America’s HistorySeventh Edition

CHAPTER 14Two Societies at War

1861-1865

Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

James A. HenrettaRebecca Edwards

Robert O. Self

CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVESAfter you have read this chapter, your should be able to answer the following questions:1. Why did the North and the South choose the path of military conflict in 1861?2. What were the stated war aims and military strategies of each side as the war progressed? (5.3.1.B and 5.3.1.C)3. How and why did the Civil War become a “total war”?4. What was the significance of emancipation toward the conduct and outcome of the war?5. How and why did the North win the war in 1865? (5.3.1.D)

I. Secession and Military Stalemate, 1861-1862A. The Secession Crisis

1. The Lower South Secedes• SC seceded first in December 1860 fearing a Lincoln

presidency would end slavery• fire-eaters called on their states to hold conventions

to consider following SC• MISS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX followed by February• declared Confederate States of America (CSA) with

Jefferson Davis as president• Buchanan did not act decisively, claimed no power to

force SC to stay in the Union.

2. The Crittenden Compromise

The Process of Secession, 1860–1861The states of the Lower South had the highest concentration of slaves, and they led the secessionist movement. After the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861, the states of the Upper South joined the Confederacy. Yeomen farmers in Tennessee and the backcountry of Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia opposed secession but, except in the future state of West Virginia, initially rallied to the Confederate cause. Consequently, the South entered the Civil War with its white population relatively united.

Dividing the National MapSatirical illustration parodying the four candidates of the 1860 presidential election. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas tear at the western part of the country, John C. Breckinridge tears at the southern part of the map, while John Bell attempts to glue the map back together with a comically small jar of glue.

2. The Crittenden Compromise• president asked Congress to act• Sen. Crittenden (KY) proposed:1) constitutional amendment to protect

slavery from government interference where it already existed (approved)

2) expand the Missouri Compromise line to the CA border with North being free, South slave (rejected by Republicans)

• fears that pro-slavery forces would desire land beyond the borders (ex: Cuba)

• Lincoln’s inaugural address called the Union “perpetual” and secession illegal.

1. Examine these advocates for secession. What does this image tell us about those who supported the cause?

1. Examine these advocates for secession. What does this image tell us about those who supported the cause? Answer: all men, well-dressed, clearly of wealth; those in political power were male, white, and of the middle and upper classes.

B. The Upper South Chooses Sides1. Union Responds

• northerners joined the war effort quickly• OH was asked for 13 regiments, supplied 20• northern Democrats supported Lincoln (including Stephen Douglas)• Lincoln called for 75,000 militiamen to serve for 90 days.

2. Middle and Border States• eight border and middle states included 2/3 white people in the

slaveholding states• VA sided with Confederacy as did AK, TN, NC• in northwestern VA yeomen broke away and became part of Union

(admitted in 1863 as WV)• DE and MO sided with Union, MD forced by Unionists who seized the

state’s government• negotiation kept KY in Union.

• eight border and middle states included 2/3 white people in the slaveholding states

• VA sided with Confederacy as did AK, TN, NC

• in northwestern VA yeomen broke away and became part of Union (admitted in 1863 as WV)

• DE and MO sided with Union, MD forced by Unionists who seized the state’s government

• negotiation kept KY in Union.

The Upper South Chooses Sides2. Middle and Border States

Slavery and SecessionAs these graphs indicate, the Confederate states that initially seceded from the Union were heavily invested in slavery. Nearly 40 percent of whites in those Deep South states were members of families that owned slaves, who numbered nearly half that region’s population. By contrast, only 14 percent of the whites owned slaves in the pro-Union border states, such as Missouri and Maryland, where enslaved people formed only 15 percent of the population.

C. Setting War Objectives and Devising Strategies1. Union Thrusts Toward Richmond

• Lincoln rejected a plan (Gen. Scott) for economic sanctions and a naval blockade, wanted aggressive military action against Richmond

• attack at Manassas (Bull Run) led to panic among Union soldiers who retreated

• Union enlisted a million more men with a plan for them to serve army for three years

• 1862 Gen. McClellan launched major assault but Confederates fought back

• war continued and Richmond was still secure.

