TOTAL WAR MODERN WAR

A TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICATHE SECOND AMERICAN

REVOLUTION

The Civil War

Push to War

Secession December 1860 Lincoln’s Concern = border states

Strategic location

Population RR and industry

Crittenden Compromise – failed Crittenden Resolution April 1861 – Fort Sumter

Essential Questions:

What factors determined the outcome of the war?

What was the impact of the war – socially, politically, constitutionally and economically?

Why is it called a “rebirth of freedom” and the second American Reovlution?

What is the irony of what each side “lost” in defending its respective idea of liberty?

Prompt:

Foner writes: “In a war of this kind, the effectiveness of political leadership, the ability to mobilize economic resources and a society’s willingness to keep up the fight despite setbacks are as crucial to the outcome as success or failure in individual battlefields.” Evaluate the relative effectiveness of each side – Union and Confederacy – in each of the three areas Foner mentions. Give specifics to support your assessment. 

Comparison of Belligerents

Union Goals: preserve the

union - after 1863 emancipation

Strategy: occupy rebel territory; destroy ability of rebel army to fight

Tactic: Anaconda Plan blockade, control the Mississippi – divide, take Richmond

ConfederacyGoal:

independence Strategy: attrition

– make costly; find a foreign ally

Tactic: offensive defense (strategic defense)

Union War Aim

OverviewOverviewofof

the North’sthe North’sCivil WarCivil WarStrategy:Strategy:

““Anaconda”Anaconda”PlanPlan

OverviewOverviewofof

the North’sthe North’sCivil WarCivil WarStrategy:Strategy:

““Anaconda”Anaconda”PlanPlan

Anaconda Plan

Resources:

Finances and Mobilization

UnionTariffs, taxesRepublican

agenda – banking, homestead act, tariffs

Citizen soldiers/draft

Industry & RR

ConfederacyInflation – paper

moneyCitizen

soldiers/draftIndustrial

production – OK; foodstuffs = problem

Leadership

Lincoln Davis Master strategy micromanaged Good communicator conflicts w/in War leadership problems with

centralization of power - LTD

Total Warfare

Role of technology – RR; rifle Defense

Massive numbers of troops and amounts of materiel

Involvement of civilian population

Assessment: Military

Confederate Advantage Easier task – defense Shorter supply lines & distances Long, indented coastline Experienced military leadership High morale

Union Advantage Population – immigrants, African Americans Navy

Assessment: Economic

Confederate Advantage Cotton – King Cotton diplomacy (allies)

Confederate Disadvantage Food production

Union Advantage Control over banking and capital: 70% RR,

65% farmland Strong bureaucracy – logistical support

Assessment: Political

Confederate disadvantage States rights philosophy Davis – internal divisions

Union Advantage Centralized government Lincoln’s leadership Political parties

Confederate hope - attrition

Cost of the war in terms of $ and causalities would cause the Union to turn against Lincoln --- (Atlanta)

1861-1862: Two FrontsEastFirst Bull Run July

1861 Nature the war

Army of the Potomac – McClellan

Peninsular Campaign

Monitor v VirginiaAntietam – Sept

1862 Tactical draw.

Strategic defeat Permits Emancipation

Proc.Fredericksburg Dec

1862

West Fts Henry and

Donelson-Feb. 1862 Shiloh – April 1862

Control upper Mississippi

New Orleans – Ap 1862 Farragut

Confederate Dead

Diplomacy

Support from Br & Fr critical for Confederate success – balance industry, break blockade

Trent Affair 1861Belligerent status from Br & FrKing Cotton Diplomacy – failed

Process of Emancipation

Lincoln – reluctant to act – border states, racism, constitution, overturning through election

Confiscation Acts 1861 – seize enemy property 1862 – freed slave of those rebelling

Emancipation Proclamation – Jan 1863 Rebel states only; 100 days give up arms

keep slaves 13th Amendment 1865

SignificanceNew war aim – abolitionFurther separates Br & Fr from

supporting the Confederacy L. reasserts control over party L. reasserts control over military

commanders Accelerated breakdown of slavery -

JuneteenthAfrican American Troops Transforms idea of the New Nation-

“new birth of freedom”13th Amendment

Emancipation in 1863Emancipation in 1863Emancipation in 1863Emancipation in 1863

Slaves taking Freedom

African-American Recruiting African-American Recruiting PosterPoster

African-American Recruiting African-American Recruiting PosterPoster

Freed Slaves

Fort Wagner – 54th Mass

August Saint-Gaudens Memorial to August Saint-Gaudens Memorial to Col. Robert Gould ShawCol. Robert Gould Shaw

August Saint-Gaudens Memorial to August Saint-Gaudens Memorial to Col. Robert Gould ShawCol. Robert Gould Shaw

