The US Civil WarNotes in RED

Lincoln’s Inaugural Address• Reared in a poor family in the frontier of Illinois,

Lincoln was self-educated, and became a country lawyer, an Illinois State Senator and member of the House of Representatives

• Became famous during the Stephen-Douglas Debates• 16th President of the US, serving from March 1861

until his assassination in April 1865 • Led the United States through its greatest

constitutional, military, and moral crises—the Civil War —preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, strengthening the national government and modernizing the economy

• “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states were it exists.”

• Main Purpose: Preserve the Union• “We are not enemies but friends, We must be friends.”• He believed slavery to be doomed

Jefferson Davis 1808-1889• Born in Kentucky, grew up in Miss. Educated at

West Point• He served as the US Secretary of War for

President Pierce• Served as Senator from Mississippi. As a

senator, he argued against secession, but did agree that each state was sovereign and had an unquestionable right to secede from the Union

• Elected President of the Confederate States of America without opposition

• His cabinet is a failure-each state represented but people not chosenby ability

• White House of the Confederacy-Richmond, Virginia

• Create own money system, destroyed Confederate Economy

Advantages of North

+ population - 22 million+ 90% of manufactured goods, esp. munitions

+ efficient railroad system+ controlled the navy, which could be used to blockade southern ports and shut down the southern economy+ capable military leaders, including Ulysses S. Grant

BUT: - would have to fight an offensive war (long supply lines, unfamiliar territory...)

Southern Advantages+ Thought European powers would come to their aid.+ Fought defensive war only entered North 4 times + Better morale: fighting to protect homes and institution of Slavery+ Confederates had excellent generals too – Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson+ Farmers fight better than factory workers –Better Riflemen+ Profitable economy based on cotton exports

BUT: - a smaller population -9 million (including. 3.5 million slaves) had to import goods; very little munitions production

April 1861: Attack on Fort Sumter.

• When President Lincoln planned to send supplies to Fort Sumter, he alerted the state in advance, in an attempt to avoid violence.

• South Carolina Militia surrounded Fort• The U.S. commander of the fort, Robert Anderson,

was asked to surrender immediately. Anderson offered to surrender, but only after he had exhausted his supplies.

• His offer was rejected, and on April 12, the Civil War began with shots fired on the fort. With no loss of life, Fort Sumter eventually was surrendered to the state of South Carolina.

Lincoln calls out militia for 90 days to put down uprising.

Most Northerners rallied to call, upper Southern states refused to fight “sister states” and soon also joined the confederacy

Many border states were torn between the two sides and stayed neutral or tentatively remained in the Union –Border States

NorthernStrategies

• Winfield Scott & the Anaconda Plan. His idea was that a Union blockade of the main ports would weaken the Confederate economy; then the capture of the Mississippi River would split the South.

• In May 1861, Lincoln enacted the Union blockade of all Southern ports, ending regular international shipments to the Confederacy.

• The blockade shut down King Cotton, ruining the Southern economy.

• Shortages of food and other goods triggered by the blockade, foraging by Northern armies, and the impressments of crops by Confederate armies combined to cause hyperinflation and bread riots in the South.

Southern Strategies

• Defensive Strategy “All we ask is to be left alone”

• “King Cotton” was supposed to be used as leverage to gain European Support

• Soon, the South changed strategies and tried to go on the offensive to break Northern morale

1st Battle at Bull Run

• The Union Army wanted to take Richmond, Virginia. They would have to defeat Confederate Troops stationed at Manassas, Virginia

• Union forces found Confederate forces near a little creek called Bull Run north of Manassas

• “There is Jackson standing like a stonewall! Rally behind the Virginians!” –Stonewall Jackson

• Confederates countercharged with a “rebel yell”

• Union troops panicked and broke ranks

• Confederate victory shocked North and thrilled south

• Lincoln sends 90 Day militias home and calls for real army volunteers

Ulysses S. Grant (Union)

• A career soldier, he graduated from West Point and served in the Mexican-American War

• Lincoln appointed him General-in-Chief in March 1864. Grant directed Sherman to drive through the South in a “slash and burn” campaign while he himself, with the Army of the Potomac, pinned down Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

• Although pro-Confederate historians attacked Grant as a ruthless butcher who won by brute force, most historians have hailed his military genius.

