Civil War 1861-1865

1848 - 1877 The Civil War, 1861-1865 Civil War 1861-1865 The War Begins - In inaugural address Lincoln assured Southerners that he would not interfere with slavery but also warned that no state had the right to break up the Union - Fort Sumter - - - - Fort Sumter in Charleston SC was cut off from vital supplies and reinforcements by Southern control of the harbor - Lincoln sent provisions of food to the fort instead of giving it up or attempting to defend it - Gave SC the choice of permitting the fort to hold our or opening fire with its shore batteries - April 12, 1861: the war began w/ SC attack on Fort Sumter - Capture after two days of fighting united most Northerners behind cause to save the Union - Use of Executive Power - Lincoln drew upon powers as chief executive and commander in chief often w/ Congress - After Fort Sumter crisis Lincoln 1. Called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the “insurrection” in the Confederacy, 2. Authorized spending for a war, and 3. Suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus Secession of the Upper South - Before attack on Fort Sumter 7 states of Deep South had seceded but after it was clear that Lincoln would use troops during crisis VA, NC, TN, and AK (upper south) seceded - People of western VA remained loyal to the Union and region became a separate state in 1863 Keeping the Border States in the Union - Decision sof DE, MD, MO, and KY not to join the Confederacy was partly due to Union sentiment in those states and partly the result of shrewd federal policies - MD-- pro-secessionists attacked Union troops and threatened the railroad to Washington, but Union army resorted to martial law to keep state under federal control - MO--presence of US troops prevented pro-South elements in the state from gaining control (guerrilla forces pro=Confederacy were active during war) - KY-- State legislature voted to remain neutral in conflict - Military and political goal for Lincoln to keep border states in the Union - Lincoln rejected initial calls for the emancipation of slaves partly to avoid alienation Unionists in the border states Wartime Advantages - Military - Confederacy entered war on defensive side whereas Union had to conquer land - Conf. needed to move troops and supplies shorter distances than Union - North’s population advantage - 22 million whites+800,000 immigrants+180,000 African Am. vs. 5.5 million whites - Union had US Navy and gave Union command of rivers and territorial waters - Economic - Skills of Northern clerks and bookkeepers valuable in logistical support of large military operations - Conf. hoped that European demand for cotton would bring recognition and financial aid - Counted on outside help to be successful - - Political - Conf. struggling for independence - Union fighting to preserve the Union - Conf. lacked a strong central government and public support - Union had politicians with a strong popular base - Conf. hope that Union people would turn against Lincoln and the Republicans and quit b/c the war was too costly The Confederate States of America - Conf. constitution modeled after US constitution but had 6-year term for president and gave pres and item veto (veto only part of a bill) - Denied Conf. congress powers to levy a protective tariff and to appropriate funds for internal improvements - Prohibited The foreign slave trade - President Jefferson Davis - Tried to increase executive powers during war but S governors resisted centralization - Conf. short of money - Tried loans, income taxes, and impressment of private property (paid little for war) - Caused severe inflation - War of attrition doomed conf. efforts First Years of a Long War: 1861 - 1862 - Initial expectation for short war - First Battle of Bull Run (July 1861) - - - - - 30,000 troops marched from Washington DC to attack Conf. forces near Bull Run Creek at Manassas Junction VA - Conf. reinforcements under General Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson counterattacked and send inexperienced Union troops back to Washington (after Union thought victory) Union Strategy - General in Chief Winfield Scott 3-part strategy for winning war - 1. Use US Navy to blockade Southern ports (aka Anaconda Plan) cutting off essential supplies from reaching Conf. - 2. Take control of Mississippi River to divide Conf. into two parts - 3. Raise and train an army of 500,000 to conquer Richmond - Important in achieving Northern victory (but difficult to raise so many troops) - Series of Union defeats Peninsula Campaign - General George B. McClellan (new commander of Union army in East) insisted that troops be given long period of training before battle - March 1862: McClellan’s army invaded VA but stopped by Fonf. General Robert E. Lee - After 5 months McClellan forced to retreat and ordered back to Potomac, replaced by General John Pope Second Battle of Bull Run - Lee striked quickly at newly Pope’s army in Northern VA - Drew Pope into a trap, struck enemy’s flank, and sent Union army backward to Bull Run - Pope withdrew to the defenses of Washington Antietam (Sept. 22, 1862) - Lee led army across the Potomac into MD and hoped that a major Conf. victory in a Union state would convince Britain to give official recognition and support to