USH1 - UNIT 11 - Civil War

Confederate - Name battles/armies after nearest town/state

Union - Name battles/armies after nearest body of water

Secession pt1 + pt2

The Secession Crisis

• Following secession of SC - due to election of abraham lincoln - you have a secession crisis

  • Other states begin to secede as well 

  • What do these states have in common? They are the states most reliant on the institution of slavery - Cotton Belt/Deep South

• This means they are going to secede and band tg to create a new country - Confederate States of America

  • Pres - Jefferson Davis

  • Vp - Alexander Stephens

    • There is this idea today that the civil war was fought for state rights, against federal outreach

    • According to Stephens’ cornerstone speech tho… that is not the case

      • Almost the entire thing is about slavery and how an african american is not equal to white men - white supremacy defends the institution of slavery

      • He is saying that the confederacy is literally FOUNDED on the idea that african americans DESERVE to be slaves, and that being a slave is their only place in the world

  • Their new gov was a confederacy - they believe states are sovereign - close to the AoC

    • Loose alliance, weak central gov 

      • Not good for war bc there would be infighting and they aren't totally bound to each other

      • There are too many cooks in the kitchen

    •  Declared each state independent, emphasized state rights, guaranteed slavery, president served 6 year term

• Last ditch effort - Crittenden Compromise - John Crittenden

  • Constitutional amendment that….

    • Protected slavery in existing slave states

    • Extended Missouri Comp all the way to Cali to protect slavery (the line would stop at cali)

      • Meant that sell acquired land from Latin America would be guaranteed to be slave states/regions

  • Did not pass bc Republicans did not support

• James Buchannan doesn't do squat, he lets Abey handle it

  • Says secession is illegal, BUTT fed gov does not have authority to restore Union by force

  • In 1861, Lincoln inaugurated as pres

• Lincoln is in a weird position

• States seceded over him and his election

• He was only rly supported by northern states

  • He needs to make his inaugural address about unity and getting the seceded states back

  • Calls the Union “perpetual” or necessary

    • Says secession is illegal 

    • Also states that he will defend slavery only where it already exists and intends to protect federal property by force if necessary - aka he's not taking anyone's slaves away

• His position in 1861 is save the union 

  • If constitution does not provide a solution to a situation - we vote on it through majority

    • This is what is happening here, you cannot just secede

Fort Sumter and the Secession of the Upper South

• The confederates began seizing federal property

• In Charleston, SC harbor is an island holding Fort Sumter

  • Held a weak, undersupplied american force (union) - wants to resupply but does not want to provoke confederacy

    • If lincoln tries to send a ship to resupply, the confederacy might think thats the start of the civil war and attack

• He tries to find a compromise

  • Lets a governor know not to shoot the unarmed supply ship

  • Gov agrees, but Davis wants the fort so he orders his forces to bombard Fort Sumter

    • They opened fire on April 12th 1861 - for 33 HOURS. And NO ONE DIES. like hello what kinda bad aim do you have this is pathetic

    • the fort surrenders 

• THE CIVIL WAR HAS BEGUN

• Following Fort Sumter was the second wave of secession, this time from the upper south

  • Virginia, arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina

  • Virginia has an ironworks (the only southern state w one) so the confederacy is fr blessed to have that state for amo - otherwise they'd be MAD cooked against northern factories (they still are but one state is better than none ig)

    • It's so important that they even move their capital to Richmond, VA

The Importance of Border States

• Delaware, Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky, soon-to-be West VA

• MARYLANDDDDDDDDD - was very close to secession, but ultimately didn't, thank god bc our capitol is there so yk don't want your capital in a foreign country

  • Lincoln concerned about maryland secession, he imposes martial law - that the military rules everything, no normal local gov no more

    • Habeas corpus is suspended - so many ppl are thrown in jail for no reason (usually for being confederate/sympathizers)

    • Riots between federal troops and citizens - ppl killed on both sides

      • First ppl killed in the war

    • CONSTITUTIONAL BUT UNPRECEDENTED

      • A president throwing citizens in jail without cause

• Kentucky - glad it did not secede bc it borders the ohio river - strategically important

• The area in the south that did not want to secede/were divided were in mountain areas - where there is no slavery

