THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865

The Civil War: A

Long, Bloody Affair
 No one thought the war would last
long.

One congressman said he’d be able to

wipe up all the blood spilt over secession
with his handkerchief.
 Northern Advantages
 North had the population advantage, with 22
million people to the South’s 9 million.
 North had the economic advantage,
controlling 85% of U.S. industry. They could
produce military supplies faster
 Most of the railroads were located in the
Northeast and Midwest, so the north could
move troops and supplies more easily
 Most of the U.S. Navy remained loyal to the
Union. This allowed for the Anaconda Plan,
which involved a naval blockade of the South.
 Southern Advantages
 South had to fight only a defensive
war – they just needed to protect
their territory until the North gave
up.

 The South had excellent military

leadership
 The War Begins…
• After the 1860 presidential election of Abraham
Lincoln, SEVEN seceding Southern states
formed the Confederate States of America.
• The War began on April 12, 1861 when
Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter. The
Confederates took the fort without either side
losing a man. FOUR more states seceded from
the Union and joined the Confederacy.

The bombardment of
Fort Sumter
 4 slave states stayed with the Union
1 new state got created (West Virginia)
 THE OBJECTIVES
OF UNION STRATEGY
Blockade the coast
Liberate slaves/undermine economy of the
South
Cut Confederacy in half by seizing
Mississippi River
Chop the Confederacy to pieces by
sending troops through Georgia and the
Carolinas
Capture Richmond, the Confederate
capital
 Robert E. Lee
•Lee had gained
recognition serving in
the Mexican War.
•Lincoln asked him to
lead the Union Army
but he said no.
•He opposed
secession and
slavery but said he
could not fight against
his home state of
Virginia. He became commander of the Confederate Army
Battle of Bull Run / Manassas
The first major battle of the Civil War,
July 1861
 Some Northerners
set up a picnic to
view this, the first
battle of the Civil War
 Union called it Bull
Run after the creek
that ran near the
battlefield.
 South called it Spectators at Bull Run
Manassas after the
town it was near
Two of the
Confederacy’s best
generals, Jackson
and Johnston,
were at Manassas.
Neither of them
would survive the
war.

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson Alfred S. Johnston

Bull Run was a Union defeat that shamed the

North and helped them realize that the war was
going to take longer than a couple of months.
Additional Bull Run information
 July 21, 1861; Confederate victory
 Near Washington, DC

 Union soldiers fled, and Confederates

did not pursue them because they
were hungry, tired, and disorganized
 South got overconfident, while North
realized the fight would be long
 Fighting Conditions

 Both sides suffered

from lack of supplies
and disease during the
war
 Disease, malnutrition
and infection took the
lives of over 65% of
the soldiers who fought
in the war. A Union doctor gets ready to amputate a
soldiers leg. Amputations were a very
common procedure during the war.
 Part of the reason there
were so many infections
is because there were
many amputations.
 The bullet being used in
the Civil War was known
as the Minie Ball. It was
made of soft lead, and
unlike modern bullets,
when it hit bone it
would spread, turning
bone into dust.
 The Minie Ball also
made Civil War rifles
much more accurate
Peninsula Campaign/
Seven Days’ Battles
 Peninsula Campaign Information
 June 26-July 2, 1862—Confederate victory
 McClellan was Union general—brilliant, but
too hesitant
 Lincoln joked that if he wasn’t going to
use the army, Lincoln would like to borrow
it; McClellan called Lincoln his baboon
 Campaign was headed for Richmond, Lee
counterattacked in Seven Days’ Battles
Merrimack vs. Monitor
 Merrimack vs. Monitor
 The Merrimack was on old wooden Union ship
that the Confederacy reconditioned into an
ironclad, unseaworthy vessel
 The Monitor, another ironclad ship, brought in by
the Union in March 1862 to defeat the
Merrimack (now called the CSS Virginia)
 Merrimack (Virginia) was eventually destroyed so
Union would not get it
Antietam—September 1862
Additional information on Antietam
 Mid-September 1862, in Maryland
 Union “victory”, led by McClellan
 Lee’s battle plans wrapped around a cigar
pack that a Confederate soldier had
dropped were found by the Union
 Gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the
Emancipation Proclamation, which
strengthened the moral cause of the war
 even more info: Antietam
 Lee invaded Maryland
trying to end war.
 Regarded as the
bloodiest day in
American History
 There was no clear
winner of the battle, but
it was enough for
Lincoln to call it a Union
victory and issue the
Emancipation
Proclamation
Emancipation
Proclamation
 Document was issued
on September 23, 1862,
and became effective
January 1, 1863
 Freed slaves in areas
rebelling against the
Union (NOT those in
border states)
 Some thought Lincoln
had gone too far, and
others that he had not
gone far enough
Emancipation Proclamation
 Freed all slaves in South occupied territory.
 Some argued that it did nothing since the South
wasn’t a part of the Union at the time.
 Officially made the war about slavery.
 The most unpopular act of Lincoln’s presidency
(in the North and South).
 Fredericksburg, VA—December
1862; Union commander Burnside
 Fredericksburg
 General Burnside sends Union troops across an open field
at Lee and his men, who were set up behind a stone wall.
The Union Army took huge losses.

