Moz Knows History-The Civil War

Moz Knows History-The Civil War

The Union Divides

March 4, 1861 was Abraham Lincoln’s first day in office. By that time, seven Southern states had already seceded from the Union. The Civil War, America’s most deadly conflict, would occupy his entire presidency, and the rest of his life. Meanwhile, the Confederacy already had their own president. Just two weeks before Lincoln’s inauguration, Jefferson Davis assumed control as a leader of the Confederate States of America.

As states seceded, it brought a lot of personal decisions for the families living in those states. There were those who strongly agreed with their state’s leaders and complied. There were others who didn’t agree, but would remain loyal and go along. Then there weresome who didn’t agree with secession at all, and resisted. Some dinner tables had folks with all three frames of reference. The Civil War divided not only our country, but a good many American families as well.

For those who complied, the life in the rebelling states continued on, business as usual. Government installations like post offices and forts flew Old Glory one day and the Stars and Bars the next. For their part, the South got an instant functioning government, using the office space and real estate of the government they were fighting. They had military forts, arsenals, ships, even some railroads at their disposal. They also had a problem—Major Robert Anderson.

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The Fort Sumter Dilemma

While the Union loved Anderson’s resistance, the South wanted the matter settled quickly, and were poised to take Fort Sumter by force. This gave Lincoln a dilemma. Deep in Southern territory, Fort Sumter would be difficult to help and impossible to hold. If he sent soldiers, would it look like an invasion? Would their almost certain failure give the Confederacy a boost?

After all, like the Revolutionary War, the South was declaring its independence. The South didn’t have to beat the North, just make the North leave them alone. Once that happened, they’d be free. The North would have to be the aggressors, but had to pick their spots--and this wasn’t one of them. Lincoln decided to send supplies only, and let the South fire the first shots. Then public opinion would cast them as the aggressors. In April of 1861, the South attacked, bombarding Fort Sumter for 34 hours. Anderson was forced to surrender. The Civil War had begun!

No Concessions, Just Secessions

Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to defend against the rebellion and retake Fort Sumter. While there were volunteers, the largest response the President received as a result of this announcement was four more states joining the Confederacy. Now Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia were seceding. Virginia was particularly problematic because it borders Washington DC! Had Maryland seceded, Washington would have been surrounded by enemy slave states. While Maryland was still a slave state, at least it was a friendly slave state!

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With Virginia in the fold, the Confederacy had another option for what had been dubbed their permanent capital. Montgomery Alabama served as the permanent capital for all of 4 months. By May of 1861, the delegates had already tired of the heat and mosquitoes. The city’s 3 hotels were constantly overbooked. With Virginia’s entry into the Confederacy, they offered Richmond as an alternative for the capital. Even though Washington DC was less than 100 miles away, the Confederate leaders readily agreed.

Another reason Virginia’s secession was bad news for the Union was who it took with them. At 74 years of age, Winfield Scott had many health problems and was ready to step down as Army Commander. Although he had served every president from Jefferson to Lincoln, Scott had ballooned to over 300 pounds. He couldn’t mount a horse or review troops any longer. His mind was good, but this would be a hands-on battle. Scott went to Lincoln with idea of giving command to “the very finest soldier (he’d) ever seen,” Robert E. Lee. Lee got the offer to lead the Union the same day Virginia seceded. Sticking with his home state, he commanded the South instead!

The Anaconda Plan

Meanwhile, Winfield Scott, who was born and raised in Virginia, stayed with the country he had served since the War of 1812. As he was set to retire, he had one last contribution to give from his brilliant, military

mind. It was he that conceived the plan that the Union used to defeat

the Confederacy—the Anaconda Plan.

At first, many derided the Anaconda Plan, saying it was too long, too involved. Many thought a hard, fast thrashing of the South was all that was needed to succeed. But Scott’s vision of a prolonged struggle would prove to be correct. The Anaconda Plan had 4 parts, as outlined below.

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Bull Run

After establishing an effective naval blockade, Union land offensives were under way. The South seemed ready to face Union troops, but no one was ready for the high casualties and absolute brutality the Civil War would bring. The first major battle was the Battle of Bull Run.

Union Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell marched south, bent on breaking the Rebellion. He was met at Bull Run Creek, in Virginia by Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard. Beauregard, fresh off a victory at Fort Sumter, was being hammered and losing ground. The Union appeared headed for victory. Yet one enemy brigade refused to budge. The troops led by Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson stood like a stone wall. From then on, the leader would be known as Stonewall Jackson.

