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The Civil War 18611865
Why a Civil War? After the election of 1860,
Southerners were convinced that the
Republican party and President Lincoln
were going to strip away their freedoms
(increase tariffs some more and end slavery).
Southern States believed since they freely
joined the Union, they could freely leave the
Union (secede). Lincoln saw secession as
unacceptable. These were the United States.
If any state could leave then the United
States could cease to exist.
South Carolina seceded
first in December 1860,
three months before
Lincoln even became
president. Other states of
the lower south seceded one
month later. These states
quickly formed the
Confederate States of
America and named
Jefferson Davis as their
president.
THE WAR BEGINS!!
Fort Sumter: On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on a
federal fort in Charleston, S. C.
When Lincoln called for an increase in federal troops(a
draft), the upper south (VA, NC, TN and AK) seceded and
joined the Confederacy. The “border” states remained
with the Union even though slavery was legal there.
The Nation Divided
The North: The Union,
The South: The Confederacy,
Yankee, The Blue
Rebels, The Grey
1. Who had more men for troops,
north or the south?
____________
2. Which side had access to more
guns and cannons? _________
3. Which side, union or
confederacy, was able to move
more troops more quickly than
the other? _______________
4. Which side, union or
confederacy, had scarcer
resources to wage war?
_______________
5. According to the chart, which
side should have won the war
pretty quickly?____________
6. So why did it take five years?
The Capital of the Confederacy!
The original capital of the confederacy was Montgomery, Alabama.
When Virginia joined the Confederacy, Richmond was made its
capital. Why have the Confederate capital so close to the federal
Capital? What is this a picture of in Richmond?
Northern War Aims:
1. Blockade southern ports. Why?
To cut off their trade to Europe
which would hurt the
confederacy’s finances.
2. Cut the Confederacy in half by
gaining control of the Miss. River.
3. Send troops into GA and the
Carolinas and separate it from the
Upper South.
4. Out man southern forces with a
superior number of Union troops.
5. Hurt economy by freeing slaves.
6. Capture the capital of Richmond.
The Union, or north, had the
ability to do all of these, so why
did it take so long to win the war?
A different kind of war: modern machinery and old school tactics
made the Civil War the costliest war (in terms of dead) ever.
“Rifled” barrels
meant bullets
could fly farther
and with more
accurate shots.
Larger cannons
meant more dead
on the battle
field.
Ironclads – ships
made out of metal!
The Monitor vs. the
Merrimac – first
battle between two
ironclad ships took at
the mouth of the
James River between
Hampton and
Norfolk.
There were
hundreds of
battles during the
Civil War. Why
were so many of
them in Virginia?
The first real battle of the Civil War happened in
Manassas, Virginia at the Battle of Bull Run. The north
should have won, but superior leadership during the battle
produced a Confederate victory, just a few miles from
Washington DC, the Union capita. Northerners were
horrified.
Battle: Antietam 9/17/62
Maryland battle won by the
North but again with a high price
(23,000 casualties). Union
Gneeral George McClellan
defeats Lee’s forces, however,
believing that he doesn’t have the
advantage, McClellan allows
Lee’s troops to slip away back
across the Potomac into Virginia.
Nonetheless, the Union victory
allows Lincoln to issue his
Emancipation.
Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation
What did the Proclamation do?
A. It kept Great Britain from becoming an ally
with the South. The South hoped Great
Britain would become it’s ally since England
depended on the South’s cotton. England’s
industrial economy was built on turning
cotton in fabric (textile mills). However,
England was also very much against slavery.
By issuing the Proclamation, there was now
no chance that Great Britain would become a
Confederate ally.
Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation
B. It freed slaves in Confederate states and
only when the Union army was in control
of that area.
C. It allowed free blacks to enlist in the
Union army. (F Douglass’ idea)
D. It did not end slavery or free any slaves
in the border states. Why did Lincoln
exempt the border states from his
Emancipation Proclamation? Because they
would have joined the Confederacy!!!!
Carousel of Generals
Why did it take so long for the Union to win the war. The answers lays
with its inept military leadership. After Antietam, Lincoln fired George
McClellan. He replaced him with General Burnside who made a tactical
error at Fredericksburg (Dec., 1862) costing the Union thousands of
lives. Of the 17,000 casualties, over 12,000 were Union.
Lincoln then replaced Burnside with Joseph Hooker who was thoroughly
defeated at Chancellorsville, VA, May 1863. The only positive for the
Union was that Stonewall Jackson was shot and killed by one of his own
men. Lincoln replaced Hooker General George Meade.
Siege of Vicksburg 5/22/63-7/4/63 (47 days): now
the Union controlled the Mississippi River! Ulysses
S Grant’s victory causes Lincoln to make him his
top general in the eastern theater.
Gettysburg: 7/1/63-7/3/63 Union Army pushes Lee’s
army back to VA
Lee’s army of Northern Virginia “invades” the north. The defeat of
southern forces in this small Pennsylvania town is the turning point
of the war. Now the Union army is on the offensive
Gettysburg: 51,000 dead.
Gettysburg Address, Nov. 19, 1863:
Invoking the words of the Declaration of
Independence, Lincoln went to Gettysburg to say a
few words in honor of the men who had died there:
“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a
new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men
are created equal.
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battle-field of that war.
. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—
that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for
which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve
that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Sherman And the March from Atlanta
Union General
to
the
Sea
William T. Sherman
wanted ruin their
supplies. Having
control of the western
theater, Sherman
marched his men to
Atlanta, then to
Columbia, SC and
then on to Savannah
burning everything in
their path! The term
“total war” came
from this tactic. It
means that in war,
everyone and
everything is fair
game, including
civilians.
General Ulysses S. Grant
went on the offensive in
Virginia.
He was defeated by Lee at the Battle of the
Wilderness (again near Fredericksburg) and
he lost 7000 men in thirty minutes at the
Battle of Cold Harbor. Still, Grant
outfoxed Lee by making a move towards
Richmond. When Lee went to protect
Richmond, Grant headed to his real
objective, Petersburg. The siege of
Petersburg lasted for nine months and
ended on April 2, 1865. Confederate forces
pulled out of Petersburg and Richmond.
What city is, or
should I say was,
this?
Robert E Lee tried to keep the Confederate Army together after
Petersburg and Richmond fell to the Union Army. Lee and his
men escaped, but Lee knew it was over. On April 9, 1865 Lee
surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S Grant at
Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The war was finally over.
Union: 360,000 dead
and 275,000 wounded.
Confederates: 258,000
dead & 100,000
wounded.
The war was over, but
had it really changed
anything?
Life during the Civil War
1. While many men did die due to the lack of
sanitation in hospitals, more and more were
surviving horrific wounds. Thousands of
amputees survived thanks to improved
medical techniques.
2. Women in the north and
the south ran businesses,
plantations or family farms.
Life during the Civil War
3. The nursing
profession began
during the Civil
War. Women were
invaluable in the
hospitals and
recovery centers.
Life during the Civil War
4. Outside the battlefield, Civil
War soldiers were bored and fairly
hungry. How do we know this?
Letters to loved ones and diaries
still exist and the feelings of
loneliness and boredom are
mention in many of them.