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The End of the Waiting Game a po
• Before the war
o No one knew how war would end – both sides thought that the fighting would be over quickly and
people’s daily lives would go on as usual.
o Lincoln’s inauguration
 Said that a State can’t legally leave the Union. He promises not to invade
 He repeated his pledge not to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists.
 Republicans have all the power in cabinet: William Seward (State Department), Salmon Chase (Treasury),
Simon Cameron (War Department); Edward Bates (Attorney-General)
• The Fall of Fort Sumter
o Word arrived from South Carolina that time was running out at the federal garrison in Charleston.
o Major Robert Anderson only had enough supplies for about a month, and the Confederates had surrounded the
fort.
o The fort needed supplies, so Lincoln sends them on April 4 1861.
o South’s response is that Jefferson Davis doesn’t allow it
o First shots of war fired at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861
 Pierre G. T. Beauregard attacks Major Anderson
o Anderson’s surrender: the Union troops left the fort on April 14
• Lincoln declares war
o Call for 75,000 militiamen, Lincoln asks loyal states for men on April 5
o Blockade of southern ports on April 19th – existence of war, Supreme Court rules later
• Further splits in Union
o Upper South secedes – VA, AR, TN, NC; TN & VA have union support in mountains, but mainly want to secede.
o West Virginia formed. Union gov. and Gen. George B. McClellan in western Virginia form the state; ratified in
1863
o Delaware stays in the Union, even though it is a slave state
o Border state divided
 Habeas corpus suspended to hold Maryland; Lincoln arrests confederate supporters so that Maryland
will stay in the Union, other than Maryland, DC is by itself in the middle of Confederate states.
 Federal forces in Kentucky, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant → Paducah stays in Union
 War in Missouri – Union pushes rebels south to AR; border war continues
o Choosing sides
 Robert E. Lee was in the US army for thirty years, but couldn’t fight against Virginia. Doesn’t really
think seceding will help at all, but joins the Confederacy.
 Many southerners made great sacrifices to stay with the Union. One out of every five soldiers from
Arkansas killed in the war fought on the Union side.
 Southerners with Union: all confederate states except SC had Union regiments
 Ethnic groups: if they opposed secession or the war, they were shot, hanged, whipped especially
Germans
• The Balance of Force
o Economic advantages
 Population: 22 million in north to 9 million in south, and 4 million of the 9 million in the South were slaves.
 Industry: Union: almost all shoes, textiles, iron, firearms, railroad equip vs. Confederacy: only had
Tredegar Iron Works. The states that joined the confederacy produced just seven percent of the
nation’s manufactures.
 Agriculture: north produced surplus food crop, but the south barely had enough
 Transportation: north: had lots of railroads, and had more wagons, horses, and ships than the
Confederacy.
o Military advantages
 Geography – south could fight on its own territory
 Leadership – south had more experienced leaders at the start of the war, but by the end north
had them
 Navy – North had more ships, had even more (90→650) by the end of the war
The War’s Early Course
• Strategies
o Anaconda strategy
 War ends with fall of D.C. or Richmond
 Jefferson Davis allowed the battle-hungry Gerneral Beauregard to
hurry the main Confederate amry to the railroad center at
Manassas Junction, Virginia, about twenty miles west of
Washington. Lincoln decided that General Irvin McDowell’s hastily
assembled Union army of some 37,000 might overrun the
outnumbered Confederates and quickly march on to Richmand.
 Winfield Scott: long war with a naval blockade, then push south;
critics said that strategy was way too slow
• First Battle of Bull Run
o People realized that this might be a long, costly war, instead of the short and easy one they had envisioned.
 Gen. Irvin McDowell vs. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard & Gen. Joseph E.
