The American Civil War

1. The American Civil War

2. What was it? • Military conflict between • United States of America • Confederate States of America • War Between the States • War for Southern Independence • War of Northern Aggression

3. Causes • Issue of Slavery • King Cotton in South • 57% of US exports • against tariffs on imports • Industrialization in North • immigrant labor • for tariffs on imports • West aligned with North

4. Causes2 • States Rights in South • greater loyalty to state • states control slavery • Northern need for federal government • to build infrastructure of roads & railroads • protect complex trading, etc.

5. Fight Over Slavery • Missouri Compromise • Wilmot Proviso • Compromise of 1850 • Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 • Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Kansas-Nebraska Act • Dred Scott Decision

6. Election of 1860 • Republicans ran Abe Lincoln • Democrats split in two • Douglas • John Breckinridge of KY • Constitutional Union Party • John Bell of TN • Lincoln won without majority

7. South Secedes • Follows through with threat • December 17, 1860: SC legislature dissolved union with the US • Followed by MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX • Lincoln wanted states to send militias for national service

8. The Confederacy • February 1861 • Constitution modeled on US • Interim leadership • Jefferson Davis (MS), Pres • Alexander Stephens (GA), VP • Both gained permanent status after election of 11/1861

9. Lincoln is President • March 4, 1861: Oath of Office • 7 states already seceded • Refused to accept legality of secession • “Hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government.”

10. Fort Sumter • First battle of Civil War • April 12, 1861 • Charleston harbor • Gen. Beauregard, Confederacy, ordered Northern surrender • Fought instead but Union lost after 2 days

11. The Union Mobilizes • Lincoln calls for 75,000 militia from the states • Union governors asked for troops • Blockade of Southern ports • Call for: • 42,000 volunteers for Army • 18,000 volunteers for Navy

12. The South Mobilizes • Rest of South secedes • VA, NC, TN, AR • Confederate Congress authorizes Davis to wage war • Border states do not secede but sympathetic to South • KY, MO, MD, DE

13. Southern Objectives • Independence • Defense • Make war too costly for North to continue

14. Union Objectives • Restore the Union • Get South to give up hopes for a new nation • Invade Confederacy • Destroy South’s ability to wage war • Crush will of South to resist

15. Anaconda Plan • General Winfield Scott • Apply pressure to South from all sides • Divide Confederacy along Mississippi (navy & army) • Blockade Atlantic ports • Invade heart of Confederacy

16. Confederate Strategy • Defensive-Offensive • Armies were defensive • protect as much territory as possible • Offensive attacks • Antietam, MD 1862 • Perryville, KY 1862 • Gettysburg, PA 1863

17. So much for a short war! • Everyone expected a short war • South thought Union might not even fight • North originally believed war would last 3-4 months!

18. First Bloodshed • Battle of Bull Run • July 21, 1861 • 30,000 inexperienced Union soldiers • 25 miles from DC • Union: Gen. McDowell • South: Gen. Stonewall Jackson

19. Bull Run, cont. • First victory for South • “…has secured our independence.” • South too exhausted and disorganized to attack DC • Lincoln calls for 1,000,000 men • McClellan: Army of Potomac

20. Ulysses S. Grant • Union general • West Point graduate • 2/1862: captured 2 confederate forts • Ft. Henry & Ft. Donelson • assisted by 4 ironclad gunboats • “Unconditional Surrender” Grant

21. Battle of Shilo • Grants leads again • Inadequate Union guards • Confederate surprise attack • Union counter-attack • Lesson: importance of • scouts • digging trenches • building fortifications

22. David G. Farragut • Commanded Union fleet • Seized New Orleans • Gained control of lower Mississippi (Baton Rouge and Natchez) • Union almost successful in cutting Confederacy in two

23. Britain Remains Neutral • The Trent Incident • Confederate diplomats aboard the Trent • James Mason • John Slidell • travelling to Britain • San Jacinto seizes 2 men

24. Britain Remains Neutral2 • Britain sends 8,000 troops to Canada • Lincoln releases both men rather than fight two wars • Captain Wilkes acted without orders • A glut of cotton on the market--hurt the South

25. Ships for Confederacy • Britain sold ships to South • Alabama • sank or captured 64 Union vessels • US billed Britain $19 million in damages • settled in 1872 by Tribunal • US awarded $15.5 million

26. Lincoln and Slavery • Disliked slavery • Federal govt did not have power to abolish it • Lincoln’s goal was to save the Union not abolish slavery • Used constitutional war powers to issue Emancipation Proclamation (1/1/1863)

