The Civil War
A.K.A.
The War Between the States
The War of Rebellion
The War for Southern Independence
An Irrepressible Conflict?
•Was the war that followed Lincoln’s election inevitable?
•Arguments in favor of it being repressible:
•Arguments in favor of it being irrepressible:
Causes of the War
•Economic Differences
•Nature of the Union
•Control of the Central Government
•Differences in Civilization
•Fanaticism
Slavery
•Presented a dramatic moral issue
•Distinguished the South from the North
•Was at the heart of most major issues dividing the sections
•BUT:
•The overwhelming majority of Southerners did not own slaves
•Most Northerners were not abolitionists
•Lincoln & Republicans did not threaten slavery where it already existed
•4 slave states did not leave the Union
Reasons for Secession
•Emotional Arguments
•Economic Arguments
•Validity of Arguments
Secession & Formation of the Confederacy
•By February, 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union
•Votes not unanimous – strong unionist sentiment in most states
•Convened in Montgomery, Alabama, February, 1861
•Jefferson Davis elected President
•Constitution very similar to U.S., except it:
–Protected Slavery
–Barred protective tariffs and federally supported internal improvements
–Limited President to one 6 year term & allowed the cabinet to sit with Congress
Decisions After Secession
•States that stayed in the Union:
–Delaware
–Kentucky – originally attempted to be neutral
–Maryland – forced to stay in Union
–Missouri
–Western Virginia [Refused to go with South & broke away from Virginia – became a state in June, 1863]
•States that left after Lincoln’s call for troops:
–Virginia = April 17, 1861
–Arkansas = May 6, 1861
–Tennessee = June 8, 1861
–North Carolina = May 20, 1861
Road to Conflict
•Buchanan’s Indecision
•Star of the West
•Congressional reaction & Peace Efforts
–Crittenden Compromise
–House Plan
–Peace Convention
•Lincoln inaugurated
•Lincoln’s Early Decisions
Use force to keep the South in Union or Not
Relief for FortSumter
•FortSumter – 12 April, 1861
War Begins = FortSumter, April 12, 1861
Northern Advantages
•2/3rds of the states
•Greater population [N=22 million – S=9 million (of which 3.5 million were slaves) ]
•Manufacturing
•Railroads
•Money
•Navy & Merchant Marine
Southern Advantages
•Compact
•Defensive War
•Military Commanders
•Better Prepared Soldiers
•Friends in Britain and France
Confederate Infantry
The War - Opposing Strategies
•Northern Strategy
–“the Anaconda Plan”
1. Blockade all Southern ports
2. Split The South by controlling the Mississippi River
3. Capture Richmond
–Carry the war to the South
•Southern Strategy
–Fight a defensive war
–Not lose
The First “Modern” War
Dr. Gatling’s Weapon to End War
Aerial Warfare Civil War Style
CSS Hunley = World’s 1st Successful Submarine
The Most Famous Ironclads
Hampton Roads was a Draw
Civil War Torpedoes (mines)
Care of the Wounded
Wounded
Photography Used Extensively
Rifled & Breech-loading Artillery
RR Mounted Artillery
Repeating Infantry Rifles
The War - Stalemate in the East
•Bull Run (Manassas)
•Peninsular Campaign
•Antietam
•Fredericksburg
•Chancellorsville
1stBull Run - July 21, 1861
Peninsular Campaign, 1862
Seven Days Battles June 25-July 1
“Richmond is Heavily Defended!”
•McClellan advanced toward Richmond
•Alan Pinkerton scouted the Confederate positions and reported that Richmond was heavily defended by Rebel artillery.
•That “artillery” was later found to be what came to be known as “Quaker Guns.”
War in the East, Mid 1862
The Irish Brigade at Antietam
Antietam: The Cornfield
Excerpt from the Emancipation Proclamation
•Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
The .58 CalSpringfield
The principal weapon of the war and the one by which 80% of all wounds were produced was the single-shot, muzzle-loading rifled musket.
The rifled musket could be loaded and fired at a rate of 2-3 times per minute and it had a range of 1000 yards.
Most wounds were caused by an elongated bullet made of soft lead about 1 inch long and hollowed out at the base called a “minie” ball.
80% of all wounds during the Civil War were in the extremities.
Amputation was the general treatment for severe wounds in the extremities.
Civil War Artillery
A Brutal War
The War - Victories in the West
•Deny the South the Western rivers
•Forts Henry & Donelson
•Shiloh
•New Orleans
War in the West, 1861-62
Shiloh, Bloody Shiloh!
Bloody Shiloh!
The War – The Tide Turns
•Gettysburg – July 1-3, 1863
•Lee Vs Meade
•The “High Water Mark” of the Confederacy
•Buford’s Stand on July 1
•Chamberlain’s defence of Little Round Top on July 2
•Pickett’s Charge on July 3
•Lee Retreated to South on July 4
Vicksburg – July 4, 1863
•On July 4, 1863, after a lengthy siege, Vicksburg surrendered to General U. S. Grant
•This completed the Union effort to control the Mississippi
•The fall of Vicksburg effectively cut off western supplies from reaching the Southern armies.
Blacks Enlisted to Fight
54thMass. at Battery Wagner,
Home Front
•Recruiting & Draft
•Financing the war
•Politics - South
•Politics – North
•Expansion of Presidential Powers
•Peace Democrats, Copperheads
•Emancipation Proclamation
•Election of 1864
The War - Naval War
•Blockade
•Ironclads
•River War & Control of the Mississippi
•Confederate Raiders – the CSS Alabama
Foreign Affairs
•Great Britain
•France
•Russia
Final Phase
•Sherman’s March to the Sea
•Petersburg
•Appomattox – April 9, 1865
Petersburg: A preview of WW1
•At Petersburg the opposing forces dug in for an extended siege, which involved:
Trenches
Wire Entanglements
Machine Guns
Incessant Artillery Barrages
An underground mine and explosion (known as the “Battle of the Crater”)
Civil War, 1864-1865
Lee Surrenders – Appomattox Court House – April 9, 1865
Appomattox, April 9, 1865
Grant’s Surrender Terms
•Appomattox Ct. H., Va.
Apl 9, 1865
General R.E. Lee
Commanding C.S.A.
General:
In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit:
Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands.
The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked, and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggege. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as they observe their paroles, and the laws in force where they may reside.
Very respectfully,
U.S. Grant, Lt-G
Reasons For Northern Victory
Prosperity of the North
Agricultural Expansion
Industrial Expansion
Wartime Finance
•Economic Chaos in the South
Collapse of Southern Agriculture
Failure of Southern Manufacturing
Confederate Finance
Northern Morale
Interference with Personal Liberty
Conscription
Volunteer Aid
•Southern Morale
Interference with Personal Liberty
Conscription
Peace Movement
Lincoln Assassinated
Significance of the Civil War
•Consolidation of American Nationality
•Consolidation of Industrial Order