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Milestones in the Civil War:
1861
April 12- South Carolina ,Fort surrenders
April 15 Lincoln declares a state of
insurrection
April 17 Virginia Secedes
April 19 Baltimore violence: four soldiers
killed (first casualties of the war.) Lincoln
orders a naval blockade of Southern ports
Lincoln asks Robert E Lee to take field
command of Union forces, Lee resigns joins
Confederate army.
July 21- First Battle of Bull Run
August 5- Congress passes first income tax
law
1862
January 27- Lincoln issues War Order
Number 1-it is ignored
April 6-7 Battle of Shiloh 13,000 Union and
11,000 confederate soldiers are lost--- most
losses in a single battle
June 2 Robert E Lee takes command of the
confederate army
Sept. 24 Lincoln suspends Habeas Corpus
What is a Writ of Habeas Corpus?
A writ of habeas corpus is a judicially
enforceable order issued by a court of law
to a prison official ordering that a
prisoner be brought to the court so it can
be determined whether or not that
prisoner had been lawfully imprisoned
and, if not, whether he or she should be
released from custody. The right of
habeas corpus is the constitutionally
bestowed right of a person to present
evidence before a court that he or she
has been wrongly imprisoned.
Where Our Right of Habeas Corpus
Comes From
The right of writs of habeas corpus are
granted in Article I, Section 9, clause 2 of
the Constitution, which states, "The
Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
shall not be suspended, unless when in
Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public
Safety may require it."
The Battle of Antietam Critical turning
point: the likelihood of European
recognition of the South is reduced.
Lincoln capitalizes on this by issuing the
Emancipation Proclamation.
 Legalistic document.
 By itself, it doesn’t free slaves, but does
change the character and course of the
war.
 Those critical of Lincoln say that it did
not free all the slaves, just those in the
confederacy.
 Lincoln’s position is that under his war
powers he can legally free only those
slaves in rebel held territory; it is up to
Congress or the states to address the
question of universal emancipation.
South’s reaction
 Confirmed what they believed to be
plans to force them to surrender slavery
 Saw the proclamation as incitement to
slave rebellion
 Stiffened their resolve to defend the
south against “Yankee” encroachment.
Had 2 other results:
 France and England decided not to
recognize the Confederacy: did not
want to endorse slavery.
 In the North the proclamation made the
war less popular (poor, white workers





were fine to save the Union, less keen on
freeing slaves—scared they would take
jobs)  decline in northern
enlistments Conscription Act of
March 1863- applies to all men 20-45
unless they are wealthy enough to pay a
substitute
January 1 1863 Emancipation
Proclamation is signed
January 26 recruit black troops began.
(black soldiers fought in every war. . but
a 1792 law barred them from the army)
The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers are
the first black regiment recruited in the
North.
185,000 black soldiers in the Union
army  166 all black regiments. Nearly
70,000 black soldiers come from
Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
They are paid less than whites
16 will receive the Medal of Honor.
 In the navy ¼ sailors are black.
May 22- Vicksburg begins—key
to Mississippi river.
June 20 pro-union West
Virginia, severs from Virginia
and admitted as the 35th state
with a state constitution calling
for gradual emancipation.
June 24: Lee’s army changes strategy and
cross s the Potomac, heading toward
Gettysburg. The battle takes place July 1-3.
Confederate troops in search of shoes meet
up with a small Union cavalry.
Reinforcements are poured in.  FINAL
turning point in the war, the Union army
takes a strong defensive position and turns
back repeated Confederate assaults killing
28,000 = 1/3 of their army. Lee retreats to
Virginia.
July 4- General Grant’s long siege of
Vicksburg ends in victory.
 Unconditional surrender of 29,000
Confederates.
 Union possesses the Mississippi.
July NEW YORK- rioting breaks out over
the Union Conscription Act- blacks are
lynched.
Several other riots break out in major
northern cities:
idea that they were fighting for free slaves
and that the wealthy could get out of it.
Some northern counties raised taxes so that
residents would not have to fight.
Partisan guerrilla wars break out in Kansas,
Missouri, and Arkansas. (Jesse James gets
his training) People were scalped, slaughters
of 180 civilians occurred, Quantrill raids. . .
