Transcript the american civil war

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Population - 22 million
90% of industrial production was in the north
(munitions factories)
Efficient railroad system
U.S. Navy
Disadvantages: North would have to fight an
offensive war (long supply lines, unfamiliar
territory)
Advantages:
 Superior military leadership
 Defending is easier than attacking
 Farmers fight better than factory workers
 Profitable economy based agriculture
Disadvantages:
 Only 9 million people (3.5 million slaves)
 Very little industry
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On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces opened fire on
the Union forces holding Fort Sumter.
The following day, Union forces surrendered the fort
and evacuated the next day.
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A defensive war of attrition is proposed by
President Jefferson Davis.
He hoped to force the Union to spend
resources until it became tired of fighting and
agreed to negotiate
“Anaconda Plan”: proposed by General Winfield
Scott
1.
Blockade Southern ports on the Atlantic
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Isolate the south from European aide
2. Control the Mississippi River
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split the south in half
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capture Memphis, Vicksburg, and New
Orleans
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1st Bull Run(Manassas): Southern
reinforcements led by Thomas Jackson rally the
Confederate troops
Jackson receives the nickname “Stonewall” for
his efforts
Citizens from Washington, D.C. picnicked,
expecting to witness a swift Union victory
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Hampton Road: Confederacy hoped to break
the Union blockade by covering a ship with
iron-plating (Virginia)
North countered with their own, named the
Monitor
Ships fought to a draw, but the Monitor’s
presence kept the Virginia from breaking the
blockade
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Union General Ulysses S. Grant seizes Fort
Henry and then Fort Donelson, gaining control
of the Tennessee River.
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Shiloh: Grant’s refusal to retreat leads to a
Union victory
Grant comes under public scrutiny due to 20K
soldiers killed or wounded
President Lincoln supports Grant commenting,
“I can’t spare this man-he fights”
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George B. McClellan began his “Peninsula
Campaign” by taking Yorktown
Seven Day’s Battle: series of attacks by Lee
that inflicted heavy casualties to McClellan’s
forces
2nd Bull Run: South forces a Union retreat, Lee
and Davis decide to invade Maryland, hoping
that a victory in the North will bring
recognition from England
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Union forces attack a divided Confederate
army
Bloodiest one-day battle of the war(6K killed
and 16K wounded)
British decide not to recognize the Confederacy
Convinced President Lincoln to issue the
“Emancipation Proclamation”
First major turning point of the war
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It freed the
slaves only in
states that have
seceded from
the Union.
It did not free
slaves in border
states.
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Lee realized that the South was in dire straits and decided that it was
crucial to attack the North on its own territory
July 1-3, 1863 - BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, Pa.
Confed. bombardment; Union held firm
on July 3, General Pickett led 15,000 Confed. Troops across open fields
- Union mowed them down (= "Pickett’s Charge")
Lee was defeated and retreated to Virginia
Gettysburg is the largest battle in the history of the Western
hemisphere.
Over 100,000 people died in 3 days It was the last time the South
invaded the North.
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that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion -that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain -- that this nation,
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom
-- and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth.
Abe Lincoln
Over 618,000 military deaths during Civil War.
EFFECTS OF CIVIL WAR:
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Creation of a single, unified country(Nationalism)
Abolition of slavery
Increased power to fed. gov't – killed the issue of
states rights
U.S. now an industrial nation
Western lands increasingly opened to settlement
South was economically and physically devastated,
w/ the plantation system crippled...thus
Reconstruction (rebuilding the U.S.) - but a deep
hatred of the North remained...