Civil War Notes:

Section 1:

  1. What divided the nation into sectional or regional lines?:
  2. Slavery—free labor favored agricultural economy in south.
  3. Tariffs—taxes on imported goods favored the north’s industrial economy.
  4. State’s Rights—the old argument concerning who should be more powerful, the states or the federal/national government.
  5. Included the states ability to ignore some federal laws.
  6. Westward expansion ignited the issue of slavery as well as states rightsas territories became states and the question of entering as a free or slave state was debated.
  1. Texas joins the Confederacy:
  2. 1860 Republican Abraham Lincolnwon the presidential election without any electoral votes from the South
  3. South Carolina secedes from the Unionand 5 other southern states follow
  4. Texas leaders call for a legislative session which Sam Houston tries to delay
  5. Jan. 28th, 1861 legislature meets and on Feb. 1, 1861 they adopt an ordinance of secession by a vote of 166 to 8
  6. Feb. 23, 1861—statewide vote held on secession the decision to secede was 46,153 to 14,747
  7. March 2, 1861 Texas becomes the 7th state to secede from the US
  8. March 5, 1861 Texas wrote a new state constitution which replaced the US with the Confederacy
  9. Sam Houston refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and was removed as Governor of Texas – Edward Clarke his Lt. Governor replaced him
  1. The Confederate States of America:
  2. Leaders from secession states met in MontgomeryAlabama to form a new government.
  3. The new constitution was like the US constitution but it stressed the sovereignty or power of states and the right to hold slaves.
  4. Elected president – Jefferson Davis and other officials
  1. The War begins—Resources and strategies:
  2. The Southern states believed they had the right to secede from the Union, but President Lincoln said the Union was perpetual or continuing forever and vowed to preserve the Union at all costs.
  3. Early in 1861, the Confederate states seized the US arsenals, forts and naval yards within their borders.
  4. April 12, 1861 the US troops refused to leave FortSumter in Charleston, South Carolina, Confederates opened fire, thus beginning the Civil War.

Section 2: Texans go to War:

  1. Many Texans became soldiers but many more were needed as the war continued so the Confederacy passed the Conscription Act on April 16, 1862 requiring all men between the ages of 18-35 to serve in the armed forces. Later the age expanded to 17-50.
  2. Most Texans supported the South even though nearly ¼ had been against secession.
  3. James Throckmorton who voted against secession became a brigadier general in the TexasState troops.
  4. 60,000 Texans joined the armed forces
  5. 1/3 fought in armies east of the Mississippi River
  6. The rest served along the coast and on Texas’s borders and neighboring states.
  7. The most distinguished Texas officer was Albert Sidney Johnston—the 2nd highest ranking general in the army.
  8. Other noted Texas units included Terry’s Texas Rangers and Hood’s Texas Brigade, both whom served east of the Mississippi River.
  1. Some Texans aid the Union:
  2. Unionist were people who supported the US or Union Army
  3. There were 2,000 Texas Unionists including at least 50 African American soldiers, some Mexican Americans and some German settlers.
  4. Some Unionists did not want to fight for either side and tried to flee the country or hide, but if caught the risk was death.