Conf. - McClellan restored in command of Union army; McClellan knew Lee’s battle plan - Union army intercepted invading Confederates at Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg MD - - - - Bloodiest single day of combat in entire war- 22,000 soldiers killed or wounded Lee’s army retreated to VA and McClellan didn’t pursue Lee’s weakened army - Lincoln removed McClellan from commander b/c he was slow to follow - Decisive battle b/c Conf. failed to get open recognition and aid from a foreign power - Lincoln round enough encouragement in results of Antietam to claim a Union victory Fredericksburg - Replaced McClellan with more aggressive General Ambrose Burnside - Lincoln realized that strategy of reckless attack could have worse consequences than McClellan’s strategy of caution and inaction - December 1862: Union army under Burnside attacked Lee’s army at Fredericksburg Va and suffered immense losses (12,000 dead/wounded vs. 5,000 Conf. casualties) - Both generals slow to learn that improved weapontry made heroic charges against entrenched positions drum - End 1862: awful magnitude of war clear with no clear military victor - 1862: disastrous year for Union minus one sea engagement and one West rivers engagement Monitor v. Merrimac - Union’s hopes for winning war depended upon ability to maximize economic and naval advantages by an effective blockade of Conf. ports --Anaconda Plan-- March 8, 1862: Conf. ship attacked and sunk several Union wooden ships putting Anaconda plan blockade strategy in jeopardy - March 9, 1862: Ironclad Union ship engaged in 5 hour fight - Draw but prevented Conf. ship from challenging US naval blockade - Marked turning point in naval warfare with wooden ships being replaced by ironclad ships Grant in the West - Union campaign for control of MS River partly under command of Ulysses S. Grant - Early 1862: Grant stuck south from Illinois using combination of gunboats and army maneuvers to capture Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on Cumberland River - Stunning victories - 14,000 Conf. taken prisoner and opened up state of MS to Union attack - Conf. army under Albert Johnston surprised Grant at Shiloh TN but Grant held ground and Conf. retreated w/ bad losses on both sides - April 1862: Grant’s drive down MS complemente by capture of New Orleans by Union navy under David Farragut Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy - Conf. expected that cotton would induce Britain or France to give direct aid to war effort - British looked forward to breakup of American democratic experiment - Trent Affair - - Britain almost sided w/ Conf. in late 1861 Conf. diplomats James Mason and John Slidell traveling to England on British streamer to gain recognition - Union warship stopped British ship, removed Mason and Slidell, and brought them to US as POWs - Britain threatened war unless diplomats were released, and Lincoln gave in to demands - Mason & Slidell set free but failed to obtain full recognition of Conf. from British or France Confederate Raiders - - Conf. commerce raiders did much harm to US merchant ships captured >60 vessels before sunk off coast of France by Union warship - GB agreed to pay US $15.5 million for damages after war caused by Southś commerce raiders - US minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams prevented threat - Conf. tied to purchase Laird rams (ships w/ iron rams) from Britain to use against Union naval blockade - Adams persuaded British gov to cancel the sale rather than risk war w/ the US Failure of Cotton Diplomacy - **Factors why British didn’t recognize Confederacy - “King Cotton” didn’t have the power to dictate another nation’s foreign policy (British got cotton elsewhere) - Southern cotton shortages didn’t affect British textile industry b/c imports from India and Egypt - General Lee’s setback at Antietam - Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (Jan 1863) made the end of slavery an objective of Union, which was a position that appealed strongly to Britain’s working class - British majority opposing slavery overruled conservative leaders of Britain The End of Slavery - - - Lincoln hesitant to take action against slavery as advocated by many of his Republican supporters Concerns of 1. Keeping support of border states, 2. The constitutional protections of slavery, 3. The racial prejudice of many Northerners, and 4. The fear that premature action could be overturned in the next election Enslaved individuals freed during Civil War b/c of military events, governmental policy, and their own actions Confiscation Acts - May 1861: Union General Benjamin Butler refused to return captured saves to Conf. owners arguing that they were “contraband of war” - Power to seize enemy property used to wage war against the US was the legal basis for the first Confiscation act passed by Congress in August 1861 - After act passed many “contrabands” used their fleet to escape slavery by finding their way into Union camps - July 1862: Congress passed second Confiscation Act that freed persons enslaved by anyone engaged in rebellion against US - Empowered president to use freed slaves in the Union army in any capacity (battle) Emancipation Proclamation - July 1862: Lincoln already used powers to free all enslaved persons in states