Download Chapter 13 Notes

Chapter 13 Notes
The Civil War
Section 1 – A New Kind of War
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February 4, 1861: representatives from the seceding states met in
Montgomery, Alabama
elected Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander Stephens as VicePresident
began seizing federal property in the south
a. custom houses, post offices, federal posts and forts
Fort Sumter
a. last federal strong hold in the south (Charleston, SC)
 under the command of Major Anderson
b. April 12, 1861: Davis gave the order to attack Ft. Sumter
c. battle lasted 1 day and no one died due to the battle
 2-3 people died during the battle but they were accidental
everyone believed it would be a short war
a. no more than 6 months
A) North vs. South: A comparison
Comparison/Strengths and Weaknesses
South
23 states
11 states
population = 21 million
population = 9 million (3.5 million were slaves)
possessed nearly all of the nations factories
possessed the greatest military leaders in the nation
huge population allowed for more casualties
- Robert E. Lee
controlled most of the nations banks
would be fighting a defensive war and protecting
had a stable fiscal budget
their homeland
possessed an existing government
had a 3 to 1 ratio in railroads
North
B) Trench Warfare
b. due to the increased accuracy of the rifle, and the new form of war,
trenches were used for protection and for holding positions
c. the spade became a key part of every soldiers equipment
 Robert E. Lee became known as the “King of Spades” because
of how many trenches he ordered dug
C) War of Exhaustion
a. General Winfield Scott developed the “Anaconda Plan”
 Plan was to slowly choke the south into submission by cutting
off supplies and resources
 naval blockade was a key part
 needed to stop imports and exports
b. First Battle of Bull Run brought about an early rejection of the plan
D) War for Everyone
a. Everyone in the nation was affected by the war and just about
everyone had a role
b. Role of Women
 Took over for the men by going to work in factories, running
the farms, running the stores, worked for the Treasury
department, etc.
 Some women followed their husbands into the war as nurses,
“godmothers”, and some even fought
 Dorthea Dix – First Superintendent of Women Nurses
 Louisa May Alcott – worked with Dorthea Dix
 author of Little Women
 Clara Barton – worked as a battlefield nurse
 founder of the American Red Cross (1877)
 United States Sanitary Commission
 assisted military by creating hospitals
 distributed supplies
 cared for wounded
E) Border States
- each of the 4 border states (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri) were
crucial to the Union (north)
 provided a buffer zone between north and south
 each were slave states
 each had to be treated special in order to keep them in the
Union
a. Maryland
 The loss of Maryland would insure the loss of Washington D.C.
 Lincoln instituted Martial Law (military rule)
 Suppressed pro-slavery/southern newspapers
 Arrested and jailed pro-slavery/southern citizens
 Suspended the writ of habeas corpus
 Chief Justice Roger Taney said this was
unconstitutional but Lincoln ignored him
 Lincoln had to be aggressive in Maryland to save the Union
b. Missouri and Kentucky
 Lincoln moved quickly in Missouri and slowly in Kentucky
 Both states stayed in the Union
 Choose not to free slaves in either state
 General Fremont attempted to free slaves in Missouri in
1861 and Lincoln overruled him
 maintained political unity over Morality
c. A Moral War or a Political War?
