The Civil War

Chapter 11

Choosing Sides• Robert E. Lee

– He was offered a post in the Union army, but turned it down to help the Confederacy

– 1/3 of the U.S. Military officers left to join the Confederacy

Union

Confederacy

Advantages

Dis-Advantag

es

Advantages and Disadvantages of the North and South

The Northern Position

• Advantages:– Population– Manufacturing and food

production– Railroads: could

transport supplies faster– Civilian leadership

• Disadvantages:– Would travel to fight the

war

The Southern Position

• Advantages:– Defense of its own soil– Better leadership in the

fields– More accustomed to fighting– Cotton was an important

export

• Disadvantages:– Few other resources

Financing the War• Financial Advantages of the North:

– Union controlled the national treasury– Northern banks held large reserves– February 1862: Legal Tender Act

• Created a national currency of greenbacks

• The Confederacy’s Financial Problems:– Many Southerners were unable to buy bonds– Small banks with few reserves– Hope: tax on trade, but Union blockade

stopped it– Paper money caused inflation

Party Politics in the North• Lincoln’s Party

– Republicans wanted to abolish slavery, but Lincoln’s concern was preserving the Union.

• Democrats– War Democrats– Peace Democrats/Copperheads

• Lincoln suspended writs of habeas corpus– For “rebel supporters”

The Diplomatic Challenge

• European Allies?– Davis wanted recognition from Britain and France.– He also wanted assistance from the British navy– Why? Britain needed Southern cotton

The First “Modern War”

• Military Technology and Tactics

– New Guns•Breech-loaded guns

– Used within a year– Much more accurate guns; could be used at

greater distances

•Drawbacks:– More impersonal fighting– Cavalry lost importance– Frontal infantry charges were no longer

effective (many more casualties)

•Better Warships–Steamboats used

•Faster

–Ironclads: wooden ships with iron-plate armor

–Monitor and the Merrimac (Virginia)

The First “Modern War”

• The South’s Strategy: – Jefferson Davis’s Plan

• Defensive War of Attrition

• Choose battles carefully, avoid heavy casualty battles, exhaust the Union into negotiation

– Southern Reaction = disdain• They believed they were superior fighters.

• The troops went on the offensive with heavy losses

The First “Modern War”

The Anaconda Plan

• Purpose: separate the South, exhaust their resources, and force a surrender with little bloodshed

• The Plan:– Blockade– Isolate Confederacy from Europe– Exhaust Southern resources– Control the Mississippi and New Orleans– Cut the Confederacy in two

Section 2: The Early Stages

• The First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas:– The capital of the Confederacy moved

to Richmond Virginia• Within 100 miles of Washington D.C.

– Union troops marched on to Richmond to “hopefully” end the war quickly

– Civilians, dressed in their Sunday best, came to watch the battle.

The First Battle of Bull Run

• Troops on both sides were young and inexperienced.– At first, Union forces were

winning.– As the day progressed, the

Confederate forces under Stonewall Jackson gained the upper hand.

– Union forces retreated back to Washington D.C., but the Southerners did not follow.

Results of the Battle• Lincoln called for 500,000 men• Militia Act (July 1862)

– Gave Lincoln the authority to call state militias into federal service

The Naval War• 1861: Lincoln called for a blockade

of every major Southern harbor• The Blockade:

– The South used blockade runners.– A few Confederate ships managed to

attack Union merchant ships at sea.• Alabama and Florida (built in Britain)

– Merrimack v. Monitor• Clash of the ironclads

The Capture of New Orleans

• David C. Farragut– He was a veteran from the

South.– He served as commander of

Union forces.• 42 warships and 15,000

soldiers

• The Battle:– He attempted to destroy

forts in the lower Mississippi.

– He made a daring move up the Mississippi River to capture New Orleans.

The War in the West• February 1862• General Ulysses S. Grant seized

control of the Cumberland and the Tennessee Rivers– Fort Henry and Fort Donelson

• Result: Kentucky and western Tennessee came under Union control

The Battle of Shiloh

Union Forces

Leader:

•Ulysses S. Grant

Confederate Forces

Leaders:

•General Albert S. Johnson

•General Pierre Beauregard

• The Western Campaign– Ulysses S. Grant led the Union army into

Tennessee– He captured two Confederate Forts– He then drove South toward the Mississippi

River

• Surprise Attack– Confederate troops surprised Union forces– Union forces were pushed to the river,

without means of escape

The Battle of Shiloh

• Reinforcements arrived in time– Grant reorganized his army– They drove the Confederate troops

back and Southward

• Lessons from Shiloh:– Generals began to send out scouts– People began to plan for a long,

hard war

The Battle of Shiloh

The Battle of Shiloh

The Battle of Shiloh

The Battle of Shiloh

Union Losses

Killed: 1,754

Wounded:8,408

Captured/Missing:2,885

Confederate Losses

Killed: 1,723

Wounded:8,012

Captured/Missing:959

Murfreesboro• After Shiloh, the Confederate troops

headed East to Chattanooga – Under leadership of General Braxton

Bragg

• Bragg headed into Kentucky– He hoped supporters in the state would

lead an uprising.