at war with US - Justified policy as a “military necessity” - Delayed announcement of policy until gained support of conservative Northerners - Encouraged border states to come up with plans for emancipation w/ compensation to owners - After Battle of Antietam Lincoln issued warning that enslaved people in all states still in rebellion on Jan. 1, 1863 would be forever free - Consequences - Emancipation Proclamation only applied to enslaved people residing in Conf. states outside Union control (at first only free 1% of slaves) - Slavery in border states allowed to continue - Proclamation important b/c enlarged the purpose of the war - Union armies fighting against slavery instead of against secession - Added weight to Confiscation acts, and increased number of slaves who sought freedom by fleeing to Union lines - Authorized the use of freed slaves as Union soldiers - - Thirteenth Amendment - Phrases of US constitution legitimizing slavery stood in way of emancipation - Needed ratification of amendment in order to free all enslaved people in border states - December 1865: amendment abolishing slavery ratified Freedmen in the War - After Emancipation Proclamation ¼ of slave population walked away from slavery to seek protection of approaching Union armies - 200,000 African Americans served in Union army and navy - Segregated into all-black units (i.e. MA 54th Regiment) and performed courageously under fire winning the respect of Union white soldiers - >37,000 African American soldiers died in the Army of Freedom The Union Triumphs, 1863 - 1865 - Conf. economy in desperate shape as planters and farmers lost control of slave labor force and an increasing number of poorly provisioned soldiers were deserting from the Conf. army - Turning Point - - Came after Conf. army suffered two crushing defeats in West and East Vicksburg (west) - Spring of 1863: Union controlled New Orleans and most of MS River and surrounding valley - Union objective of securing complete control of MS river was close to accomplished - General Grant began siege of heavily fortified city of Vicksburg, MS - Union artillery bombarded city for seven weeks before Conf. finally surrendered city (and 29,000 soldiers) on July 4 - Federal warships now in control of full length of MS and cut off TX, LA, and AK, from rest of Confederacy - Gettysburg (east) - Lee took offensive by leading army into Union states of MD and PA - Hoped to destroy Union army or capture major Northern city in order to force the Union to call for peace or to gain foreign intervention - July 1, 1863: invading Conf. army surprised Union units at Gettysburg in southern PA - Most crucial battle of war and bloodiest (>50,000 casualties) - Lee’s assault on Union lines on second and third days destroyed key part of Conf. army - Remaining army retreated to VA Grant in Command - 1864: Lincoln appointed Grant commander of all Union armies - Grant had strategy of war by attrition; aimed to wear down Conf. armies and systematically destroy vital lines of supply - Grant’s Army of Potomac suffered heavy casualties but never let up - Grant succeeded in reducing Lee’s army in each battle and turning it into a defensive line around Richmond - Fighting foreshadowed trench warfare that would later characterise WWI - Fighting a modern “total” war against soldiers and civilians - Sherman’s March - General William Tecumseh Sherman key chief instrument for Grant - Led force of 100,000 men and set out from Chattanooga TN on campaign of destruction across GA and north into SC - Troops destroyed everything in path, burning cotton fields, barns and houses - September 1864: Sherman took Atlanta - helped Lincoln’s prospects for reelection - Marched into Savannah in December and completed campaign in February 1865 - by setting fire to Columbia (capital of SC) and cradle of secession - Intended effects to break the spirit of Conf. and destroy Conf. will to fight on - The Election of 1864 - Democratic nominee for president General George McClellan--platform called for peace and had wide appeal of war-wary voters - Republicans renamed party the Unionist party to attract votes of “War Democrats” - Chose Lincoln as candidate again and Senator Andrew Johnson as running mate - Lincoln-Johnson ticket won majority of electoral votes but popular vote closer The End of the War - - Grant continued to outflank Lee’s lines until they collapsed around Petersburg resulting in fall of Richmond on April 3, 1865 Surrender at Appomattox - Conf. gov tried to negotiate for peace but Lincoln accepted nothing short of restoration of Union and Jefferson Davis still demanded nothing less than independence - Lee retreated from Richmond w/ small army and tried to escape to mountains but cut off and forced to surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 - Union general treated longtime enemy with respect and allowed Lee’s men to return to homes with their horses Assassination of Lincoln - Lincoln delivered second inaugural address urgin that the defeated South be treated benevolently - April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth shot and killed Lincoln while he was attending a performance in Ford’s Theater in Washington - Co-conspirator attacked but only wounded Secr. of State William Seward - Attacks aroused fury of