The Civil War

1
The Civil War
2
Union War Strategy

• First focused on striking key blows in Virginia,
  but most attempts failed badly
• Developed four phases

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Four Phases

• Strangle the South by blockading its coasts
  Anaconda Plan
• Control the Mississippi River to cut the
  Confederacy in half
• Cut a swath through GA and then send troops North
  through the Carolinas
• Capture Richmond by annihilating the remaining
  Confederate armies

4
War in the East

• 1861

5
Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)

• 30 miles SW of Washington
• Pressure from the public and the press urged a
  quick decisive battle to defeat the Confederacy

6
Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)

• Battle went well for Union forces but confederate
  reinforcements from the Shenandoah Valley led by
  "Stonewall" Jackson surprised fatigued Union
  forces
• By mid-afternoon, Union forces in full retreat
  back towards defended Washington DC
• Union lost 2,896 men Confederates lost 1,982

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Judith Henrys House
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Psychological Impact

• North awoke to the reality of an extended
  conflict and so began making preparations for a
  long and bloody war
• Southerners grew complacent and many deserted
  since they felt war was over
• Southern enlistments fell off sharply and
  preparations for a long war relaxed

10
General George B. McClellan

• Brilliant military strategist and leader from
  West Point
• Given by Lincoln command of the army of the
  Potomac
• Overcautious frequently believed he was
  outnumbered when in fact he always possessed
  numerical advantages

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Anaconda Plan

• Union plan to block off Southern ports and inlets
  where bulk materials were loaded
• Ineffective 3,500 miles of coastline too
  overwhelming for undeveloped Union navy
• Did successfully stop many blockade-runners

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Battle of the Ironclads

• Merrimack (C.S.S. Virginia) -- former U.S.
  warship plated on sides with old railroad rails
  (not really seaworthy)
• Destroyed two wooden ships of the Union navy in
  Chesapeake Bay, VA
• Threatened entire Yankee fleet blockading
  Southern ports

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Battle of the Ironclads

• Monitor -- Union counterpart to Merrimack built
  in 100 days
• Engaged Virginia at Hampton Roads
• 4 hour battle with neither side winning Monitor
  withdrew after the Captain was wounded both
  sides claimed victory
• Virginia never again a serious threat and
  eventually blown up at Norfolk

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War in the Eastern Theater

• 1862

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The Peninsula Campaign

• McClellan persuaded Lincoln to abandon a direct
  frontal assault by land and to try to approach
  Richmond by moving up the peninsula between James
  York Rivers
• Took Yorktown and pushed within a few miles of
  Richmond

18
Seven Days Battle

• Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederate
  army
• After an unsuccessful battle, McClellan withdrew
  down the peninsula later retreated
• Was Robert E. Lees first victory over the Union

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Seven Days Battle

• Peninsula campaign abandoned by Lincoln
• McClellan removed as commander  replaced by
  General John Pope
• Losses Confederates 20,141 Union 15,849

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Second Battle of Bull Run

• Combined forces of Lee, Jackson, Longstreet
  forced Federals to escape once again to
  Washington
• Some blamed McClellan for not coming fast enough
  to support Pope
• Casualties Union 16,054 Confed. 9,197
• Lincoln once again gave McClellan command of the
  Army of the Potomac

21
Antietam

• Lees hope to invade Maryland, wrestle it from
  the Union, and encourage foreign intervention on
  behalf of the South

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The Battle

• Furious attacks and counterattacks in Sharpsburg,
  Maryland ended in a draw
• McClellan missed opportunity to effectively
  pursue withdrawing Conf. troops before they
  crossed the Potomac

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The Aftermath

• McClellan was removed from command for 2nd time
  and replaced by Gen. Ambrose Burnside
• Casualties Feds 12,401 of 80,000 in army Conf.
  10,700 of 40,000 (over 25)
• Bloodiest day of the war

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Antietams Place in History

• Considered one of most decisive battles in world
  history
• South was never again so near victory
• Foreign powers decided not to intervene in
  support of the South whose military capacity was
  now questioned in the face of a unexpectedly
  powerful North.            

