Civil War 1861-1865

What were the causes?

• Slavery• John Brown’s massacre • Dred Scott’s life• State’s rights• Anger!!!• Fear• Abolitionist’s fight!• Freedom

Secession Continued• 7 States left the Union by Feb 1861• After Confederates bomb Fort Sumter (Union

fort) 4 other states join the Confederacy

Richmond, VA is capital

Border States

• States that allowed slavery stayed with the Union: – Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware– (major supporters of slavery)

• MO : controlled part of MS river (help get west)• KY: controlled Ohio River (travel)• MD: close to Confederate capital in Virginia.

Union capital in Maryland!• Border Sts. Stay with Union, but some citizens

join Southern army…

North: Union

• Leaders:– President: Abraham Lincoln – General in Chief of the Union Army and

U.S. President: Ulysses Grant

• Advantages:– More people, industry, ships– More efficient railway network

South: Confederate

• Leaders:– President: Jefferson Davis– War General: Robert E.Lee

Strategies to Win!•North: bring the Southern states back to the Union1. Blockade Southern ports to stop supplies getting in or

out2. Wanted control of Mississippi River (cut supply lines,

split Confederacy)3. Capture the Richmond, VA (capital of South)

•South: become an independent nation – Confederate States of America1. Defend its land, often took the offensive2. Britain and France would help (because of cotton)

Two Sides

Confederate army: 112,000 soldiers• The Rebels• @ the end of

the war: 850,000 soldiers

Union army: 187,000 soldiers

• The Yankees• @ the end

of the war: 2,100,000 soldiers (2x Rebels)

Bull Run / Manassas

• Union: 30,000 inexperienced soldiers fight under Gen. Irvin McDowell (first attack)

• Confederate: small army led by Gen. Beauregard

• Yankees drive Confederates back, Confeds rally under Gen Thomas Jackson.

Stonewall Jackson

• Holds out like a ‘stonewall’ • He helps the Confederates drive

out the Yankees• Union gets scared, drop their guns

and run north. • Confederates were yelling upon the

counterattack = the Rebel Yell!

George McClellan

• Comes to help the North by Lincoln’s request

• Leads the Eastern army, called the Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

War at Sea

• Lincoln orders a naval blockade of Southern ports – South had 3,500 mile coastline…that

was a difficult order from Lincoln– (prevents exporting cotton –stops

$flow)• Monitor vs Merrimack– Southerners take the Merrimack

from the Union, when S. seized the naval shipyard in Virginia

Ironclad warships

• South attacks the Union in March 1862• Northern ships are wooden and sink

Potomac River

War in the West• After Bull Run in July 1861

war in the East settles into a stalemate

• The North wants to control the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. - to split the Confederacy

• Union operates from Cairo, Illinois under Ulysses S. Grant

Facts: Black Flag of the Civil War

• Many adopted the black flag as a sign of "surrender or die!".

• A Confederate officer named Quantrill used it during the American Civil War

• Traditional symbol of anarchy• Anarchy - political and social disorder

due to the absence of governmental control

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard; Stonewall dies at Chancellorsville

Ulysses S. Grant: Union officer• Successfully captures Confederate forts:– Fort Henry (Tennessee river)– Fort Donelson (Cumberland river)– @ F. Donelson the Confederate commander

surrenders to Grant• Grant becomes a hero; Union is free to

march into TN, MS, KY• These victories drive out the

Confederates from Kentucky

Battle of Shiloh• Gen. Grant and 40,000 troops go down the TN river to Corinth,

MS. • 20 miles away was a church named Shiloh, Union Gen. Buell also

joins Grant• Confed – Gen. Albert Johnston + P.G.T. Beauregard take offensive• Battle lasts 2 days – brutal fighting

– Day 1: South drives Grant back– Day 2: North recovers and defeats South– Union had help from 25,000 troops shelling from the ships on the river

• Total casualties: 20,000!; Johnston dies• North now controls Memphis, TN

– They almost have the entire Mississippi river!• Battle pics

New Orleans and Peninsular Campaign

New OrleansDavid Farragut and his forces

besiege New Orleans for 7 days. The Confederates

eventually surrender and no men are killed. The Union

controls most of the Mississippi River now. Peninsular

CampaignGeneral George McClellan attacks

Rebel forces in the Seven Days’ Battles. Eventually the

Northern forces win.