  • Western VA - mountainous - leaves VA in 1863 to become its own state

The War Strats

Union War Strat

• The union plan for war has 3 PRONGS

1. The Anaconda Plan - developed by Winfield Scott

   1. Blockade southern ports to ensure it does not get supplies - food, weapons, etc

• Anaconda is snake that strangles its prey - thats what theyre going for

• Giving reputation era omg #hashtag

• Lincoln thinks confederacy should not exist - secession is illegal

  • He is saying that the south is another country

  • This is what makes lincoln great - he's walking a tightrope

    • Wage war but do not split the people to the extent that re-unification is impossible

2. Split confederacy by capturing the Mississippi River - also creates a means to get into the heart of the confederacy

2. Capture the confederate capital - Richmond, VA

• So they have a strong fed gov, what does it do?

  • To pay to make weapons - passes Legal Tender Act of 1862 - greenbacks paper money

    • Could be traded in for specie (gold/silver) paid by fed gov

  • The Homestead Act of 1862 offered free land for farmers willing to go and produce food for the army - do they get to keep this land after war ?

  • In 1862, chartered to build the transcontinental railroad

• A lot of this stuff needs to ramp up though, it not just going to jumpstart and spike, it will gradually increase - in the meantime, the Confederacy is looking to strike before Union reaches full potential

Confederate War Strat

• Like GW - no need to win just survive

  • Defend borders, fight defensive war

  • They are also trying to affect northern morale

    • Make them think that the war is no longer worth fighting

    • Spread the war out, make it longer

• They are also seeking saratoga moment - foreign support/recognition

• Cotton Diplomacy - south will stop trading cotton w britain and france - they need this for their textile mills

  • Their mills might close - high unemployment - parliament will be forced to ally with confederacy and recognize their independence

  • France is ready to go (less fervent abolitionists), britain is hesitant

    • Britain’s dilemma: economic needs vs principles (anti-slavery)

    • Also want to see confederate victories b4 allying and declaring war on US

    • Ultimately they don't join - stick to principles

• To pay for war, tried to tax trade

  • Limited tho bc of anaconda plan and cotton diplomacy

  • Instead printed large amounts of paper money - inflation

Pew Pew Begins

The First (Major) Battle

• First Bull Run + First Menasses 

  • 1861 - Lincoln orders general Irvin McDowell (~30k) to leave WDC and head for Richmond

  • On the way, encountered P.G.T. Beauregard’s army of ~20k

    • Social event of the season - people come out to picnic - shows that people are not aware of how brutal this war will actually be

  • Confederate win even tho ppl thought north would win (ppl thought that if north won, war would end then and there)

    • People realize this will be a longer affair than previously thought

    • To cope w losses, lincoln fires his terrible generals - it's practically his pastime

      • Irvin McDowell is first to be replaced - by George McClellan

      • McClellan would spend 1861-1862 organizing the army of the potomac - eastern theater of the war

  • Lincoln also calls for 500,000 men to enlist - those that would enlist for 3 yrs would be given a bonus

• ***TO NOTE: High casualties on each side

The Western Theater

• McClellan was a slowpoke and very paranoid, he doesn't make a move in the eastern theater for a good long time

• MEANWHILE

• In the western theater, the main goal was to secure the Mississippi and thus split confederacy in half

  • First they needed to control the Tennessee river and Cumberland river in tennessee

• Ulysses S. Grant leads the army of the tennessee - lead union army in the western theater

  • Captured forts on the tennessee and cumberland rivers (fort henry and fort donelson)

• From there he marched south down the tennessee river

  • Meets Albert Sydney Jhonston and P.G.T. Beauregard’s Army of Mississippi 

    • Main confederate army in the western theater 

  • Marks the Battle of Shiloh

• The fighting lasted 2 very intense days - called it “the hornets nest”

  • Beat all the combined casualties of any battle before in american history. Why?

    • Armies used to fight in a napoleonic style - in lines - bc muskets not accurate at all, if everyone focuses fire in one area its bound to hit somewhere

      • Now - musket-rifles have this spinny thing that makes bullets more accurate

    • So if they stand in a line, everyone in the front dies - THEN the bullets pass through and hit the person behind as well!