Turning Points: July 2-4,1863

GettysburgLee’s last

offensive thrustPickett’s Charge

at Cemetery Ridge

Morale –draft riots

VicksburgControl over

MississippiConfederacy

dividedGrant ----L’s

general

Internal divisions

Grinding to the end

March to the Sea – 1864 Atlanta – Sep’t 1864 – allowed L. re-

election – no conditional surrender or negotiated peace

Richmond – April 1864 Appomatox – Surrender April 9,

1865

Sherman’s March

Grant and Lee at Appomatox

Home Front: Union Economic activism in government Boom times for manyCorruption Finance – taxes, bonds, GreenbacksDissent Discontent and class issuesCivil Liberties – suspension of Habeas

Corpus; Copperheads; Ex Parte Milligan and Ex Parte Merryman

Extensive Legislation PassedExtensive Legislation PassedWithout the South in CongressWithout the South in CongressExtensive Legislation PassedExtensive Legislation Passed

Without the South in CongressWithout the South in Congress

1861 – Morrill Tariff Act1862 – Homestead Act1862 – Legal Tender Act1862 – Morrill Land Grant Act1862 – Emancipation Proclamation

(1/1/1863)1863 – Pacific Railway Act1863 – National Bank Act

1861 – Morrill Tariff Act1862 – Homestead Act1862 – Legal Tender Act1862 – Morrill Land Grant Act1862 – Emancipation Proclamation

(1/1/1863)1863 – Pacific Railway Act1863 – National Bank Act

Enrollment Act of 1863

“…All able-bodied male citizens of the United States and persons of foreign birth who have declared on oath their intention to become citizens …between the ages of twenty and forty-five, …are declared to constitute the national forces, and shall be liable to perform military duty ..when called out by the President…”

NYC Draft Riots

NYC Riots

Surgeon’s Tools

Letter from a Rioter - 1863To the Editor of the New York Times: You will, no doubt, be hard on us rioters

tomorrow morning, but that 300 dollar law had made us nobodies, vagabonds and cast-outs of society, for whom nobody cares when we must go to war and be shot down. We are the poor rabble and the rich rabble is our enemy by this law. Therefore, we will give our enemy battle right here and ask no quarter. Although we got hard fists and are dirty without, we have soft hearts and have clean consciences within and that’s the reason we love our wives and children more than the rich, because we got not much besides them and we will not go and leave them at home for to starve…Why don’t they let the nigger kill the slave-driving race and take possession of the South, as it belongs to them.” – A Poor Man

The $300 exemptionTo the Editor of the New York Times:‘You have been trying to vindicate the

Draft from the charge that it throw the whole burden of the war upon the poor. You must know that when one hundred men are drawn, if fifty of them can pay their $300 they are released and then their places must be filled by another draft from among the poor. If this is not releasing the rich and placing the burdens of the war, exclusively, on the poor, I should like to know what it would be.” A Poor Man

Copperheads – Peace Democrats

Home Front: Confederacy

Inflation and paper money Economic destruction Anti draft discontent – planter

exemption Dissent Discontent and class tensionsProposal to abandon slavery

Inflation in the SouthInflation in the SouthInflation in the SouthInflation in the South

Confederate Currency

Bread Riots

Prices and Money Supply

Women

Increased opportunities on both frontsNursing Suffrage

Soldiers:

Citizen soldiersCorrupt camp life/revivals More discipline and better food – Union More individualism – Confederacy

Camp Life

Nursing

Andersonville Prison

Outcome

Organization principleContingency theory - McPhersonStrategies and style of warfare

Impact: Constitutional Amendments

13 – abolish slavery 14 – due process, equal protection of

the law, citizenship 15 – suffrage all males

Nature of the Union – people, indivisible , permanent and perpetual

New birth of freedom – reconciles Declaration and Constitution –federal gov’t as protector of rights

Impact: Political

Increase in power of federal gov’t Increase in power of the president South --- “Solid” – DemocratAfrican American – Republican Corruption “Grantism”

Impact: Economic

Tariffs and taxes –Morrill TariffIndustry and banking grow –new industrial era – National Banking Act

Western movement – Homestead Act

Modernized the N economy – industrial potential emerged

South needs to be totally rebuilt – loss of wealth

Impact: Social – Changing Social Fabric

Demographic changes – high death ratesRole of women Need to incorporate freed slaves – what is

the role of the freedman – Douglass”…the work does not end with the abolition of slavery, it only begins.”

End to optimism and reform – perfection and hope replaces with bitterness and disillusionment

Psychic Scars – social & cultural divisionsEmerson – change from “transcendent”

individual to celebration of organization & gov’t

Casualties on Both SidesCasualties on Both SidesCasualties on Both SidesCasualties on Both Sides

Civil War CasualtiesCivil War Casualtiesin Comparison to Other Warsin Comparison to Other Wars

Civil War CasualtiesCivil War Casualtiesin Comparison to Other Warsin Comparison to Other Wars