Notes CH 21 Part 1 pp. 454 -453 “Lee” THE FURNACE OF CIVIL WAR 1861 – 1865

The Opening Quote is significant: “My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” Abraham Lincoln, 1862….

NOTE: This quote reflects Lincoln’s view of the significance of the Border States AT THIS TIME…(states in the Union with slavery) in the conflict… also he hopes that the Southern States in rebellion will give up this fight and return… However, by September of 1862, after the battle of Antietam….he will change his opinion and issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, in which he gives the South until the beginning of 1863 to come back into the Union and end the War. They do not and so on January 1st, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect and changes dramatically the “PARAMOUNT PURPOSE” of the War… from being one to “SAVE THE UNION,” to Ending Slavery Permanently….This change alters the view of the whole world towards this War…and DUE TO THIS CHANGE…the effects are evident J

Intro***

Most people, on both sides, at the outset of the Civil War [Ft Sumter, April 12, 1861] thought that it would be a short war. The evidence for this belief for the North is the duration of the enlistments of the first 75000 soldiers JUST 90 DAYS…

Lincoln further states that he had “No purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it already exists.”

Lincoln hoped that with a swift example of Federal force and Union victories….the folly of secession would be evident and the states that had seceded would quickly return to the Union.

HOWEVER….THE WAR WAS NOT BRIEF…NOR LIMITED…AFTER 4 YEARS…OVER 600,000 SOLDIERS WERE DEAD, SLAVERY WAS ENDED FOREVER, AND THE NATION FACED THE CHALLENGE OF REINTEGRATING THE DEFEATED BUT STILL HOSTILE SOUTH INTO THE UNION.

Bull Run/Manassas (battle) Ends the “90 Day War”

Note: Most of the Battles in the Civil War have two names…as shown above [Bull Run-North, Manassas- South] this was due to the North/Union usually naming the battle after the nearest geographical feature (Bull Run Creek) and the South naming the battle for the nearest town (Manassas Junction).

The Civil War is often examined geographically in three (3) ways… Battles in the East, Battles in the West, and Battles on the Water [Seas and Rivers]… Most reporting and thus most famous are battles usually in the East due to them being closest to the major media and population at that time….

Bull Run is considered the 1st of the major battle of the Civil War.

Northern newspapers also believed the war would be short…and began saying “On to Richmond.”

The process of attempting to capture the Confederate Capital city was the chief goal of the Army of the Potomac…the Eastern Union Army throughout the war… it did not come easy…and took 4 years to accomplish….

This mission began at Bull Run or Manassas. The Army of the Potomac, 30,000, strong marched out of Washington DC to attack a (at first) smaller Confederate Force at Manassas Junction.

Neither side was prepared for what was about to occur…

July 21, 1861 – As if going to a sporting event, the Union Army, along with a horde of bystanders began the 1st Battle of Bull Run. At first the battle went well for the Yankees, however, General Thomas J. Jackson’s regiment from the Virginia Military Institute held their line (He is known as “Stonewall” from this point forward due to he and his men’s fortitude at this point in the battle) and the CSA received reinforcements and the battle TURNED….The Raw Recruits of the Army of the Potomac (Union) panicked….and RAN back to Washington DC in disarray[SAW THE ELEPHANT] …CONFUSION REIGNED… and the CSA has the VICTORY. Was Washington DC safe?

Note: This is one of many battlefield TURNING POINTS OF THE WAR…The CSA could have at this point, according to many historians of the war, marched into DC and taken the Union Capital….BUT did not… basking in confusion and exhaustion THEY FEASTED ON THOSE BASKETS OF LUNCHES LEFT AS TERRIFIED SPECTATORS RAN AWAY.

*******SIGNIFICANCE OF BULL RUN/MANASSAS I [1861](there is another battle here later in the war) –The EFFECTS WERE Politically and Psychologically Paradoxical… a VICTORY FOR THE SOUTH…the effects though were bad… 1- it inflated their overconfidence, many “Johhny Reb’s” went home, deserted, believing that the war was over…2-Southern volunteer enlistments fell dramatically, 3- and preparation for the “long war” which was to come slackened. A LOSS FOR THE UNION…1- it dispelled all illusions that the War would be short 2- caused the North to “hunker down” and prepare for a long war 3- and plan for a protracted struggle which when examining the scope of what was to come was an enormous task….Lincoln and his staff had to prepare to “Conquer the Entire South” on three fronts … UNION STRATEGY – created by Gen. Winfield Scott and Lincoln is called -THE ANACONDA PLAN

Photo: Library of Congress

… 1-Blockade the Southern Coastline… 2 - Capture Miss. River to cut CSA in ½ 3 - flow down those 3 western Rivers [Cumberland, Tennessee, and Ohio – and tributaries} into the heart of the CSA. 4- Capture Richmond…. All the while keeping European Powers out of the War and still attempting to just fight the war to “save the Union, not to free the slaves.”

