Transcript Chapter 15

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What major advantages did each of the
combatants, Union and Confederacy, possess at
the start of the Civil War?
How successfully did the governments and
economies of the North and South respond to
the pressures of war?
How did the issues of slavery and emancipation
transform the war?
What factors determined the military outcome
of the war?
In what lasting ways did the Civil War change
the U.S. as a nation?
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Both North and South were unprepared
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Union
 Army of 16,000
 Scattered all over the country (the West)
 1/3 of its officers resigned to join the Confederacy
 Unproven president
 No taxes in decades
 Never imposed the draft
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Confederacy
 No tax structure
 No navy
 Two gunpowder factories
 Unconnected railroad lines
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Initially and local issue, not
national or state
Citizens opened recruiting offices,
held rallies, etc.
Southerners provided their own
horses and rankings were elected
by the officers and enlisted men
But this was shortlived
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The South
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Initially, Confederacy to use state troops, limited to 12
months; after Sumter Pres. Could receive state troops
for terms of six months to the duration of the war
without state consent
April 1862 – Confederates enacted 1st conscription law:
all white men 18-35 for 3 yrs. To duration
Later 40 then 50 and as young as 17
Southerners protested this as an assault on state
sovereignty
Exemptions: to specific occupations and state officials
(highly abused)
 Loophole (closed in 1863): you could hire substitutes
 Amendment: 20-Negro law (rich man’s war and poor
man’s fight)
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However, only 1 in 5 southerners
was a draftee
70-80% of southerners served
1864 conscription law: if you’re in,
you stay in for the duration
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Supplying the Confederacy
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Weapons
 First from Europe
 Second from confiscated arsenals
 Third form guns on the battlefield
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Food and clothing
Many went without shoes
Railroads were sparse or down
The Economy relied on cotton and tobacco
Early northern invasion destroyed the livestock
and grain-raising districts
 In 1863 the Confederate Congress passed the
Impressment Act: they could confiscate food
and slaves
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The North
Little trouble supplying the troops, but getting
troops was a different story: getting volunteer
units from an unmilitary society
 Initially, the president asks for 500,000, with
state quotas, but left to the states
 1863 Enrollment Act – white males 20-45 with
exemptions to high govt. officials, ministers,
and men who were the sole support of
widows, orphans, or indigent parents
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 Two means of escape: substitution and
commutation
 Enrollment districts competed through bounties
 Protests, but only 8% were draftees; and of the
draftees, 120,000 of 170,000 were substitutes
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Federal spending had been low in the 40s and
50s
Expenditures had come from tariff duties
and the sale of public lands
But war required more expenditures and
money was needed
Both the north and the south sought to avoid taxes
However, in 1861 the Confederacy enacted a small
property tax and the Union an income tax
 Both sides turned to war bonds: S ($15 m) N ($150
m)
 But the bonds needed to be paid for in gold or
silver specie : many people held on to their’s
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Solution: print money
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North
 Legal Tender Act called for $150 m. in greenbacks
(and to ensure confidence, made it legal tender in
most all public and private debts)
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South
 Never made paper money legal tender
 Since the South had difficulty collecting taxes
(transportation issues) the printed more money and
inflation soared (9,000%); $1 in 1861 cost $46 in 1864
 National Bank Act: with the south gone and the
northern democrats weakened, the Republicans
pushed through this act that established the criteria
by which a band could obtain a federal charter and
issue national bank notes
 Shows the North’s ability and experience and
cohesion
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North
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Lincoln was considered ineffectual early
 He had opposition in the Radicals
 He seemed to be in the middle, yet
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accused of being with both sides of his
party\
Co-opted Chase (opponent) by making
him Sec. of Treasury
But left departments alone
Emphasized his Commander-in-chief
status
His call for militiamen pushed hesitators
in the South towards secession
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The Nature of the Conflict
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Lincoln (North)
 sees this as domestic insurrection caused by
individuals
 Rebels, not traitors
 Purpose of the war was to Preserve the Union
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Davis (South)
 Lee was the hero and he was loyal to Virginia
 Preserve state’s right to control over domestic
affairs
 Just needed to defend itself
 Thought Europe would support them
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South
Jefferson Davis and his vice president
Alexander Stephens quarreled over what
was essential to the meaning of the
Confederacy
 States rights: The Confederate Congress
prohibited the Confederate Congress from
enacting protective tariffs and from
supporting internal improvements
