Chapter 15 Secession and the Civil War 1861-1865

1. Chapter 15Secession and the Civil War1861-1865

2. The Tide Turns • early 1863 the Confederate economy was in shambles and its diplomacy had collapsed • as slaves fled from plantations, more and more lower-class whites deserted the army or refused to be drafted at all • some counties became “deserter havens” • the Appalachian mountaineers resisted the Confederacy more directly by enlisting in the Union army or joining guerrilla units

3. North was slow to capitalize on this advantage • had its own serious morale problems and war weariness to deal with • emancipation, which was popular with Republicans was viewed by most Democrats as a betrayal of northern war aims

4. Enrollment Act (March 1863) – provided for outright conscription of white males, but allowed those of wealth to hire substitutes or pay a fee to avoid military service • this provoked a violent response from those unable to buy their way out of service and a series of anti-draft riots broke out • the New York Riot (July 1863) – made up of Irish-American laborers, burned the draft offices, the homes of leading Republicans, and an orphanage for black children • lynched more than a dozen defenseless blacks and at least 120 people were killed • reflected working class anger at the wartime privileges and prosperity of the middle and upper classes • showed how divided the North really was on how the Republicans were conducting the war

5. government used its martial law authority to arrest a few alleged ringleaders • used a barrage of propaganda aimed at what they believed was a vast secret conspiracy to undermine the northern war effort • Copperheads – were militant advocates of “peace at any price” • was their opposition to emancipation on racial grounds rather than anxiety about big government that gave the movement most of its emotional force

6. only way to stop these new movements was to start winning battles and convince the northern public that victory was assured • but, the North suffered one more humiliating defeat at Chancellorsville • Union forces under General Joseph Hooker were routed by a Confederate army less than half its size

7. The Battle of Chancellorsville • General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker (Union) • Lee separates forces with General Jeb Stuart (cavalry command) • orders soldiers to build large fires at night, so the enemy does not realize most of the army is gone • Lee demonstrated his superior generalship by dividing his forces again with General Stonewall Jackson to make a surprise attack on the Union’s right flank • Hooker’s troops withdraw across the river, the Confederacy wins • Jackson dies (from wounds by his own soldiers who mistook him as the enemy) and deprives Lee of his “strong right arm”

8. Scene from “Gods and Generals”

9. General Ulysses S. Grant – had been trying to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi – the almost inaccessible Confederate bastion between the North and control of the mighty river • in a bold campaign, Grant crossed the river, cutting himself off from his supply line, and marched into the interior of Mississippi • his troops won a series of victories over two separate Confederate armies and advanced on Vicksburg from the east • Grant then settled in for a siege

12. President Davis approved Robert E. Lee’s plan for an all-out invasion of the Northeast • might lead to a dramatic victory that would help to compensate for the probable loss of Vicksburg • Battle of Gettysburg • Lee confronted a Union army that had taken up strong defensive positions on Cemetery Ridge and Culp’s Hill

13. one of the few occasions in the war when the North could take advantage of choosing its ground and then defending it against an enemy whose supply lines were extended • a reversal from most other battles • a series of Confederate attacks failed to dislodge General George Meade’s troops • Lee faced the choice of retreating to protect his lines of communication or launching a final desperate assault • he chose to make a direct attack on the strongest part of the Union line • charge on Cemetery Ridge was disastrous – advancing Confederates dropped like flies under the barrage of Union artillery and rifle fire

14. July 1, 1863 • Confederates outnumbered Union forces • pushed Northerners back onto hills south of town • General George Meade (new Union general) arrived on the scene • had been in command less than a week • each group took position on a series of hills, lines stretching about four miles • Cemetery Ridge – center of the Union line • Seminary Ridge – center of the Confederate position • between the two was a large field • General James Longstreet - Confederate, who replaced Jackson • advised Lee against attacking such a strong Union position • was ordered to attack the southern end of the Union line the next morning

16. July 2, 1863 • Longstreet had wanted to in charge of the Confederate army’s payroll, Lee made him a field commander • he was not ready to attack until 4:00 P.M. and his delays gave Meade the chance to bring in reinforcements • Devil’s Den – mass of boulders where fighting occurred • Little Round Top – undefended hill noticed by Alabama soldiers where if taken the Confederates could have bombarded the Union lines • Maine Soldiers – arrived on the hill first and fended off repeated attacks under Colonel Joshua Chamberlain • ran out of ammunition and took a bayonet charge against the Confederates, surprising them and forcing a retreat • Union lines would remain intact at day’s end