2. Lee Moves North: Antietam3 The War in the Mississippi Valley

The Anaconda Plan is the name applied to an outline strategy for suppressing the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War. Proposed by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, the plan emphasized the blockade of the Southern ports, and called for an advance down the Mississippi River to cut the South in two. Because the blockade would be rather passive, it was widely derided by the vociferous faction who wanted a more vigorous prosecution of the war, and who likened it to the coils of an anaconda suffocating its victim. The snake image caught on, giving the proposal its popular name.

• CSA Gen. Lee began offensive• Second Battle of Bull Run

(1862)• into western MD• delays on the Union side kept

Lee moving towards Antietam Creek (MD)

• horrible Union casualties and savage warfare

• September 17, 1862, bloodiest day in US military history: 4800 dead, 18,500 wounded (3000 of whom later died)

• because of Lee’s retreat, Lincoln claimed a victory but problems continued.

3 The War in the Mississippi Valley

C. Setting War Objectives and Devising Strategies2. Lee Moves North: Antietam

1. Consider Timothy O’Sullivan’s image of dead soldiers at Antietam, Maryland. In your opinion, what did O’Sullivan hope to convey to the newspaper-reading American public with this and other battlefield photographs?

1. Consider Timothy O’Sullivan’s image of dead soldiers at Antietam, Maryland. In your opinion, what did O’Sullivan hope to convey to the newspaper-reading American public with this and other battlefield photographs?Answer: image juxtaposes the tranquility of life in an agricultural community – the house, fencing, and wagon wheels – with the consequences of the war; showed the American public the horrible reality of war and death.

C. Setting War Objectives and Devising Strategies3 The War in the Mississippi Valley

• Union had success in the Midwest gaining the TN and Mississippi Rivers

• Union naval forces into the Gulf of Mexico, took control of New Orleans (1500 plantations and 50,000 slaves)

• looting of plantation homes.

The Eastern Campaigns of 1862Many of the great battles of the Civil War took place in the 125 miles separating the Union capital, Washington, D.C., and the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. During 1862, Confederate generals Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee won battles that defended the Confederate capital (3, 6, 8, and 13) and launched offensive strikes against Union forces guarding Washington (1, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10). They also suffered a defeat—at Antietam (12), in Maryland—that was almost fatal. As was often the case in the Civil War, the victors in these battles were either too bloodied or too timid to exploit their advantage.

The Western Campaigns, 1861–1862As the Civil War intensified in 1862, Union and Confederate military and naval forces sought control of the great valleys of the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi rivers. From February through April 1862, Union armies moved south through western Tennessee (1–3 and 5). By the end of June, Union naval forces controlled the Mississippi River north of Memphis (4, 10, and 11) and from the Gulf of Mexico to Vicksburg (6, 7, 9, and 12). These military and naval victories gave the Union control of crucial transportation routes, kept Missouri in the Union, and carried the war to the borders of the states of the Lower South.

Secession and Military Stalemate, 1861–1862•Why was there no new compromise over slavery in 1861? How important was the conflict at Fort Sumter? Would the Confederacy—and the Union—have decided to go to war in any event?

Secession and Military Stalemate, 1861–1862•Why was there no new compromise over slavery in 1861? How important was the conflict at Fort Sumter? Would the Confederacy—and the Union—have decided to go to war in any event?•President Buchanan’s timidity at Fort Sumter emboldened the southern states into thinking that the federal government would not use force to restore the Union. President Lincoln’s subsequent refusal to support the Crittenden proposal assured that no formal compromise would resolve sectional tensions. Lincoln gave the South a choice of returning to the Union, or face war. Southerners by 1861 insisted on expanding slavery westward and refused to compromise. Any military standoff at this point would have touched off civil war

•In the first years of the war, what were the political and military strategies of each side? Which side was the more successful? Why?