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Antietams Place in History

• Lincoln received the "victory" he needed to issue
  the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on
  Sept. 22, 1862
• Lincoln felt issuing the proclamation after
  successive military defeats would render the
  proclamation powerless

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The Emancipation Proclamation

• Became Effective Jan. 1, 1863

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Changing Face of the War

• Civil War now became more of a moral crusade a
  "higher purpose" in the North, while the moral
  cause of the South weakened
• Lincolns immediate goal not so much to free
  slaves as to strengthen the moral cause of the
  Union at home and abroad

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The Proclamation

• All slaves in areas in rebellion declared now and
  forever free
• Justification lay with removing valuable slave
  labor from the Southern war cause
• Slaves in loyal Border States not affected nor
  those in specific areas of conquered South, about
  800,000
• Did little immediately to change the plight of
  the slaves

31
Northern Reaction

• Many Northerners, esp. from Border States and Old
  Northwest felt Lincoln went too far opposed to
  fighting an "abolition war"
• Desertions increased sharply esp. from Border
  States
• Republicans fared badly in autumn mid-term 1862
  elections

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Further Northern Reactions

• Many abolitionists complained Lincoln did not go
  far enough
• Most moderates and some abolitionists pleased
  including Frederick Douglass

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Southern European Reaction

• South accused Lincoln of trying to stir up slave
  insurrection
• European Aristocrats sympathized with southern
  aristocrats as proclamation only applied to rebel
  slaveholders
• European working classes sympathized with
  proclamation
• As a result, diplomatic condition of Union
  improved

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The War in the West

• Battle for the Control of the Mississippi

35
General Ulysses S. Grant

• Became Lincolns most able general

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Capturing the Forts

• Grant captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in
  northern TN in Feb. 1862
• Significance KY more secure while gateway opened
  to rest of TN and GA
• Boosted northern morale in the face of
  humiliating losses in Virginia
• Confederates were moved out of KY and most of TN

37
Shiloh

• Federals moved down through western Tennessee to
  take the Confederacys only east-west railroad
  linking the lower South to cities on the
  Confederacys east coast
• Grant was victorious but casualties were bad
  23,746 killed, wounded, or missing
• Brought the realization to both sides that the
  war would not end quickly

38
David G. Farragut

• Led the Union in taking New Orleans, a major
  confederate city and stronghold
• Key location in taking control of the Mississippi
  River

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The War in the East

• Lees Last Victories and the Battle of Gettysburg

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Fredericksburg, VA

• Lee defeated Burnside
• Burnside launched ill-conceived frontal assault
  on Confederates dug in behind a stone wall
• More than 10,000 Federals killed or wounded in
  "Burnsides slaughter pen
• Burnside removed from command and replaced by
  "Fighting Joe" Hooker

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Chancellorsville

• Lees smaller force split Hookers army in two
• "Stonewall" Jackson made daring move around
  Unions flank
• Union defeated again by a smaller force only half
  its size
• Hooker shortly after removed and replaced by
  General George Meade

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Significance

• Significance Stonewall Jackson killed
  accidentally by own man
• Lee "I have lost my right arm."
• Casualties Confederates lost 13,000 men (22 of
  Lees army)

44
Battle of Gettysburg

• Lee decided to invade the North through PA in
  hopes of strengthening peace movement in North
  and getting direct foreign support

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The Battle

• Day 1 -- July 1 Confederates took Gettysburg
  but the Union took high ground overlooking the
  city
• Day 2 -- July 2 Lee went on the offensive in
  hopes to come from behind the union

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Day 3 -- July 3

• Lee ordered Gen. George Picketts division to
  attack the Union center at Cemetery Ridge
  Picketts division annihilated -- "high tide of
  the Confederacy"
• Confederates would never again be so close to
  victory nor on Northern soil
• Lee retreated while taking full responsibility
  for the Confederate defeat

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Picketts Charge
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Golden Opportunity Wasted

• Meade neglected to pursue Lee and finish off his
  army
• Lincoln after Meades report that Lee had been
  repelled "My God, is that all"

