North v. South at the Beginning

North South

Advantages ? ?

Disadvantages ? ?

Balance of Forces• The North’s Advantages

– Union: 23 States; Confederacy: 11.– Union: 22 million people; Confederacy 9 million (3.5 million

slaves)– Union: 110,000 factories; Confederacy: 18,000

• Union produces approximately 92% of nation’s manufactures; Confederacy 8%

• Union produces 97% of firearms and 96% of railroad equipment.– Union advantage of 20 to 1 in iron production.– Union: 20,000 miles of railroad track; Confederacy 10,000 (much

of differential gauge)• The South’s Assets

– Ability to fight a defensive war• South did not have an interest in conquest• Defense of home and community united Southerners• Military disparity was not that great

– North had a professional army of only 16,000 when war began– South had many good military leaders with experience from Mexico and

Indian wars.– More that ¼ of regular army officers chose the Confederacy.

• The Union’s advantages would take time to bear fruit.

Rating the North & the South

Railroad Lines, 1860

Resources: North & the South

Men Present for Duty in the Civil War

Immigrantsas a %

of a State’sPopulation

in1860

The Union and Confederacy in 1861

Brother against BrotherA cliché that has truth to it• Robert E Lee the son of “Lighthorse Harry” Lee,

Rev. War hero– Lee had turned down invitation of Winfield Scott to

command Union forces• At Hilton Head, SC, Percival Drayton

commanded a Union gunboat while his brother led Confed. land forces.

• F. Buchanan commanding the Confed. ship Virginia sank a Union ship with his brother on it.

• John Crittenden of KY had sons in each army.• Lincoln’s Attny. Gen. had a son in Confed. army. • Mrs. Lincoln had a brother, three half-brothers,

and three brothers-in-law in Confed. army.

Slavery early in the War

Lincoln wished to avoid this issue because of “border states”

– Feared uprising in Maryland, and that Missouri and Kentucky may join rebellion

– Gen. Fremont declares emancipation in Missouri as a war measure. Lincoln rescinds the order to keep border states in.

Overviewof

Civil WarStrategy:

“Anaconda”Plan

Battle of Bull Run

(1st Manassas), July, 1861

Battle of Bull Run• Shows naïve optimism of both sides

– People and politicians reject “Anaconda” (long term) strategy of Gen. Winfield Scott.

– Expect Napoleonic, climactic clash of forces that will determine the victor

– Spectators came to watch the battle from the hillside• Battle at Bull Run river, near Manassas• Union take offensive, almost break confederates• Confed. reinforcements pour in and stop the Union,

then put union on run.• Stonewall Jackson receives his nickname• Union retreats in panic. “The Great Skedaddle”• Rebels too disorganized to follow up on victory.• 4,500 men killed, wounded, or captured (both sides,

approx.)

War in the East: 1861-1862

McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign (1862)• Gen. George B. McClellan becomes commander of

Union forces after aging General Scott retires.• McClellan excellent at organization and training.

Dramatic. Tremendously arrogant. Insubordinate to President Lincoln. Reluctant to fight- always pessimistically over-estimating enemy strength.

• Unwilling to attack Rebel troops at Manassas. Develops plan to go south and launch attack up James River and go after Richmond from the South.

– Refuses to inform Lincoln of his plan until very late in the game.– Lincoln resistant because McClellan’s plan would leave DC

undefended. Lincoln goes along only when demanding a force left behind by DC.

• McClellan stalled and delayed. Always needed something.

McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign (1862)• Finally undertook his invasion. Very slow progress.

– McClellan complained about the rain (Lincoln noted that the Rebel troops seemed to move fine in the rain).

– McClellan complained he was outnumbered and needed reinforcements (he was not outnumbered).

– McClellan criticized Lincoln’s refusal to give him everything he wanted.

• Called Lincoln a “well-meaning baboon.”– Eventually got within sight of the church spires of Richmond, but

repulsed by Confederate troops. • Battle of Seven Pines- Union almost crushed. Saved by

reinforcements that were able to get across the Chickahominy River.• Seven Days’ Battles- hard fighting that was unable to dislodge Union

near Richmond.– Lincoln visited McClellan’s headquarters. McClellan stepped out

of place by presuming to instruct the President on war policies (not just fighting, but many other issues). Lincoln removed McClellan as General-in-Chief.

– New General-in-Chief Halleck ordered an end to the Peninsular Campaign.

Second Bull Run• Fought almost on same site as first battle.• Gen. John Pope launches attack, assuming only

Gen. Stonewall Jackson’s men in front of him. Instead, faced whole Rebel army as Lee had moved north as McClellan withdrew.

• Pope crushed and again the Union troops came running back to DC.

• McClellan again placed in command of troops in DC area (Army of Potomac).

Antietam• Lee decides to push his advantage after Second Bull Run and

invade western Maryland.• Lee’s strategy uncovered in papers wrapped around cigars.

– McClellan again slow to take advantage. Delay allows Lee to organize his army behind Antietam Creek.