Johnston & Tomas “Stonewall” Jackson. July 21, 1861 the battle began. Each general was trying to turn the
other’s left flank. The Union army fled, but the Confederate army was so tired that they didn’t give chase.
o Results in new strategies
 Union’s “Anaconda” plan
• Defend D.C. & try to capture Richmond, and blockade the southern coast
(so that they’d have no supplies or weapons), and then divide south at Miss., Tenn., Cumberland
 Confederacy
• Stalemate Union, British/French help or negotiated settlement once the stalemate was
achieved.
• Naval action
o Ironclad ships
 Virginia (Original Merrimack) vs. Monitor, it was a draw. The Confederates had to destroy the ship when
the had to give up Norfolk soon afterward.
o Union seized ports along the southern coasts with its navy.
 Port Royal, Fortress Monroe. continued down the coast to New
Orleans. In the Spring of 1862, Admiral David Farragut forced open the lower Mississippi near its mouth
and surprised the Confederate defenders of New Orleans.
• Forming armies
o North
 One million men – 500,000 at first, then doubled after Battle of Bull run.
 This rapid mobilization left the army with a large number of “political” officers, commissioned by state
governors or elected by the recruits.
o Conscription
 Union conscription
• (1863) 20‐45; exemptions on medical compassionate grounds, or $300 would buy you out of it
 Confederacy Conscription
• In the beginning, Jefferson Davis had called up volunteers with short enlistment periods,
and by early 1862 most of the veteran Confederate soldiers were nearing the end of their
enlistment without having encountered much significant action. Tey were also resisting
bonuses and furloughs offered as incentives for reenlistment. The confederate
governemtn then turned to conscription.
• (1862) all whites 18‐35 for 3 yrs.; (1862) 18‐45; (1864) 17‐50 & others for state defense
• However, there were loopholes: they would say substitute not of draft age or $500 in cash;
key professional positions exempt (including state officials and teachers)
o Opposition to conscription
 Against states’ rights because it required the authority of central power.
 Rioting in the North (July 11 1863) – many Irish Catholic immigrants rioted because the
loopholes favored the wealthy, a lot of people died, and people blamed blacks for the war.
• The West and the Civil War
o Effects on the region
 Settlement continued
 Gold and silver were found in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Montana, and Colorado
 New states and territories in the Union
• Territories: (1861) Dakota, Colorado, NV; (1863) Idaho, Arizona; (1864) MT
• Statehood for NV in 1864
o Fighting on Kansas‐Missouri border
 Lincoln wanted to protect the gold and silver and he hoped to win western
support for the war.
 o Indian involvement for both sides, in OK fought each other
 “5 Civilized Tribes” owned slaves, connection with S. whites; Choctaws, Chickasaws
 Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles split b/c of war
o Grant moves on Forts Henry and Donelson (Unconditional surrender)
 Gen. Ulysses S. Grant vs. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson
 Johnson’s troops spread thin; Grant takes Fort Henry & Fort Donelson
o Shiloh – Johnston attacks Grant’s exposed troops
 Costliest American battle yet ‐ 20,000 dead (both sides)
 Halleck replaces Grant b/c Halleck is jealous, spreads false rumors
• McClellan’s peninsular campaign
o Lincoln replaced McDowell with Gen. George B. McClellan as gen.‐in‐chief, who seemed confident and organized, but
actually crippled the army by being too cautious.
o Indirect attack on Richmond – ignored Lincoln’s order for direct attack, delayed, &
entered Richmond between York & James Rivers
o Confederate diversion – Stonewall Jackson → Shenandoah Valley
o Lee takes command of Army of N. VA; knows how to use his commanders’ talents
o Lee attacks McClellan at Malvern Hill (Seven Day’s Battle), Confederacy fails
o Halleck named general‐in‐chief after McClellan lectures Lincoln on war policy
• Second Bull Run
o John Pope + McClellan (enforcement) vs. Jackson + Lee’s main army; no clear win
o Pope didn’t realize at first that not only would he face Jackson, but Lee’s main army had joined in by that time.
o After a crushing attack on Pope’s flank that send the Federals into retreat, McClellan took control of the army
again.