Robert E. Lee (Confederate)

• The son of Revolutionary War Hero Henry “Light Horse Harry” and a top graduate of West Point

• Distinguished himself as an exceptional officer in the US Army for 32 years. During this time, he distinguished himself during the Mexican-American War.

• Politically, Robert E. Lee was a Whig. Ironically, he was attached strongly to the Union and to the Constitution. He did not like slavery and did not believe in secession.

• His abilities as a tactician have been praised by many military historians –military genius

Battle of AntietamLee’s battle plans left behind and Union troops find them. Union’s McClellan found Lee at Antietam Creek.

26,134 Americans died at this battle.

This was the bloodiest single day battle during the Civil War.

First Draft

substitute provision to select which man should go into the army and which should stay home•The great draft riot in New York City in July 1863 involved Irish immigrants who had been signed up as citizens to swell the machine vote, not realizing it made them liable for the draft. Of the 168,649 men procured for the Union through the draft, 117,986 were substitutes, leaving only 50,663 who had their personal services conscripted•North and South, the draft laws were highly unpopular. An estimated 120,000 men evaded conscription in the North, many of them fleeing to Canada, and another 280,000 Northern soldiers deserted during the war, along with at least 100,000 Southerners, or about 10% all together.•In the South, many men deserted temporarily to take care of their families, then returned to their units.•In the North, "bounty jumpers" enlisted to get the generous bonus, deserted, then went back to a second recruiting station under a different name to sign up again for a second bonus; 141 were caught and executed.

• Both sides used a draft law— called conscription- as a device to encourage or force volunteering into army

• Men selected in the draft could provide substitutes to go to war for them or, until mid-1864, pay commutation money. Many eligibles pooled their money to cover the cost of anyone drafted. Families used the

Emancipation Proclamation• Order issued to all segments of the Executive Branch (including the

Army and Navy) of the United States by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863

• It was based on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces -not a law passed by Congress

• It proclaimed all those enslaved in Confederate territory to be forever free, and ordered the Army to treat as free all those enslaved in ten states that were still in rebellion, thus applying to 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S.

• The Proclamation could not be enforced in areas still under rebellion, but as the army took control of Confederate regions, the slaves in those regions were emancipated rather than returned to their masters.

• The Proclamation did not apply to the five border states that were not in rebellion, nor to most regions already controlled by the Union army. The proclamation freed only the slaves in the rebelling territories. (announced in September 1862, signed the order in January 1863)

• This changed the nature of the war from that of preserving the Union to freeing the slaves.

Battle of GettysburgBefore the Battle

• Confederates inflict bloody defeat on Union at Fredericksburg, VA. (12/13/62)

• North defeated again in the Battle of Chancellorsville, VA (April 30-May 6, 1863)

• General Stonewall Jackson is shot by his own men in an accident and dies of Pneumonia (May 1863)

• Lee decides to invade North in Spring-Early Summer ‘63:– to gain supplies– pull Union forces away from Vicksburg,

MS– invasion in North would hurt Lincoln’s

political power.

The Battle of Gettysburg Timeline

• Before the Battle

• Day 1

• Day 2

• Day 3

• After the Battle

The Leaders

Day 1July 1, 1863

• Confederate soldiers led by A.P. Hill went on a search for shoes in Gettysburg, attacked by Union troops

• 90,000 Union troops took the field against 75,000 Confederates

• Confederates take control over the town of Gettysburg

Day 2July 2, 1863

• Lee orders General James Longstreet to attack at Cemetery Ridge

• Confederate soldiers attack at an unprotected Union hill known as Little Round Top

• Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain and the 20th Maine are sent to defend Little Round Top

• Because Chamberlain was running low on ammunition, he ordered his men to attack the Confederates with fixed bayonets. This surprise attack left Confederates surrendering in droves.