 At the beginning of the war Lincoln believed that maintaining
the union was more important than the morality of freeing the
slaves
Section 2 – The First Year: 1861-1862
- Some battles have 2 names
a. the north named battles after bodies of water, rivers, and creeks (Bull
Run creek) and the south named them after towns or land marks
(Manassas Junction)
A) The First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)
a. General Irvin McDowell (North: Army of the Potomac) vs. General
Joseph E. Johnston and General P.G.T. Beauregard (South: Army of
Northern Virginia)
b. the two armies met at Bull Run Creek (Manassas Junction) on July
21, 1861
c. 30,000 troops for the north; 22,000 troops for the south
d. the North had the early advantage until the south was reinforced
i. South was able to force the north from the battlefield
e. General Thomas Jackson earned his nickname “Stonewall” for his
bravery during the battle
- following the battle McDowell is replaced by General George McClellan
a. McClellan drilled and formed the Army in to a well-disciplined
fighting unit
B) The Trent Affair
a. In November of 1861, the Union stopped a British vessel (the Trent)
and removed two Confederate diplomats (James Mason and John
Slidell)
b. the British were outraged and sent around 10,000 troops to Canada
c. to avoid war with the British, the Union released the Confederates
and apologized to the British
C) The War in the West
a. Ulysses S. Grant
 West Point graduate; veteran of the War with Mexico
 Resigned from the army in 1854 and went to work for his
father
 was working in his fathers store, back in Illinois, when
Civil War began
 not strong in military strategy but had great common sense
and was a great leader
b. fate of the Confederacy lied in the Tennessee, Cumberland, and
Mississippi River valleys
 the Union had big victories at Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson
 Union gun boats opened up the Tennessee River
 Nashville fell without a shot being fired
 opened up the Cumberland River
c. Battle of Shiloh – April 1862
 General U.S. Grant vs. General Albert Sidney Johnston
(South)
 Grant failed to dig in (defensive position)
 Johnston surprises Grant and drives his army back to the river
 on the second day, Grant digs in and wins the battle with the
help of reinforcements
 Johnston is killed in the battle
 turning point of the war for Grant
 realizes that he has to fight a war of exhaustion and not
a traditional war
d. Battle of New Orleans (April 1862)
 Union was under the command of David Farragut
 Union gun boats were able to force the Confederates out of the
city
 The South could no longer support troops in the east with
supplies from New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico
D) The War in the East
 McClellan refuses to move out of D.C.
 Believed he was out-numbered
 Wanted reinforcements to deal with General Joseph E.
Johnston, who was entrenched at Bull Run
a. Monitor vs. Merrimac (C.S.S. Virginia)
 first battle of Iron Clad Gun Boats
 took place at Hampton Roads, Virginia (March 1862)
 the Confederates (Merrimac/Virginia) were attempting to
break the Union blockade
 Merrimac sunk to Union ships (Cumberland and Congress)
before the U.S.S. Monitor arrived
 the Monitor forced the Merrimac to run-a-ground
 the crew of the Merrimac destroyed the ship to prevent
the Union from capturing the Iron Clad boat
b. Peninsular Campaign
 McClellan finally decided to leave D.C.
 Robert E. Lee was now in command of the Confederate Army
(Army of Northern Virginia)
 McClellan moves his troops within miles of Richmond
(Confederate Capital) and then hesitates; allows the
Confederates to prepare and attack
 McClellan is able to save his army from destruction, but is
forced into a defensive position and surrounded
 McClellan is removed from command and General John Pope
takes command of the Army of the Potomac
c. Robert E. Lee
 West Point Graduate (later served as the Superintendent at
West Point)
 Veteran of the War with Mexico
 Captured John Brown
 Was considered the greatest military mind of his time
 Prior to the war, Lincoln offered him command of the Union
Army
 Was against secession, but was loyal to his home state of
Virginia
 Turned down Lincoln’s offer and resigned from the
U.S. Army
d. Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)
 General Pope planned to attack Richmond
 Before he can attack he is intercepted by Stonewall Jackson
and Robert E. Lee at Bull Run
 Pope is defeated quickly
 Pope is removed from command and replaced by McClellan
 This caused some resentment towards Lincoln;
enlistments into the army dropped off, desertions
increased, and England began to consider officially
recognizing the South as a independent nation
e. Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) – September 1862
 Lee moved north into Maryland
 hoped to gain support from pro-southern citizens
 needed big victory in north to get British recognition
 divided his troops
 copy of Lee’s plans were found by Union scouts (wrapped
around 3 cigars)
 McClellan did not believe the plans were real and
hesitated
 could have destroyed Lee’s army (Lee was greatly
outnumbered)
 two armies met at Antietam Creek (near Sharpsburg,
Maryland); Lee was greatly outnumbered
 the first day was the single bloodiest day of the war
 2nd day McClellan hesitated again; allowed Lee and his army
to cross the Potomac River and slip back into Virginia
 England decided to wait on recognizing the South
Section 3 – The Widening Conflict
A) Lincoln and Slavery
a. believed it was “a moral, social, and political wrong”
b. at the beginning of the war, he was concerned about maintaining the
Union, not freeing the slaves
 chose political unity over morality
 did not want to make it a “Moral War”
c. Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863)
 Issued in September of 1862 and would take effect in January
1863
 Slaves would be free in any state that was in open rebellion
against the United States
 technically did not free any slaves
 Confederate States were not part of the U.S.
