Civil War and Reconstruction

Resources, Population, and Economy

  • The North had an advantage in resources and population during the Civil War.
  • Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States (Union), while Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate States.

Perspectives on War

  • The question is posed: Was it worth sending sons, grandsons, brothers, and husbands to fight and die in the war?
  • The idea of fighting to protect one's own space and loyalty to a thought are introduced.

Leadership: Jefferson Davis

  • Davis was known to be extremely loyal to those on his good side but unforgiving to those who crossed him.
  • A significant issue was that many Confederate generals loyal to Davis were incompetent, while many capable generals were on his bad side.
  • Lincoln proved to be a better wartime leader than Davis, who faced a nearly impossible job but managed to keep the Confederacy together for four years.

General McClellan

  • McClellan was skilled at training the army but hesitant to use it effectively in battle.
  • Lincoln reportedly expressed his frustration, suggesting that if McClellan wasn't going to use the army, he would like to borrow it.

Early Union Strategy: Richmond

  • The initial Union strategy focused on capturing Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, located about 100 miles from Washington, D.C.
  • This strategy was not initially successful.

First Battle: First Manassas/First Bull Run

  • The first major battle occurred in July; it was called First Manassas by the South and First Bull Run by the North.
  • The Confederacy won.
  • The North named battles after nearby streams or rivers, while the South named them after the nearest town.

Eastern Theater

  • In the spring of 1862, George McClellan moved his army down the Potomac River to approach Richmond from the peninsula but was eventually defeated by Lee.

Battle of Shiloh

  • The Battle of Shiloh resulted in approximately 16,000-17,000 casualties (killed, wounded, and missing) over two days.
  • More Americans were killed, wounded, or went missing at Shiloh than in all previous American wars combined; this shocked the nation and made many realize the war would not be easy.

Confederate Strategy & the Invasion of the North

  • Confederates sought to gain the initiative and prompt the North to come to them.
  • In the fall of 1862, the British Parliament considered recognizing the Confederacy due to Britain's economic dependence on textiles fueled by Southern cotton.
  • To alleviate pressure on Virginia and allow farmers to harvest wheat, Robert E. Lee decided to invade the North, planning to capture Harper's Ferry and potentially move on to Baltimore or Pennsylvania.

Battle of Antietam

  • Antietam was the first war where the battlefield was photographed shortly after the battle.
  • The battle ended as a tactical draw as both sides held their initial positions.
  • Strategically, it was a Union victory because Lee was forced to retreat back into Virginia.

Significance of Antietam

  • The battle ended Robert E. Lee's invasion of Union soil.
  • It was the bloodiest single day in American history, with approximately 18,000 casualties on September 17, 1862.

Emancipation Proclamation

  • The Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave on the day it was issued.
  • Lincoln's initial war aim was to preserve the Union, not to end slavery.
  • Lincoln initially stated he would preserve the Union even if it meant freeing no slaves, freeing all slaves, or freeing some and not others.

Slavery's Impact on the War

  • Lincoln realized that slavery gave the South an advantage, allowing them to mobilize a large percentage of their adult male population into the armed forces.
  • Slaves back home were growing crops, producing cotton for trade, building fortifications, and cooking for the troops.
  • Lincoln's view evolved to recognize that abolishing slavery was in the Union's best military interest.

Seward's Concerns

  • Secretary of State Seward was wary of issuing the Emancipation Proclamation at a time when the Union was not doing well in the war, fearing it would appear as an act of desperation.

Emancipation Proclamation's Limited Scope

  • The Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, did not free slaves in areas already under Union control, such as parts of New Orleans or Northern Virginia.

Importance of the Emancipation Proclamation: Moral and Practical

  • The Emancipation Proclamation allowed African Americans to enlist in the Union Army, turning it into a force for liberation.
    • Slaves began to run to Union Lines en masse.
  • As Union armies penetrated the South, slaves ran away, impacting the Confederacy's ability to grow cotton and food and to build fortifications.
  • It was a brilliant military tactic that undermined the Confederacy's labor force.
  • The 13th Amendment ultimately ended slavery everywhere.
  • The Proclamation gave the Union a moral purpose for the war.

The Turning Point: 1863

  • The year 1863 marked a turning point in the war with two key battles: Gettysburg and Vicksburg.

Battle of Gettysburg

  • In the summer of 1863, Lee aimed to invade the North again.
  • His goals included threatening Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and potentially moving on to Baltimore, DC, or Philadelphia.

First Day

  • On the first day, Confederate forces forced the Union Army to retreat to the streets of Gettysburg.

Little Round Top

  • Little Round Top was strategically important; whoever controlled it could place artillery and bombard the enemy.
  • Union troops managed to secure Little Round Top.
  • Confederate attacks on Little Round Top were unsuccessful and resulted in significant losses.

Pickett's Charge

  • Confederate General George Pickett led a charge against the center of the Union line.
  • Union forces had reinforced the area, anticipating the attack.
  • Confederate soldiers had to march across open fields, facing artillery bombardment before reaching Union troops behind a stone wall.
  • Union soldiers placed artillery along the wall, loading it with grapeshot which acted like a giant shotgun.
  • Pickett's Charge failed and resulted in massive Confederate casualties.