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Significance

• Bloodiest battle of the Civil War 53,000
  casualties
• South was doomed after Gettysburg and would never
  again invade the North and would remain in the
  defensive till wars end

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Gettysburg Address

• Established Declaration of Independence as
  document of founding law
• Equality became supreme commitment of the federal
  government
• Established idea of nation over union
• The United States is a free country instead of
  United States are a free country

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Gettysburg Address

• Most Americans today accept Lincolns concept of
  America
• Attracted relatively little attention at the time
  but became one of most important speeches in
  world history
• Union victory proved men are capable of governing
  themselves in a free society

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The End of the War in the West
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Vicksburg

• Campaign lasted seven months
• Vicksburg last Confederate stronghold on the
  Mississippi River
• July 4, Confederate army surrendered to Grant
  29,500 men
• Significance Split the Confederacy in two and
  gave Union total control of Miss. River
• Boosted Union morale

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Sherman Marches through Georgia

• William Tecumseh Sherman pushed his way through
  GA after the battle of Kennesaw Mountain and
  captured and burned Atlanta in Sept. 1864

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"March to the Sea"

• After taking Atlanta, cut a 60-mile-wide swath
  through the heart of  Georgia before emerging at
  Savannah on the sea

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Purpose

• Aimed to destroy supplies destined for the
  Confederate army and weaken morale of the men at
  the front by waging war on their homes
• Determined to inflict the horrors of war on the
  South to break its will

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Turned Northward

• Into South Carolina where destruction more severe
  than in Georgia
• Capital city of Columbia set on fire
• Shermans army reached deep into North Carolina
  by wars end

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The Copperheads

• Democratic faction that preached either defeatism
  with disloyal talk or a peace at any price"
  philosophy
• Many seized without warrant and held for
  prolonged periods w/o trial

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The Copperheads

• Came to be known as Copperhead Democrats, named
  after poisonous snake which strikes without a
  warning rattle
• Attacked Lincoln for perpetuating an unjust war

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Clement L. Vallandigham

• Ex-congressman from Ohio who demanded an end to
  the "wicked cruel war," denounced conscription
  and suspension of habeus corpus

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Clement Silenced

• Convicted by military tribunal in 1863 for
  treason and sentenced to 2 years in prison
• Lincoln banished him to the Confederacy for fear
  that his imprisonment would make him a martyr to
  antiwar agitators

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What Happened?

• Before end of war, returned to Ohio where despite
  his continued defiance, was not arrested again
  per Lincolns orders
• Demonstrated Lincoln's moderation toward
  political opponents

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Politics in 1864

• Congressional Committee on the conduct of the War
• Formed by anti-Lincoln Republicans, led by Salmon
  P. Chase, many distrusted his ability and wanted
  to keep him in check
• Abolitionists demanded immediate freedom for all
  slaves

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Northern Democrats Divided

• They lacked a leader
• War Democrats supported Lincoln
• Peace Democrats numbering 10s of 1000s did not
  support Lincoln

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Copperheads Most Radical

• Some wished the Confederacy was victorious
  deadly anti-Lincoln
• Strong in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois which
  contained many Southerners
• Governors struggled to keep these states
  cooperating with federal govt

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Presidential Candidates

• Union party -- Coalition of the Republican party
  and War Democrats
• Republican party was temporarily out of existence
• Republicans feared defeat from anti-Lincoln,
  anti-Republican sentiment

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Andrew Johnson

• V.P. running-mate loyal War Democrat from TN who
  had been a small slave owner when the war began
• Put on ticket to attract War Democrats and Border
  States
• Slogan "Dont swap horses in the middle of the
  river."

