THE CIVIL WAR1861-1865

Before the War• For a long time, Congress was

equally split between slave states and free states

• Many compromises along the way to keep the balance

Missouri Compromise• Debate over whether to have Missouri

enter as a slave state or free state• Compromise: Missouri – slave state

Maine – free state• Also banned slavery in the Louisiana

Territory north of the parallel 36°30’ – Missouri’s southern border

Missouri Compromise Map

Compromise of 1850• For the North:

– California a free state– Washington D.C. – no slavery

• For the South:– New Mexico Territory – decide later– Congress wouldn’t pass new laws about

slavery in territories won from Mexico– Congress would pass stronger laws to help

slaveholders recapture runaway slaves

Fugitive Salve Act• Made it easier for slave owners to

get slaves back–Suspected slaves held without warrant

–No right to jury trials

–Set up a federal commissioner to decide cases• $5 for releasing the defendant

• $10 for turning defendant over to slaveholder

Compromise of 1850 Map

Compromises• Most people in the North and the

South thought that the compromises would continue to save the Union

Underground Railroad• Network of homes and people

who helped slaves escape North• At first slaves just had to make it

to the North; after the Fugitive Slave Act, slaves had to go all the way to Canada for freedom

• Harriet Tubman – one of the most famous conductors. She had a reward of $40,000 for her capture

Harriet Tubman

Dred Scott v. Sandford

• Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom after his owners death because his owner took him to live in a territory where slavery was illegal

• Case went to the Supreme Court

Dred Scott Decision

• Supreme Court ruled:– A slave (Scott) was not a U.S.

Citizen so he could not sue in U.S. courts

– Court also said that Congress could not outlaw (ban) slavery

• Southerners cheered• Northerners were outraged

Portrait of Dred Scottby Louis Schultze

•Abolitionist – a person who wanted to eliminate (or make illegal) slavery

Harpers Ferry Raid• Abolitionist, John Brown, led the

raid – he wanted to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom

• He thought if he could arm slaves, they would rise up and fight back

• He tried to capture the weapons in the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia

• Brown and 18 followers captured the arsenal

• U.S. Marines attacked and took over the arsenal

• Brown was captured and hanged for treason

• Many small attacks on both sides (free and slave) happened during the next few years

The Tragic Preludeby John Steuart Curry

U.S. Marines, under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee, put an end to John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry

Election of 1860• Political parties split – couldn’t agree• Lincoln and Douglas split most of the

Northern vote – Lincoln won most of the Northern states

• Breckinridge and Bell split Southern vote• Abraham Lincoln’s platform – wanted to

keep the Union together and opposed slavery’s expansion into the territories

• Abraham Lincoln elected with about 40% of the total vote – North had a greater population than the South

Election of 1860 Results

President Abraham Lincoln

secede – withdraw from the Union

• After the election, South Carolina becomes the first state to secede

• Then Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas secede

• They formed Confederate States of America

• Jefferson Davis was named president of the C.S.A.

Civil WarNorth versus South

1861-1865

Reasons for the Split• South didn’t want the North telling

them what to do or making laws they didn’t want

• North and South didn’t agree on slavery issues

• South wanted more states rights

• North favored stronger federal laws

• South didn’t like President Lincoln

Fort Sumter• First battle of the Civil War

• On an island in Charleston harbor in South Carolina

• Northern forces surrendered after running out of supplies – no casualties

• After the battle at Fort Sumter, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas joined the Confederacy

• Confederacy – Southern states that left the U.S. to form their own country, the Confederate States of America

• Union – Northern states that remained loyal to the United States government

Border States• Slave states that didn’t leave the

Union but mostly supported the Confederacy

• Border States: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri

• Union – 24 states• Confederacy – 11 states

Strengths & Weaknesses• North had about 22 million people

• South had about 9 million people– 3.5 million were slaves

• 85% of nations factories in the North

• North had double the railroad mileage of the South

• Almost all the naval power and shipyards belonged to the North

Union Blockade• Blockade – an attempt to stop people

and supplies from going in or out of a port

• Union tried to prevent any goods, troops and weapons from entering the Southern states – tried to collapse the Southern economy

• Cotton exports fell by 95% - biggest source of money to the South

• Blockade part of a larger plan – Anaconda Plan

Anaconda Plan• Strategy of General Winfield Scott• Anaconda Plan tried to keep the south

from getting supplies• Union used 500 ships to patrol the coast

from Virginia to Texas• Some ships did make it through the

blockade – mostly small, fast ships called blockade runners

• Plan was very effective – South had few supplies and economy basically halted

1st Battle of Bull Run• Took place in Virginia• Union goal was to capture the Confederate

capital in Richmond, Virginia – about 90 miles from the Union capital of

Washington D.C.