• His plan failed:– General Don Buell stopped him at the

battle of Perryville

General Don Carlos Buell

General Braxton Bragg

Murfreesboro• Buell was supposed to seize

Chattanooga and cut the rail lines there.• He advanced slowly and was replaced

with General William Rosecrans.– Rosecrans forces headed south and were

attacked by Bragg at Murfreesboro– No real victor; Bragg eventually retreated.

The War in the East• General George

B. McClellan was chosen to lead the Union in the East

McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign

• McClellan took many months to prepare his troops.– Lincoln believed he was taking too long.– He was overly cautious.

• His advance to Richmond– He took too long to capture Yorktown,

so the Confederates were able to get in position near Richmond.

– His troops were also split up by the Chickahominy River

McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign

• General Joseph Johnston attacked McClellan’s troops.– Heavy casualties– Robert E. Lee then takes over

• Seven Days’ Battle– Heavy losses on both sides.– Lincoln ordered McClellan to retreat

back to Washington

The Second Battle of Bull Run

• Lee decided to attack Union troops at Washington D.C.– Victory for Lee, Union retreat– Lee then began an assault on Maryland

The Battle of Antietam• Why did Lee invade Maryland?

– He believed an invasion was necessary to convince the North to recognize Southern independence.

– It would help win British recognition.– Lee could feed his troops from Northern

farms.– He could draw Union troops out of

Virginia.

The Battle of Antietam• New Offensive strategy for the

Confederates– Lee went on to attack in Union territory– McClellan had Lee’s “secret army orders”

and pursued him.– Union forces outnumber Lee’s troops and

defeated him.– McClellan did not attempt to finish off

Lee’s army Lincoln fired McClellan

Lincoln and McClellan

Confederate Dead

Results of the Battle of Antietam

Britain and France postpone recognition of the Confederacy

Lincoln will issue the Emancipation Proclamation

The Confederates were cleared from Maryland (Washington was out of imminent danger)

The Emancipation Proclamation

• It freed slaves in Confederate territory.

• Why did Lincoln issue it?– The fighting turned Northern opinion

•the war is about slavery, not just preservation of the Union

– Slaves helped the Southern war effort– British would remain neutral if slavery

was the central issue of the war

Section 3: Life During the

War

Wartime Economies• The Union

– Industrial growth•Demand for clothes, munitions, etc.

– Expansion of new farm tools– Women fill labor shortages

• The Confederacy– Severe food shortages– Low morale– Rioting

African-Americans in the Military

• The Emancipation Proclamation allowed black men to enlist.

• 180,000 African-Americans served in the army.– In the South, black prisoners of war

were enslaved or executed.

• 54th Massachusetts: all black regiment

Military Life: Soldiers in the Field

• Hardships:– No shoes, no blankets– Little food, much starvation in the

Confederacy– Often, soldiers would take foods

from farms as they passed (fruits and vegetables)

Military Life: Battlefield Hospitals

• Unsafe Practices:– Doctors used un-sterilized instruments

over and over again.– Disease spread: smallpox, dysentery,

typhoid, pneumonia

• Battlefield Physicians:– Amputations were used to keep

infections from spreading

The Role of Women in the War

• Many women took over the jobs of the men who left to fight.

• Nursing:– Florence Nightingale– Elizabeth Blackwell: started a training

program for women nurses– Clara Barton: on the battlefield

• Southern Women:– Encouraged to stay at home and help– Some became nurses: Kate Cumming

Military Life: Military Prisons

• Early: prisoner exchanges– South: all African-American prisoners of

war would be enslaved or executed– Result: Lincoln stopped all prisoner

exchanges• Southern Camps:

– Overcrowding, exposure, starvation, etc.– Andersonville Prison

• Northern Camps:– No starvation, but exposure, etc.