• Little Round Top

Day 3July 3, 1863

• Lee felt could break Union defenses, because Union weakened

• Lee ordered an artillery barrage at the middle of Union lines mid afternoon

• PICKETT’S CHARGE - Longstreet, confident the barrage had silenced Union guns, ordered Confederate troops to attack the center of the Union lines.

• Northern artillery resumed its fire and crippled the Confederate attackers.

• Lee sent General Jeb Stuart’s forces to surprise attack Union General Meade’s forces.

• Stuart’s forces were stalled due to a conflict with Union forces led by Robert Gregg.

After the Battle• More than 23,000 Union casualties and

28,000 Confederate Casualties• Lee gave up hopes of invading the North

and retreated back to Virginia• Lee turned in his resignation which

Jefferson Davis did not accept• The North won the Battle of Vicksburg (May

18-July 4th, 1863)• Gettysburg is the largest battle in the

history of the Western hemisphere.• Over 51, 000 people died in 3 days It was

the last time the South invaded the North, a turning point in the war.

Lincoln Speaks to troops at Gettysburg

Aftermath at Gettysburg

•

Vicksburg

• July 4, 1863• Union army surrounds the city of Vicksburg and sets up

a blockade • Citizens were forced from the city and into caves.• People of Vicksburg were

forced to eat rats and mice to stay alive

• Confederates surrender to General Grant

• This split the Confederate army in two.

• This victory gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.

• A speech by President Lincoln, one of the best-known in American history.

• It was delivered by Lincoln at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg.

• In just over two minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of a Union that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, ensuring that democracy would remain a viable form of government and creating a nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant.

• Lincoln also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality.

Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg AddressAudio

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

• Grant was then given control of all Union armies began a "scorched earth" policy to defeat the South

• General Sheridan decimated Va.'s Shenandoah Valley

• General Sherman given task of taking Atlanta; his "March through Georgia" saw total destruction from Atlanta to Savannah

Heroes at Sea• Grant ordered an assault on Fort Fisher, a Confederate port that protected Southern trading

routes.

• Phillip Bazaar, a Chilean immigrant, was aboard the USS Santiago de Cuba and served in two assaults on the fort. On January 12, 1865, both ground and naval Union forces attempted the second assault. Bazaar and 5 other crew members, under the direct orders from Rear Admiral Porter, carried dispatches during the battle while under heavy fire from the Confederates to Major General Alfred Terry. Bazaar and his comrades were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions.

• After the Emancipation Proclamation African Americans began to join the Union Army

• Initially they were only used for manual labor

• Eventually, many African Americans saw live combat

• The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the Civil War. – The regiment was one of the first

official African American units in the United States during the Civil War.

• William Carney- an African American soldier of the 54th. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Fort Wagner

William Carney

African Americans in Battle

Appomattox Court House• April 3, 1865 - Grant took

Richmond Va. - final blow to Lee's army

• Lee surrenders on April 9, 1865 at APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE

• All Confederate troops forced to take an oath of loyalty to U.S.

• Otherwise, terms of surrender were lenient

• Lincoln didn't want a humiliated South and further conflict

• Issue of states' rights now "solved"- Federal Government had proven its power

Grant gave generous terms of surrender

• Confederates could return home

• Were allowed to take private possessions and horses

• Food was given to the hungry

After four bloody years of civil war, the South was defeated.

• At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000.

The number that is most often quoted is 620,000. At any rate, these casualties exceed the nation's loss in all its other wars, from the Revolution through Vietnam.

The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. Their losses, by the best estimates:Battle deaths:110,070 Disease:250,152Total: 360,222       

• The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000.

• Its estimated losses:Battle deaths:94,000

• Disease:164,000

• Total: 258,000

Over 618,000 military deaths during Civil War.