Jackson’s stand helped turn the tide for the South. Reinforcements arrived, and the Union was forced to retreat. What made things worse was that hundreds of civilians had come down from DC to watch the battle. Expecting a Union victory, and armed only with picnic baskets, their afternoon entertainment was rudely interrupted when panic-stricken Union soldiers fled through the picnic area with Rebel troops following close behind. It was an absolute disaster. Routes of escape were often blocked by civilian carriages. The chaos resulted in 800 deaths, and casualty figures for both sides were close to 5000! It was an omen of things to come.

Ulysses S. Grant

A paperwork mix-up, had a man named Hiram Ulysses Grant being instead referred to as U.S. Grant. Although an invention, it is certainly a patriotic sounding name, and a whole lot more fearsome than initials that spell out “HUG.” Grant would become the hero of the war, but the war’s a long way from over. He’s not even the head of the Union Army yet. Still, we start to see some promising things from Grant.

In 1862, he started winning important victories in Kentucky and Tennessee. At Fort Donelson, when Grant bested the Confederate forces, their leader asked for Grant’s terms. Grant answered, “No terms, except an unconditional and immediate surrender.” People joked that the initials U.S. stood for “Unconditional Surrender” Grant.

As he progressed through Tennessee, Grant later took Fort Henry, and was headed for the Mississippi line when he engaged in the Battle of Shiloh. The Confederate forces made a surprise attack, an attack that cost Grant

13,000 casualties. The Confederacy lost 11,000. Although “Bloody Shiloh”

was a win for the Union, the tremendous loss of life gave Grant another unwanted nickname, “Butcher.”

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When concerns about Grant’s methods had some asking that he be relieved of duty, Lincoln answered, “I cannot spare this man. He fights.” He also won, and nobody knew the Union needed a winner more than Lincoln.

King Kong vs. Godzilla

With the first step of the Anaconda Plan, the Union had effectively blocked the South from trading with Europe. This kept relief supplies out of the South, and out of the War. Only swift blockade runners could get through the tight net of Union vessels. Yet things changed when the Confederacy captured a Union ship called the Merrimac. They turned it into an ironclad, covering its deck and sides with 4 inch iron plates. (Ships up to this time had been made of wood.) This Frankenship was rechristened as the Virginia. The impact it had was like releasing a wolf in a hen house.

On March 8, 1862, it headed for the ring of ships encircling the Virginia coast of the Atlantic. It rammed one ship, sank another, and chased a third ship away so quickly that it ran aground trying to escape. It scattered many other ships surrounding the shoreline, breaking the Union blockade. During the campaign, it simply paraded up and down the coast unscathed. Union guns had no effect on this heavy, metal masterpiece.

The next day, however, the heavyweight champion,Virginia, had a

challenger. The Union had an ironclad too. It didn’t have fixed guns, but a revolving turret like a tank. It was called the Monitor. The first battle of the Ironclads was underway. They fired on each other for hours, with little effect. After all, neither ship’s artillery was any more powerful than

conventional ships. If other ships couldn’t dent in these monsters, the armor

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also prevented them from damaging each other. Soon, they both ran out of ammunition. It was a tie. Later, the Virginia would be towed to Norfolk for repairs. Later, Southern forces deliberately sunk itso it wouldn’t fall into Union hands. The South didn’t have the resources to build any more Ironclads, and the Union didn’t have the need. Just as quickly as it began, the battle of the behemoths was over.

Emancipation Time

Lincoln had waited long and patiently to broach the slave issue. While the main issue of the War was state’s rights, slavery was a factor. It was the so-called right that the Confederacy was trying to protect. At the time of his election, he would have been content to prevent the spread of slavery. With the War, he now had the opportunity to do even more. He wanted to free the slaves. Strategists advised him to wait for a big Union victory, otherwise it might look like an act of desperation. Aside from that, there were four slave states supporting the Union. The issue was very complicated. Lincoln had to tread those waters carefully.

The South had their own goals. With the mighty squeeze of the Anaconda Plan, thinning out their supplies, and a 2nd victory at Bull Run, General Lee felt confident in taking a foray into the North. His forces headed to Maryland. A victory there might get European attention for supply help or military back up. Plus, Maryland was a slave state. Getting them to flip their allegiance might be just a win away.

