Download History Lecture 6a Civil War

The American Civil War:
Some Geographical and Geological
Factors
• HIST 150
Geo- factors – Politics, Economics
• Ideology about land
– “Dixie” and the “peculiar institution”
Vs.
– Free Soil ideology in the North
• Divisions within the South
Altitude shaped attitude:
Hill country – Unionist
Cotton belt, coast – Confederate
Geo- factors – Military
• Strategy and tactics = goals and methods
– Oceans, trade, blockade
– Rivers, roads, and railroads
• Battlefield factors
Height = vision, range
Cover = defense, survival
Movement = communication
Digging, piling, climbing, tunneling
Geo- factors – Military
• Geography  unit identity
Where you’re from = what unit you served in
Militia structure = units organized by state, county,
neighborhood
“54th Massachusetts,” “33rd Alabama,” e.g.
Result for hometowns:
Casualties unevenly distributed
One part of one battle could kill most of the
men from a single town
Ex: 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg, Day 2
82% casualties (killed or wounded)
Politics of Place Names
• Confederacy: named battles after nearest town
– Traditional, classical military custom
– Emphasize CSA’s legitimacy
Following in footsteps of American Revolution?
• Union: named battles after closest geographical
feature (e.g., river, town, etc.)
– More specific and precise
– Emphasize that CSA was an insurrection, not
a legitimate state with legitimate military
Union (U.S.) strategy – Anaconda plan
– Blockade coast
– Capture Richmond (Confederate capital)
– Divide the South into smaller pieces
Confederate (C.S.A.) strategy – aggressive
defense, attrition
– Use cotton exports to get foreign aid
– Wear out the Union forces, force recognition
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Not just “North vs. South” or “slave vs. free”
Divided South
 “Border states”
MO, KY, MD, DE = Unionist slave states
 Hill country Unionists
–Including Andrew Johnson (D)
 Confederate leaders = coastal elites
 Tennessee split in half
 Southerners fighting in Union army
TN produced as many Union as Conf
soldiers
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Divided North
Disillusionment with length of war
Abolitionism not universal
Many fighting rebels, not fighting slavery
Growing peace movement in North
New York draft riots, 1863
More about racial tensions than about the draft
Troops from Battle of G-burg sent to restore
order in NYC
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Gettysburg address, 1863
Dedication of a new cemetery at the sight of
the battle
Lincoln’s political goals:
Renew the North’s commitment to keep fighting
Rededicate the Union to fighting to the end
Redefine the war
Language: hallowed ground
Speech showed evolution of No. war aims
1861-3: to preserve the Union
1863-5: Union, freedom, democracy
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• Reasons for high casualties
– Disease the major cause of death
• True for warfare until 20th century
• Poor sanitation
• “Sterile field” unknown, impossible
– Dense concentrations of men and firepower
• Railroads directly into battle
• Gettysburg: oaks leveled by bullets
• Offset firepower by sending more men
– “Get there firstest with the mostest.”
– Cold Harbor: 4000 dead in 20 minutes
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• Reasons for high casualties
Revolution in firearms
Longer range, more accurate
Minié ball + rifled barrel = 4x the range
Technology outpaced tactics
Napoleonic tactics (c. 1800) with 1860’s technology
Both sides with identical military training
– 48 of 50 top generals w/ same tactics teacher at
West Point
– New deadly developments
»Trench warfare at Richmond
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• “Total war” footing
– Everything, everyone mobilized for war effort
– Society vs. society, not just military vs. military
– Civilian/military distinction blurred
– Confederate gov’t highly centralized
• CSA states with less autonomy, less freedom
than in 1860 as part of the U.S.
–Weaker “states rights” in Confederacy
• CSA states not allowed to secede from the
Confederacy [!]
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