Northerners while the Conf. needed a sympathetic hearing - Loss of Lincoln’s leadership widely mourned but extent of loss not fully appreciated until two sections of reunited country had to cope with the overwhelming problems of post war Reconstruction Effects of the War on Civilian Life - Political Change - Secession of Southern states created Republican majorities in both houses of Congress - Within Republicans sharp differences between radical faction (immediate abolition of slavery) and the moderate faction (Free-soilers concerned ab economic opportunities for whites) - Democrats supported war but criticized Lincoln’s conduct for it - Peace Democrats and Copperheads opposed war and wanted a negotiated peace - Civil Liberties - Lincoln focused more on prosecuting war than with protecting citizens’ rights - Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in MD and other states w/ pro-Conf. Sentiment - Meant that persons could be arrested without being informed of the charges against them - During war approx. 13,000 people arrested on suspicion of aiding enemy - W/out right of habeas corpus many held without trial - The Draft - Beginning of the war used only volunteer but as need for replacements grew Union and Conf. both resorted to laws for drafting men into service - - March 1863: Union’s first Conscription Act made all men 20-45 liable for military service but allowed a draftee to avoid service by finding substitute or paying $300 exemption fee - Provoked fierce opposition from poorer laborers who feared jobs would be taken by freed African Americans - July 1863: riots against draft in NYC where Irish American mob attacked blacks and wealthy whites - 117 people killed before federal troops and temporary suspension of draft restored order - Political Dominance of the North - Long-term effects of war on balance of power between North and South important - Old arguments for nullification and secession ceased to be issues with military triumph of Union and new definition of nature of federal union - After Civil War, supremacy of federal gov over states accepted as an established fact - Abolition of slavery gave new meaning and legitimacy to concept of American democracy - Gettysburg Address of Nov 19, 1863: Lincoln rallied Americans to idea that nation dedicated to proposition that all men are created equal - Abolition of slavery advanced cause of democratic gov in US and inspired champions of democracy world wide Economic Change - Financing the War - Union financed war by borrowing $2.6 billion through sale of gov bonds - Congress also raised tariffs (Morrill Tariff of 1861), added excise taxes, and instituted first income tax - US Treasury issued more than $430 million in paper currency as Greenbacks (inflation) - Prices in North rose 80% during war - Congress created a national banking system in 1863 to manage revenue moving in and out of Treasury - First unified banking network since Andrew Jackson vetoed recharter of Bank of US in 1830s - Modernizing Northern Society - Workers’ wages did not keep pace with inflation - Many aspects of modern industrial economy accelerated by the war - War sped up consolidation of North’s manufacturing business b/c war placed focus on mass production and complex organization - War profiteers took advantage of gov needs for military supplies to sell bad goods at high prices - Fortunes made during war produced concentration of capital at hands of a new class of millionaires who would finance North’s industrialization in postwar years - Republican politics took advantage of wartime majority in Congress and passed an ambitious economic program that included national banking system and.... - The (1861) raised tariff rates to increase revenue and protect American manufacturers. Its passage initiated a Republican program of high protective tariffs to help industrialists - The (1862) promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to any person/family that farmed that land for at least five years - The (1862) encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants to maintain agricultural and technical colleges - The (1862) authorized the building of a transcontinental railroad over a northern route to lnk the economies of CA and the western territories with the eastern states - Social Change - Most directly affected by war were women and African Americans - Women at Work - Absence of men from fields and factories added to responsibilities of women - Stepped into labor vacuum from war; operated farms and plantations and took factory jobs customarily held by men - Played critical role as military nurses and volunteers in soldiers’ aid societies - After war most urban women vacated jobs in gov and industry while rural women accepted male assistance on the farm - Economic struggle for women affected by war mortality - Permanent effects of War on Women: - Nursing now open to women for the first time - Enormous responsibilities undertaken by women during war gave impetus to movement to obtain equal voting rights for women - End of Slavery - After 13th Amendment 4 million people became freed - Economic hardship and political oppression still continued for generations - End of slavery opened door for opportunities for freedom Historical Perspectives: Why did the Union win?