•In the first years of the war, what were the political and military strategies of each side? Which side was the more successful? Why?•Confederacy: The southern states need only to defend boundaries to achieve independence. At the first battle of Bull Run, the Confederacy pushed back Union forces to great political and military success. Robert E. Lee then went on the offensive, humiliating Lincoln with a second victory at Bull Run and a major offensive through Maryland. Although Lee lost major forces at the Battle of Antietam, he knew that a protracted war directly undermined Lincoln’s need to end the war quickly to secure northern public support for a second term in the White House. •United States: Lincoln moved aggressively to restore the Union through force. He focused initially on holding strategic areas where relatively few whites owned slaves, such as Northwestern Virginia. He also moved quickly to secure the Mississippi River Valley and Missouri by mobilizing German American antislavery militia. Lincoln hoped that a quick strike against Richmond would topple the Confederacy. But losses at Bull Run and McClellan’s delays produced a stalemate that lasted into 1862 until the Battle of Shiloh later that year. •The Confederacy was more successful during the first two years of the war due to limited goals of home defense, the ability to intimidate Union forces through Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, and the use of guerrilla forces. Lincoln was dogged by public criticism over the number of casualties in battle, General McClellan’s stalling, and the military incompetence of Andrew Burnside. However, victory at Shiloh gave the Union greater control over the Mississippi Valley, including the capture of New Orleans.

II. Toward Total WarA. Mobilizing Armies and Civilians

1. The Military Draft• initially men on both sides willingly joined the effort• death toll discouraged enlistment, draft needed• April 1862 Confederate States of America imposed first

draft in U.S. history: existing soldiers would serve duration of war, men 18-35 would serve three years (increased to 45 after 1862), for every 20 slaves supplied one white man would be exempt, men could hire a substitute

• Union taxed those who refused to serve or sympathized with the CSA

• suspended habeas corpus, approximately 15,000 people imprisoned without trial

2. Women in Wartime

President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland, is arrested for attempting to hinder Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War and is held at Fort McHenry by Union military officials. His attorney immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges. However, President Abraham Lincoln decided to suspend the right of habeas corpus, and the general in command of Fort McHenry refused to turn Merryman over to the authorities.

Taney, the chief justice of the Supreme Court issued a ruling that President Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend habeas corpus. Lincoln didn’t respond, appeal, or order the release of Merryman. But during a July 4 speech, Lincoln was defiant, insisting that he needed to suspend the rules in order to put down the rebellion in the South.

Five years later, a new Supreme Court essentially backed Justice Taney’s ruling: In an unrelated case, the court held that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus and that civilians were not subject to military courts, even in times of war.

II. Toward Total WarA. Mobilizing Armies and Civilians

1. The Military Draft• northerners could provide a substitute or pay a fee

not to fight• Enrollment Act of 1863 in the North led to

immigrants refusing to serve• New York City had draft riots (Irish and German

workers) in which black workers were lynched and harassed

• 1861 U.S. Sanitary Commission established in NY to aid in the care of soldiers on the battlefield and in Union hospitals

• industries created around death (ex: embalming).

2. Women in Wartime

II. Toward Total War Mobilizing Armies and Civilians

2. Women in Wartime•approximately 200,000 women volunteered for Sanitary Commission and the Freedman’s Aid Society•nursed family members•worked as paid nurses, clerks, factory operatives•Dorothea Dix named superintendent of female nurses•took over farm tasks, classrooms•worked as spies, scouts, soldiers (in disguise).

1. The nursing profession was opened to women during the Civil War. Why were women considered to be well-suited to this work?

The nursing profession was opened to women during the Civil War. Why were women considered to be well-suited to this work?Answer: much of the work that women did in the home already involved nursing: caring for young children, aiding and medicating family members and neighbors in illness or injury, attending to women in childbirth, cleaning, cooking.

2. How did serving as a nurse during the war change a young woman’s life?

2. How did serving as a nurse during the war change a young woman’s life?Answer: young women left home for the first time when they went to work in war-time hospitals; Louisa May Alcott [Hospital Sketches] and others have described such life-altering experiences in their writings; no parents or husband to watch over them, controlling their movement and actions; independent for the first, and sometimes, only time in her life during the war-time experience.

3. Dorothea Dix, the Superintendent of Nurses for the Union Army, maintained strict rules for her nurses’ appearance and character.