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 Stephens supported the defense of slavery and
states rights; Jefferson supported the existence
of the South
 The South could not deal with these issues the
way the north could
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Side issues of extreme importance
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Europe
 needed Northern wheat more than they
needed Southern cotton (Confederates had
embargoed shipments of cotton to Britain to
prove importance. Wrong)
 British business investors had a rich stake in
Anglo-American unity
 $ trumps jealousy of U.S. power
 Emancipation policy gained loyalty from
liberals
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Lincoln secured the border states
The Confederacy had a fundamental
paradox: purpose was state’s rights, but
management war requires centralization
(Davis always had this problem)
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July 21, 1861: First Battle of Bull
Run/First Battle of Manassas
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North seeks to take Richmond and must
go through Manassas Junction (citizens
march out of Washington with the troops)
Maybe started to ensure the militiamen
acquired in April didn’t head home
because their time was about to expire
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/bul
lrun.html
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After Bull Run, Lincoln brought in
George McClellan as commander of
the Army of the Potomac
Apr.-July: McClellan’s Pennisula
Campaign ended in defeat, as his
refusal to attack cost the Yankees
Sept. 17: McClellan and Lee meet at
Antietam in Maryland (single
bloodiest day- 24,000 dead)
Dec. 13: Fredricksburg
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Ulysses S. Grant
Early 1862 Grant takes Fort Henry and Fort
Donelson
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In doing so he demanded “unconditional surrender”
 He got 15,000 prisoners
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Important because Henry guarded the waterway to
Nashville (capitol, railroad center, and powder plant
site)
Apr. 1862: Grant and Sherman take Shiloh
(23,000 dead)
The Confederates strip defenses of New Orleans to
aide Shiloh
 This allows Farragut to take New Orleans and Baton
Rouge
 North also takes Pea Ridge in Arkansas
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Importance of the early Western Campaign: North
takes the Mississippi
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Local companies into regiments
Training was notoriously weak
Food was horrific: beans, bacon, salt
pork, pickled beef, and hardtack
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Union armies sometimes drove their own
cattle
Sanitation
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Lice, fleas, ticks, disease was rampant
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Battle consisted of large masses of
soldiers facing off at close range until
one side gave up or fell back
The Civil War contained literate
armies
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North began with over forty active
warships; the South had none
Steam-driven ships could penetrate the
South’s excellent river system
But blockading the 3,500 miles of Southern
coast was not easy; the North had to employ
all types of ships/boats
Naval patrols and amphibious operations
shrank the South’s ocean trade to 1/3 its
prewar level
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Would the French help the
Confederacy?
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Napoleon III sought to establish a colonial
empire in Mexico would welcome a divided
America
The Trent incident
James Mason to Britain and John Slidell to
France to seek recognition
 Union captain boards the British Trent and
takes the prisoners to Boston
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Cotton diplomacy failed
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Lincoln stated in 1861 he had no
intention of interfering with slavery
However, as the war dragged on,
“total war” and the military value of
emancipation became clear
As the North began to invade the
South the issue of what to do with
slaves began
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Slaves who fled behind Union lines were
“contraband” and subject to seizure
Under the Confiscation Act of 1861 all
property used in military aid of the
rebellion was to be seized
Slaves who had been used by the armed rebel
forces who had fled became “captives of war”
 But Lincoln (stating that the South’s rebellion
lacked any legal basis) did not want to violate
Southerners protection of property; he also
wanted to protect northerners employment
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“to fight against slaveholders without fighting
against slavery, is but a half-hearted business”
With slave labor at full swing, white
southerners could fight
2nd Confiscation Act in 1862: seize property of
those in rebellion, and slaves “shall be forever
free”; the president can employ blacks as
soldiers
Emancipation Proclamation: After Antietam,
preliminary language set
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If southern states had returned they could have kept
slavery
As of Jan. 1, 1863, forever free
Great political stroke; issued as military measure by
the commander in chief
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As Union troops overran areas slaves would
seek refuge behind the lines
Early in the war masters could retrieve slaves
from the Union army
However, after 1862 they were free; many
served in the Union army
Some stayed in the south for a wage on
plantations of owners who had sworn
allegiance to the Union
By 1865 500,000 slaves in Union hands
But the freedmen were a problem; before the
end of the war aid societies were established
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1865 the Freedmen’s Bureau is set up; also a provision
for 40 acres with the option to buy after 3 yrs.
