The Civil War Practice Flashcards

Introduction to the Civil War

• Beginning of Conflict: The shelling of Fort Sumter ended months of confusion, forcing the nation to choose sides. Most whites in the South joined the Confederacy, while Northerners viewed secession as a traitorous act of rebellion.

• Confederate States of America: Formed early in $1861$ by representatives from six of the seven states that had seceded. Southerners believed states joined the Union voluntarily and could leave voluntarily to defend "Southern Rights" and "Southern Independence."

• The Border States: Choosing sides was difficult for the eight slave states between the Confederacy and free states.

  • Joined Confederacy: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

  • Loyal to the Union: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. Many of their citizens still fought for the South.

  • West Virginia: The western counties of Virginia remained loyal and broke away to form a new state.

• A "Brothers' War": Civil war is defined as a conflict between two peoples in one country, dividing states, families, and friends.

Preparing for War

• Calls for Volunteers: President Abraham Lincoln called for $75,000$ volunteers to preserve the Union, while Confederate President Jefferson Davis called for volunteers to defend the South.

• Strengths and Weaknesses of the North:

  • Population: Approximately $22 \text{ million}$ people.

  • Economy/Technology: Advanced manufacturing (producing $90 \text{ percent}$ of the nation's goods), controlling most banks, and possessing significant deposits of iron, coal, copper, and gold.

  • Geography: More farms for food and control of the seas.

  • Transportation: $21,000 \text{ miles}$ of railroad track for transporting troops and supplies.

  • Greatest Weakness: Military leadership; about one-third of military officers resigned to join the South.

• Strengths and Weaknesses of the South:

  • Geographic Advantages: The North had to conquer the massive South. The South only had to defend its territory until the North grew weary.

  • Geographic Disadvantage: If the North controlled the Mississippi River, the Confederacy would be split in two.

  • Greatest Strength: Military leadership. Most of America's best officers were Southerners, including Robert E. Lee, who resigned from the U.S. Army to lead Confederate forces out of loyalty to Virginia.

  • Economic Weakness: Lacked factories, and wealth was tied up in land and slaves. Paper money printed by the government quickly dropped in value.

  • Transportation Weakness: Short rail lines usually only reached seaport towns, necessitating the use of wagons and scarce horses/mules.

Leadership: Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis

• Abraham Lincoln (Union President):

  • Background: Born in a Kentucky log cabin on February $12$, $1809$. Self-educated with less than a year of formal schooling. Worked as a store clerk, rail-splitter, surveyor, postmaster, and lawyer.

  • Personality: Patient, thoughtful, humorous, and six feet four inches tall with a "sad but kind appearance."

  • Goal: Believed the Union was "perpetual" and must never be broken; frequently related the war to the ideals of the American Revolution.

• Jefferson Davis (Confederate President):

  • Background: Also born in a Kentucky log cabin; grew up on a Mississippi plantation. Attended West Point; served in the Mexican War and as Secretary of War.

  • Political Career: U.S. Senator from Mississippi until secession. Believed in states' rights and that government rests on the "consent of the governed."

  • Personality: Tall, lean, and intense; served from a sense of duty rather than a love of politics.

Bull Run: A Great Awakening

• The Anaconda Plan: General Winfield Scott and Lincoln's three-step strategy:

  1. Surround the South by land and sea to cut off trade.

  2. Divide the Confederacy into sections.

  3. Capture Richmond, Virginia (the Confederate capital) and destroy the government.

• Rose O'Neal Greenhow: A Washington socialite and Confederate spy who learned of Union plans to attack Richmond and smuggled a coded note in the curls of a young girl to Southern leaders.

• The Battle of Bull Run (Manassas): Occurred in July $1861$.

  • Stonewall Jackson: Confederate General Thomas Jackson earned his nickname when General Bernard Bee noted him standing "like a stone wall."

  • Outcome: Confederate reinforcements arrived, and Jackson's men charged, causing the inexperienced Union troops to flee in panic to Washington. It proved the war would be long.

• Women's Roles: Women served as farm/business managers, factory workers, nurses, teachers, government workers, scouts, smugglers, and spies.

  • Dorothea Dix ("Dragon Dix"): Director of Union nursing; required nurses to be over $30$, plain, strong, and willing to do unpleasant work.

  • Clara Barton: Known as the "angel of the battlefield" for tending troops on the front lines; later founded the American Red Cross.

Antietam: A Bloody Affair

• Union Blockade: Launched in $1861$. Most Southern ports were closed by the end of the year, preventing cotton exports and supply imports.