• Sept. 17, McClellan attacks. Union outnumber Confederates 2 to 1, but Rebels force a bloody standoff.

– Bloodiest single day of the war• Union- More than 10,000 wounded, 2,108 dead.• Confeds- 10,000 casualties (1/4 total army).

• The next day, Lee’s army retreats safely across Potomac River into Virginia.

• McClellan does not pursue. Content with his “victory.”– Lincoln disgusted with McClellan’s failure to pursue and seek

destruction of Lee’s army. – Lincoln removes McClellan. Assigns him to recruiting duty in New

Jersey. • A crucial battle because it was a “victory” when only defeat and

inertia had preceded it.– Lincoln capitalized on this and issued Emancipation Proclamation to

revitalize the Union war effort. Proclamation announced in September of 1862, and takes effect January 1, 1863.

Fredericksburg• Lincoln puts Ambrose Burnside in charge of Army of

Potomac.• Burnside pursues Lee south.• Dec. 13, 1862, Burnside sends his men across the

frozen Rappahannock River to assault Lee’s forces entrenched west of Fredericksburg on Marye’s Heights.

• Union troops slaughtered as they crossed a mile of open territory and the charged up the heights.

– A Union soldier called it “a great slaughter pen.”– Took more than 12,000 casualties.

• Fewer than 6,000 for Confederates.• Burnside gives order to withdraw.• War now deadlocked.• Union morale very low.• Issuance of Emancipation Proclamation changes

morale and provides an infusion of troops.

Emancipation in 1863

Emancipation• Lincoln had avoided slavery issue due to border states• Lincoln had doubts as to his authority to end slavery.

– Only justification would be as a war measure.• Lincoln had voided Fremont’s order to confiscate

slaves in Missouri• Confiscation Act of 1861- freed only slaves used in

military service of Confederacy.• Second Confiscation Act of 1862- freed slaves of all

persons aiding the rebellion.• Lincoln decided emancipation necessary for several

reasons-– slave labor helped South– morale in North needed a moral cause– public opinion was moving towards emancipation– proclaiming a war against slavery would prevent Britain from

helping Confederacy.

Emancipation• By July, 1862, Lincoln ready to emancipate when

time is right.– He told some in his cabinet, but was evasive with

others.• After Antietam, Lincoln felt he had enough of a

victory to announce.– Preliminary announcement, Sept. 22.– Formal announcement, Jan. 1, 1863

• “All persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a state, the people thereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then and thenceforward forever free.”

• Actually freed no slaves since it affected only areas outside Union control.

• However, “In a document proclaiming liberty, the unfree never bother to read the fine print.” (Historian Benjamin Quarles). Emotional impact was important.

• Opened door to Black enlistment.– 54th of Massachusetts– Movie “Glory”– By end of war, about 10% of Union army was black.

The Southern View of Emancipation

African-Americans in Civil War Battles

The War in the West,

1863:

Vicksburg

Vicksburg• Grant still trying to divide the Confederacy

along the Mississippi River. Vicksburg became a goal.

• Grant left his supply lines behind and decided to live off the land.

• Grant took Jackson, Mississippi, and then moved on to a siege of Vicksburg. He pinned down an army of 30,000 Confederates in Vicksburg. Vicksburg falls on July 4, same day as Gettysburg.

• Living off the land became a way of working for Grant and Sherman in the South.

The Road to Gettysburg: 1863

Gettysburg

Day 1

Gettysburg

Day 2

Gettysburg

Day 3

Gettysburg Casualties

The Progress of War: 1861-1865

Sherman’sMarch

throughGeorgia

to theSea, 1864

Sherman’s March to the Sea• Sherman marched to Atlanta, then planned to

cut through central GA.– His plan: “Whip the rebels, to humble their pride,

to follow them into their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us.” “Make Georgia howl.”

– Lived off the land- destroying any provisions left over that may be useful to Confederates.

– When finally arrived at Savannah, he had cut a path of destruction 250 miles long.

– Then he marched his men into S. Carolina.• Destroyed more than a dozen towns, including capital

(Columbia).

Presidential Election of

1864

The Final Virginia Campaign:1864-1865

Grant Pursues Lee• Grant’s army of approximately 115,000

pursues Lee’s 65,000 men into VA.• Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6, 1864)

– Grant takes heavier casualties, but Lee is running out of replacements

• This becomes characteristic of Grant• War of attrition

• Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse (May 8-12)

• Cold Harbor (June 1-3)• Petersburg siege

Appomattox• Grant destroyed railways around Petersburg.• Lee began running out of supplies.

– To save his army, he abandoned Petersburg and Richmond, headed west towards Lynchburg.

– Jefferson Davis abandoned the capital of Richmond. Captured by Federal cavalry on May 10, 1865.

– Lee’s escape route cut off by Sheridan’s cavalry.• April 9, 1865, Lee surrenders his army at

Appomattox.

Casualties on Both Sides

Civil War Casualtiesin Comparison to Other

Wars

Modern War

• One out of every 12 adult Americans served

• More than 620,000 died (50% more than WWII)

• 50,000 survived with one or more limbs amputated.

• Total war