Consider this image of a nurse caring for Union soldiers in Tennessee.

In your opinion, was it necessary for Dix to maintain stringent control over her charges? Why/why not?

3. Dorothea Dix, the Superintendent of Nurses for the Union Army, maintained strict rules for her nurses’ appearance and character.

Consider this image of a nurse caring for Union soldiers in Tennessee.

In your opinion, was it necessary for Dix to maintain stringent control over her charges? Why/why not?

Answer: concerns about the physical proximity young, single women would have to young, single men mixed with fears of relationships between soldiers and nurses; concerns over modesty.

Economies, North and South, 1860The military advantages of the North were even greater than this chart suggests. The population figures for the South include slaves, whom the Confederacy feared to arm. Also, the South’s commodity output was primarily in farm goods rather than manufactures. Finally, southern factories were much smaller on average than those in the North

II. Toward Total WarB. Mobilizing Resources (5.3.1.A)

1. Republican Economic and Fiscal Policies• northern economy was stronger than South’s: more output,

2/3 of railroads, 2/3 of population• Southerners hoped to trade cotton for much needed

supplies• “neo-mercantilist” program passed by Congress with high

tariffs, “free land” to farmers through the Homestead Act (1862), closed local banks and forced the states/people to accept federal charters and regulations

• plans for a transcontinental railroad• industries grew to feed/clothe the soldiers• Union spending increased dramatically• Legal Tender Act of 1862 introduced “greenbacks” into

economy.

2. The South Resorts to Coercion and Inflation

• CSA left economic matters to state governments in the beginning

• eventually had to build and operate shipyards, armories, textile mils

• commandeered food, coal, iron, copper, lead

• reluctant to tax slaves and cotton

• paid 60% of war by printing paper money, led to massive price inflation, food rioting.

Mobilizing Resources2. The South Resorts to Coercion and Inflation (5.3.1.A)

You know what’s coming right?

• A Chipotle chicken burrito purchased with Confederate States of America dollars would have risen in price from $6.50 at the outbreak of the Civil war to $4,550 in April of 1864.

• But burritos didn’t cost $6.50 in 1861, they would have cost 23 cents, and so they would have risen to $161 CSA. (in 1864 money)

The High Cost of War: Union Finances, 1860 and 1864In 1864, the Union government received almost 5 times as much in tax revenues as it had in 1860, but it spent nearly 14 times as much, mostly to pay soldiers and buy military supplies. In four years, the public debt had risen by a factor of 28, so that in 1864 the interest payment on the debt alone nearly equaled the level of all federal government spending in 1860

1. Describe the central action of this image.

1. Describe the central action of this image.Answer: two women prepare a horse-drawn cart for a journey; two children are seated at the back of the cart full of furniture; men and children stand nearby.

2. What does this image teach us about the lives of American women during the Civil War?

2. What does this image teach us about the lives of American women during the Civil War?Answer: the military service of men left women with all familial and economic responsibilities; here women are packing up and moving the family on their own, a level of independence that would have been unacceptable in peacetime; southern women were vulnerable to the hardship as the war forced families off of their plantations.

Toward Total War 1. How did the governments—the Union or the Confederacy—go about mobilizing soldiers, citizens, and resources to wage a total war? How successful were their respective strategies?

Toward Total War 1. How did the governments—the Union or the Confederacy—go about mobilizing soldiers, citizens, and resources to wage a total war? How successful were their respective strategies?Union: Congress passed the Enrollment Act in 1863, creating a draft, which German and Irish immigrants rioted against in July. Lincoln moved aggressively toward Confederate sympathizers and those who opposed the draft, throwing many people into jail. Northern women joined the workforce as nurses, clerks, and factory operatives for the war effort. The Northern economy was stronger than the southern economy. During the conflict, the government assisted the economy through a development plan that rivaled Clay’s American System. The stimulation of manufacturing and agriculture through high tariffs, the Homestead Act, and a bond drive through the National Banking Act solidified Union funding. Northern manufacturing also increased the output of war material which helped the Union defeat the South.