Significance of Gettysburg

  • It stopped another Confederate invasion of the North.
  • The battle was the bloodiest of the Civil War, with approximately 30,000 casualties over three days.

Siege of Vicksburg

  • At the same time as Gettysburg, the Union was laying siege to Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Union forces controlled the Mississippi River except for the stretch between Vicksburg and Port Hudson. General Ulysses S. Grant led the Union efforts to capture Vicksburg after multiple failed attempts.

Grant's Attempts to Capture Vicksburg

  • Grant tried to march troops overland across Mississippi, but It did not work. Grant also tried to build a canal to bypass Vicksburg, but It also didn't work.

Grant's Successful Maneuver

  • In April 1863, Grant decided to run ships past the guns on the bluffs overlooking the river. The ironclads were painted black to make them harder to see.
    *On April 16, Grant lashed transport ships to the ships and ran them past the bluff with success.
  • Once past Vicksburg, Grant marched his men down the west bank of the river and crossed over to the same side as Vicksburg and he avoided the creeks and swamps

Grant's Strategy after Crossing the River

  • Instead of heading straight for Vicksburg, Grant moved towards Jackson to cut off Confederate reinforcements and live off the land.
  • He attacked and defeated Confederate forces at Raymond, Champion Hill, and Big Black River Bridge.

Siege of Vicksburg

  • Confederate troops retreated into their earthworks at Vicksburg after being defeated multiple times by Grant.
  • Grant launched assaults on May 19 and May 22, but was repulsed, so he decided to lay siege to Vicksburg.
  • The siege lasted for 47 days. Union troops surrounded the city, preventing supplies from entering while the Union navy bombarded the city.
  • Confederate troops and civilians start to run out of supplies. The Confederate troops had to start eating horses and mules.
  • Finally, Confederate commander Pemberton surrendered on July 4, with Grant demanding unconditional surrender.

Significance of Vicksburg

  • Take control of the entire MS river
  • The fall of Vicksburg, combined with the victory at Gettysburg, dealt a significant blow to the Confederacy.
  • They no longer could get reinforcements or supplies from Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana
  • It also established Grant as a successful general.

Grant Takes Command

  • In the spring of 1864, Grant was placed in command of all Union armies. He starts to lead the frontal attacks against Robert E. Lee

Siege of Petersburg

  • After a series of battles, the Confederate forces retreated into the earthworks at Petersburg.
  • Grant laid siege to Petersburg, which lasted for nine months.

Battle of the Crater

  • Union troops dug a tunnel under Confederate lines, packed it with explosives, and detonated it.
  • Instead of going around the crater, Union troops went inside, where they were trapped and attacked by Confederate reinforcements. The goal was to blow a hole in confederate lines, so the war would end quickly.
    This was called the Battle of the Crater, no it was not successful

Continued Siege

  • After the failure at The Crater, Grant resumed the siege.

Sherman's March to the Sea

  • Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864 because that southern city had industrial capacity for the Confederacy.
  • Sherman marched across Georgia, burning a 60-mile wide path to break the South's will to fight.
  • He took Savannah and sent a telegram to Lincoln on December 22, offering it as a Christmas present.
  • Sherman then marched through South Carolina, causing even greater destruction.

Election of 1864

  • The Democrats ran on a platform of ending the war, which would have meant recognizing Confederate independence.
  • Lincoln was unwilling to give up on the war.
  • Before the election, Lincoln had his cabinet members sign a pledge to continue the war even if he lost.

Sherman's Capture of Atlanta

  • Sherman's capture of Atlanta in September 1864 turned the tide of the election in Lincoln's favor.
  • Union soldiers were furloughed or given absentee ballots to vote.

Lincoln's Victory

  • This meant that the South's was pretty much over, for the Confederate, the only chance they had left was to make the North give up,
  • Once Lincoln was re-elected, there was no longer a chance that the North would up their war.

End of the War

  • The Confederate forces were disintegrating
  • By April 1865, Lee was forced out of the trenches at Petersburg.

Surrender at Appomattox Court House

  • Lee was surrounded at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, and surrendered to Grant in April 1865.

Last Battle of the Civil War

  • The last battle of the Civil War occurred at Palmito Ranch, Texas, in late May 1865 and was a Confederate victory.

Lincoln's Assassination

  • On April 12, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln and he successfully evaded getting caught for 2 weeks.

Impact of the Civil War

  • The Civil War settled two fundamental issues:
    • States cannot secede from the Union.
    • Slavery was abolished.
  • These issues had been sources of conflict since the nation's founding.

New Challenges After the War

  • The end of the war created two new challenges:
    *What to do with the ex-Confederate states.
    *What to do with the newly freed slaves.

Reconstruction

  • The aim of Reconstruction was to address these issues:
    *What to do with the former Confederate states.
    What to do with freed slaves.
  • The South was in ruins, with cities like Richmond, Atlanta, and Charleston destroyed. Texas was not as badly damaged due to limited Union penetration.
  • Even in Texas, there was a significant issue of how to integrate freed slaves into society.