“General Lee, A
chicken could not
live on that field
when we open on it”
-Gen. James
Longstreet before
Fredericksburg
Chancellorsville, VA—May 1863
 Lee divided his army and sneaked up behind the Union, led by
General Hooker. Federal troops are taken totally by surprise and
the Confederacy wins, but Stonewall Jackson was mistakenly
killed late in the day by his own men.
Jackson is buried in Lexington, but his arm is
buried 100 miles away on a farm
Gettysburg—July 1-3, 1863
Sample battle maps
 Day 2: Little Round Top

Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his Maine Regiment defend Little
Round Top from repeated Confederate assaults. Out of ammo, he orders a
bayonets charge to finally push back the Confederate attack.
Little Round Top
after the Battle
Cemetery Ridge
The weapons were more advanced
than the tactics
 A big reason casualties were so high during the Civil War was
because the weapons technology had advanced, but generals were
still using the old way of fighting – marching up men in columns,
lining up and firing.
 Gettysburg
 Lee gambles again and invades the North
 He hopes to bring the war to the North hoping
that public support would drop and the Union
would have to recognize the Confederacy.
 Lee’s army was short on supplies, and the North
is where they would be able to raid towns for
food, clothes and other necessities.
75,000 Confederates in Pennsylvania!
 The first shots are
fired by Illinois
Cavalry when a
Southern raiding
party was
discovered coming
into Gettysburg
looking for shoes.
 This was the only
major battle fought
in the North
 Pickett’s Charge

 On the 3rd day of the battle, Lee orders 15,000 men under Gen. George
Pickett to assault the center of the Union line. They must cross a half
mile of open ground to get there.
 After Gettysburg

Casualties after 3 days at Gettysburg – Union: 23,000; Confederacy: 28,000.

Gettysburg permanently turned the tide of the war for the North. From that point
on Lee’s army was hurting.
 Matthew Brady’s photos of Civil War battlefields
presented the horrors of the war to the public in a way
they had never seen before.
Gettysburg Address: 272 words that provide
hope for liberty worldwide
Meanwhile….

OUT WEST IN 1862-1863, THE UNION

FINALLY BEGINS TO IDENTIFY A
GREAT GENERAL WHO WILL HELP
WIN THE WAR….
Capture of Fort Henry out west, Feb 1862—
Ulysses S. Grant proves himself; this helps open
the way to capture Tennessee
Fort Donelson, Feb 1862—Grant demands
“unconditional surrender”
Battle of Corinth, Mississippi
Battle of Shiloh, TN—April 1862
By the end of the war, 7 more battles as deadly as Shiloh (or more) would
be fought. Shiloh was particularly gory, and a northern “victory.”
Casualties from the entire Revolutionary War: 4,500
Casualties from two days at the Battle of Shiloh: 23,500
Battle of New Orleans, spring
1862—Farragut commands the
troops
Battle of Vicksburg, 1863
Goals: control of the Mississippi River and cutting
off Confederate supply routes
Vicksburg facts