Confederate: As recruitment declined and casualties increased in 1862, the Confederacy ordered a draft. But some southern states refused to comply. Although the South possessed some machinery, and much cotton and slaves, the output of cannon, guns, and other war material never achieved a sufficient level to sustain the Confederate war machine. The Confederacy never affectively mobilized slaves to serve as soldiers. The South also failed to secure full diplomatic and economic support from Great Britain, a key ally. And the southern economy never received the necessary federal stimulus to stop inflation in the economy and sustain a long-term war.

2. What were the main economic policies enacted by the Republican-controlled Congress?

2. What were the main economic policies enacted by the Republican-controlled Congress?•There was a government-assisted national economic development that surpassed Henry Clay’s American System, which included raising tariffs to win political support of northeastern manufacturers and workers, forcing local banks to accept federal charters and regulations; funding a nationally financed system of internal improvements; and passing the Homestead Act of 1862 to raise revenues from the sale of public lands.

III. The Turning Point: 1863A. Emancipation

1. “Contrabands”• abolitionists began to demand

emancipation as part of war effort• slaves who escaped to Union Army called

“contraband of war”• Confiscation Act of 1861: authorized

seizure of property used to support the rebellion

• Radical Republicans worked for legislation that would end slavery in the rebellious states and outlaw slavery in the federal territories. (because you don’t want to punish slave states that didn’t secede.

2. The Emancipation Proclamation

B. Vicksburg and Gettysburg1. The Battle for Mississippi2. Lee’s Advance and Defeat

III. The Turning Point: 1863A. Emancipation

2. The Emancipation Proclamation• Lincoln initially rejected the idea, but by late

1862 was linking emancipation with the war• slavery could continue in those states that had

not rebelled (MD, MO) and areas held by the Union Army (parts of TN, western VA, southern LA)

• Lincoln called the proclamation “an act of justice.”

B. Vicksburg and Gettysburg1. The Battle for Mississippi2. Lee’s Advance and Defeat

III. The Turning Point: 1863B. Vicksburg and

Gettysburg1. The Battle for Mississippi

• Gen. Grant sought to split the Confederate Army

• achieved the surrender at Vicksburg, MS

• took regions of Louisiana• slaves began deserting region

Gulf of Mexico.

2. Lee’s Advance and Defeat• Gettysburg, PA, July 1863• Union victory was hard won• after three days 28,000 CSA

deaths, 23,000 Union deaths• last effort by the CSA to

invade the North• increased the power of

Republican Party and its supporters.

III. The Turning Point: 1863B. Vicksburg and

Gettysburg2. Lee’s Advance and Defeat

• Gettysburg, PA, July 1863• Union victory was hard

won• after three days 28,000

CSA deaths, 23,000 Union deaths

• last effort by the CSA to invade the North

• increased the power of Republican Party and its supporters.

Lee Invades the North, 1863After Lee’s victories at Chancellorsville (1) in May and Brandy Station (2) in June, the Confederate forces moved northward, constantly shadowed by the Union army. On July 1, the two armies met accidentally near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing battle (3), the Union army, commanded by General George Meade, emerged victorious, primarily because it was much larger than the Confederate force and held well-fortified positions along Cemetery Ridge, which gave its units a major tactical advantage.

Lee Invades the North, 1863After Lee’s victories at Chancellorsville (1) in May and Brandy Station (2) in June, the Confederate forces moved northward, constantly shadowed by the Union army. On July 1, the two armies met accidentally near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing battle (3), the Union army, commanded by General George Meade, emerged victorious, primarily because it was much larger than the Confederate force and held well-fortified positions along Cemetery Ridge, which gave its units a major tactical advantage

Lee Invades the North, 1863After Lee’s victories at Chancellorsville (1) in May and Brandy Station (2) in June, the Confederate forces moved northward, constantly shadowed by the Union army. On July 1, the two armies met accidentally near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing battle (3), the Union army, commanded by General George Meade, emerged victorious, primarily because it was much larger than the Confederate force and held well-fortified positions along Cemetery Ridge, which gave its units a major tactical advantage

1. In your opinion, how might southern white people have responded to this image during the Civil War? What emotions might this photograph have evoked?