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George McClellan is Back

• Democratic Party nominated him
• Copperheads platform denounced the prosecution of
  the war as a failure
• McClellan rejected this portion of the platform

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The War Affected the Election

• During primaries and during much of the fall, the
  Union forces were held up in the west and the
  Wilderness
• Lincoln believed he would not be reelected
• Some anti-Lincoln Republicans moved to "dump"
  Lincoln in favor of a more attractive candidate

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Northern Victories Swayed the Outcome

• Admiral Farragut captured Mobile, Alabama "Damn
  the torpedoes! Go ahead!
• General Sherman took Atlanta
• General Phillip Sheridan destroyed the Shenandoah
  Valley
• Northern soldiers furloughed home to vote for
  Lincoln others voted at the front

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Result

• Lincoln defeated McClellan
• One of most crushing defeats for the South
• Lincolns election assured continued policy of
  "total war"
• Last real hope for a Confederate victory
• Confederate desertions increased sharply

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Second Inaugural Speech

• Lincoln
• -- "With malice toward none, with charity for
  all"

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END OF THE WAR IN THE EAST
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Grants Virginia Campaign

• Grant promoted to head of all Union armies after
  Lincolns dismay with Meade after Gettysburg
• Grants strategy to attack the enemys armies
  simultaneously not allowing them to assist one
  another Confederate army would be destroyed
  slowly
• Campaign would result in 50,000 Union casualties

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Key Conflicts

• Wilderness Grant embarked for Richmond with over
  100,000 men
• Spotsylvania Courthouse 24,000 casualties

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Cold Harbor

• Grant ordered frontal assault at major cost
• 7,000 Yankees killed in a half-hour Confederate
  losses less than 1,500
• Public opinion in North appalled at the losses
  Critics "Grant the Butcher
• Grant determined to continue the grind Lincoln
  supported him

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Petersburg

• Contained all railroads that served Lees army
  Richmond from the south
• Lee rushed in time to defend Petersburg Grant
  lay siege to the city for 9 months.
• Along with Richmond, fell on April 2, 1865

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Richmond

• Grant hoped to divert Confederate forces from
  Petersburg
• Lee sacrificed several detachments in rear guard
  to evacuate both Richmond Petersburg
  successfully

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Early 1865

• Confederates attempted to negotiate for peace
  between the "two countries.
• Lincoln not willing to accept anything short of
  unconditional surrender

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Lees Surrender

• Confederate army surrounded near Appomattox Court
  House in VA.
• April 9, 1865 -- Lee surrendered the Army of
  Northern Virginia
• War in Virginia was officially over
• Remaining Confederate armies surrendered within
  the next few weeks

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Terms of Surrender

• Were very generous
• The 30,000 captured Confederates were paroled and
  allowed to go home so long as they vowed never to
  take up arms against the Union again

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More Terms

• Confederates allowed to keep their own horses for
  spring plowing
• Officers could keep their side arms
• Grant "The war is over the rebels are our
  countrymen again."

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Lincoln assassinated on the night of April 14,
1865 (Good Friday)
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Quick Response

• Only five days after Lees surrender, Lincoln
  assassinated at Fords theater by John Wilkes
  Booth
• Lincoln died at the peak of his fame thus
  becoming a martyr

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Southern View

• Although initially jubilant over his death, the
  South came to view it as catastrophic
• Lincolns approach to reconstruction moderate
  compared to the later actual policy
• Assassination increased bitterness in the North
  against the South especially with rumors that
  Jefferson Davis had plotted it

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Prisoner of War Camps

• North treated prisoners better than the South
  more resources
• Southern prisons could not provide for POWs since
  Confederate soldiers often lacked basic
  necessities

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Andersonville

• Located in Georgia
• The most notorious of the POW camps more than
  13,000 died there

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Results and Costs of the Civil War
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Results

• 620,000 soldiers dead (2 of population!) over 1
  million total casualties unknown civilian
  casualties
• The South lost the cream of its youth and
  potential leadership
• Slavery abolished

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Costs

• Total cost of war 15 billion (about 1.5
  trillion in todays dollars)

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States Rights

• States rights supporters were from this point
  forward crushed as the Civil War served as the
  greatest constitutional decision in U.S. history
• Nullification and secession died with the
  Confederacy

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Preservation

• Ideal of Union and nation triumphant
• Dangers of two nations and balance of power
  politics avoided

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Long Term

• Monroe Doctrine now had more teeth in it
• U.S. would now look to the hemisphere and beyond
  to expand its influence