• Dividing the South:

  • David Farragut: Led $46$ ships to capture New Orleans in April $1862$.

  • Ulysses S. Grant: Won victories in Kentucky and Tennessee. Known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant for his refusal to accept anything less than total victory.

• Battle of Antietam: Lee invaded Maryland in September $1862$, hoping to gain Maryland's support and European recognition.

  • Casualties: The bloodiest single day of the war. Union casualties: $2,100$ killed, $10,300$ wounded/missing. Confederate casualties: $2,770$ killed, $11,000$ wounded/missing.

  • Tactics: Improved weaponry (rifles and artillery) made killing at a distance easier, leading to high death tolls vs. past hand-to-hand combat.

• Medical Realities: Doctors lacked understanding of infections; surgeries were done with dirty hands and instruments. Three men died of disease (typhoid, pneumonia) for every one who died in battle.

Gettysburg: A Turning Point

• Emancipation Proclamation: Issued by Lincoln on January $1$, $1863$. It declared slaves in Confederate states to be free, turning the war into a crusade for freedom.

• The Draft: The South passed a draft in $1862$ (ages $18$ to $35$); the North followed in $1863$ (ages $20$ to $45$). Men could pay for substitutes, leading to the phrase "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight."

• The Battle of Gettysburg: Fought July $1$ through July $3$, $1863$.

  • Positions: Union (General George C. Meade) held Cemetery Ridge; Confederates held Seminary Ridge.

  • Pickett's Charge: General George Pickett led $15,000$ soldiers in a failed charge against the Union center.

  • Outcome: Over $17,500$ Union and $23,000$ Confederate casualties. Lee lost one-third of his army and retreated to a defensive war.

• Union Opponents: "Copperheads" (Northern Democrats) grew tired of the war. Lincoln suspended the right of habeas corpus (trial before jail) to maintain order.

• Draft Riots: In July $1863$, angry mobs in NYC burned draft offices and killed almost $100$ African Americans out of fear of job competition and resentment of the draft.

• Gettysburg Address: Lincoln's dedication of the cemetery; he spoke of a nation "conceived in liberty" and a "new birth of freedom."

Vicksburg: A Besieged City

• Technological Milestones: First war to use railroads, telegraphs, photographs, and armor-plated steamships (ironclads).

• Merrimac vs. Monitor: The Confederate Merrimac (renamed Virginia) fought the Union Monitor in March $1862$. The battle ended in a draw but proved wooden ships were obsolete.

• Siege of Vicksburg: Vicksburg was the key to the Mississippi River.

  • Siege: In May $1863$, Grant's army bombarded the city for six weeks. Residents lived in caves and ate horses, mules, dogs, and rats.

  • Surrender: Vicksburg surrendered on July $4$, $1863$. The North controlled the Mississippi, dividing the South.

• Southern Hardships: The blockade led to shortages of food and clothes; soldiers wore "rags and tags."

African Americans in the War

• Enlistment: In $1862$, Congress allowed black recruits. About $186,000$ joined the Army and $30,000$ joined the Navy.

• Massachusetts $54\text{th}$ Regiment: Commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, including two sons of Frederick Douglass. They protested unequal pay by refusing all pay until Congress granted equal pay at Lincoln's urging.

• Fort Wagner: The $54\text{th}$ led a suicidal charge across $200 \text{ yards}$ of open beach. Despite losing half their men, their bravery won respect for Black soldiers everywhere.

Appomattox: Total War and the End

• General Grant's Strategy: Assigned command in $1864$, he believed in finding and striking the enemy as hard as possible and used his larger army to wear down Lee's forces regardless of casualties.

• Total War: War on the enemy's will to fight and ability to support itself.

  • Sheridan: Waged total war in the Shenandoah Valley.

  • Sherman's March: Captured Atlanta in September $1864$ and burned it. He then marched to Savannah, destroying everything in a $60\text{-mile}\text{-wide}$ path.

• Election of $1864$: Successes by Sheridan and Sherman helped Lincoln defeat George McClellan to win reelection.

• Surrender at Appomattox: On April $9$, $1865$, Lee met Grant at Wilmer McLean's house to surrender.

  • Terms: Generous; soldiers could go home if they promised not to fight, keep their horses/mules for spring plowing, and officers could keep sidearms. Grant ordered food sent to the starving Southern troops.

• Casualties: More than $620,000$ soldiers died. It was the first modern war, reflecting the technology of the Industrial Revolution.

• Legacy: The Union was forged into a single whole ("The United States is"). Though slavery and secession ended, conflicts over states' rights and civil rights persisted.