They never found out for sure what would have happened with a win, because they didn’t win. Nobody won. The Battle of Antietam had the largest single day death toll of any war in US history! With 5000 deaths and 20,000 wounded, no one felt like celebrating. To put it in perspective, the death toll was about equal to Pearl Harbor and 9/11 combined! If you look at it that way, nobody won, but “a tie” doesn’t tell the horrific story.

Antietam Creek pitted both Army Commanders of that time against each other. Robert E. Lee, vs. the latest Union leader, George McClellan.

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Since Lee was the aggressor, and in the end was forced to retreat shows some degree of success for the Union. In a larger sense, a greater evil occurred. McClellan’s troops had the opportunity to capture Lee and his army, but they let him get away! McClellan was often overly cautious. Lincoln said he had “the slows.” Lincoln also had enough McClellan and fired him for the 2nd time.

Still, the Battle of Antietam was enough of a victory that Lincoln and his strategists felt it was time to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. He announced that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebelling states would be freed. The Border States would keep their slaves, as well as any Confederate State that rejoined the Union. There weren’t any takers in that regard. On top of that, the South wasn’t going to obey it, and the North didn’t have the ability to enforceit. So the Emancipation Proclamation had no immediate effect on slavery.

It was the east side that was known for its farming and plantations. Westerners resented their rich, slave-owning neighbors, and broke away from Virginia, as well as the Rebellion. At first, there were thoughts of naming

the new state, Franklin, in honor of Ben Franklin. Temporarily, it was

named Kanawha, for a local river. We know that state today as West Virginia.

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Another effect of Anaconda Plan was immigration. With the South under a naval blockade, new immigrants could only come to the North. 800,000 came to America, and some quickly found themselves on a battlefield. As new blood came to America every day, the North had plenty of soldiers to replenish their ranks. Although it probably wasn’t what immigrants had envisioned back in their homelands, for a country that has never gone longer than 35 years without a war, fighting in one was a crash course in American life.

Like African-Americans, and immigrants, women also had a role in the Civil War. Although they weren’t allowed to fight, some did. Most others took over factory jobs, farms, and businesses for the men that were fighting. This fact greatly helped the Women’s Movement. With females doing the work usually reserved for men, and doing a good job at it, many people realized that women deserved the same rights as men. One standout was Clara Barton. She etched her page in history at this time. Barton was a nurse during the Civil War. Later, she would go on to found the American Red Cross.

Another Civil War first was the use of submarines. The Confederacy’s H.L. Hunley was the first ever submarine to sink an enemy ship. Its first victim was the Union vessel, the USSHousatonic. Its second victim was itself. So primitive were the first submarines that rather than have the ability to fire a torpedo at an enemy, they had to ram the enemy with the torpedo, and quickly back away. After signaling victory to a watchman, the Hunley wasn’t seen again until divers found the sunken wreck in 1995. Apparently it didn’t back away fast enough.

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Wanted: Soldiers to Fight the War

1863 brought the first-ever US military draft. Both sides used drafts to get soldiers when they ran out of volunteers. Currently, our military is an all-volunteer army. At times, however, the US has had to institute a draft. Drafts aren’t always popular. Some people who get drafted don’t want to fight. Sometimes, they don’t even agree with the reasons for fighting in the conflict. In this case, some people didn’t want to put their lives on the line to help slaves. Ironically, New York City had a draft riot. 1000 people who didn’t want to fight and die in the Civil War, fought and died in the streets of New York City, trying to get out of it.

Aside from personal feelings about the War, the Union Draft,itself, had some glitches. A draftee could hire a substitute, that is, if you could find someone willing to risk their life to take your place. Sometimes that was easier than the alternative. A draftee could also buy their way out of fighting for a $300 fee.

The Confederacy started their draft in 1862. Like the North, you could hire a substitute, or buy your way out. Another exception would be if a person had to oversee 15 or more slaves. While there were no riots in the South, many grumbled that it was, “a rich man’s war, but a poor man’s fight.”

The Anaconda Tightens its Grip

Despite early dreams of a quick, decisive war, the South held its own just fine for the first two years of the War. The naval blockade was in place, but Stage 2 of the Anaconda Plan, taking control of the Mississippi River, was long in coming. Soldiers had tried on land and sea, and so far Captain David Farragut had come the closest. In the spring of 1862 Farragut chugged up the Mississippi River. He captured New Orleans, but couldn’t get past the heavy fire coming from the forts in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Sitting on a high bluff, Vicksburg was easy to defend, but nearly impossible to attack. Enter U.S. Grant.