 Maryland and Missouri abolished slavery
 Slavery did not end in Kentucky and Delaware until
December 1865 and the passing of the 13th Amendment
 Jefferson Davis said that reunion was now impossible
 Ended any hope of European involvement
B) Bad Times for the North
a. Ambrose Burnside is defeated by Lee at Fredricksburg
b. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman were losing in the west
c. Army was losing soldiers
 1863 the Union instituted the Draft
 South instituted draft in 1862
C) Blacks in the Army
a. 185,000 enlisted in the North
 38,000 casualties (sickness and wounds)
b. mainly used for labor in the beginning
c. saw action in some battles near the end
 54th Massachusetts was the most famous
 led the attack on Ft. Wagner (movie “Glory”)
D) Westward Movement
a. over 300,000 people migrated west during the war
b. needed protection from Indians
 Confederate POWs were given the option to stay in jail or to go
fight Indians
c. the telegraph connected the east coast to San Francisco on October 24,
1861
Section 4 – Gettysburg to Appomattox: 1863-1865
A) Chancellorville – May 1863
a. Robert E. Lee defeats Joseph Hooker
b. Stonewall Jackson is wounded in the battle and later dies
 accidentally shot by his own men
 this was a devastating loss for Lee and the South
 Jackson was his “right-hand-man”
c. Lee decides to move north
 goal was to demoralize the Union troops and to gain foreign
recognition with a significant victory in the north
B) Gettysburg – July 1-4, 1863
a. Lee crossed the Potomac River in June 1863 and headed north
b. The Union army (Army of the Potomac) was now under the command
of General George Meade
c. Day 1 – July 1, 1863
 small units encounter eachother at Gettysburg
 Confederates had gone to Gettysburg to steal shoes
d. Day 2 – July 2, 1863
 Lee had the advantage but Meade is able to establish
strongholds on Culps Hill and Little Round Top
e. Day 3 – July 3, 1863
 Lee needs a victory
 Picket’s Charge – Lee orders General George Picket to attack
the middle of the Union lines
 Picket had 15,000 men under his command
 does not realize that Meade had reinforced the middle
overnight
 Picket’s troops were destroyed
o only 100 troops reached the Union lines only to
be captured
f. Day 4 – July 4, 1863
 Lee begins his retreat south
g. more people died in three days at Gettysburg than during the entire
American Revolution
h. Lee believed that Stonewall Jackson would have made the difference
C) Vicksburg
a. Grant had cut his supply line and began to live off the land
 supply line slowed him down
 had to keep on the move to destroy the Confederates (War of
Exhaustion)
b. Vicksburg was key to the Mississippi River valley
c. surrounded Vicksburg and began a long siege on May 22, 1863
d. siege finally destroys Vicksburg
 General Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863
 the south was now divided into two
 Confederate supply line to the east was now cut off
D) War Comes to an End
a. Grant is promoted to Lieutenant General (first since George
Washington) and given command of the Army of the Potomac (main
Union Army)
b. Grant realizes to win, they must adopt a “Total Warfare” policy
 war against all the inhabitants in an attempt to totally cripple
and destroy the enemy
 attack and destroy land, houses, businesses,
transportation, food, communication, etc.
c. May 1864
 Grant begins his push towards Richmond and Petersburg
 William Tecumseh Sherman begins “March to the Sea”
 burned Atlanta to the ground
 destroyed everything in his path between Atlanta and
Savannah
 General Phillip Sheridan began his push through the
Shenandoah Valley
 burned everything in his path
d. Richmond falls on April 3, 1865
e. Appomattox
 April, 9, 1865
 General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant
at Appomattox Court House
f. Assassination
 on April 14, 1865 President Lincoln is assassinated by John
Wilkes Boothe at Fords Theater