Civil War Test Review History

Pre-War: What are the Northern advantages?

• Man power

  • 2.1 million soldiers in north (50% of eligible population)

  • 900,000 soldiers in south (90% of eligible population) 

  • 200,000 African Americans took up arms for the Union

• industrial power

  • The North controlled 90% of the nation’s industrial capacity 

  • The Confederate economy heavily relied on cotton exports but with the Union blockade, the source of revenue was neutralized 

• economy

  • The government tried selling bonds but the Confederate fortunes kept declining 

  • Union money was backed by gold and silver and income tax helped ward of inflation 

How did geography impact the war?

Southern landscape

• Heat and humidity of the South

• Uneven terrain

How did the plan for “Homefield Advantage" backfire?

• should have given the South and edge but most Southerners never ventured far away from their homes

• The Union’s superiority in technology allowed them to pierce through the environmental barriers 

Who were the presidents for both sides

• Jefferson Davis: Confederate President

  • Created the Confederate government from scratch 

  • He was quite awkward and took personal criticism very seriously 

• Abraham Lincoln: Union President

  • Northerners, like southerners need a convincing reason to support the Civil War

    • Lincoln received support by convincing everyone of the importance of preserving the Union 

What were the war strategies?

• North: Invade the South, destroy the armies, and rout government 

• South: Required patience and the North to break from lack of morale

• Who would break first, northern support for the war or southern ability to wage it?

The early war: Fort Sumter

• After the surrender, Lincoln ordered an expedition to resupply the fort, not to arm it

• He called on southern states still in the union to protect the fort

• He would make a call for a bunch of conscripts later

different armies/troops in VA

• potomac (union)

• northern VA (confed)

What were McClellan’s issues while leading Potomac?

• hesitated, cared abt soldiers

• replaced by Major General Ambrose Burnside

The early war: First Bull Run

• Result: Overwhelming Confederate victory 

• Boosted Southern confidence (One Confederate could whoop 10 Yankees)

• Destroyed the widespread belief that the war would be over quickly 

• During the battle, onlooking families picnicked along the outskirts of the battlefield in order to get a glimpse of the battle

The early war: Shiloh (The Real War)

• Unprecedented levels of carnage

• The original enthusiasm for war was replaced by horror 

  • Both sides had suffered ten thousand casualties 

• The Peninsular Campaign and Seven Days War 

  • McClellan's inability to do anything on his own without his hand being held 

Antietam

• Lee understood that his offense-defense strategy would not be able to sustain itself

  • His army must keep pressuring the Union, a quick victory 

• Lee crossed into Maryland and into Pennsylvania

  • Out of pure luck, however, Union soldiers found Lee’s battle plan in a couple of cigars

• The Battle of Antietam saw the bloodiest single day of fighting in American History

  • McClellan was able to successfully repel Lee, McClellan not giving chase 

    • The battle prompted Britain and France to abandon plans to grant the Confederacy recognition as an independent nation

  • It gave Lincoln the opportunity to address the issue of slavery 

    • This battle would also lead McClellan to getting fired 

What were Lincolns initial goals/views on slavery?

• Lincoln deposed slavery but he always maintained the preservation of the union as his main goal 

  • “If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves I would do it” 

• However ultimately pressure from the north came to declare emancipation, to drain the Confederate army of their labor force

What was the emancipation proclamation?

• Excepted slaves in border states (To keep them from seceding)

• By raising the stake of the war, Lincoln hoped to shorten it

• By January 1st 1863, all slaves in the Confederate States would be considered free 

• Lincoln noted that emancipation helped strengthen the Republican party 

Confistication Act

• Ordered the seizure of land from disloyal southerners and the emancipation of their slaves 

Views on Emancipation

• Irish immigrants despised emancipation as they had to compete with black workers

Grant’s War in the West

• Grant appreciated the strategic importance of river systems in the conquest of the western Confederacy

• Moved down the river to take Shiloh, Corinth, Memphis and some other cities near New Orleans 

• Lincoln loved Grant, who was having success in a time when other generals were too incompetent and suffering losses

Vicksburg

• last major Confederate stromhjp;d on the Mississippi

  • Capturing Vicksburg meant that the Confederacy would effectively be split into two

• After a month long siege, the confederacy was forced to surrender

  • The food supply got so bad that people were living in caves and relying on barn animals for food

Black Troops in the Union Army

• Black soldiers who were captured by the South were usually sent straight back to slavery 

