Transcript SECESSION AND THE CIVIL WAR

SECESSION AND THE CIVIL
WAR
The Deep South Secedes
• December 20,1860--South Carolina
secedes
• February 1861--Confederate States of
America formed
–
included South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas
And the War Came
• April 12/13, 1861--Fort Sumter, S.C, falls to
confederate forces
• April 15--Lincoln calls out Northern state
militias (75,000 volunteers) to suppress
southern insurrection causing more southern
states to secede
• April-May--Upper South (Virginia, Arkansas,
North Carolina, and Tennessee) secedes
• Several slave states (Border States) remain
loyal to the Union (Missouri, Kentucky,
Maryland, Delaware, and later West Virginia).
• War defined as effort to preserve Union
Secession
Expansion of Government Powers
• At first there were volunteers on both side; however, military
demands would quickly exceed the supply of volunteers.
• Both governments, Union and Confederate will resort to
expanding its government powers.
Conscription- required abled bodied white men to serve in the
military.
1. Lincoln suspends the Writ of Habeas Corpus in Maryland and
later extends it to other areas- 1861
2. Lincoln’s authority is challenged by Taney’s Ex parte
Merryman Case
3. Congress passes the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863
4. Lincoln imposes Martial Law in volatile border states
Expansion of Government Powers
• Confederacy passes the Confederacy Conscription
Act in April 1862 for men ages 18-35 and was later
amended to include ages 17-50.
• The Union also resorted to a conscription or draft,
passing the Enrollment Act of March 1863, requiring
every able-bodied white male citizen aged 20-45 to
serve.
• Both conscription policies granted certain
exemptions. Some examples included substitution
and commutation (paying your way out of service).
• Such exemptions let to bitter complaints on both
sides about the conflict being “ a rich man’s war and
a poor man’s fight.”
The Opposing Sides
Advantages of the North
1. Union held 23 states including the border states,
while the Confederacy had 11 states
2. Total population in the Union was 22 million to 9
million in the Confederacy
3. More industrial, thus able to manufacture most of its
war materials
4. Better transportation system (more railroads)
5. Union had 90 warships, the Confederacy had no
navy
6. Union had more horses and wagons than the
Confederacy
The Opposing Sides
Advantages of the South
1. Fighting on its own land (Home-field Advantage)
2. Superior Officers and horsemen
3. Prospects of foreign assistance
4. They were fighting a defensive war, in their own
territory, in defense of their homeland
Financing the War
North
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Progressive Income tax (from 3% to 5%) on those who
had and annual income of $600 or more and an excise
tax
Sold Government Bonds
Passed the Morrill Tariff Act (Higher Import Duties)
Passed the Legal Tender Act 1862 issuing paper money
called Greenbacks (Backed by People’s Confidence)
National Bank Act 1863 allows for the incorporation of
national banks, printing of a uniform currency, and
financing of the Civil War
* By the 1890s these national banks became unpopular and
state banking made a comeback due to the adoption of
demand deposits (checking accounts)
Financing the War
South
1. Had difficulty raising money
2. Raised Taxes / Sold Government Bonds
3. Issued over $1 billion in paper money
without public backing / confidence causing
huge inflation
4. Sought loans from Europe (Little Success)
Northern Political Leadership
• In the North, Lincoln expands wartime powers
– declares martial law
– imprisons 10,000 "subversives" without trial
– briefly closed down a few newspapers
– Republican Party is divided between
conservatives, Lincoln, and the radicals
– Lincoln is often criticized by both factions of
the Republican Party but is able to manage
the division within his party
– He is also opposed by northern Democrats
– Republican party also realized that it must
unify if they wanted to control of congress
Southern Political Leadership
• In the South, Jefferson Davis also tries to expand
his wartime powers
– states were not too cooperative because they
felt he was acting a strong executive
– lacks influence with state governments
– the South’s main focus was on state’s rights
(sovereignty among the states)
– states felt that Davis was only concerned with
military duties
– States also felt that he was neglecting the
economy
– No political cohesion within the South
Early Challenges and Reasons for Fighting
North
• Force the South back into the Union
• Retain control of the Border States
South
• Fighting for Independence
Early Strategies
Union’s Anaconda Plan (Winfield Scott)
– Defend Washington, D.C
– Exert pressure on Richmond
– Blockade Southern Ports (access to goods and
weapons)
– Divide the Confederacy by pushing south through
the main water routes
South’s Plan
• Prolonging the war might encourage foreign support
from France or Britain who were desperate for
southern cotton (“Cotton Diplomacy”)
• Prolonging the war might also influence public
sentiment in the North and force Lincoln to negotiate
a settlement
The Diplomatic Struggle
Britain
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Neutral
Belligerent Confederacy recognized, but not as
an independent nation
Britain will violate its neutrality by building
warships for the Confederacy. Britain will stop
after the Union complains
France
• Neutral, but favored the Confederacy
• Napoleon III of France felt that a Southern victory
would weaken the Monroe Doctrine
• Confederacy not recognized unless England did so
first
Resources of the Union and the
Confederacy, 1861
The Life of A Soldier
• The Civil War divided families
• Brothers often fought on separate sides
• They often fought for what they thought to be
their duty to their country.
