The Civil War

U.S. History Summer School

Secession

• South Carolina secedes December 20th 1860.

• 6 more secede over the next 2 weeks.

• Before Lincoln is inaugurated, S.C., Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia.

• They meet February 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama and create new nation.– The Confederate States of America

• Elect former Senator Jefferson Davis President

First Shots

• Fort Sumter – April 12th, 1861– Island in Charleston harbor South Carolina– Needed to be re-supplied– Lincoln let S.C. know that he was sending no

troops or arms, just food.– If Fort was not supplied it would have to be

surrendered to the South. – On April 12th Confederates open fire and

begin bombardment of fort. – After 34 hours Union Army surrenders

Fort Sumter

Results – Ft. Sumter

• Open act of Rebellion• As defender of constitution Lincoln feels he must

call up troops to fight the seceding states.• Southerners saw this as an action against them• As a result upper south states of Virginia,

Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, join Confederacy.

• 4 Border states with Slavery do not secede. Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware

• West Virginia breaks off from Virginia and becomes new state in 1863

U.S. at Start of Civil War

North – South Advantages

• North– Railroad Mileage– Factories more than

double– Well Balanced

Economy– 2/3 of Population

• South– 7 of 8 military colleges

in South– Just defend– Fighting to preserve

their way of life– Home field advantage

North – South Strategies

• North – Naval Blockade

• Prevents economy from functioning

– Control Mississippi River to cut Confederacy in two

– Defeat Quickly

• South– Prepare and wait– Defensive War– War of Attrition

• Inflict continuous loses to wear down morale and strength.

– Stop exporting cotton• This would force Britain

and France to support the South because they needed their cotton

• FAILS!

Strategy

Tactics and Technology

• Rifling– Spiral grooving cut into the gun barrel

• Causes new Bullets to spin as they are fired going straighter and further. 500 yards vs. 100 yards

• Artillery – Exploding Shells – Canisters

• Filled with bullets turning artillery into giant shotguns

• Generals were slow to recognize that the new technologies were ahead of military tactics– Causes mass slaughters of troops

Early War

• General Lee and the Army of Virginia Dominates the Union in the East

• Ulysses Grant – Commander of Western Union Army– Union general who finds immediate success in working to

capture Mississippi River and catches Lincoln’s eye– Wins battles of Ft. Donelson and Henry in West Tennessee Feb.

1862– First significant victories for Union. – Gives hope to North

• South Starts to have concerns as the Northern Army grows in the west with continued success and the fall of Nashville and Shiloh.

Civil War 1861-1862

Meanwhile…

• Union Navy works its way up the Mississippi River– Captures New Orleans April 25th 1862– Memphis June 6, 1862

• Port Hudson and Vicksburg are last major ports in Southern hands.

• Grant heads to Vicksburg

Battle of Antietam

• Union Lucky by discovering Lee’s orders• Battle Sept. 17, 1862• Lee 40,000 Troops• Union 75,000• Union attacks and suffers great casualties• By the end of the day Lee had 14,000 casualties

and Union 12,000• Bloodiest single day of War• Lee retreats to Virginia

Results of Antietam

• Lincoln finally gets victory he needs to issue the Emancipation Proclamation free slaves in the rebelling states.

• Lincoln fires general again because he did not chase Lee and destroy him when he had the chance.

• Lee loses 1/3 of his army

Lee’s big Victories

• Fredericksburg - Dec. 13th 1862• Chancellorsville – May 1, 1863

– Both Victories hurt morale of Union

• The worst for the South though was that General Jackson was wounded by own men at Chancellorsville and would die of wounds.

• Lee states he has lost his right arm and most brilliant general.

• Loss of Jackson also hurts Southern morale where Jackson is folk hero

Lee’s big decision

• Union Blockade of the South was starting to take its toll on supplies and weaken Lee’s Army by the spring of 1863.

• With all of the Battles in Virginia, supplies there had become hard to find.

• Lee decided to go find some in Pennsylvania.

• He also hoped a Southern victory on Northern soil would convince the North to give up.

June 1863• Lee moves North to find supplies• Union Army to stay between Lee’s Army

and Washington.• Union Army moves North to find Lee• July 1st, Confederate Soldiers enter town of

Gettysburg looking for shoes, run into small group of Union Cavalry.

• Starts as small skirmish, Both Armies move in Quickly

Gettysburg July 1-3 1863

• Largest battle ever in North America• Lee wanted to inflict a defeat on Union on

Union soil.• Lee’s supply lines were getting long and

they were running out.• Word was Gettysburg had supplies and

food.• Meade had been ordered to prevent Lee

from attacking Washington.

Battlefield Layout

Aftermath of Gettysburg

• Lee never again will have the strength to attack the North.

• Lee offers resignation, but is rejected

• Meade is fired by Lincoln because he does not pursue Lee and allows him to escape back to Virginia

• Tide of war turns in favor of the Union

Vicksburg• Final stronghold on Mississippi river• Protected well on three sides• Between December 1862 and April 1863 Grant

made several attempts to capture the city. All failed

• Grant then decides to attack Jackson, the state capital.

• This pulls troops from Vicksburg to try and save Jackson.

• Jackson falls before they arrive and Grant engages southern Army, wins but cannot destroy their army. They flee back to Vicksburg.

Siege of Vicksburg

• With the army dug back in at Vicksburg, Grant tries a new idea. Siege

• 2800 shells per day for over a month.• Residents dug caves, lived in basements.• People were forced to eat dogs, horses, mules,

and even rats• By late June the food for the army was running

out. • On July 4th 1863 30,000 soldiers marched out of

Vicksburg and surrendered

1864

• Grant becomes head of all union forces and has new strategy for destroying army of Virginia

• He is determined to use the Unions huge advantage in men and supplies.

• The result is some of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Election of 1864

• Former General McClellan, fired twice by Lincoln, opposes him.

• He says he will end war and make peace with the South.

• A year earlier and he may have won but with the victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg it is clear the Union is closing in on victory.

• Lincoln wins easily

Grant Chases Lee

• Grant knows Lee will defend Richmond at all costs.

• To draw Lee into battle all Grant must do is move towards Richmond.

• Many battles are fought and many are Southern Victories.

• Grant continues on losing thousands of men, but Lee cannot reinforce at even close to the same rate.

• By 1865 it was clear the Confederacy could not win and their last chance for survival was the election which Lincoln won.

Grant Chases Lee

Sherman’s March

• While Grant was in charge in the East Sherman took control in the west.

• Applying a “Scorched Earth” policy he lays ruin to the south from Atlanta to the sea in Savannah.

• When Atlanta finally falls there is no confederate army left to oppose him.

• He was determined to cause as much devastation as possible to force the confederates to surrender.

• Sherman “War is cruelty, there is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”

Sherman’s March

13th Amendment

• Congress passes the 13th amendment in February 1865 outlawing slavery in the United States of America

• It was ratified and became law December 18th 1865

• This ended the most divisive issue in U.S. history, slavery.

Lee Surrenders

• April 9th 1865 Appomattox Courthouse

• Many of Lee’s officers wanted Lee to continue to retreat and fight a guerrilla war.

• He refused fearing it would bring even more devastation to Virginia.

• 5 days after Surrender, Lincoln is assassinated.

Aftermath of War

• Over 600,000 DEAD

• In all other U.S. wars combined barely 620,000 total U.S. dead.

• 2/3 of southern shipping industry destroyed

• 9000 miles of railroad destroyed

• Value of southern land drops by 70 percent

Casualties