Grant gains a military edge
Lincoln offers a Proclamation of Amnesty
and Reconstruction that will pardon
Confederates who take an oath of loyalty
1864
General William Tecumseh Sherman begins
his march across the South.
Lincoln wins re-election
April 11 Lincolns last public address, he
urges a spirit of generous conciliation during
the reconstruction.
April 14 While watching a comedy at Ford’s
Theater, Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes
Booth. The first President to be
assassinated, Andrew Johnson becomes the
president.
April 22 Booth is cornered and shot dead.
Johnson pardons all southerners but one:
Major Henry Wirtz, commander of the
Confederate prison in Georgia.
What did the Civil War cost America
Union had enlisted 2,324,516 soldiers:
approximately 360,000 were killed.
The Confederate army had about 1,000,000
soldiers with losses of 260,000
Union: 6 million
Confederates: 3 million
Union Victories
Indecisive Battles
Confederate Victories
Fort Sumter
New Orleans
Fair Oaks
Bull Run
Shiloh
(Seven Pines) Jackson's
Valley
Charleston
Perryville
Campaign
Harbor
The Seven Days (7Port Royal Sound Antietam(9-62)
62)
Wilderness
Stones River
The Second Battle
Battle of the
Campaign
of Bull Run
Ironclads
Yorktown
Fort Henry and
Fredericksburg
Fort Donelson
Vicksburg
Gettysburg
Atlanta
Chattanooga
Sherman's Marh
to the Sea
Appomattox
Courthouse
Major land battles
The costliest land battles, measured by casualties (killed, wounded, captured, and missing)
were:[C]
Battle (State)
Battle of
Gettysburg
Date
Confederate
Commander
July 1–3,
Robert E. Lee
1863
Battle of
Shiloh
(Tennessee)
Battle of
Antietam
(Maryland)
46,286
U: 23,055
C: 23,231
George B.
McClellan
36,059
104,10
92,000
Confederate U: 15,855
0
C: 20,204
William
Rosecrans
34,624
65,000 60,000 Confederate U: 16,170
C: 18,454
Ulysses S.
Grant
52,000
31,820
100,00 Inconclusiv
U: 18,399
0e
C: 13,421
Joseph
Hooker
60,892
30,500
133,86
Confederate U: 17,197
8
C: 13,303
May 5–7,
Robert E. Lee
1864
Ulysses S.
Grant
61,025
28,791
101,89 Inconclusiv
U: 17,666
5e
C: 11,125
Decembe
r 31,
1862 – Braxton Bragg
January 2,
1863
William
Rosecrans
35,000 41,400 Union
24,645
U: 12,906
C: 11,739
Albert Sidney Johnsto
April 6–
Ulysses S.
n,
7, 1862
Grant
P. G. T. Beauregard
44,699 66,812 Union
23,746
U: 13,047
C: 10,699
(Virginia)
(Tennessee)
Casualtie
s
71,699 93,921 Union
(Virginia)
Battle of
Chancellorsvil
May 1–4,
le
Robert E. Lee
1863
Battle of
Stones River
Victor
George
Meade
(Pennsylvania
)
Seven Days
June 25 –
Battles
July 1,
Robert E. Lee
1862
(Virginia)[D]
Battle of
Septembe
Chickamauga
r 19–20, Braxton Bragg
1863
(Georgia)
Battle of
Spotsylvania
May 8–
Court House
Robert E. Lee
21, 1864
(Virginia)
Battle of the
Wilderness
Union
Conf. Union
Command Force Force
er
s
s
Septembe
r 17,
Robert E. Lee
1862
Second Battle August
Robert E. Lee
George B.
McClellan
John Pope
Inconclusiv
e;
22,717
38,000 75,500 strategic
U: 12,401
Union
C: 10,316
victory
50,000 62,000 Confederate
18,300
Battle (State)
of Bull Run
(Virginia)
Date
29–30,
1862
Confederate
Commander
Union
Conf. Union
Command Force Force
er
s
s
Victor
Casualtie
s
U: 10,000
C: 8,300