The Civil WarThe Civil War

1861 - 1865

Relative StrengthsRelative StrengthsNorthern Advantages• More $$$: better economy

– 70% wealth– Conf. $$$ worth less than

2 cents by 1865

• RR: 75% (20,000 mls. vs. 9,000)

• Industry: 90%• Organized navy, army, & gov’t• Population: 22 mil. vs. 9 mil (3.5 mil slaves)• Farmland: 65% & More mineral deposits• # of States: 23 vs. 11• Disadvantage? Poor commanders

The Anaconda PlanThe Anaconda Plan

**Anaconda Plan: W. Scott, Blockade Southern coast-Control MS River & split South in ½ by marching to coast after AtlantaCapture Richmond (capital)

**Union blockade ineffective for first 1 ½ years; South got supplies from EUR although BR afraid of losing N. grain shipments

-40% of men were 21 & younger

Relative Strengths of the Relative Strengths of the SouthSouthSouthern Advantages (War of

Attrition) • Area – familiar soil• Moral Reasons – defend homes

& families & independence• Qualified Officers – strong

military tradition, better officers• Strategy – Defensive fighting

– -Doesn’t take as many men to fight a defensive war

– No fighting in the winter (Apr-Oct)

– Quick victories– Wait for North to tire– One offensive push into MD & PA to

split the Union

• Better Soldiers• Disadvantages? Weak economy, poor

transportation systems & states’ rights (!)

Campaign for European Campaign for European InterventionIntervention• European powers thought an American Civil War would weaken the

U.S.’s power in the Western Hemisphere• Foreign Aid – diplomacy is key for both sides• “Cotton is King” – BR more dependent on Northern wheat

• Egyptian cotton readily obtained• Trent Affair – Mason & Slidell (off coast of Cuba)

• Capt. Wilkes removes Southern diplomats from ship• Almost provokes Union-BR war

• Charles Francis Adams• “the Alabama” (Claims) – Captured over 60 Union vessels until defeated

off the coast of Cherbourg– Effective against Union shipping• Promotes goodwill w/GB • reparations from GB• Violated internat’l law & Neutrality• Met in Geneva, Switzerland• U.S. was paid $15.5 mil

• *Laird Rams

Home FrontHome Front• Lincoln’s Arbitrary Power:– *writ of habeas corpus” – Used in MD– Suspected secessionists jailed w/o charges or trials

• Conscription (draft): N relies mainly on volunteers but does eventually have a draft• *”bounty jumpers”• hiring a substitute - $300

• South exempts 1 overseer for every 20 slaves• anti-draft riots (July, 1863) – NY; Worried about free

blacks taking their jobs (117 killed)• Morrill Tariff Act (1861) – Increased tariffs

• 1st income tax

Home FrontHome Front• National Banking System – Uniform currency

– First step toward a unified banking system since 1836**Civil War actually made the N. economy stronger & more prosperous!(only foreign shipping really suffered)

• “shoddy millionaires”• 13th Amendment (1865) – Ended slavery

• 2/3 Cong. Majority• Freed 3 mil. slaves

• **bread riot – Richmond (shortage of food & consumer goods)• **Confiscation Acts – Take “property” of those who “supported”

the rebellion– *contraband - Slaves

Lincoln and his Cabinet

MiscellaneMiscellaneousous

• Napoleon III – Violates Monroe Doctrine in MX by trying to install Emp. Maximilian• U.S. threatens to send soldiers to

force FR to leave

• Emancipation Proclamation – Effective Jan. 1, 1863, Freed slaves in rebelling states only– Issued after “victory” at Antietam– Blacks can now enlist in Union

army– Strengthens moral cause & N.

diplomacy (appeals to Eur. working-class) but doesn’t please everyone:

• Some opposed to “abolition war”• Causes increase in Union deserters• Abolitionists felt it didn’t do enough

– 13th Amendment abolishes slavery completely in U.S.

