history: the civil war

The Union advantages

The Union advantages

• Defense: needed to preserve their borders/boundaries to win independence

• Population of 9 million (including 3 million slaves); slaves were labor force, freeing more men to join the Confederate Army

• Continued sale of “King Cotton” (leading American export to France & England) to fuel economy; possible alliance with Europe

The Confederate advantages

• Much larger population: 22 million people

• Total support of the U.S. Navy (260 ships; 100 more under construction)

• Offense: needed to conquer/subdue Confederate cities/states to win

• Most factories located in the North could produce goods for the war effort

• More available farmland to grow food for the war effort

What was Lincolns plan to end the war quickly?

To capture the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia

Which Union general led the first battle of Bull Run?

General Irvin McDowell

Details of the First Battle of Bull Run:

• july of 1861

• 30,000 attacked Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard’s 20,000 men

• Confederates counterattacked & dre Union from the field

• Union loss

Which union general replaced McDowell

Gen. George McLellan

Why was McLellan fired?

His 100,000 man army was stopped by the Confederate forces outside Richmond, and he retreated

What does Lincoln do to stop Maryland from seceding?

suspends “writ of habeas corpus” (law which forces gov’t authorities to justify their arrest and detention of an individual) and ordered Union troops to arrest Confederate sympathizers

Why does the Union want control of the Mississippi?

to split Confederacy in two

How did the Union gain control of Tennessee?

Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Henry & Fort Donelson in Tennessee then moved south to capture railroad lines

Which Union admiral gained control of New Orleans?

Casualties of the Battle of Shiloh

20,000

What does Confederate general Robert E. Lee do in his effort to end the war quickly?

He invades the North into Maryland, defeats Union general John Pope at the second battle of Bull Run, and fights his way to Antietam

Results of the Battle of Antietam

McLellan (back in command) fought Lee to a standstill; Confederates retreated into Virginia

• Single bloodiest day of the war; 4800 dead, 18,500 wounded

• Lincoln issued Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

What did Union general Ben Bulter do in 1861 with escaped slaves?

instead of taking them back, he labelled them as contraband, and those slaves would start working for the union army

Confiscation Act (1861)

all confederate property— including slaves— is to be seized

How did radical republicans outlaw slavery through legislation?

Congress outlawed slavery in Washington, D.C.; Congress outlawed slavery in the territories; Second Confiscation Act said any slave who reached Union Army would be “forever free”

The Emancipation Proclamation

went into effect on January 1st of 1863 and slavery would be abolished in all states in rebellion against the Union

Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation

• European forces would not intervene. France and Britian turned to Egypt/India for cotton, which weakened the Southern economy

• The Union allowed african americans to join the war,with the 54th Mass. Infantry the first all black regiment

Union Politics For The War Effort

• Republican Congress imposed high tariffs (40%) on foreign goods, encouraging domestic industries

• Homestead Act of 1862: any farmer who had not “taken up arms against the Union” could claim 160 acres of surveyed gov’t land for free

• Railroad Act of 1862: building of a transcontinental railroad

• Enrollment Act of 1863: all men between the ages of 20 & 45

• Paying for the war

  • Tariffs raised on “vices” like alcohol & tobacco

  • Taxes raised on corporations, large inheritances and the rich

  • Gov’t issued bonds bought by banks and citizens

  • Limited printing of paper money (greenbacks)

Confederate Politics for the War Effort

• Relied on states to handle most issues, but national gov’t took on more power as war dragged on: built textile mills, shipyards, armories; set prices; controlled trade; had to raise money for the war

  • 10% came from taxes; Confederate Congress refused to levy more; 30% came from borrowing from wealthy slave owners; 60% came from printing paper money (massive inflation)

• 1862 Conscription Act: all men between the ages of 18 & 35 (later 45)

  • Wealthier draftees could hire a substitute ($300)

  • “20 Negro Rule”: Exemptions for men who own 20 or more slaves

• 1863: One-Tenth Tax required all farmers to turn over 1/10 of their crops and livestock to the government

 U.S. Sanitary Commission

established in 1861 to provide food, clothing and medical care to Union troops; 200,000 women worked as volunteers

1863 Woman’s Loyal National League

organization of Unionist women who supported the war effort and hoped to gain voting rights after the war

• Women worked as gov’t clerks (U.S. Treasury Dept.), postal employees (Confederacy), farmers, factory workers, teachers, nurses, spies & scouts

What were the turning points in the war for the Union?

Vicksburg, Mississippi and Gettysburg, Pennsylvanina

What happened at the battle of Vicksburg?

Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant planned to seize control of Mississippi River to split Confederacy in half; Vicksburg was last major Confederate stronghold on the river

• May, 1863 - July, 1863: Grant defeated two Confederate armies and laid siege to Vicksburg for six weeks; Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863

What happened at the battle of Gettysburg?

• Robert E. Lee planned to invade the North, hoping to end the war

• June, 1863: Lee invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania; pursued by Union

• July 1-July 3, 1863: Lee attacked both Union flanks and then launched a failed attempt to break the Union center (Pickett’s Charge) 

  • Casualties: 28,000 Confederate; 23,000 Union

• Lee forced to retreat in Virginia on July 4, 1863

• Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address declared a national cemetery at battlefield

Sherman’s belief in hard war

making civilians suffer for supporting the war (not killing them); scorched earth

What happened in 1864 between Grant and Lee?

fought five times and eroded Lee’s troops; Lee lost 31,000; Grant lost 55,000; nine month siege of Confederate position at Petersburg, VA (outside of Richmond, VA)

Important parts of The Electron of 1864

Lincoln nominated for president; Democrats nominated George McLellan who advocated for immediate cease-fire with Confederacy

• September, 1864: Sherman captured Atlanta

• November, 1864: Lincoln reelected; Republicans also controlled House & Senate

General Sherman’s “March To The Sea”

• his troops marched 300 miles to the coast of Georgia, destroying everything in their path; later they headed north into SC & NC and planned to link up with Grant’s army and destroy Lee

The End of The Civil War

• January, 1865: Congress passed 13th Amendment to abolish slavery; ratified by states by December, 1865

• March 25, 1865: Grant captured Petersburg, forcing Lee to abandon Richmond

• April 9, 1865: Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, VA

• April 14, 1865: Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

• April 26, 1865: Last Confederate army surrendered in North Carolina