Fundamental Causes of the War

• Sectionalism and states’ rights

• Slavery

• Economic issues

The Dividing Union• Missouri Compromise (1820)

• Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law

• Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854)

• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Secession• South Carolina

was first to secede

• Several other states followed soon after

• Virginia seceded after the Battle of Fort Sumter Seceding states appear in green

The Creation of the Confederacy

• Delegates met in Montgomery, Alabama

• Formed the Confederate States of America

• Jefferson Davis elected president, with Alexander Stephens as vice president

CSA President Jefferson Davis

Buchanan’s Inaction

• Believed secession was illegal, but that acting to prevent it was also illegal

• Decided to let the incoming administration handle the problem

President James Buchanan

Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address

• March 4, 1861

• Promised not to interfere with slavery where it already existed

• Attempted to reconcile with the South

A crowd listens to Lincoln’s speech at the Capitol building

Lincoln and Fort Sumter• Confederates demanded that the fort be surrendered

• Lincoln received urgent message from Ft. Sumter’s commander

• Lincoln faced with dilemma of resupplying Sumter

• Decided to send only “food for hungry men”

Fort Sumter

The War Begins• Bombardment began on April 12, 1861

• Anderson surrendered to Gen. Beauregard, a close friend and colleague

Painting depicting the bombardment of Fort Sumter

The “Anaconda Plan”The Union’s strategy:

• Naval blockade from Louisiana to Virginia

• Control of the Mississippi River

Confederate strategy primarily defensive

Cartoon about the “Anaconda Plan”

Advantages & Disadvantages: The Union

Advantages:• Industry and railroads• Larger population• Legitimate government• Strong political

leadershipDisadvantages:

• Funding difficulties• Offensive war• Lack of skilled

military leaders

A Massachusetts factory

Advantages & Disadvantages: The Confederacy

Advantages:• Defensive war on home turf• Common cause• Strong military tradition and

outstanding leaders

Disadvantages:• Weak economy• Smaller population• Ineffective central

government and leadership

Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson

War Aims: North and South• The North: to preserve the Union

• The South: safeguarding states’ rights, as well as protecting the South from “Northern aggression”

Horace Greeley

Abraham Lincoln

Recruiting Soldiers• Lincoln called

for 75,000 volunteers for three months’ enlistment

• Response was overwhelming

• Union also encouraged enlistment with bounties

New Yorkers line up to enlist

Ethnic Recruitment• Both sides appealed to

ethnic pride in order to recruit

• Many nationalities joined both sides

• Irish Americans among the most common

An enlistment poster aimed at Irish Americans

Bull Run

• First major battle of Civil War

• About 25 miles from Washington, D.C.

• “Stonewall” Jackson became famous

• Confederate victory

Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson

The Trent Affair• Union forces seized two Confederate

diplomats from aboard a British ship, the Trent

• British contended the seizure was an act of war

• Union eventually released the diplomats

• Confidence built between the U.S. and British governments

• Britain refused to support Confederacy

The San Jacinto accosting the

Trent

Shiloh• Union forces led

by Ulysses S. Grant

• Confederate attack nearly wiped out Union forces on first day

• Grant counterattacked the next day

• Union victoryA view of Shiloh after the battle

Ironclads• Confederates built

the Merrimack from a sunken Union ship

• Union quickly built the Monitor

• Monitor and Merrimack fought to a draw in first battle between ironclads A painting of the battle

New Technologies in Warfare• Minie ball

• Submarine

• Heavy artillery

• Aerial reconnaissance

• Gatling gun

• Trench warfare

A Gatling gun

A New Union Commander

• McClellan selected as commander after Bull Run

• McClellan popular with troops

• A thorough administrator

• Overly cautious

Gen. George B. McClellan

Lee Takes Command

• General Joseph E. Johnston wounded

• Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate army

• Lee proves an able commander

Gen. Robert E. Lee

Antietam • Attempt by Lee to invade the North

• Near Sharpsburg, Maryland

• McClellan tipped off to Lee’s plans when a soldier found secret orders wrapped around cigars

• Single bloodiest day in American history

Artillery Hell, a painting of early morning hostilities at Antietam

Antietam: Aftermath• Lincoln met with

McClellan after the battle

• Lincoln fired him, complaining that he “had the slows”

• McClellan replaced by series of commanders

Lincoln meets with McClellan at Antietam

Alabama Claims

• Confederates purchased commerce raiders from Britain

• Alabama highly successful in disrupting Union shipping

• U.S. government demands compensation from Britain

• In 1872, an arbitration commission ordered Britain to pay $15.5 million

Painting of the CSS Alabama fighting the USS Kearsage

Prelude to Emancipation

• At first, Lincoln did not believe he had the authority to end slavery

• However, every slave working on a plantation allowed a white Southerner to fight

• Lincoln saw emancipation as a strategic issue as well as a moral one

Slaves on a South Carolina plantation, 1862

Advantages to Emancipation

• Cause “union” in the North by linking the war to abolishing slavery

• Cause disorder in the South as slaves were freed

• Kept Britain out of the war

Lincoln discussing emancipation with his cabinet

The Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln announced proclamation after Antietam

• Took effect on January 1, 1863• Freed slaves only in “territories

in rebellion”

