In the South

Meanwhile, in the South…

  • March 6, CSA Congress authorized 100,000 troops
  • seceded states began seizing federal property
    • forts, military bases, shipyards, custom houses, etc.
    • begin collecting customs revolution
  • by April:
    • 60,000 troops enlisted
    • only 4 southern federal forts still in the US hands
  • Fort Sumter, harbor fort at Charleston, South Carolina
    • symbolic importance: federal power in the heart of the secession
    • supplies running low
    • Lincoln announced unarmed resupply mission
    • ball in the rebels court

The War Begins, April 1861

  • April 12, rebels opened fire on the fort before the government could resupply
  • April 13, fort surrendered
  • April 15, Lincoln called for 75,000 3 month militia volunteers

Battle Lines Drawn

  • call for troops convinced upper South to join CSA
    • 11 rebel states total
    • huge boost to rebel manpower and resources
  • border slave states, Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and western Virginia remain in Union

Who Had the Advantage?

  • misconception: rebel defeat was inevitable
  • either side could have won
  • Northern advantages:
    • numerical superiority
    • loyal states: 22.3 million total, 96.5%
    • rebel states: 9.1 million total, 59.9% white
    • 4 to 1 available manpower
    • economic power
    • northern banks held most US liquid capital
    • greater industrial capacity
  • Southern advantages:
    • home field and defensive advantages
    • geography: huge, rugged territory, difficult to invade and conquer
  • key: conditions for victory were different for each side
    • north had to reconquer the rebel states
    • south had to outlast northerners willingness to fight