Transcript The American Civil War

The American Civil War
Brother against brother; a war that claimed
more American lives than any other
The North v. The South

Similarities




Differences
Fought together in the American
Revolution
Common vocabulary, economic
system, and government
documents
Racial superiority
Relied on each other

South grew cotton/North
manufactured the clothing




Troubled by slavery

Most viewed slavery as a
necessary evil

Slavery viewed as
unnecessary in the North
The South grew rice, corn,
and cotton


Labor intensive crops
Necessary to have many
workers
Slavery viewed as necessary
for the survival of the South

50% of Southern
population was slaves
The War Begins

Fort Sumter


In response, Lincoln
calls for 75,000
militiamen to put down
the rebellion
Virginia, North
Carolina, Tennessee,
and Arkansas join the
confederacy
National Flag of the Confederacy
Random fact




Why are there 13 stars on the Confederate
flag?
The Confederacy claimed that two other
Southern states were part of the Confederacy,
even though they never seceded
Which two?
Kentucky and Missouri
Planning for War


Richmond, Virginia: Capital of the
Confederacy—most populous (populated)
state in the South
Border states: Slave states that remained in
the Union

West Virginia separated from Virginia in 1863
and rejoined the Union
The Battle Plans


South: Defense—as the heavy underdog, they
believed that European dependence on cotton
would bring Europe into the war on the side of
the South
North: The Anaconda Plan (3 parts)



Naval Blockade: Block the South from shipping
goods or people
Control the Mississippi river: Split the South in two
Capture Richmond, Virginia—the capital of the
Confederacy
Success of Plans

South: Europe had plenty of
cotton and never came to
their aid

The First Battle of Bull Run



Confederate General Thomas
“Stonewall” Jackson pushed
the Union back
Caused the Union to panic
The Union quickly changed
their approach of the war to
“preserve the Union” rather
than “eliminate slavery”

North: Lousy generals
failed to take advantage of
the weaker South


“If McClellan does not use
the Army, I would like to
borrow it.” -- Lincoln
Failed Generals:





George McClellan
Henry Halleck
John Fremont
Joseph Hooker
Etc…
Lessons from Bull Run



The war would be
bloody
There wouldn’t be a
quick end to the war
The Confederate
soldiers, though less in
number, were stronger
and more determined
than Union soldiers
A war fought in homes and backyards
Close to home
“As we stood in the door, four or five shells
sailed over our heads at the same time… I had
heard Jimmy laugh about the singular
sensation produced by the rifled balls
spinning around one’s head, and here I heard
the same peculiar sound, ran the same risk,
and was equal to the rest of the boys, for was I
not in the midst of flying shells, in the middle
of a bombardment?”
Confederate Soldiers

Answer the following question in your notes:
Why might Confederate soldiers be more
determined than Union soldiers?

Most Southerners were passionate about keeping
slavery while many Northerners had nothing
against slavery—the South was fighting for
something that meant a lot to them
Two Fronts


Western Front: Fought mostly in Tennessee
and Mississippi along the Mississippi River.
Eastern Front: Fought mostly in Virginia, near
the Mason-Dixon line.
The Western Front

General Ulysses S.
Grant (Union)



Strategy: “Find out
where your enemy is.
Get at him as soon as
you can. Strike at him
as hard as you can, and
keep moving on.”
Conquered major forts
in Tennessee
The Battle of Shiloh

Though victorious,
Grant was made to look
like a fool and nearly
lost control of the army
The Eastern Front

General Robert E. Lee (Confederate)


Left the Union at the beginning of the War
Goes on the offensive (attack)

Seven Days’ Battles



Keep the Union from taking Richmond, Virginia
After seven days, the Union army was forced to retreat
Invasion of the North




It might force Lincoln into peace talks
It would give Virginians rest from the war
It would allow Southerners to plunder much needed food
It would demonstrate to Europe that the Confederacy could
survive without the Union
The Battle of Antietam



Lee’s battle plans discovered
The Union attacks
The Battle of Antietam

The bloodiest day in American
history



23,000 Americans died in 1 day
Confederates retreat
McClellan fails to follow


Allows Confederate army to
rebuild itself
Lincoln fires McClellan
The Battle of Antietam

“Again and again… by the charges and
counter-charges, this portion of the field was
lost and recovered, until the green corn that
grew upon it looked as if it had been struck by
a storm of bloody hail…. From sheer
exhaustion, both sides, like battered and
bleeding athletes, seemed willing to rest.”
The Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam
1863: The Year Everything Changed

Throughout the war, abolitionists urged the
government to ban slavery in the Union

The government refused


Their goal was to reunite the Union, and if they banned
slavery, then the South would never return
The Emancipation Proclamation: In 1863,
Lincoln declared that all slaves in Confederate
held territory (the South) were free

The primary goal of the war shifted to ending
slavery/liberation of a people
The Emancipation Proclamation

“On the first day of January, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtythree, all persons held as slaves within any
State or designated part of a State, the people
whereof shall then be in rebellion against the
United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
and forever free.”
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation
Response to the Proclamation




Critics: “Monstrous, impudent, and
heinous…insulting to God as to man”
Supporters: Emancipation was “to destroy
everything that…gives the rebels strength”
African Americans: “We shout for joy that we
live to record this righteous decree”
Though few slaves were freed, free African
Americans joined the fight on the side of the
Union
General Lee Makes a Mistake


In 1863, Lee made one of his only mistakes
during the war: he invaded the North… again
The Battle of Gettysburg became the turning
point of the war



Raged for three days
Union forces tried to hold their ground
Pickett’s Charge: General George Pickett
attacked the middle of the Union line
The Battle of Gettysburg

Pickett’s charge rushed 15,000 Confederate soldiers
toward the middle of the Union defense




“bayonet thrusts, sabre strokes, pistol shots…men going
down on their hands and knees, spinning round like
tops…ghastly heaps of dead men.”
Forced to retreat
1/4 of the Union army was killed while 1/3 of the
Confederate army was killed (51,000 Americans)
Union generals once again failed to follow and destroy
the South’s army, and though the war lasted 2 more
years, the South never fully recovered
Amputation
Prisoner’s of War
Dead Confederate Sharpshooter
The Battlefield
The Siege of Vicksburg

The Siege of Vicksburg: The day after Pickett’s
Charge, General Grant successfully surrounded
Vicksburg, Mississippi for more than a month



Confederates ran out of food and were forced into
hiding
The Union won control of the Mississippi river,
splitting the South in two
Lincoln finally found a general who wasn’t a
pushover (General Ulysses Grant)
Vicksburg
By Land
By Sea
The beginning of the end…

The Battle of Gettysburg and the Siege of
Vicksburg marked the beginning of the end
for the Confederate States of America