Chapter 13: The Civil War, 1861-1865

• April, 1861: CSA President Jefferson Davis argued the Confederacy was fighting for “self government & slavery”

• July, 1861: USA President Abraham Lincoln argued that secession was an attack on representative government and secession was illegal

• The Confederacy

  • 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 Union

  • 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

• Lincoln wanted a quick end to the war by capturing Confederate capital of Richmond, VA

  • July, 1861: Union General Irvin McDowell’s 30,000 men attacked Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard’s 20,00 men at Bull Run (Manassas), VA; Confederates counterattacked & drove Union from the field

  • McDowell fired by Lincoln and replaced by Gen. George McLellan

  • April-July 1862: McLellan’s 100,000 man Union army advanced towards Richmond but was repulsed by Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee & Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson; McLellan retreated to Washington, D.C. and was fired

• Lincoln wants to retain the border states (slaves states loyal to the Union)

  • October, 1861: 50 counties in western Virginia voted to secede from Virginia and form a new state, loyal to the Union; formation of West Virginia

  • Pro-Union politicians controlled Delaware legislature

  • October, 1861: When Maryland threatened to secede, Lincoln suspended the 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; 15,000 arrested/imprisoned by end of war

  • Lincoln waited to send Union troops until after the Confederacy invaded Kentucky; Union drove out Confederate supporters and cemented Union loyalty

• Control of the Mississippi River

  • Union hopes to control the river to split Confederacy in two

  • February, 1862: Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Henry & Fort Donelson in Tennessee then moved south to capture railroad lines

    • April, 1862: Battle of Shiloh; 20,000 casualties in one day

  • April, 1862: Union Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans

• Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee goes on the offensive, hoping to end the war

  • August, 1862: Lee & Jackson routed Union Gen. John Pope at 2nd Bull Run

  • September, 1862: Battle of Antietam; Lee invaded Maryland; 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

• Emancipation

  • Northern abolitionists had demanded slavery be abolished from the beginning

  • May, 1861: Union Gen. Ben Butler refused to return slaves, calling them contraband; many escaped slaves began working for the Union Army

    • August, 1861: Congress passed the Confiscation Act which authorized the seizure of all Confederate property, including slaves

  • Radical Republicans began to slowly outlaw slavery through legislation

    • Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, Senator Charles Sumner of MA, & Rep. Thaddeus Stevens of PA

    • 1862: 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”

  • Emancipation Proclamation would go into effect on Jan. 1, 1863; slavery would be abolished in all states “in rebellion” unless they denounced slavery

    • England & France would not ally with Confederacy; England & France looked to Egypt & India for cotton, thus damaging southern economy

    • Encouraged African Americans to join the Union Army; 180,000 served

      • 54th Massachusetts Infantry: 1st all black regiment

• December, 1862: Battle of Fredericksburg, VA; Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside ordered 13 separate charges against a fortified Confederate position and was driven back; Union: 12,500 casualties; Confederate: 6,000

• Union Politics

  • 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

  • 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

• The War At Home

  • 1861: U.S. Sanitary Commission established to provide food, clothing and medical care to Union troops; 200,000 women worked as volunteers

    • 250,000 Union soldiers died from disease despite their efforts

  • 1864 U.S. Ambulance Corps developed triage protocols and efficient evacuation procedures which reduced the number of deaths

  • Confederacy had a disorganized health system; Confederate women created local relief societies to help treat/tend to the wounded/sick

  • 1863 Woman’s Loyal National League: organization of Unionist women who supported the war effort and hoped to gain voting rights after the war

    • Founded by Susan B. Anthony

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

• The Turning Points: Vicksburg & Gettysburg

  • Vicksburg, Mississippi: 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

  • Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

    • 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

• Grant appointed supreme commander of Union Armies; Grant would command the Eastern theater; Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman would command Western

  • Grant planned to destroy Lee’s army with continued attack and siege

  • Sherman would invade Georgia & capture Atlanta; believed in hard war: making civilians suffer for supporting the war (not killing them); scorched earth

  • 1864: 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)

• Election 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

• Sherman’s “March to the Sea” as 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

• 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