1. In your opinion, how might southern white people have responded to this image during the Civil War? What emotions might this photograph have evoked?Answer: the sight of black men, in government-issued uniforms, with weapons would have been upsetting to southern whitepeople before, during and after the war; the notion of this group of men representing the government, having power and authority might have evoked anger, frustration.

2. Consider the perspectives of the men of the 107th Colored Infantry pictured here. How might service in the Union Army have affected these men’s expectations of the United States government after the Civil War?

2. Consider the perspectives of the men of the 107th Colored Infantry pictured here. How might service in the Union Army have affected these men’s expectations of the United States government after the Civil War?Answer: similar to those who fought in the American Revolution, military service to the country most likely would create in the men asense that something was owed to them by the government and the people; post-war expectations of political rights, economic opportunity, respect from the people and the government would no doubt have increased.

The Turning Point: 1863 1. Some historians argue that emancipation happened because thousands of slaves “freed themselves” by fleeing to Union armies. How persuasive is their argument?

The Turning Point: 1863 1. Some historians argue that emancipation happened because thousands of slaves “freed themselves” by fleeing to Union armies. How persuasive is their argument?•The sheer numbers of runaways that suddenly materialized on the outskirts of Union Army encampments forced the federal government to deal meaningfully and directly with economic issues facing black people. For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government brought blacks within its system in mass as workers. Congressional passage of the first and second Confiscation Acts were the first actions by the government to legalize the freeing of ex-slaves, known as “contraband.” Emancipation became an instrument of war before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, a document which freed no slaves in the South.

2. Why were the battles at Gettysburg and Vicksburg significant? How did they change the tide of war strategically, diplomatically, and psychologically?

2. Why were the battles at Gettysburg and Vicksburg significant? How did they change the tide of war strategically, diplomatically, and psychologically?• The two battles were Union victories that demoralized the southern army and population while invigorating northern public opinion about winning the war.• The South lost the economic, diplomatic, and military support of Britain after the battles were over.• The South lost many troops in both battles; General Lee’s Army of Virginia was nearly destroyed at Gettysburg.• The Vicksburg campaign cut the South geographically in half, facilitated Union occupation of the Deep South, and prevented the Confederate army’s use of the Mississippi River.

IV. The Union Victorious, 1864-1865A. Soldiers and Strategy

1. The Impact of Black Troops (5.3.1.B)

• many northern whites offended by blacks fighting for the Union

• Emancipation Proclamation changed public thinking on this issue, northern whites now accepted that blacks would fight and die for the cause

• 1863 54th Massachusetts Infantry’s attack on Ft. Wagner (SC) was critical in changing perspective on black soldiers

• discrimination widespread, but changes to pay were achieved.

2. Capable Generals Take Command3. Stalemate

IV. The Union Victorious, 1864-1865A. Soldiers and Strategy

2. Capable Generals Take Command (5.3.1.D)

• Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (March 1864) implemented president’s new strategy

• Grant focused not just on battles but on mobilization against southern society (disruption)

• two major offensives.3. Stalemate

• psychological toll of fighting was enormous on both sides

• trench warfare, scorched-earth campaign revealed desperation to end the war

1. Identify the instruments of nineteenth-century warfare present in this image.

1. Identify the instruments of nineteenth-century warfare present in this image.Answer: men, horses, wagons, uniforms, swords, guns, maps, newspapers.

The Closing Virginia Campaign, 1864–1865Beginning in May 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant launched an all-out campaign against Richmond. By threatening to cut General Robert E. Lee’s lines of supply, Grant tried to lure him into open battle. Lee avoided a major test of strength. Instead, he retreated to defensive positions and inflicted heavy casualties on Union attackers at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna, and Cold Harbor (1–4). From June 1864 to April 1865, the two armies faced each other across defensive fortifications outside Richmond and Petersburg (5). Grant finally broke this ten-month siege by a flanking maneuver at Five Forks (6). Lee’s surrender followed shortly.