 Siege ended July 4, 1863

 Confederate garrison was so hungry that
men were eating rats and mules to
survive
 Union victory came one day after the
victory at Gettysburg and ended any
hope that the Confederacy had of getting
foreign aid
 Ulysses S. Grant
 In the West, Grant’s siege
of Vicksburg is a success
giving the Union control
of the Mississippi River.
 Grant was an aggressive
military leader. And
always wanted to push his
army forward.
 Lincoln says of Grant, “I
can’t spare this man, he
fights.”
Atlanta and Sherman’s
March to the Sea
 Facts about the march
 Sherman’s men captured Atlanta in
September 1864 and burned the city
 They then cut a 60-mile-wide path of
destruction during their 250 mile journey
southeast to Savannah
 Soldiers burned buildings, tore up railroad
tracks and shaped them into pretzels, and
ran off with souvenirs after looting towns
Ruins in Charleston, SC
Wilderness Campaign, May-June 1864
 Grant’s Plan
 Grant tells Lincoln he is going
to march on Richmond, take is
losses and press on until the
South ran out of men, supplies
or the will to fight – this tactic is
called a “war of attrition”.

 Grant was criticized because of

his willingness to take losses.
Some in the North called him a
“butcher”. He knew the fastest
way to end the war was to use
the Union’s superior numbers.
Additional information

 Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864, was a

particularly bloody encounter; in a few
minutes, about 7000 Union men were
killed or wounded
 Union forces were headed for Richmond
 Casualties were very high; Lee’s
desperation as troop numbers were
depleted led to brutal trench warfare
Appomattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865
 Lee Surrenders at Appomattox
 With his army starving and getting smaller every day, Lee
eventually meets with Grant to sign terms of surrender in
Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia
 Lee thought Grant’s terms were generous.
 The Confederate Army had to turn over its
arms and provide lists of its men.
 After that, all Confederate soldiers could go
home.
 Officers could keep their side-arms, horses
and baggage.
 40 hours after Jefferson Davis fled Richmond,
Lincoln sat in his office and walked the streets
of the former Confederate capital.
Roles played by African-Americans
 180,000 served in the Union army, made up 10% of
enlistments
 Participated in about 500 engagements
 Won 22 Congressional Medals of Honor
 Extremely heavy casualties; about 38,000 died, and if
captured, were often executed
 Fort Pillow massacre in Tennessee as they tried to
surrender
 Some slaves served as spies and scouts for the
Union
 South enlisted African-Americans during the last
month of the war as an act of desperation
 About 500,000 escaped to the North
 54th Massachusetts

In the North, all black regiments were being formed. The

54th Massachusetts gained military fame for leading the
failed assault on Fort Wagner. Casualties were at 50%
Election issues in 1864
 Democratic party split: War Democrats are pro-
Lincoln, Peace Democrats want to end the war,
and Copperheads support the South
 Radical Republicans resent Lincoln’s use of
power and want to run Salmon Chase
 UNION party formed by Republicans and War
Democrats
 Democrats run McClellan vs. Lincoln
 Andrew Johnson, a War Democrat, is chosen
as Lincoln’s running mate to help gain victory
 Lincoln’s death and its impact
 Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s
Theater in Washington, DC on April 14,
1865
 Made things worse for the South and
intensified the struggle over
Reconstruction; Lincoln had been a
moderate and skilled at the political game
in ways that Andrew Johnson would prove
not to be
Casualties of war

Casualty rates for many

Civil War battles were at
50%. Nowadays a 10%
casualty rate is
considered a “bloodbath”

Some regiments that began

with around 1,500 men
would be reduced to less
that 300 in a year.
 Toll the war took on the country
 Over 600,000 people died, which is almost as many
as the deaths in all other US wars combined

 $15 billion in losses

 Southern economy paralyzed; the impact of this

lingers today

 No more ideas about secession and nullification

 End of slavery

 Despite the destruction, the war served as

inspiration for the champions of democracy in the US
and around the world….though the road to equality
would be difficult for African-Americans