THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR: A nation divided

-Two societies at war: mobilization, resources, and internal dissent

-Military strategies and foreign diplomacy

-Emancipation and the role of African Americans in the war

-Social, political, and economic effects of war in the North, South, and West

The South Secedes• The force of events moved very

quickly upon the election of Lincoln. South Carolina acted first, calling for a convention to secede from the Union. State by state, conventions were held, and the Confederacy was formed.

• Within three months of Lincoln's election, seven states had seceded from the Union.

• Confederate soldiers took over federal institutions such as post offices, courthouses and forts

Abraham Lincoln Jefferson Davis

Mobilizing for War

• Both the North and South were unprepared for the war

• Armies were small, lack of faith in current gov’t, and the federal government had levied no direct tax for decades.

• Both sides had to work hard to overcome deficiencies, raise and supply armies, and finance the cost of war

THE SOUTH VS. THE NORTH• The South had some

advantages over the Northern forces

• First rate military leadership

• Highly motivated soldiers • First- rate generals• Only had to defend their

land – not attack North• King Cotton and the money it made in the world market

• The North had many advantages including;

• More people• More factories• Greater food

production• More railroads• Better communication

Recruitment and Conscription

• Conscription- Required all white men aged 18 to 35 to serve in the military for three years

• Certain job could make a man exempt-If you owned more than 20 slaves

• Well off Southerners could hire substitutes

• North original had many volunteers.

• Enrollment Act also allowed exemptions and substitutes.

• Paid volunteers $300 and punished “bounty jumpers”

• “POOR MAN’S FIGHT

Financing the War

• Both sides turned to war bonds (loans from citizens)• Legal tender Act-authorized $150 million

greenbacks (paper money)• Union made greenbacks legal tender which gave

the public confidence and helped control inflation• Lack of confidence in Southern greenbacks led to

more printing and an inflation rate of over 90%• National Bank Act of 1863-national bank notes

The President’s first dilemma• The day after the inauguration, Lincoln gets a message from Major

Anderson who is Fort Sumter’s (S. Carolina) commander that the Confederacy was demanding surrender or attack

• Lincoln knew his actions would set the tone for a possible upcoming war

• A smart political maneuver- Would not abandon the Fort nor would he reinforce it.

• Sent in food for the “hungry men”• Leader of the Confederate Army, Jefferson Davis, choose to initiate war. 4/12/1861 first shots were fired• After 4000 rounds, Anderson and his men surrendered

Americans Expect a short war• The fall of Fort Sumter united the North• President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for three

months. In Iowa 20% states quota rushed to enlist• Virginia, not willing to fight against other Southern states,

succeed.• The next month Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina

follow• Northerners and Confederates both expected a short glorious

war. • Troops left with bands playing and crowds cheering

– **** Both sides felt the right was on their side

STRATEGIES

The Northern strategy• Union navy would create a

naval blockade on southern ports,

• a plan to split the Confederacy by going down the Mississippi river,

• and capturing the Confederate capital city of Richmond, Virginia

• NICKNAMED:THE ANACONDA PLAN

The South strategy

• ** Goal was survival as their own nation

• Came up with a defensive plan

• Encouraged generals to attack and invade the North anytime the opportunity arose.

Military Strategies

THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN• First major bloodshed of

the war occurred at Bull Run near Washington, D.C. – Summer 1861

• This battle made Confederate General Thomas Jackson famous

• Nicknamed “Stonewall Jackson” he inspired the Confederates to hold firm

• Confederate victory boosted moral

A Revolution in Warfare

• An ironclad ship could splinter wooden ships, withstand cannon fire and resist burning– Monitor Vs. the Merrimack

• Invention of the rifle and the minie ball• Rifles were more accurate and could be

loaded quicker• The minie ball was a soft lead bullet that was

more destructive than earlier bullets

The War for Capitals

• Union General George McClellan was extremely cautious and waited until he felt prepared to head to Richmond.

• Criticized and mocked, “all quiet on the Potomac”

• confronted Confederate General Robert E. Lee and started the Seven Day’s Battle.

• McClellan retreated

THE CLASH AT ANTIETAM• Now Lee moved towards the

enemy’s capital.• After finding Lee’s army orders,

McClellan ordered an immediate attack in Antietam, Maryland

• The single bloodiest day in American history --- 26,000 died

• Lee and the Confederates retreated, McClellan did not follow- Lincoln fires him

• Lincoln said McClellan had the case of “the slows”

BLOODIEST DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY 9/17/1862

Soldiers Suffer• Heavy casualties, poor living

conditions, horrible diet and lack of medical care

• Common food: “Cush” stew made up of small cubes of beef and crumbled cornbread mixed with bacon grease

• United States Sanitary Commission: formed to improve hygiene and to recruit and train nurses

• Clara Barton (angel of the battlefield) later forms the Red Cross

• Andersonville, GA- Confederate Prison

Andersonville CemeteryWar Prison built to hold 10,000 prisoners…..Actually had 32,000 at one time

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION• As the war progressed, Lincoln

used his powers to end slavery• Many Northern believed that

just winning the war would not be enough if slavery still existed

• Emancipation was not just a moral issue; it became a weapon of war

• Ordered army to seize Confederate supplies and emancipate slaves

• Did not free slaves immediately because it applied only to areas behind Confederate lines, outside of Union control

Reactions• Gave the war a high moral purpose- Fighting to free the

slaves!• Free blacks quickly joined the Union Army and proved to be

talented soldiers• Many disagreed with the Emancipation Proclamation like the

Democrats which thought it would only make “the South more mad”

• “most execrable (hateful) measure recorded in the history of guilty men” Jefferson Davis.