      • Then infection - they were bums, did not have antibodies

    • Bullets were rly big and took out the whole bone - amputation needed

      • They are slow to catch on and keep fighting in lines 

      • Later switch to trenches

• Bad for uncle abe - you're forcing ppl to enlist which almost guarantees they will die - casualty rates were that high

• He has to keep justifying the war - why is the cause worth it

• The win for Shiloh goes to Grant

The Peninsula Campaign

• One of the first major Union operation launched in the Eastern Theatre

• Under advice of Lincoln - in March 1862, McClellan took the army of the Potomac out of DC, down the Potomac, into Virginia Peninsula (east of Richmond)

  • Now McClellan is like a lot of the other Union generals in that he is WAY cautious

    • Cautious in the long run can be good, less of your men die 

    • But, if you don't take risks, if you arent daring, you could miss out on some victories

• So on the journey, he moves slowly - lincoln thinks McClellan has “a case of the slows”

  • Slowness gives the enemy the chance to mount a counterattack - Confederate general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson attacks - threatened WDC

    • Lincoln splits McClellan’s troops to protect WDC

• In the mean time, Jackson returned to Richmond, joined forces w Robert E Lee

  • June 1862 - confederates mount a series of aggressive attacks on McClellan - The Seven Days 

  • Lee did not get total victory (lost double what they did) but…

    • His attacks forced the rest of McClellan’s force to retreat to WDC - Richmond secure

The Naval War

• This slide just refers to the naval front of the battle - blockade, new tech, etc

• The Blockade

  • The south was able to trade for supplies using blockade runners (small/fast smuggling vessels)

  • Also, the Union was starting to doubt the effectiveness of the blockade

    • They are invalidating southern secession, but at the same time, you don't blockade your own country

    • So to some, the blockade was seen as an outright recognition that the Confederacy was independent

  • However, the blockade allowed the Union navy some success in capturing some major port cities, including New Orleans in April of 1862

    • They tried to bombard forts at the opening of the Mississippi first, that didn't work

    • Their next option was to brute force race through the opening and capture New orleans (thats what they did, under David Farragut)

• New technology - ironclads

  • The Confederates stole a Union ship called the USS Merrimack, refashioned it with iron sides and renamed it the CSS Virginia 

  • They also got the CSS Alabama and the CSS Florida from Britain (tho Britain remained neutral)

    • Britain respected the Union blockade

    • Recognized confederates as a belligerent - a group (not nation) at war 

  • During the Peninsula Campaign, near Hampton Roads, Virginia → the Virginia took down 2 wooden Union ships and sent another one running

    • In return, the Union sent their own ironclad, USS Monitor, from NY to fight the Virginia → Battle of Hampton Roads (Virginia)

      • Neither was able to beat the other

  • This was a turning point in naval history → the age of sail (wooden ships) is over

Emancipation! Wheeeeee!

Lee’s Invasion of Maryland

• Following the Peninsula Campaign, Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee, leading the Army of Virginia - main confederate army of the eastern theater - decided it was time to go on offense

  • This was risky - their men were tired and lacked supplies

  • HOWEVER

    • Midterm elections are coming up in november

    • How might a confederate win affect the election? Union looses morale, votes democratic

      • If democrats control congress - war defunded - confederacy wins

      • Could also end up making slavery constitutional

    • A victory on union soil would be a saratoga moment

      • Other countries will recognize the confederacy - allies

    • Harvest in maryland - confederate troops could take advantage of it

    • Entice secession in Maryland (remember - border state)

• Lee meets Stonewall at Battle of Second bull run

• Then Lee crosses over the Potomac River into Union territory, Johnston sent to capture Harpers Ferry

  • A small Union group finds lee’s battle plans wrapped around a cigar on a field

• McClellan SLOWLY moved from DC to Lee - buys time for Lee to set up at Sharpsburg, Maryland - lee almost doubly outnumbered

• Lee and McClellan meet at sharpsburg - Battle of Antietam - they fight for 12 hrs straight

  • 24,000 casualties - New bloodiest day in american history

  • No clear winner at first

    • McClellan’s force was ready to fight - Lee’s were not so he wanted to retreat and he did

      • McClellan didn't want to advance - wanted to let his men rest

      • Lets lee get away - cautious - could have had the opportunity to finish him off

        • Lincoln replaced McClellan with Ambrose Burnside

• Union victory

• Lincoln had been waiting for a big win to issue the Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

• As Union armies stationed in the south, escaped slaves would seek refuge in their camps and generals justified their staying by calling them “contraband of war”