Things will change moment to moment… so many key moments…remember contingency! What if the CSA had marched into DC after the battle of Bull Run…. What would have happened, What would things be like today?

************Note: SEE CIVIL WAR TIMELINE POSTED IN WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS FOR HELP IN CHRONOLOGY OF WAR…J

*******“Tardy General George” McClellan and the Peninsula Campaign -1862- [see brown boxes and maps they will help J]

Note:

1 - ****The Peninsula Campaign is fought in the Eastern Front of the Civil War it is from the Union perspective and its main objective is to capture Richmond and end the war quickly. The ultimate failure of this effort has huge significances…for Gen.MAC and both the Union and the CSA.

2- The Civil War is fought across a huge area and encompasses many simultaneous efforts…the focus of much of the study of the war is in the East…but please be aware that as events are occurring in the East they are also other actions happening in the West, attacks along the coasts, and on the Ocean. The text does not discuss these actions year by year across all areas but goes back and forth chronologically from East to West…until the action is joined after 1863…

The Peninsula Campaign:

-A 34 year old graduate of West Point, “Young Napoleon,” Gen. George McClellan is appointed to head The Army of the Potomac, the major Union fighting force in the East. MAC is a superb organizer and drillmaster and after the disaster at Bull Run I injects a major boost to the morale of the Army…he is extremely popular among his men***** who call him, “Little Mac.”

-******MAC is a perfectionist and finds great success training troops and energizing the Union Cause…HOWEVER … his greatest flaw is that when tasked with great objectives he is TOO CAUTIOUS and “has the slows,” these factors when engaging so brilliant and motivated an enemy, CSA Generals, Johnston-Lee-Jackson-Stuart- and others… who were willing to take any risk due to defend their home…CAUSES MAC AND THE EASTERN UNION ARMY TO FAIL CONSISTENTLY and ultimately come into conflict with Lincoln, whom Mac calls a BABOON…this failed relationship is a major part of this story.

Lincoln eventually persuades MAC to begin the campaign…and orders MAC to advance… reluctantly MAC does… {great map of Peninsula campaign in text on-line p. 454}

In the spring of 1862 100,000 Union soldiers land just outside historic Yorktown (Cornwallis surrender during rev. war-1781) and a month later comes within site of Richmond…(the Rebs are in trouble, but IN a brilliant maneuver Stonewall Jackson breaks off and threatens DC…and Lincoln pulls troops from MAC’s reinforcements to protect the capital) stalled in front of Richmond…MAC faces Robert E. Lee…. THE SEVEN DAY’S BATTLES BEGINS … LEE attacks MAC’s much larger Union armies and drives him back down the peninsula…and MAC retreats and eventually takes the Army back to DC…in shame…. Another-SOUTHERN VICTORY.

****** HUGE******Effects of the failure of the Peninsula Campaign: again somewhat paradoxical…

-Lee, Jackson, and Stuart achieve a brilliant victory against a much larger superior force…

-**** Gen. MAC is removed from Command for the 1st time…. And Makes Gen. Pope Commander of the Army of the Potomac..

- CONTIGENCY –WHAT IF??? [THE PARADOX] – If MAC would have captured Richmond at this point in the war THE UNION WOULD HAVE BEEN RESTORED AND SLAVERY STILL IN EXISTENCE….

-****** HOWEVER….By successfully defending Richmond, Lee and the CSA, has now ensured that THE WAR WOULD ENDURE UNTIL SLAVERY WAS ENDED AND THE OLD SOUTH DESTROYED.

