Draft
- white males 18-35 yrs
- by 1864 17-50yrs
- avoid draft by
1. hiring substitute
2. exemption of 1
man on plantations
w/ more than 20
slaves
Use of African Americans
Union
• originally excluded from
war
• After Emancipation
Proclamation
- enlisted in army to
fight
- dig trenches and build
fortifications
Confederacy
• manual labor
- building fortifications,
digging trenches, etc…
• cooking, laundry, etc
• last desperate measure
- passed conscription for
300,000
- war ended before used
Was it inevitable that
the North would win
this war?