18. July 3, 1863 • 150 Confederate cannons begin the heaviest artillery barrage of the war • Lee decided to risk everything on an infantry charge at the center of the Union position • Longstreet opposed such a direct attack, Lee opposed him • Pickett’s Charge – reduced Confederate group from 15,000 men to a few hundred who actually reached the Union lines • Lee ordered Pickett to reform his line, worried about a counter-attack by Meade: “General Lee, I have no division.” • ended the bloodiest battle of the Civil War • Confederates retreat to Virginia

20. retreat was inevitable and Lee withdrew to the Potomac with his battered troops • the river was at flood stage and could not be crossed for several days • Meade failed to follow up his victory with a vigorous pursuit and Lee escaped • Vicksburg fell to Grant on July 4 – the same day Lee began his retreat and Northerners rejoiced at the simultaneous Independence Day victories that turned the tide of the war • Union had secured control of the Mississippi and had at last won a major battle in the East

21. Last Stages of the Conflict • in the middle south, the main target was Chattanooga “the gateway to the Southeast” • General William Rosencrans managed to maneuver the Confederates out of the city, only to be outfought and driven back to Chickamauga • Union army then retreated into Chattanooga where it was surrounded and besieged by southern forces • Grant arrived from his victory at Vicksburg to take command • encirclement was broken by daring assaults on the Confederate positions on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge • after Union success, the North was poised for an invasion of Georgia

22. Grant’s victories in the West earned him promotion to general in chief of all Union armies • he ordered a multipronged offensive to finish off the Confederacy • a march on Richmond under Grant’s personal command • thrust by the western armies, now led by General William Tecumseh Sherman, to Atlanta and the heart of Georgia

23. Grant and Lee began to meet in northern Virginia, fighting a series of battles • Lee would take up an entrenched position in the path of the invading force, Grant would attack it • Grant would sustain heavy losses, but inflict casualties on the shrinking Confederate army • Grant would move to his left, hoping to maneuver Lee into a less defensible position

24. Battle of the Wilderness – woods caught fire, causing confusion in the smoke-filled forest • General Longstreet of the Confederacy – accidentally shot by his own soldiers, three miles from where Jackson was shot • Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor • Union lost about 60,000 men – more than twice that of the Confederates – without defeating Lee or opening the road to Richmond • soldiers began pinning their names and addresses to their uniforms so they would be identified if killed

25. Grant decided to change his tactics and moved his army to the south of Richmond • he came upon Petersburg and settled down for a siege • Siege of Petersburg • a long, drawn-out affair, the resulting stalemate in the East caused northern morale to plummet, in the critical election year of 1864

26. Lincoln was confronted with growing opposition within his own party – especially from the Radicals who disagreed with his apparently lenient approach to the future restoration of the seceded states • Democrats – platform appeal to war weariness by calling for a cease-fire followed by negotiations to re-establish the Union • nominee was George McClellan • he wanted to pursue the war, but promised to end the conflict sooner than Lincoln could because he would not require emancipation as a condition for reconstruction

27. northern military successes changed the political arena • Sherman’s invasion of Georgia went well • used a skillful flanking movement to force the Confederates to retreat to the outskirts of Atlanta • the city fell, and northern forces occupied the hub of the Deep South • news unified the Republican party behind Lincoln and improved his chances for defeating McClellan • Republican cause of “liberty and Union” was secure

28. concluding military operations revealed the futility of further southern resistance • Sherman cut himself off from his supply lines and lived off the land in his march to the sea • marched unopposed through Georgia (wanted to “make Georgia howl”), destroyed almost everything of possible military or economic value in a three hundred mile long and sixty mile wide swath • destroyed bridges, factories, and railroad lines • seized and slaughtered livestock

29. “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”- General William Tecumseh Sherman • Sherman’s Goals • destroy the South’s remaining resources • crush Southerner’s remaining will to fight • few houses were spared

30. Confederate army under the command of General John B. Hood moved northward into Tennessee – was defeated and almost destroyed by Union forces under General George Thomas at Nashville • Sherman captured Savannah and presented the city to Lincoln as a Christmas present • turned north and carried his scorched-earth policy into South Carolina • aim was to eventually join up with Grant at Petersburg near Richmond

31. Grant finally ended the stalemate at Petersburg • Lee’s starving and exhausted army tried to break through the Union lines • Grant renewed his attack and forced the Confederates to abandon Petersburg and Richmond • pursued them westward for a hundred miles