• Congress even signed the Confiscation Act which allowed soldiers to confiscate all property, including slaves, used to support the rebellion

  • Soon there were almost too many - took up too much space and resources

• Political pressure surrounding emancipation began to increase

  • However, lincoln needed the victory of antietam to issue it officially

• Eventually bc of victory he did issue, HOWEVER the document itself freed ZERO slaves even though in wrighting it said it did

  • Reasons to emancipate:

    • If the goal of the war becomes a moral rather than political one (aka free the slaves), European powers - who have alr abolished slavery - will be hesitant to get involved 

    • Lincoln says hes allowed to do this because he is a President during an active rebellion - claims it is a war measure

      • However, this raises questions of what will happen after the war, when the rebellion is over

      • Will southerners ask for their slaves back?

    • Did not free slavery everywhere bc otherwise border states would secede

• Slaves are now allowed to join the union army - one of the most famous all-black regiments was the 54th Massachusetts

Conscription

• Confederate Conscription - anyone 18-45

  • With exception of planters with 20 slaves - need to plant food

  • Criticized as “rich man's war, poor mans fight”

• Union Conscription

  • Militia Act of 1862 - offered incentives as high as 600 dollars (11,000 today) to help local and state governments meet enlistment quotas

    • Gives financial motives - but after all the casualties it wasn't enough to convince the citizens to enlist 

  • Military courts set up to prosecute those who discourage enlistments or resisted the draft

  • Since citizens were not cooperating, passed the Enrollment Act of 1863 - formal draft

    • Many, such as the immigrant Irish and Germans, resisted as they believed they had to part in this fight 

    • New York Draft Riots

      • rioters burned draft offices, sacked the homes of prominent Republicans and lynched a dozen African Americans

    • Democrats seized this opportunity to criticize the republicans and especially Lincoln presidency

Lee’s String of Victories

• Recall that at this point, Burnside is the new general

  • Lincoln is still hoping that a fearless general will invade Richmond - aka his hopes for Burnside

• So, Burnside takes the army of the potomac, travels south from DC to Richmond

  • Meets Lee at Fredericksburg

  • Lee was set up in a highly defensive position, so when the Union armies advanced, they were all shot at 

    • So so many union soldiers were shot down, even the confederates were shook

    • Union casualties 12,000 to Confederate casualties 6,000

      • Huge loss for Union

      • So big that Burnside is replaced with Joseph Hooker

• Lincoln then ordered Hooker to Richmond - he traveled in a slightly diff direction than Burnside, ended up in Chancellorsville

  • Keep in mind, Lee was doubly outnumbered AND in order to protect both Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, he had to split his troops

  • After a lot of aggressive attacks, Lee came out on top

    • The fact that he was so disadvantaged and still managed to win made this battle his “perfect victory” 

    • Stonewall Jackson was shot, Confederates saw him in fog and panicked

  • Bc of the loss, Hooker was replaced with George Meade

At this point, northern morale and Linclon’s popularity were at an all time low

Turning Point

1863: The Turning Point - Vicksburg + Gettysburg

• Western theater: The Siege of Vicksburg and the Capture of the Mississippi:

  • post-Shiloh, Grant moves southwest along the mississippi river

  • Reaches confederate stronghold in Vicksburg, Mississippi - approx. month long siege

    • Hit their supply lines - eventually they starved and surrendered on July 4th, 1863

  • BIG WIN bc this was one of their major war goals, to split the confederacy

    • They also began to push into Arkansas and Tennessee

• Eastern theater: Battle at Gettysburg

  • Lee wants to once again go on offense and cross the Potomac. Why?

    • Emboldened by victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville

    • Wants another big win

    • Wants to draw Grant away from Mississippi

  • This time he goes into Pennsylvania - Meade set out to meet him w/ army of the Potomac - meet at gettysburg, penn

    • Arguably one of the most important battles of the civil war

    • Lasted 3 days - all time high of casualties

  • Pickett's Charge was Lee’s last ditch effort at breaking Union lines, it failed and many died

    • Overall confederates lost ⅓ of their soldiers

    • Left dejected, Lee ordered a retreat back into Virginia

  • THIS IS THE CLOSEST THE CONFEDERACY WILL GET TO WDC - “high water mark of the confederacy”

  • Meade should chase him but doesn't - replaced by Grant

• Gettysburg address - memorial to fallen soldiers 

  • Decide they will bury the dead right there - when the cemetery officially opens lincoln give gettysburg address