• Clement Vallandigham – Copperhead• Banished to Confederacy• Ran for gov. of Ohio while living in

Canada

MiscellaneousMiscellaneous• **Arlington National

Cemetery • **Jefferson Davis – Held in

Ft. Monroe for 2 yrs. (70 soldiers on duty to watch)

• **Firsts – Repeating rifles• Draft• Electrically exploded

bombs• Ironclad ships

(Merrimack threatens Union blockade)

• Ironclads make wooden navies obsolete

• “Taps”• Army ambulance corps

Battles, Leaders & Battles, Leaders & OthersOthers• North named battles for water & South for towns

• Sally Tompkins – Ran Richmond infirmary & awarded rank of Capt. by J. Davis

• Clara Barton- “Angel of the Battlefield”• **Thaddeus Lowe- Balloonist

• Air surveillance• Most shot at man in the war

• Bull Run – Manassas Junction– Lincoln hoped for a victory &

capture of Richmond

• Union forces routed• S. victory actually decreased enlistments• Union loss brought about reality of a

long, difficult war

• Stonewall Jackson• “Picnickers” Prof. Lowe ascending in the Intrepid to observe the Battle of Fair Oaks

• Stonewall Jackson – died at Chancellorsville• left arm amputated &

then pneumonia• Lee: “Jackson has lost his

left arm & I have lost my right.”

• **Matthew Brady – Photographer

• Pinkerton’s – Detective agency

• Robert E. Lee

Battles, Leaders & Battles, Leaders & OthersOthers

Lincoln with Allan Pinkerton (left)

New Union strategy: naval blockade, undermining CSA economy, take control of MS river & capture Richmond

Battles, Leaders & Battles, Leaders & OthersOthers

• Monitor v. Merrimac – VA, 4 hrs.• Antietam – “Bloodiest day”

• Sharpsburg• Sept. 1862• 12 hrs. 24,000 died• Plans found around cigar• McClellan stops S. advance but does not pursue & is fired for

always being too cautious (always thinks he is outnumbered!)• Likely halted BR and FR intervention on behalf of CSA

• 54th Massachusetts – Black unit, 16 get Medal of Honor• 50% casualties• After war many go west &Indians call them “buffalo soldiers”• Blacks accounted for 10% of Union army

• Ft. Pillow – Those who surrendered were massacred– African Americans who served in the C.W. fought bravely but suffered

heavy casualties• Burnsides – Pontoon bridges, Lost at Fredericksburg• Hooker – Badly beaten at Chancellorsville

Battles, Leaders & Battles, Leaders & OthersOthers

Battles, Leaders & Battles, Leaders & OthersOthers• Gettysburg – Meade defeats Lee in 1863

– Lee invades to try to strengthen the N. peace movement w/ a big victory on Union soil

• Turning pt. – now S. cause is doomed• Lee’s 17 ml. ambulance train• Jenny Wade• Needed 40,000 pair of shoes• 2% of pop. died in this conflict; today that

would be 5 ½ mil (2002)

• Atlanta – capture of the city helped Lincoln get re-elected (1864)

• Grant – At Cold Harbor Union soldiers – pinned papers on themselves with their names

& addresses– 7000 died in a few hours– After Lincoln’s assassination, the North

wanted to change the surrender terms & Grant threatened to resign unless the terms were honored (this was w/Lee)

GettysburgGettysburg

 The only known photo of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg (seated, center), taken about noon, just after Lincoln arrived and some three hours before he spoke.

Battles, Leaders & Battles, Leaders & OthersOthers• Farragut – “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

• Vicksburg – Gives control of MS River to North– Reopens MS River to N. trade– Combined w/ victory at Gettysburg, increases

morale for N (also dooms European help for S)– Quieted N. peace agitators– Cut off supply of cattle & goods from TX & LA

• 7 wk. siege• Sherman – Command to march thru & make “Georgia

howl”• “Total war” – destroys rr tracks, burns fields, &

destroys everything useful (food crops, etc.)• “The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”• S. enlists slaves in army one month before war’s end

• Appomattox – Grant & Lee• Grant: “Stop firing, they are our countrymen again.”

VicksbuVicksburgrg

AppomatAppomattox tox

Court Court HouseHouse

Lincoln’s AssassinationLincoln’s Assassination

Remembering LincolnRemembering Lincoln“Now he belongs to the ages”

TermsTerms• *riffraff• *siege• *Copperheads