A cartoon celebrating emancipation

Dealing With Dissent

• Copperheads

• Led by Rep. Clement Vallandigham of Ohio

• Lincoln suspends habeas corpus

Rep. Clement Vallandigham

African American Enlistment

• Congress allowed black enlistment in 1862

• 54th Massachusetts commanded by Colonel Shaw

• Half of 54th killed in assault on Ft. Wagner

• Helped spur further enlistment

Col. Robert Gould Shaw

Memorial to the 54th Massachusetts

Manpower for the War

• Mostly volunteers

• Conscription needed to sustain troop levels

• In the North, draftees could hire substitutes or pay $300 to opt out

An illustrated sheet music cover protesting the inequities of the draft

New York Draft Riots• July 1863• Rioters mainly poor

whites and Irish immigrants

• Attacked the rich and blacks over 100 killed

• Felt that if they went to war blacks would take their jobs

• Opposed to freeing slaves

Rioters loot a New York store

The Sanitary Commission

• Poor health conditions in army camps

• U.S. Sanitary Commission created

• Purposes included improving hygiene and recruiting nurses

• Developed better methods of transporting wounded to hospitals

A Civil War field hospital

Civil War Medicine

• Infection often deadlier than the wounds

• Amputations more common

• Anesthesia widely used

A surgeon at the Camp Letterman field hospital at Gettysburg prepares for an

amputation

Andersonville

• Confederate POW camp in Georgia

• 32,000 prisoners jammed into 26 acres

• One-third of all prisoners died

• Superintendent was executed as a war criminal Severely emaciated POWs rescued

from Andersonville

Chancellorsville

• Jackson’s forces surprised Union troops

• Confederates won unlikely victory

• Jackson hit by “friendly fire” and died a week later

• Lee pressed on to Pennsylvania A painting of the battle

Gettysburg: Prelude

• Lee crossed into Pennsylvania

• Sent troops for supplies

• Confederates encounter Union force outside Gettysburg Gettysburg battlefield: view from Culp’s Hill

Gettysburg: Day One

• Small Union force led by Buford delayed a larger Confederate force

• Buford held high ground at Seminary Ridge

• Buford’s stand allowed time for reinforcements to arrive

Gettysburg: Day Two

• Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

• Defense of Little Round Top

• 20th Maine repelled Confederates and saved Union position

Colonel (later Major General) Joshua L. Chamberlain

Gettysburg: Day Three

• Lee believed Union lines were still vulnerable

• Ordered Pickett’s forces to attack center of Union lines

• “Pickett’s Charge” resulted in over 6500 Confederate casualties

Artist’s rendition of the battlefield during Pickett’s charge

Impact of Gettysburg

• Confederates lost 28,000men (one-third of army)

• Union lost 23,000 men(one-quarter of army)

• Town overwhelmed by dead and wounded soldiers

• Lee unable to rebuild army

• Turning point of the warA Confederate soldier lies dead at

“Devil’s Den”

Siege of Vicksburg

• Key to total Union control of the Mississippi River

• Several attempts by Grant to take the city failed

• Grant barraged the city for two months

• Vicksburg fell on July 4, 1863

Union troops surround Vicksburg during the siege

The Gettysburg Address

• Lincoln invited to attend cemetery dedication

• Everett the principal speaker

• At the time, Lincoln’s two-minute speech was considered great by some, a failure by others

The only known picture of Lincoln (lower center) at the Gettysburg

Cemetery dedication

The “Wilderness Campaign”• Grant came to support

“total war”• Sought to crush Lee’s

army in Virginia• Fought in dense forest

near Fredericksburg• Grant criticized for

taking high losses• In one battle he lost

7,000 men in one hour

Grant at Cold Harbor during the Wilderness Campaign

Sherman’s “March to the Sea”

• Sherman sought to break the South’s ability to make war

• Captured Atlanta in September 1864

• Led the March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah

• Took Savannah by Christmas 1864

Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

Election of 1864• Lincoln sought

reelection

• Democrats nominated McClellan

• Union victories helped Republican campaign

• Lincoln won by large margin

A political cartoon shows Lincoln and Davis tearing a U.S. map while McClellan tries to intercede

The 13th Amendment

• Proposed and co-authored by Senator Henderson of Missouri

• Approved by Congress in January 1865

• Ratified by 27 states by December 1865

• Abolished “involuntary servitude”

Illustration depicting the Senate debate over the 13th Amendment

Surrender at Appomattox• Lee realized his position was hopeless

• Asked to meet with Grant

• Met in Appomattox on April 9, 1865

• Lenient surrender terms

An artist’s rendition of the meeting

Lincoln’s Assassination• On Good Friday, April 14,

1865, at Ford’s Theater

• Shot by actor John Wilkes Booth

• Booth killed 12 days later

• Vice President Andrew Johnson became president

• Lincoln was universally mourned

An illustration of Lincoln’s assassination

Impact of the War: the Union• 111,000 killed in action

• 250,000 killed by non-military causes (mostly disease)

• Over 275,000 wounded

• Estimated cost in today’s dollars: $6.19 billion

Union dead at Gettysburg

Impact of the War: the Confederacy

• 93,000 killed in battle

• 165,000 killed by non-military causes

• Over 137,000 wounded

• Estimated cost in today’s dollars: $2.10 billion Destruction in Atlanta after Sherman’s

troops took the city

The Road to Reconstruction• Lincoln’s assassination led

to rise of “Radical Republicans”

• Conflict over how to best deal with the former Confederate states

• Reconstruction period brought about great political upheaval

• South “punished” for causing the war

President Andrew Johnson