IV. The Union Victorious, 1864-1865B. The Election of 18641. The National Union Party versus

the Peace Democrats• Republican Party supported

Lincoln for reelection, called for end to slavery and the surrender of the CSA

• Republicans called themselves the National Union Party

• Democrats did not want emancipation, but were split over the war.

3. William Tecumseh Sherman: “Hard War” Warrior4. The Confederate Collapse

2. The Fall of Atlanta and Lincoln’s Victory•after taking control of Atlanta, Lincoln promised the war would continue;•National Union Party called Peace Democrats “copperheads” (poisonous snakes)•Lincoln won•1864 Maryland and Missouri changed their state constitutions and called for emancipation.

• The Copperheads were a vocal faction of Democrats located in the Northern United States of the Union who opposed the American Civil War, wanting an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates.

• Republicans started calling antiwar Democrats "Copperheads", likening them to the venomous snake.

• The Democrats accepted the label, reinterpreting the copper "head" as the likeness of Liberty, which they cut from Indian Head cents and proudly wore as badges.

• The Copperheads damaged the Union war effort by fighting the draft, encouraging desertion, and forming conspiracies

• Historians agree that the Copperheads' goal of restoring the Union with slavery was naive and impractical, for the Confederates refused to consider giving up their independence.

• Copperhead support increased when Union armies were doing poorly, and decreased when they won great victories. After the fall of Atlanta in September 1864, military success seemed assured, and Copperheadism collapsed.

IV. The Union Victorious, 1864-1865B. The Election of 1864 and Sherman’s March (5.3.1.D)

3. William Tecumseh Sherman: “Hard War” Warrior• “Hard War” Warrior – commanded the Union Army in Tennessee• moved South with his army demolishing whatever was in their path• many CSA soldiers were demoralized and abandoned• treated as a savior by Georgia’s black population• issued “Special Field Order No 15” to set aside 400,000 acres for

the use of freedmen (He did this on his own and it did not hold up)• invaded South Carolina and met up with Gen. Grant in North

Carolina to fight Gen. Lee.

4. The Confederate Collapse• class resentment among the CSA weakened the army• desertions increased• Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, VA.

William Tecumseh ShermanA man of nervous energy, Sherman smoked cigars and talked continuously. When seated, he crossed and uncrossed his legs incessantly, and a journalist described his fingers as constantly “twitching his red whiskers—his coat buttons—playing a tattoo on the table—or running through his hair.” But on the battlefield Sherman was a decisive general who commanded the loyalty of his troops. This 1865 photograph was taken after Sherman’s devastating march through Georgia and the Carolinas. “My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.” -Sherman

Sherman’s March through the Confederacy, 1864–1865The Union victory in November 1863 at Chattanooga, Tennessee (2), was almost as critical as the victories in July at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, because it opened up a route of attack into the heart of the Confederacy. In mid-1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman advanced on the railway hub of Atlanta (3 and 4). After finally taking the city in September 1864, Sherman relied on other Union armies to stem General Hood’s invasion of Tennessee (5 and 6) while he began his devastating “March to the Sea.” By December, he had reached Savannah (7); from there, he cut a swath through the Carolinas (8–10).

The Conquest of the South, 1861–1865It took four years for the Union armies to defeat the Confederate forces. Until 1864, most of the South remained in Confederate hands; even at the end of the war, Union armies had never entered many parts of the rebellious states. Most of the Union’s territorial gains came on the vast western front, where its control of strategic lines of communication (the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and major railroads) gave its forces a decisive advantage.

1. Compare the conditions of the prisoners of war depicted in these two images. What factors might account for the physical differences between these prisoners?

1. Compare the conditions of the prisoners of war depicted in these two images. What factors might account for the physical differences between these prisoners?Answer: Union soldier held by Confederate Army is completely emaciated, has not been fed or properly cared for; Confederate soldier seated with Custer looks healthy – ability and/or willingness of the two armies to care for prisoners and provide reasonable living conditions; not clear how long the two men have been held prisoner.

2. What is the significance of the African-American child pictured with the two men?

2. What is the significance of the African-American child pictured with the two men?

Answer: Union soldier held by Confederate Army is completely emaciated, has not been fed or properly cared for; Confederate soldier seated with Custer looks healthy – ability and/or willingness of the two armies to care for prisoners and provide reasonable living conditions; not clear how long the two men have been held prisoner.