Union Defeat at Richmond

• McClellan, tries to capture Richmond by going around the peninsula of New York.

• Lee takes 1,200 troops to drive out the Union. • Union did not capture Richmond.

Gloom in the North• The North kept winning battles but still couldn’t

take Richmond (the confederate capitol)• Lincoln called for 300,000 volunteers but not many

came very fast• The North’s energy was being drained• Mclellan was being called back to Virginia to join

major general John Pope• 2nd battle of Bull Run- when Stonewall Jackson joins

Lee to attack Pope• Confederates won and Richmond wasn’t

threatened anymore…

Battle of Antietam – Union Victory• George McClellan and Robert E. Lee’s forces met at

Maryland. McClellan drove Robert E. Lee’s forces back to Virginia . Both sides suffered enormous casualties. Lincoln ordered McClellan to go after lee’s army and destroy it but McClellan refused. Lincoln replaced McClellan in command with Gen. Burnsides.

Ambrose Burnside

• McClellan had fought and commanded the North in the Battle of Antietam

• Lincoln didn’t like how McClellan refused his commands

• Lincoln replaces McClellan for Burnside

Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville

• South won!• South was

entrenched• Northerners were

running in the open field…getting shot at!

• (South) surprise attack on the North – N. relaxing.

• Southerners continue to attack @ night: this results in Jacks. death

• Stonewall Jackson dies (S. leader)

Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg

• Three-day battle• First two days Northerners are winning• Lee wants the war to end and Gen. George

Pickett leads a charge, which causes South defeat!!!!!!

• North Wins…

Vicksburg!!!!!!!

• North Wins!!• Ulysses S. Grant captured the city, South

surrenders and North has control of the Mississippi River.

Turning point in the War

• Union victory at Gettysburg + Vicksburg• Secure the Mississippi River and force General

E. Lee out of PA. • Southerners still wanted to win and were

willing to fight.

Ceremony @ Gettysburg Cemetery

• November 19, 1863• Scholar Edward Everett spoke for 2 hrs• President Lincoln spoke for 2mins.

Fourscore 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 battlefield 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 cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot 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.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gettysburgaddress.htm

William Tecumseh Sherman

• Northern General, helps Grant win the battle of Chattanooga, TN

• Helps the North to win the Civil War

Grant’s Strong Drive! “Butcher”

•Grant is the commander of the Union armies, he is the one finally

good enough for Lincoln. “He fights.”

•Grant has a plan to destroy the Confederacy:

• Potomac army(North) will destroy Lee’s army (South) in Virginia

• Sherman(North) will destroy the Deep South

•May, June of 1864: Grant(North) and Lee’s(South) armies meet!!!

Three battles near Richmond, VA - - many losses for North

1. Wilderness, 2. Spotsylvania Courthouse, 3. Cold Harbor

• Petersburg = Grant attacks this railroad center, siege for 9months

Election of 1864

• North: struggling to win – Abraham Lincoln doesn’t think he will win the Republican vote again. HE WINS A SECOND TERM.

• South(Democrat): George McClellan…? a northerner? That’s weird!

• he really didn’t want to be president, just wanted to change the northern strategies in the war.

1864 Union’s Final Successes

• Control the Gulf of Mexico, b/c of David Farragut (north)

• Sept. - Sherman captures Atlanta(south)• Sherman has a bold plan…– The “march to the sea”. (Savannah, Georgia)– Abandon supplies and cut a path of destruction 50

miles wide. TOTAL WAR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDBJ_FW8ato&feature=player_embedded#!

Downfall of the South• Fall and winter of 1864 Grant (north)

continues the siege against Lee (south)• Winter brings sickness, hunger…weakens the

south.• April 2, 1865 Confederate lines broke – Lee

pulls troops back. • Capital Richmond falls – Rebels/southerners

destroy their own capital so the Northerners don’t!

• Lee surrenders to General Grant

Surrender at Appomattox

• April 9, 1865 Lee and his troops surrender to Grant – Appomattox Court House

• Grant gave generous terms– South had to lay down arms– Men were free to go home– Keep horses– Three days worth of food for south

• All of the south surrenders, Jefferson Davis was captured in Georgia

Results

• 600,000 soldiers died• Billions of $ of damage – mostly in the South

• Bitter feelings b/w North and South for generations.

• War freed millions of African Americans