• Antietam
o Confederate plan tipped off by paper memo, McClellan delays (again) over strength
o Bloodiest day of war – Union lost 2,108 (10,000 wounded); Lee lost ¼ army (but fewer than union)
o Confederate defeat; McClellan fails to gain decisive victory, so he was removed by Lincoln
• Fredericksburg
o Ambrose E. Burnside appointed by Lincoln as general, but he was unfit (as Burnside knew)
o Army of Potomac sent into open field; slaughtered; 12,000 causalities vs. 6000
• The end of 1862
o Deadlock
 Union morale low; Democrats: negotiated settlement; Radical Republicans question
st
Lincoln’s competence. On January 1 , 1863, Lincoln changed the war from a way to restore the Union to a
revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Blacks and women in war
• Emancipation
o Obstacles to emancipation – racial prejudice in North; uneasy w/ racial integration;
constitutional right
o Military liberation of slaves – generals declared “contrabands” free or made them work
o Intermediate moves – fed. Compensation for gradual emancipation; failed in congress
o Reasons for emancipation – slave labor helped south, boost to North morale, eliminate chance of help from France
or Britain
nd
o Emancipation Proclamation (April 16,1862); 2 passed on July 17 1862, Lincoln
signed Jan 1 1863
• Blacks in military
st
o All‐black units – Mass. 1 , then RI and others
o National recruitment – May 1863,
 Changed war: preserve Union → transform racial status quo in south
o Combat
 Colonel Shaw Harvard attacked Fort Wagner w/ black troops; ½ killed
 Also in Vicksburg campaign; helped win acceptance
• Abolition of slavery
o State action – MO & TN abolish slavery (Jan 1865)
th
o 13 amendment (Dec 18 1865) – abolishes slavery
• Women and the war
o Service as nurses
st
 Dorothea Dix – Union army’s 1 superintendent of Women Nurses
 Clara Barton – followed troops, worked in makeshift field hospitals
 Sally Tompkins – private hospital, only 73 out of 1,333 died (best anywhere)
 In charge of Businesses, farms, plantations; became clerks, munitions plant workers, teachers;
 400 fought as disguised men; spies; cooks; writers;
 Lack of preparation among slaveholding elite – many couldn’t cook, sew, clean
o Effects of war – many widows, spinsters, orphans; some women refused to return home; found uses
outside house
Government during the war
• Congressional power
o South to North shift – south left congress; north could pass laws w/o compromise
o Major legislation (by 1862) – protective tariff, RR approved through Omaha, NE → Sacramento, CA; homestead
act (160 acres free if worked land for 5 years); National Banking Act (1863); Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) aid
to mechanical & agricultural colleges; Contract Labor Act (1864) encouraged immigrant labor
• Wartime finances
o The Union
 Higher taxes
• Morrill Tariff – import tariff & Excise taxes ‐ on basically everything;
income tax added
• Internal Revenue Act – created Bureau of Internal Revenue b. Paper money ‐ $450
mil printed; backed by trust in gov’t not gold/silver c. Bonds ‐ $2 billion sold; Jay
Cooke promoted
o Confederation
 Confederate finances were a disaster from the start.
 In the first year of its existence, the Confederacy enacted a tax of .5% on most forms of property,
which should have made lots of money, byt the Confederacy famred out its collection of the taxes to
the states.
 In 1863 the desperate Confederate Congress began taxing nearly everything, but there was little
enforcement and evasion was easy.
• Confederate diplomacy
o Desire for foreign help – wanted help from Britain, France; thought Cotton would do it
o European talks – Napoleon III (France) to recognize Confederacy as country if Britain did it first; Britain
refused
o Trent affair – Union stopped British ship (neutral); captures James M. Mason & John
Slidell; Britain protest → release of captives
• Wartime politics
o Union politics
 Pressure of the Radicals – composed of prewar abolitionists (House: Thaddeus Stevens, George W.