27. Habeas Corpus • Requires authorities to charge a jailed person or release him • Lincoln suspended during Civil War • 13,000 Confederate sympathizers arrested and held without trial

28. Copperheads • Northern Democrats advocating peace with South • Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandigham • urged Union desertion • Lincoln’s actions set precedent: national security

29. Conscription • The Draft • South: all able-bodied white men 17-50 years old • allowed wealthy draftees to hire substitutes • 80% eligible men served

30. Conscription2 • The Union • Men 20-45 years old • Draftees could hire substitutes • $300 fee to avoid altogether • Bounties: cash payments to volunteers • “Bounty Jumpers”

31. Not Just For White Men • 1862: Law allowing African Americans to serve in military • 1% of Union population • 10% of Union army • Mostly former slaves from VA, MD, and PA • 25% enlistments in the Navy

32. Discrimination • Separate regiments • Commanded by white officers • Blocked at Captain rank • less pay and no uniform $$ • Mortality rate higher • worked in filthy garrisons • not treated as prisoners of war

33. Discrimination2 • Fort Pillow: South shot over 200 African American soldiers • Some slaves served in South • Slave resistance • helped Union while in South • sabotaged plantations • violence between slaves and whites

34. Southern Economics • Food shortages • men gone to army • Union occupation of farm land • loss of slaves • Richmond mobbed 1863 • Union blockade hurt supplies • salt, sugar, coffee, nails, needles, medicines

35. Union Economics • Cotton textiles declined • Almost everything else improved • Army needed uniforms, shoes, guns, supplies • woolen mills, steel mills, coal • Farmers bought reapers and other labor-saving devices

36. Union Economics2 • Prices higher than wages • Standard of Living declined • Free Blacks, immigrants, women, children hired to replace striking white men & worked for lower pay • Women worked for govt but at lower wages

37. Northern Economics3 • Business makes PROFITS • “shoddy”: fabric from recycled fibers, disintegrates • Income Tax • 1863-1872 • First time; percent of income • pay for war • declared unconstitutional 1894

38. The Soldiers • Heavy battlefield casualties • Unhealthy conditions • Limited diet • Inadequate medical care • Garbage disposal unheard of • Limited use of Latrines • Personal hygiene ignored

39. The Soldiers2 • Union Food • beans, bacon, pickled beef, hardtack • Confederate Food • “cush”: stew with small beef cubes, crumbled cornbread, and bacon grease • brewed coffee from peanuts, potatoes, dried apples, corn

40. Prisons • War prisons were atrocious • Andersonville-worst in South • Overcrowed due to stopped prisoner exchanges • 15% prisoners died • Northern camps • too cold for Southerners • 12% prisoners died

41. Women’s Efforts • US Sanitary Commission • improve hygienic conditions • recruit and train nurses • Sanitary Fairs • raise money: medicine/supplies • Dorothea Dix • 1st Superintendent of Women Nurses

42. Clara Barton • Union Nurse • Began as Patent Office clerk • Began caring for wounded • “Angel of the Battlefield” • Anticipated troop movements and traveled to battlefields in time to treat wounded

43. Women in the South • No Sanitary Commission • Served as nurses • Sally Tompkins: nurse commissioned as a Captain • Belle Boyd served as both nurse and spy

44. General McClellan • Commander of the Army of the Potomac • Worried more about losing than defeating the South • Lincoln lost confidence in him • Defeated at Second Battle of Bull Run (August 1862)

45. Antietam (Sharpsburg) • Lee moves fighting out of the South to Maryland • Union soldier finds cigars wrapped in Confederate war strategy message • McClellan waits too long to act on information • Terrible fighting-Lee escapes

46. Bye-Bye McClellan • Angry Lincoln replaces McClellan • General Ambrose Burnside • Attacks Fredericksburg • “Great Slaughter Pen” • Twice as many Union casualties • Bye-Bye Burnside

47. “Fighting Joe” Hooker • Replaces Burnside • Battle of Chancellorsville • Forced to retreat by Lee • Probably Lee’s most striking victory • North’s consolation: South’s General Jackson shot by Confederate troops

48. Gettysburg • General Lee continues to push north searching for supplies • Battle begins over lack of shoes by Confederate troops • Encounter Union troops at Gettysburg instead of boots

49. Gettysburg 2 • Northern armies now under command of George Meade • Three days of fighting • Staggering losses • 30% casualties • 23,000 Union killed or injured • 28,000 Confederate killed or wounded

50. Gettysburg 3 • Union holds the high ground • Lee gave up hope of invading the North • Began painful retreat back to Virginia through pelting rain • Army of the Potomac broke “the charm of Lee’s invincibility.”