    • Message: Ppl gave their lives for the cause - win this war for them and their cause - don't let them die in vain

Grant Takes Command

• Post-Vicksburg, Grant helped secure a victory at Chattanooga, pushing Confederate army of Tennessee out of Tennessee and into Georgia

• Then in MARCH 1864, GRANT BECOMES GENERAL-IN-CHIEF

• Lincoln gives him freedom to come up with a big strat

  • Lincoln knows grant will pursue, even if it means men will die - to end the war as soon as possible this is necessary

• Lincoln and Grant shared similar strategies of total war 

  • Mobilize society, economy, politics 

  • Destroy anything useful to the enemy and forcing them to believe the war is no longer worth fighting

• Overland Campaign: Grants plan was to take Richmond by fighting a war of attrition - wear Lee out bc he lacks supplies

  • Grant recognized that he has men to replace and Lee did not, therefore it was strategic to just brute force through VA, no matter how often Lee won or how many casualties the army of the potomac faced

  • Throw all the north’s assets at lee 

• As Grant continues to push south, he realizes it is more efficient to cut off Richmond supply lines and ventures to petersburg instead (just south of richmond) 

  • there he is forced to lay a 9 month siege

• At the same time, William Tecumseh Sherman - new leader of Union forces in the west - was laying siege on Atlanta

• TWO SIEGES/STALEMATES AT THE SAME TIME HURT LINCOLN’S CHANCES FOR REELECTION

  • Someone must cook something soon or the north will just give up

Election of 1864

• Key events that influenced the election:

  • Scorched Earth Campaign

    • In July, Jubal Early was sent to burn through Union territory - notably Chambersburg, Pennsylvania - threatened WDC

    • In retaliation, Grant sent Philip Sheridan to punish Virginia farmers in the Shenandoah Valley that helped Early - burnt their stuff - “total war”

  • Sherman Captures Atlanta

    • Tired of the siege, Sherman sent a battalion to cut off confederate supply lines, forcing them to abandon

    • Such a key confederate city’s occupation sent shockwaves throughout the north and south

  • Union victory is becoming more of a reality

• McClellan repudiated the Democratic platform to which Republicans criticized as inconsistent

  • Also began to criticize peace Democrats as copperheads (poisonous snakes)

• Lincoln wins in a landslide 

  • He uses the win as a mandate to end slavery - very Jacksonian

  • Jan 1865 - 13th Amendment passed - sent to states for ratification

Getting Close to the End

Sherman's March to The Sea

• Sherman held a unique idea that an army was nothing without the ppl - strike the ppl and the military falls down with them

• After capturing Atlanta he decides that instead of pursuing the retreating Confederate troops he would detach from his supply lines and travel through Georgia

  • His men would “live off the land”, burn down property, pull rail lines, and liberate slaves

  • All in efforts to convince the populace that the war was no longer worth fighting

• Nov - burns down Atlanta

• When he reaches Savannah he decides its too beautiful to burn

• Then moves north to punish SC for secession

  • Burns capital at Columbia

• When he reached NC in March 1865, stopped burning

• Message - if you are or were fully in favor of secession - you get punished 

**NOTE

Union has been on a winning streak recently and the confederacy seems like its in trouble

Lincoln first pres to be re elected since jackson!

• The confederacy technically committed treason - punishable by death - maybe he could make a speech about revenge?

• BUT NO

• Instead Inaugural address - 

  • we must pay for the sin of slavery through this war

  • However,

  • The war is not about revenge, once you come back, we will go back to being a union

    • We always were a union and we still are

  • Aka - conciliatory - lets hug it out

The End of the Confederacy

• The siege on petersburg cut off supply lines and as union forces were nearing RIchmond, Lee decided to evacuate

  • Citizens escaped, Lee traveled west

• Lincoln visited Richmond while Grant pursued Lee

  • Surrounded Army of Virginia at Appomattox Court House  

  • Lee saw no point in continuing to fight, surrenders

• In order to follow through with the peace-keeping inaugural address, Grant offers Lee generous terms 

  • If they dropped their arms they were all free to go home

• After the fall of Richmond, the Confederate cabinet fled and held their last meeting in May of 1865 - officially dissolved the Confederacy

  • Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops on May 10th

Timeline