• Union doing well at first, then South got reinforcements and the Union broke ranks and ran– South was thrilled – thought they’d won the war

and the North would give up– North was shocked – knew they’d underestimated

the South

Naval Battle• Union Monitor and Confederate

Merrimack (CSS Virginia)• First battle with ironclads – a warship

that is fully covered and protected by iron

• Ironclads were durable to cannon fire• Changed the way naval battles were

fought – ironclads could easily defeat wooden ships

• Battle was a tie, both ships survived but were later burned or sunk

Monitor and Merrimack: the first fight between ironclads

Battle of Shiloh• Largest battle fought in the western part

of the country - Tennessee• Confederacy attacked the Union – won

the first day• On second day, reinforcements came

from the North – drove back the Confederate Army

• Both sides had heavy losses• North’s victory solidified Union Armies

dominance in the west

Battle of New Orleans• Largest city in the Confederacy and

a major port

• Important Union victory –took control of the city

Antietam• First major battle fought in the northern

part of the country

• 1862 in Maryland – bloody battle – Union attack and Confederacy counterattack

• On the night of second day Confederate Army started to retreat

• Basically a tie, but Union claimed victory because the Confederates retreated back to Virginia

• 22,000 killed or wounded

• Famous nurse Clara Barton was present at the battle taking care of wounded Union soldiers

• Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross

• President Lincoln called it a victory and announced the Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

• Was an executive order from President Lincoln that promised freedom for slaves in the south once the Union took back control

Battle of Gettysburg• Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

• One of the most important battles of the Civil War for the North

• Confederate General Robert E. Lee invaded the North trying to defeat them once and for all

• Union Army held and sent Lee retreating

• Battle lasted three days

• 1st day – Confederates outnumbered the Union and pushed them back

• 2nd day – both armies at full strength– Union Army 94,000

– Confederate Army 72,000

– Both sides had heavy losses• Union Army held their lines

• 3rd day – Lee made all or nothing attack, he felt if the South could win the battle they would win the war

• 3rd day continued– Lee sent General Pickett with 12,500

men on a direct charge at the heart of the Union Army – attack was called Pickett’s Charge• Pickett was defeated and half his men

injured or killed

– Confederate Army retreated – Union Army did not pursue• President Lincoln was upset – thought

they could have ended the war if they pursued the Confederate Army

• Deadliest battle of the Civil War–46,000 casualties (8,000 dead)

• After the battle, President Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address–Speech made to dedicate a national

cemetery

–Lincoln’s speech lasted 2-3 minutes and had 268 words

Sherman’s March to the Sea

• Union General Sherman marched through Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah

• Took control of major city – Atlanta

• Took control of major sea port – Savannah

Scorched Earth

• Type of warfare where troops destroy industry and crops in their path

• Sherman’s troops: destroyed cotton gins and lumber mills, burned, looted and destroyed much in their path

Commanding Generals• By the end of the war, the main,

commanding generals were:

– Union: Ulysses S. Grant

– Confederacy: Robert E. Lee

Appomattox Courthouse• Not a battle• Site in Virginia where Confederate

General Robert E. Lee formally surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant

• Lee surrendered because his army was exhausted, outnumbered and half-starved

• Basically meant the war was over and the North had won in April 1865

• Some units fought on for a few weeks more

• After the war, Jefferson Davis tried to escape, was captured and sent to prison for 2 years

• 625,000 total dead in the Civil War– more than any other war– 2/3 of deaths due to disease

Assassination

•When a person is murdered for political reasons

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

• 5 days after Lee surrendered

• President Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln went to the Ford’s Theatre to see the play “Our American Cousin”

• An actor and Southern sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth snuck into the balcony and shot President Lincoln in the back of his head

• Lincoln was taken across the street and died the next morning

• Booth jumped down to the stage and broke his leg but escaped

• A week later he was cornered in a barn, was either shot or killed self

After the War:Reconstruction

• Reconstruction – rebuilding of the war torn Southern states so they could be readmitted to the Union

• Much of the South destroyed• The purpose of Reconstruction was

to help the South become part of the Union again

Reconstruction• Rebuilt roads• Got farms running again• Built school• Many Northerners wanted the South

punished– President Andrew Johnson, became

president after Lincoln assassinated, was from the South and wanted to be more lenient (easy) on the CSA

• Congress disagreed and passed harsh laws for Southern states

• Many Southern states passed Black Codes to get around laws passed by Congress

• Black Codes - Laws in the South that made it difficult for black people to get jobs, own land, vote and go to school

• States rejoined the Union 1866-1870

Vocabulary• Copperhead – nickname for

Northerners who were against the Civil War

• Carpetbagger – a Northerner who moved to the South during the Reconstruction in order to become rich

Many in the South viewed carpetbaggers as opportunists looking to exploit, and profit from, the region’s misfortunes.

Vocabulary• Yankee – nickname for people from

the North as well as the Union soldiers

• Rebel – nickname given to people in the South supporting the Confederacy

Yankee Rebel (blue) (grey)

Amendments• 13th – outlawed slavery

• 14th – said black people were

citizens and protected by laws

• 15th – gave all people the right to

vote regardless of race