Julian; Senate: Charles Sumner, Benjamin F. Wade, Zachariah Chandler)
• Supported confiscation of plantations, immediate emancipation of slaves, more intense
war
Johnson, Sec. of War Edwin M. Stanton
 Suspension of habeas corpus – Congress granted with Habeas Corpus Act of
1863; required to report names, arrested released after oath of allegiance
14,000 arrests – mostly confederates accused of crossing blockades
 Campaign of 1864
• Democrats (McClellan) – immediate end to war & restoration of Union
• Radicals – tried to thwart Lincoln’s nomination
• Results – Lincoln (National Union party) wins
o Confederate politics
 Electoral system – Davis elected w/o opposition for 6 yrs
 Dissent – food grew scarce, prices increased
• Unionists followed states into Confed. reluctantly; open to peace talk
• States’ rights (NC, GA, etc.) – politicians wanted to secede & keep states rights; Against ‐
legality of draft, taxes on farm produce, suspension of habeas corpus
The Faltering Confederacy
• Battle of Chancellorsville
o Largest Union army yet – 130,000
o Death of Jackson – Confederates fire at Jackson in darkness; gets pneumonia → dies
o Lee defeats Hooker
 Peak of Lee’s career & Lee’s last major win
 Costliest for Lee (1,600 die)
• Grant’s Vicksburg victory – capture = control Mississippi R. & split Confederacy in 2; May 18
1863 pinned 30,000 inside Vicksburg → death by bombarding & starvation
• Gettysburg – Major‐General George G. Meade replaces Hooker
o Lee’s invasion
 Scavenging party meets Union cavalry, both sides converge
 Confed. push Union into higher ground (Meade reinforces)
 Lee w/o info b/c J.E.B. Stuart absent (July 2)
 Lee attacks left & right of Meade’s army → not successful
 o Pickett’s charge
 Lee risks 1 last stand, generals not unified; James Longstreet doesn’t comply
 General George Pickett (alone b/c Longstreet didn’t help) attacks Meade
from front; massacre b/c open field.
o Confederate defeat
o Cemetery established – Northern states fund military cemetery for 6,000 soldiers killed
• Third major Union victory of 1863: Chattanooga
o Gen. William Rosecrans vs. Gen. Braxton Bragg; Union wins TN after Grant takes lead; Grant’s genius confirmed
o Could have been bad for Union, because for once the Confederate army was bigger, but the stubborn stand of
Geogre H. Thomas prevented a rout, and the Union forces fell back until Grant was sent with reinforcements.
The Confederacy’s Defeat
• Union on the offensive – Grant wages war of attrition, takes all civilian property of use
o Grant pursues Lee in Virginia; several battles, Union falls back; Union massacred at
Cold Harbor, Grant’s biggest mistake (frontal attack); Union traps Confederacy at
Petersburg for 9 mos., Confed. wastes away while Union is supplied
o Sherman moves across South – Sherman persues Johnston towards Atlanta, Johnston eludes him; Davis replaces
Johnston with reckless John B. Hood; Battle of Franklin (Nov 30) & Battle of Nashville (Dec 15‐16) Hood’s Army
of Tennessee destroyed; Johnston attacks once at Bentonville (Mar 19‐20), Union wins
o Sherman recognizes connection between South’s economy, morale, ability to wage war; destroyed $100 mil in
prop. , freed 40,000 slaves; Captured Columbia, SC (capital) Feb 17, 1865
• Appomattox – Confederates starving; Davis tries to flee, captured in GA by Union (May 10); Lee’s men flee Richmond
• Surrender
o Lee surrenders to Grant (April 9, 1865)
o Johnston surrenders to Sherman in May
A Modern War
• 1/12 adult males served in war; 620,000 died in conflict; 2x as many die from disease; 1st modern war with “rifled” guns, &
other new weapons etc.
• It’s scope was unprecedented.
• Much of the killing was distant, impersonal, anc mechanical. Men were killed without knowing who had killed them.