• For black volunteers. The promise of freedom outweighed any dangers of combat

• Frederick Douglass’s son was part of the Massachusetts 54th 

  • The same regiment in the Glory movie

• Black soldiers  received lower pay and performed the most “menial” tasks 

  • Despite this, they served bravely and fought valiantly throughout the war 

Gettysburg

• General Hooker is replaced by General Meade

• For the first time in the war, Lee and the army of Northern Virginia crossed into Northern territory 

• Day 1: The Confederacy was able to push the Union troops back

• Day 2: the Confederacy was able to capture some key locations 

• Day 3: Lee, believing the center of Meade’s army was weak ordered Pickett into an all-out-assault

  • The Union tore the Confederates to shreds

    • Meade had guessed Lee’s strategy correctly

• Meade allowed Lee to withdraw to Virginia 

• Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the war 

  • The battle boosted northern morale and heavily drained southern resources 

The Gettysburg address

Gettysburg was to be made a cemetery

The Overland Campaign

• Grant’s Plan to end the war

  • Grant now in charge of all Union armies

• Change the tempo of the war. No more frequent breaks, non-stop warfare 

  • The Union armies of Virginia and Lower South would attack at the same time

• Grant made several miscalculations that allowed Lee to inflict heavy casualties and thwart Grant for about a year 

Jubal Early and the Shenandoah Valley (1864)

• Many Union officers remained loyal to General George McClellan and were skeptical of Grant.

• They believed Grant's victories came mainly because he faced weaker Confederate armies in the West.

• Robert E. Lee's strategy was to make Grant's campaign costly and slow, hoping the North would give up before the South ran out of supplies.

• Despite heavy casualties and setbacks, Grant kept pressing forward instead of retreating.

• With William Tecumseh Sherman advancing in the South, Lee could not send southern troops to reinforce his army.

The Wilderness (AKA Chancellorsville)

• Fought in dense forests, which reduced the Union's advantage in numbers and firepower.

• Much of the combat was hand-to-hand; many wounded soldiers died in forest fires during the battle.

• This was Lee's last major offensive of the war.

• In less than a month of fighting, the army of the Potomac had lost 55,000 men - “The butcher”

What was Grant’s nickname?

• The enormous casualties led some Northerners to nickname Grant "the Butcher"

• Grant was reportedly so affected by the losses that he wept during the campaign

Cold Harbor

• Flinging his army at the well defended confederates, Grant lost 7000 men in 8 minutes

Atlanta Campaign

• While Grant fought Lee in Virginia, William T. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston campaigned to capture Atlanta

• lasted 2 months, fighting in Kennesaw Mountains

  • Sherman made one of his costliest mistakes

  • Johnston was replaced by John Hood, who was said to have a "lion's heart but a wooden head."

• Hood had to abandon Atlanta after many defeats- major blow to the Confederacy and boosted Northern morale

  • Exposed Georgia's rich farmland to Union attack.

  • Cut off important railroads used to supply Confederate armies.

  • helped Lincoln win reelection in 1864.

Sherman’s March to the Sea

• Sherman believed wars depended on the support and morale of civilians

  • plan - weaken the Confederacy by marching to the sea and destroying resources that supported the war effort

• Marched from Atlanta to Savannah

  • Then advanced into South Carolina,

    • symbolic for confederacy bc it was the first state to secede

• Union troops caused especially heavy destruction in South Carolina.

"Sherman's Bowties"

• form of destruction during sherman’s march

• Soldiers created "Sherman's Bowties" by twisting and heating railroad rails into unusable loops.

Appomattox

• After Sherman's successes and Philip Sheridan's victory in the Shenandoah Valley, Lee's army was the Confederacy's last major force.

• Grant's army of about 60,000 men outmaneuvered Lee's shrinking force of about 25,000 men and blocked its escape at Appomattox Court House Surrender.

• On April 9, 1865, Lee concluded that further resistance was hopeless and surrendered to Grant.

• Grant offered generous surrender terms, allowing Confederate soldiers to return home without being harmed.

• Some Southerners considered continuing the fight through guerrilla warfare, but most were tired of war and accepted the surrender.

Terms of Surrender

• confederate can bring horses + mules home (bc they’re farmers)

• can bring firearms home (personal belongings)

• grant offered 25,000 rations of food to the last of Lee’s soldiers

• Grant stopped the union people from cheering, humble

The Death of Lincoln

• On April 14th, while the President was watching a play, confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes both shot Kinoln and fled the theater

• General Johnston wrote that the president's death was the greatest possible calamity to the South

  • He had been offering good terms to the South and steadily helping them re-enter the union

Free Response - Relevance of Virginia

• bull run

• anteidum

• richmond

• wilderness campaign

• Lees from VA, led Northern VA, surrenders at Appomattox courthouse in VA