1. Describe this family and their surroundings.

1. Describe this family and their surroundings.Answer: curtain is ripped and tattered, damage to furnishings, window is broken, debris on the floor; four members of the family are clearly in shock at what has occurred and not sure how they will move forward from this situation

2. In your opinion, what did the term “reconstruction” mean for southern families such as the one depicted in the painting The Return to Fredericksburg after the Battle?How might the post-war experience have been different for families of different social classes?For white families or black families?

2. In your opinion, what did the term “reconstruction” mean for southern families such as the one depicted in the painting The Return to Fredericksburg after the Battle?How might the post-war experience have been different for families of different social classes?For white families or black families? Answer: politicians debated the re-admission of states to the Union while families like those depicted here physically re-built their homes and lives; war impacted every aspect of life for southern families; loss of wealth, property, labor (slaves); loss of family members to war-injuries and disease; families with wealth before the war found that they had lost much during the war; newly free families sought land, work, stability.)

The Union Victorious, 1864–1865 1. How did the emancipation edict affect the politics and military affairs of the North?

The Union Victorious, 1864–1865 1. How did the emancipation edict affect the politics and military affairs of the North?• Emancipation produced a racist backlash among white voters fearful of insurrection and economic competition with newly freed slaves.• Emancipation provided the Democratic Party with gains in key political posts, calling into question Republican war strategies and giving more power to peace proposals.• Militarily, emancipation made possible the official use of blacks as soldiers in the Union army, which increased manpower and transformed the war into a war to end slavery.

2. What were the strengths and weaknesses of Grant’s and Sherman’s military strategy and tactics? How were their ways of warfare different from traditional military practice?

2. What were the strengths and weaknesses of Grant’s and Sherman’s military strategy and tactics? How were their ways of warfare different from traditional military practice?• Traditional methods of warfare in 1860 included armies fighting pitched battles without civilian loss of life and extreme violence created by guerilla insurgency. The strengths of the Hard War approach of Grant and Sherman included an ideological and physical ruthlessness that intimidated and destroyed southern morale and the Confederate war-making capacity. Terrorizing civilians and losing large numbers of troops, however, created public image problems for both figures that worked against Lincoln’s second presidential campaign.

Chapter Review Questions1. As the Civil War began, politicians and ordinary citizens in both the North and the South were supremely confident of victory. Why did Southerners believe they would triumph? Why did the North ultimately win the war?

Chapter Review Questions1. As the Civil War began, politicians and ordinary citizens in both the North and the South were supremely confident of victory. Why did Southerners believe they would triumph? Why did the North ultimately win the war?• Southerners were confident that Europe would help finance the war, that the South possessed sufficient manpower and wealth in the form of cotton and slaves, that northern public opinion would not support a long and protracted war against the South, and that southern white men possessed a special fighting spirit that Yankees did not.• Northern victory resulted from a total war strategy, economic strangulation of the South based on northern industrial output, a larger manpower pool from immigrant arrivals, and the creation of a strong centralized economy to pay for the war.

2. In 1860, the institution of slavery was firmly entrenched in the United States; by 1865, it was dead. How did this happen? How did Union policy toward slavery and enslaved people change over the course of the war? Why did it change?

2. In 1860, the institution of slavery was firmly entrenched in the United States; by 1865, it was dead. How did this happen? How did Union policy toward slavery and enslaved people change over the course of the war? Why did it change?• Union policy toward slavery changed during the war from a toleration of slavery if the South came back into the Union, to a more pragmatic policy of using the institution to help win the war, and finally as a moral tactic to generate public support to stay the course of the war and end slavery.• The policy changed primarily because of the efforts of escaped slaves, free blacks like Frederick Douglass, Radical white Republicans, and other abolitionists who called for the use of black troops and the need to make the war a war to end slavery. After seeing the carnage of battle and listening to black leaders, President Lincoln adjusted his opinion, and recognized the wisdom of altering the Union’s policy toward slavery and slaves.