Section 4: The Turning Point

• Grierson’s Raid– Grant was planning on sneaking up on

Vicksburg from the South– He sent Benjamin Grierson with 1,700

troops to distract the Confederates– It was successful.

The Battle of Vicksburg

• Grants troops marched on to Vicksburg while fighting battles and foraging for food.

• May 1863– Grant laid siege to Vicksburg.

• He cut off food and supplies and bombarded the city

– July 4 – Confederate commander surrenders to Grant

– Result: the Confederacy is cut in two

Fredericksburg• November 7, 1862: Lincoln replaced

McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside

• December 12, 1862– Burnside ordered assaults against Lee’s

troops in Virginia.– Results: 12,000+ casualties.– Lincoln replaced Burnside with General

Joseph Hooker

Chancellorsville• Hooker decided to attack Lee from the

rear, but Lee too had plans.• General Lee split his army

– Stonewall Jackson sent to attack Hooker from the side

– Hooker was surprised and many men were captured

– Next morning Hooker reorganized and was able to retreat

• Costly Victory– Lee lost 12,000– Jackson died (bullet wound and amputation)

The Battle of Gettysburg

• Lee moved into Northern territory to once again invade the Union.– They moved North under the protection of the

Blue Ridge Mountains.

• Lincoln replaced Hooker with General George Meade.– Meade heads north to intercept Lee.

• July 1, 1863– Confederate forces encountered Union cavalry.– The main forces both went to the scene of the

fighting.

The Battle of Gettysburg

• North– Stationed across Cemetery Ridge

• South– General George Pickett led massive

charges against the Union line – “Pickett’s Charge”

– July 3: they broke through, temporarily•Too many losses of life to hold on = defeat

The Battle of Gettysburg

Casualties % of

Killed Wounded Missing Total Total

Union 3,155 14,530 5,365 23,040 27%

Confederate 2,600-4,500 12,800 5,250 20,650-25,000 30-34%Gettysburg was the turning point in

the war.

Union Soldiers

“Harvest of Death”

Grant Secures Tennessee

• Chickamauga – September 19, 1863– Rosecrans vs. Bragg– Rosecrans was forced back into Chattanooga,

surrounded by Confederates

• The Battle of Chattanooga– Lincoln sent some of Meade’s forces to help

Rosecrans.– Grant went to take charge of the battle.– He ordered an attack at Lookout Mountain “The

Battle Above the Clouds”• Successful

– His diversionary tactic turned into a siege that forced the Confederates to retreat!

Ulysses S. Grant• Lincoln named

Ulysses S. Grant supreme commander of the Union armies – 1864– Strategy: grind

down Lee’s forces– Costly in terms of

lives lost, but effective for his purpose

Section 5: The War Ends

• “What ever happens, there will be no turning back.”

• Grant began a series of attacks that exhausted his men.– He had heavy casualties.– He did not wait for new supplies or

reinforcements.– Cold Harbor: huge defeat for Grant

Union Victories in the South

• Farragut Attacks Mobile – August 5, 1864– 18 Union ships navigated

through Mobile Bay– Mines guarded the fleet, but

they moved past them.– They destroyed the

Confederate fleet

Sherman and Atlanta

• William Tecumseh Sherman led troops out of Tennessee into Georgia.• Sherman neckties: they

destroyed and twisted railroad tracks - He burned 1/3 of the city.

The March to Sea• Sherman changed warfare: He made

civilian centers military targets.– Soldiers ransacked houses, burned crops,

killed cattle.– Why? He believed that in order for the

South to surrender, the people had to suffer.

• They then marched to South Carolina– They destroyed everything in their paths:

burning cities, looting and pillaging.

The Election of 1864• The Democrats nominate George

McClellan.– McClellan promised to end the war and

negotiate peaceably.

• Lincoln believed that he would lose the election.– Sherman’s capture of Atlanta convinced

Northerners to vote for him. (55% of the vote)– His victory convinced him to urge passage of

the 13th Amendment.

Surrender• April 1, 1865:

– Battle of Five Forks• Led by Phil Sheridan: they cut the rail line into St.

Petersburg

– Lee tries to escape Grant’s forces– Sheridan’s cavalry got ahead of him and blocked

his way

• April 9, 1865:– Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox

Courthouse– Grant’s terms of surrender were lenient.

Lincoln’s Assassination

• April 14, 1865– Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre – John Wilkes Booth

• Aftermath of the War1. Strengthened the power of the federal

government2. Ended slavery across the country (13th

Amendment)3. The South was devastated (economically and

socially)4. Beginning of Reconstruction