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Not allowed, turned away, or disbanded
After the 2nd Confiscation Act, black
regiments set up in New Orleans
After the Emancipation Proclamation
large-scale enlistment
Union drafts now included blacks
186,000 African Americans serve (half
came from Southern states)
Black recruitment offered opportunities
for white commissions
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Black soldiers suffered a far higher
mortality rate than white troops
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Not killed in action; diseases
Confederacy refused exchanges for black
soldiers; they were sent back to their state;
many were executed
Pay for black soldiers was $10, then a
deduction for clothing (whites got $13
with no deduction); equalized in 1864
However, service was a symbol of
citizenship
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During the war the South tightened
patrols, moved entire plantations, and
spread horror stories amongst the slaves
Even though some slaves helped their
owners, most opted for freedom
And if they stayed on the plantations,
they became increasingly difficult
First large area liberated was the Sea
Islands of South Carolina and Georgia
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First aid groups arrive
Blacks get land
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The South actually passed
(narrowly) a bill to arm 300,000
slaves (with no mention of
emancipation at the end of the war)
Never implemented
The whole debate (of which Lee
supported, as did Jefferson Davis
late) showed the desperation and
collapse of the slave society
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The Confederacy has early success in
1863
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Lee defeats Hooker at Chancellorsville
with ½ the troops; an embarrassing loss
for the North
Lee turns on the North, needing
supplies and a hope that Lincoln will
move troops from the West; as well a
Confederate victory in the North might
impact Northern Democrats
Gettysburg and Vicksburg and
Chattanooga
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Hard hit: shoe industry, cotton-textile industry
Just fine: arms and clothing for the military,
railroads
Republicans dominated the North and
imposed tariffs to protect industries
Pacific-Railway Act: two RRs, 60 m. in land
grants, and $20 m. in loans (CORRUPTION)
Homestead Act: “free soil, free labor, free
men,” 160 acres after 5 yrs. (20,000)
Morrill Act: public lands for universities in the
agriculture and mechanical arts
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Benefitted the wealthy the mostindustrialists, speculators
Average citizen paid high prices due
to tariffs, high taxes, inflation; all the
while salaries lagged 20% behind
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Commodity output declines 39%; it
had been increasing by 50+% in the 40s
and 50s
Railroad production destroyed
Cotton production from 4 million bales
to 300,000 in 1865
Loss of manpower declined yields per
acre
9 in 10 families without meat
Salt was $1.25 a sack in NY, $60 a sack
in the South; food riots
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Why the shortage? The planter
class continued to grow cotton
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This kept slaves on the plantations, not
the army camps
Forced the govt. to continue
conscription laws
Forced the govt. to impress food
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Confederacy
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States’ rights advocates (VP Stephens)
Loyalty to the Union (commoners,
Appalachians resentful of the 20 Negro
rule and the slaveholding elite
Davis was given the right to suspend
habeas corpus
Union
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Democratic minority (Peace Democrats
or Copperheads)
Border state citizens (many immigrants)
feared black labor; also upset with
economics of service
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All dissent was much more easily
dealt with in the North because of
the institutionalization of
republican/democratic conflict
The North had 15,000 persons
arrested (though most were quickly
released)
Ohio politician Clement L.
Vallandingham was banished to the
South
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United States Sanitary Commission – many
women volunteer for service
Nursing corps: some 3,200 in both armies
Red Cross founder Clara Barton aided Union
soldiers at Antietam: She showed up early
For every 1 soldier who died in battle, 2 died
of disease (this was an improvement upon the
Mexican War)
Troop exchanges ended by mid war; prison
camps saw more deaths
South refused to trade black soldiers
 North didn’t want to bolster depleted southern
regiments
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.
Anthony connect women’s rights with
black rights
They form the Woman’s National
Loyal League
The New York Herald called their
demand for rights as “nonsense and
tomfoolery”
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The debate over readmission was
already starting
The Radicals wanted Salmon P. Chase
(Sec. of Treasury)
Peace Democrats wanted an immediate
armistice
Prowar Democrats and Republicans
form the National Union Party and
replace Hannibal Hamlin with Andrew
Johnson as VP
Democrats nominate George McClellan
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Lincoln didn’t think he could win
He granted furloughs to soldiers so
they could vote
However, the fall of Atlanta helped
more
The Republican convention
nominated Lincoln, but also endorsed
a constitutional amendment banning
slavery
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“make war so terrible. . . That
generations would pass before they
could appeal again to it.”
Chasing everyone out saved him from
having to provide for its civilians (food
or imprisonment)
Sherman’s forces marched sixty miles
wide, ten miles a day
Destroyed everything that could be used
by the Southern war effort
“Those who brought war into our
country deserve all curses and
maledictions a people can pour out.”
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Rebel desertions were epidemic
“General Lee telegraphs that he can
hold his position no longer.”
Lee surrendered to Grant in a private
home in the village of Appomattox
Courthouse, VA (
Grant paroled Lee’s 26,000 men and
sent them home with their horses and
mules “to work their little farms.”
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620,000 soldiers dead
360,000 Union
 260,000 Confederate
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South lost 60% of its wealth
A “more perfect Union” as opposed to a
“federation of states”
National banking system;
industrialization; greenbacks; national
power over property
Almost 4 million freed slaves
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1. How would you describe/explain
Lincoln’s view on slavery, and how is
this evident in his actions throughout
the war? Provide evidence.
2. Discuss a political predicament
Jefferson Davis and other leaders
found themselves in as they attempted
to conduct the Confederacy’s fight
against the Union? Provide evidence.