• Lincoln forced to suspend HABEAS CORPUS in Maryland to control dissenters.

African Americans Fight for Freedom• 1862- Congress passed a law

allowing African Americans to serve in the military

• African Americans made up 1% of North’s population, but by the end of the year 10% of the Union’s army was African American

• Still suffered discrimination….had to serve in separate regiments, were paid less and received no clothing allowance for uniforms

• Confederates would not take African-American soldiers as prisoners and would often kill them on the spot

• **Fort Pillow

African-Americans in Civil War Battles

War impact on economy

North• Most industry boomed (cotton

slowed down)• Farmers bought machines to

compensate for the lack of manpower on the farms

• Inflation caused prices to rise, but wages did not

• Immigrants, free blacks, and women would be hired for less pay.

• Congress enacted a new tax law creating the nation’s first income tax

South• Food shortages• Loss of slaves to work the fields• Southern men left plantation

life to fight • Prices of food soared

– 1861- $6.65 a month on food– 1863- $63 a month

• Food riots• Union blockade of ports caused

shortages in ALL trade items

Foreign Relations• Britain buys cotton from India

and Egypt, but still buys wheat and corn from the North.

• Decides to stay neutral• The Trent Affair- Confederates

sent two diplomats to ask for support from Britain and France

• Lincoln realizes the importance of fighting only one war at a time!

Gettysburg• In a small town in

Pennsylvania, the most decisive battle of the war was fought

• Turning point of the war• Gettysburg was a three-day

battle fought in early July of 1863

• The Union had 90,000 troops under George Meade and the Confederates had 75,000 troops under General Lee

GETTYSBURG JULY, 1863

• Day 1-looking for shoes and wanting to meet up with Lee and other Confederate troops, the army marched toward Gettysburg. Ran into Union troops, but end up taking the town

• Day 2-Confederates attack Union troops. Ran out of ammunition and launched a bayonet attack. Rebels exhausted from the day before did not break through Union lines

• Day 3-Lee orders another attack. Two hours of artillery was followed by an attack of the army. North waited and fired on the Confederates when they were close by

• Death total from both sides was over 50,000.

The Gettysburg Address

• November 1863 a ceremony was held to dedicate a cemetery

• Lincoln talked for a little over two minutes • “Remade America”- historian Garry wills

• Four score 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. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

• But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 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.

Confederacy Wears down

• After the defeat of Gettysberg and having no supplies the South hoped to hold on long enough to destroy Northern morale and call an armistice

• Southern farmers were angry about the tax on their livestock and produce

• Many soldiers deserted and headed home or even joined the Union cause

GRANT AND LEE…..ONE LAST STANDOFF

• Grant’s plan was to immobilize Lee’s army in Virginia while Union Commander Sherman raided Georgia

• Grant threw Union troops into battle after battle• *He knew he could afford the loss and could

replace the soldiers. The South could NOT• Newspapers called GRANT a “butcher”.• He knew there was NO turning back

Sherman’s March• Marched Union troops throughout Georgia creating a wide

path of destruction.• Goal, “to make the Southerners so sick of war that generations

would pass away before they would again appeal to it.”• For three monthes Union troops destroyed Georgia before

turning North to meet up with Grant.• Destruction continued, homes were burnt and Union troops

marched on to destoy Lee and the rest of the Confederate troops.

• North Carolina spared. Troops near the end of the war was near. They were also the last to secced

Lincoln’s running mates

• Democrates nominate George McClellan with hopes of an immediate armistice

• Radical Republicans nomatate John C. Fremont and lay out a strict propsal of readmiting the Confederate states

• National Union Party (Republican) choose Andrew Johnson as Lincoln’s running mate. Being pro Union and from the South gave hope to the ticket.

• Lincoln is pessimistic about winning the election

End of war in sight and a second presidential terms

• August 1864, Union shut down major southern port in Alabama than move on to Atlanta

• By the end of September, Fremont withdraws from the race

• October- General Sheridan chases the Southern troops from Northern Virginia

• With the victories in the North and absentee ballots from the Union troops, Lincoln wins a second term

Surrender at Appomattox• 3/1865 Grant and Sheridan were

approaching Richmond from the West and Sherman was approaching from the South

• 4/1865 President Davis and his government leave the capital and burn it to the ground

• 4/9/1865 Confederate surrender in a Virginia village called Appomattox

• All Southern Troops were paroled and sent home

• After four years of fighting the Civil War was OVER

The War Changes the Nation

Political Changes• Federal government

assumed supreme national authority

• Increased Federal governments power and involvement in citizens life

• -Income taxes• -draft• -required use of national

currency

Economic Changes• Established the National Bank

Act of 1863• Economy of Northern states

boomed- had $ to invest after the war

• Large-scale agriculture **thanks to machines

• Devastated the South- Took away cheap labor- SLAVERY

• Destroyed over half of Southern livestock, railways and farms

Freedom for the First Time!• The Emancipation

Proclamation only freed slaves behind Confederate lines

• Amendment #13 introduced to the house in January 1865.

• “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States”

• http://www.civilwar.org/education/teachers/lesson-plans/civil-war-battle-strategy-lesson-plan/the-roads-to-antietam.html