-****THIS LOSS MOTIVATES LINCOLN TO CHANGE THE UNION STRATEGY OF THE WAR- he states, the Rebels, “cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government and if they fail still come back into the Union unhurt.” HE ***BEGINS TO DRAFT THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION AND TOTAL WAR*****

*****The NEW STRATEGY: ANACONDA PLUS++ 6 components (you need to know) [see Map p 455]

1 – Suffocate the South by blockading their coast.

2 – LIBERATE THE SLAVES…to undermine the economic foundation of the OLD SOUTH

3 - Cut the CSA in half by seizing control of the Mississippi River

4 – Chop the CSA into pieces by sending troops through Georgia and the Carolinas

5- Decapitate it by capturing Richmond

6 – Gen . Ulysses S. [unconditional surrender] Grant’s and Lincoln’s focus…TO ENGAGE THE ENEMY’S MAIN STRENGTH CONSTANTLY AND CONSISTENTLY AND GRIND THEM INTO SUBMISSION.

****Lincoln says… “The character of the war will be changed…it will be one of SUBJUGATION…The [OLD] South is to be DESTROYED and replaced by new propositions and ideas.”

Now Lincoln would have to wait for a victory to announce his Emancipation plans…he would have to wait a while…until after ANTIETAM***

The War at Sea

Note: This section describes the blockade… and we take a break from the fighting on land in the East….we will pick up the battles in the East with ANITEITAM/Sharpsburg…after this section J

-****The Blockade initially was not as effective….. and was not clamped down all at once but over time… to effectively blockade 3500 miles of coastline was impossible…. THE UNON CONCENTRATED ON PRINCIPAL PORTS AND INLETS WHERE DOCK FACILITIES WERE AVAILABLE FOR LOADING COTTON…

- How did Foreign Powers regard the blockade?… Britain recognized it a binding and warned its companies attempting to trade with the South to “ignore it at your own peril.”

- Blockade-running was a risky proposition…but the scarcity of Southern goods drove prices sky high…and profits were as high as 700% and more for the lucky gamblers who survived…The main port for these risky adventurers was Nassau, Bahamas where the British would bring goods and the runners would trade cotton for weapons and other products.

-****THE MOST ALARMING THREAT TO THE BLOCKADE WAS THE C.S.S. VIRGINIA (MERRIMACK originally a US warship reconditioned and plated with melted down iron from railroad tracks) – AN IRONCLAD***** this ship easily destroyed two wooden US ships in the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia….

The Union countered with its own ironclad…THE MONITOR….

ON MARCH 9, 1862…THE 1ST NAVAL BATTLE IN WORLD HISTORY TOOK PLACE BETWEEN TWO IRONCLADS…AND THE RESULT WAS A DRAW….THIS MARKS DOOM FOR WOODEN SHIPS AND A GREAT CHANGE TO COME IN FUTURE NAVAL WARFARE****

-eventually as the Union Armies and Navies began to dominate the Southern coastlines the leading ports from New Orleans to Charleston were cut off….and conditions in the South worsened considerably.

The Pivotal Point: Antietam/Sharpsburg

Note: before we get to the above battle… we continue the war in the East… after the failure of the Peninsula Campaign… remember MAC has been demoted and Gen. Pope is in Charge J it is still 1862…

Robert E. Lee now begins to move the Army of Northern Virginia to the North…. [note: 3 companies of Confederate soldiers from Iredell County, NC, “The Blues,” are with Lee and the Army of Northern Va. until surrender in 1865 at Appamattox]

The 2nd battle of Bull Run- CSA Victory over Pope…Lee gives him a good thrashing…August 1862

ANOTHER KEY POINT IN THE WAR….

*******Lee decides to invade the North in Maryland with 55,000 men. [note: this is part of a triple Confederate offensive…in Mississippi, Kentucky (the north as well) , and in Maryland…all fail- the key turning point in the war)

Why?

1- To gain Foreign recognition and immediately end the war.

2- He thought that Maryland, a slave state, would welcome his troops and lead to other border slave states joining the Confederacy.

3- He was fully confident due to his army having so much success.

He was mistaken…

Note: Some historians question Lee’s strategy at this point and at Gettysburg due to the South putting at risk so much of the few resources they had to invade the North… attacking… when they could have been consolidating their gains and strengthening their defenses…making the North’s task even more difficult… However, when others consider the potential gain if victory was won in either battle…. INDEPENDENCE…. Some agree with his decisions. Of course this is all conjecture or hindsight…but there were those at this time who did question Lee’s choice to invade the North.