Transcript The Civil War

Fort Sumter
• Lincoln was in a difficult position
-Remove-giving in to their demands
-Attack-North would be viewed as the
aggressor
• Ultimately decides to send supplies, but not
additional soldiers
• April 12, 1861-South Carolinians opened fire on
Fort Sumter
Border States
• Border States: Missouri, Kentucky, West
Virginia, MD, Delaware
• -if North had fired first shot, border states
might have seceded
• Lincoln hoped to have God on his side, but
needed to have Kentucky
Map of the U.S. 1861
Southern v. Northern
Advantages
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South
Defensive war
Know the terrain
Strong generals
Rebel yell
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North
More people
Industrialization
Railroads
Anaconda Plan
Three Part Plan
1. Capture Richmond (capital of the
Confederacy)
2. Gain control of the Mississippi River to
split the South in half
3. Blockade Southern ports
Relations with Britain
• Trent affair-British ship with Confederate diplomats on
board-Union forcibly removed the rebels—imprisoned
but ultimately released, due to the outrage from the
British over Americans seizing one of their ships
• Alabama-built in Britain for the Confederates, which
captured 60 Union ships, destroyed off the coast of
France in 1864
• -1872-British paid damages of 15.5 million for problems
caused by Alabama
• Aside from this, Britain stays out—had accumulated a
surplus of cotton, and had alternative markets (Egypt and
India), and emancipation issue
Lincoln and Civil Liberties
• Proclaimed a blockade w/o Congressional
approval
• Suspended the writ of habeas corpus to arrest
copperheads-held w/o telling why
• Limited freedom of speech and press in border
states
• Troops monitor voting in border states (colored
ballot) walk between lines of armed soldiers
“A Rich Man’s War…”
• Could pay $300 to avoid service
• NYC Draft Riots of 1863-lynching, led by
Irish Americans
• After exhausted volunteers, began to pay
up to $1000 for service
• Confederates-draft in 1862 ages 17-50
• Slaveowners or overseers w/ 20 or more
slaves could claim exemption
Northern Economy during the
War
• Morrill Tariff Act-raised taxes from 510%-needed for revenue to support war
effort
• Printed greenbacks, not sufficiently
supported by gold (value fluctuated based
upon how the Union army was doing)
National Banking Act
• National Banking System (1863)—sell
gov’t bonds, establish standard currencyfirst step toward a unified banking system
since 1836, later replaced by the Federal
Reserve Act of 1913
Economy of the Confederacy
• Confederates also printed paper money,
which was only worth 1.6 cents when Lee
surrendered—whole war resulted in a 9000
percent inflation rate for South, 80 percent
inflation rate for Union
Millionaires from War
• -for the first time,
Civil War led to a
millionaire classmany made money at
gov’ts expense—JP
Morgan, faulty
equipment,
disintegrating
uniforms
Battle of Bull Run
• Women and children
brought picnic baskets
• Led by Stonewall
Jackson, the South
won-fed into their
overconfidence
• Union realized the
war would not be as
quick as expected
General George McClellan
• Good rapport with his
soldiers, but too
cautious
• Fired by Lincoln after
the Battle of Antietam
Antietam
• Antietam Creek, Maryland
(Sept. 17, 1862) bloodiest
single day in the Civil War
• Even though it was a military
draw, it was significant in that
it kept Britain and France out
of the war
• Gave Lincoln the “victory” to
issue his Emancipation
Proclamation
Some of the Confederate
Casualties
Emancipation Proclamation
Key Concerns:
 Border States
 Keeping England out
of the war
 Angered those in
Border States- key
issue became slavery
 Point of no return for
Southerners
Life during the Civil War
• Southerners faced many challenges
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Food shortage due to Union blockade
So many men were fighting
Union occupation
Many of the slaves left, and they had difficulty
getting farm work done
Life in the North
• Corruption in business
• Morgan and the rifles
• 1863-North imposed the first income tax in
American History
– Based upon a percentage of a person’s income
– Abandoned (temporarily anyway) in 1872
Not so fine dining for soldiers on
both sides
North-beans, bacon,
pickled beef and hard
tack (pictured at right)
-said that hard tack
was hard enough to
stop a bullet
Southerners ate cushwhich was stewed
beef, cornbread and
bacon grease
The delectable hard tack
Gettysburg
• Lee was forced to go into battle w/o
Stonewall Jackson, who was shot by own
men and died of pneumonia
• Lee’s 76,000 men met with Meade’s
92,000
• Pickett’s Charge—charged up the hill that
had heavy artillery—would appear to be a
suicide mission, but not as crazy as might
seem to be
• Farthest North Lee would ever advance
The Wheatfield
The 19 acre field of wheat changed hands between the
North and South six times. Veterans compared it to a
whirlpool. Swept up in the intense fighting, over 6,000
men were killed, wounded, or captured in the field and
surrounding woods.
Today Devil’s Den, the Peach Orchard, and the
Wheatfield are synonymous with absolute destruction.
The Wheatfield, when measured by square footage, is
arguably the bloodiest acreage at Gettysburg, possibly
all of the Americas!
Grant and the West
• Unconditional surrender
• Aided by David
Farragut’s control of New
Orleans
• Vicksburg—last major
holdout on the
Mississippi River
• People stayed in caves
and ate rats and dogs to
stay alive
• Fell July 4, 1863, just
ONE day after Gettysburg
Sherman’s March
• Grant and Shermanproponents of “total war”
• Sherman started in
Georgia and marched
north
• Left a path of destruction,
but eased up when they
reached North Carolina
• Actions were most
punitive in South
Carolina
Election of 1864
• GOP joined with War Democrats in the North—
called themselves the Union Party, ran w/
Andrew Johnson a War Democrat from TN who
had owned slaves-attract voters in Border States,
Dems nominated George McClellan
• “Don’t swap horses in the middle of the river”
• When Farragut captured Mobile, AL “Damn the
torpedoes!” and Sherman seized Atlanta, tipped
the balance in Lincoln’s favor
Grant’s Tactics
• Grant able to defeat Lee, because he had
the men at his disposal—went to the front
lines w/ names and addresses pinned on
their backs
• -unconditional surrender, after troops
captured Richmond in April 1865, Lee
surrendered at Appomattox Court House
on April 9, 1865
Lincoln’s Assassination
• April 14, 1865, Good
Friday Lincoln was
shot at Ford’s Theater
by John Wilkes Booth
Aftermath of the Civil War
• 600,000 men died, over 1 million killed or
wounded
• War costs- $15 Billion
• End of secession or nullification as serious
considerations