32. were daily desertions in the Confederate army • Lee was hoping to unite his troops with Johnston’s; but was continually cut off by Grant’s troops • his soldiers suggested fighting as guerrillas (using surprise raids and hit-and-run tactics) • Union forces were positioned to cut off the Confederate line of retreat to the south • recognizing the hopelessness of further resistance, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865

33. Appomattox Court House • Lee and Grant met in a private home in the town • Terms of Surrender • Southern soldiers can take their horses and mules and go home • not be punished as traitors as long as they obeyed the law • fed by Union troops before leaving • Grant orders all celebrations to end – “the rebels are our countrymen again” • Johnston surrenders to Sherman

34. joy of victory turned to sorrow and anger after John Wilkes Booth (a pro-Confederate actor) assassinated Abraham Lincoln as the president watched a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14 • Lincoln himself had given “the last full measure of devotion” to the cause of “government of the people, by the people, for the people” • only remaining Confederate force of any significance laid down its arms four days later and the Union was saved

35. John Wilkes Booth – Maryland actor with strong Southern sympathies; met with a group plotting to kidnap the president for the release of Confederate POW’s • goes into Lincoln’s unguarded box in Ford’s Theatre and shoots the President in the head • he flees over the railing breaking his leg in the process and is eventually cornered in a barn where he dies • Lincoln – taken to a boarding house across the street, where he lingers through the night before dieing early the next morning • body was taken to his hometown in Springfield, Illinois

36. Effects of the War • 618,000 young men were in their graves – victims of enemy fire or the diseases that spread rapidly in military encampments • widows and sweethearts they left behind temporarily increased the proportion of unmarried women in the population • involuntary “spinsters” who sought new opportunities for making a living or serving the community

37. northern women pushed the boundaries of their traditional roles by participating on the home front as fund-raisers and in the rear lines as army nurses and members of the Sanitary Commission • promoted health in the northern army’s camps through attention to cleanliness, nutrition, and medical care • created in June 1861, attempted to combat these problems • dysentery • typhoid fever • malaria • pneumonia • mumps • measles

38. Medical Care • one in four Civil War soldiers did not survive the war • doctors did not know how to sterilize their materials • Clara Barton – Union nurse, “angel of the battlefield” • would later found the American Red Cross

39. women filled key positions in the administration and organization of patriotic organizations • calls for broadening “the women’s sphere” • postwar philanthropic and reform movements • the efforts of women during the Civil War broadened beliefs about what women could accomplish outside of the home • a vivandiere gave a wounded or sick soldier immediate attention

40. white women in the Confederacy faced a different kind of war at home • coming of the war forced them to shoulder even greater burdens at home • the loss of fathers and brothers, the constant advance of Union troops, and the difficulty of controlling a slave labor force destroyed many southern women’s allegiance to the Confederate cause • faced the challenge of rebuilding a society that had been permanently transformed by the experience of war

41. devastation of the southern economy forced many women to play a more conspicuous public and economic role • forming associations to assist returning soldiers, entering the workforce as educators, and establishing numerous benevolent and reform societies or temperance organizations • the South would remain more conservative in its views about women’s “proper place” than in those in the North

42. nation had emancipated 4 million African Americans from slavery • had not resolved whether they would be equal citizens

43. Republican rhetoric stressing “equal opportunity” and the “dignity of labor” raised hopes that the crusade against slavery could be broadened into a movement to improve the lot of working people in general • so many immigrants had fought and died for the Union cause • this weakened nativist sentiment and encouraged ethnic tolerance

44. federal government was now supreme over the states • southern principle of state sovereignty and strict construction died at Appomattox • the U.S. was becoming a true nation-state with an effective central government • states could no longer claim the right to secede or nullify federal law, they did still have primary responsibility for most functions of government • questions would continue about where federal authority ended and states’ rights began

45. broadened definition of federal powers • Republican-dominated Congresses passed legislation designed to give stimulus and direction to the nation’s economic development • began a program of active support for business and agriculture • passed a high protective tariff, approved a homestead act to encourage settlement of the West, granted huge tracts of land to railroad companies for the construction of a transcontinental railroad, gave the states land for agricultural colleges

46. Congress set up a national banking system and authorized these banks to issue notes of currency – the country’s first standardized and reliable circulating currency • showed a decisive shift in the relationship between the federal government and private enterprise

47. encouraged an “organizational revolution” • venturesome businessmen took advantage of the new national market • developed more effective national associations • North won the war because it had shown a greater capacity than the South to organize, innovate, and “modernize” • began the great transformation of American society from an individualistic society of small producers into the more highly organized and “incorporated” America of the late 19th century