• Life in the army camps was difficult. Soldiers
often fought off swarms of lice, ticks, and
mosquitos and had a plain diet of baked bread
crackers and salted meat.
• Deserters were often punished. Some were
executed, tied to a ball and chain, or forced to
bury dead horses.
Campaigns and Battles
1861-1865
Overview of Civil War Strategy
1861
July 21, 1861 (First Bull Run)
• Lincoln orders General Irving McDowell (Union) to
attack General P.G.T. Beauregard (Confederate) at
Manassas Junction, Virginia.
• The Battle of First Bull Run (First Manassas) resulted
in a Confederate Victory.
• The Union had around 37,000 men, clearly
outnumbering the Confederate Army but had to
retreat (known as the great skedaddle) as
Confederate forces poured in to tip the balance.
• As a result, McDowell is replaced with General
George B. McClellan as commander of the army of
the Potomac.
1861/62 The Battle of the Ironclads
• At the start of the war, the North had a clear cut
advantage when it came to naval power.
• The North had 40 active warships and the South had
none.
• The first battle between Union’s Monitor and the
Confederate’s Merrimack was know as the Battle of
Hampton Roads.
• Battles took place in the Chesapeake Bay, where
they fought to a draw.
• The South tried building other ironclad ships and
even its first submarine.
• The South had very little success on the high seas,
and the Union did gradually tighten its grip on the
South.
1862 (War in the East)
March 1862 (McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign)
• The Peninsular campaign was an effort to invade
Richmond, Virginia that resulted in a Confederate Victory.
• McClellan’s strategy would be to move his army by water
to the tip of the peninsula formed by the York and James
Rivers and move northwestward towards Richmond.
• McClellan’s had early success at the Battle of Seven
Pines against Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston
who had decided to strike first because McClellan had
waited too long to strike.
• McClellan’s army was halted and forced to retreat as a
result of the Seven Day’s Battle which was led by
Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army.
• Lincoln was not happy with “Tardy George” McClellan.
1862 (War in the East)
August 1862 (Second Battle of Bull Run)
• A new overland assault on Richmond, Virginia led by John Pope.
• Pope’s forces were stopped by Lee and Stonewall Jackson,
emboldening Lee to initiate his Maryland Campaign.
• John Pope was completely defeated, resulting in another
Confederate Victory.
September 17, 1862 (Battle of Antietam)
• Lee’s planned invasion of Maryland and therefore relieve pressure
on Richmond was stopped by McClellan.
• Although the battle was technically a draw, Lee’s plan had failed, as
he would have to withdraw into Virginia. The Union had been
successful.
• Angry at McClellan's failure to pursue Lee after his retreat and
destroy his army, Lincoln replaced him with General Ambrose
Burnside.
1862 (War in the East)
December 1862 (Battle of Fredericksburg)
• General Ambrose Burnside sends 122,000 men to
attack Lee’s forces at Fredericksburg Virginia.
• Lee’s forces were entrenched on the ridges and
behind stone walls at the base of Marye’s Heights,
west of Fredericksburg.
• Confederate cannons and muskets chewed up the
advancing Union as they crossed half a mile of open
land, amounting to a Union disaster. Burnside had to
withdraw.
• General Robert E. Lee was able to repel 14 Union
assaults.
• The battle was seen as a Confederate victory.
1862 (War in the West)
April 1862 (Battle of Shiloh)
• Confederate generals Johnston and Beauregard
surprised Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Pittsburg
Landing, Tennessee, while they were camped at Shiloh
(Methodist Church).
• Confederate forces were wining at first, but as Union
reinforcements arrived, they were met with a
counterattack and driven out. Confederate forces were
eventually defeated and would have to evacuate to
Corinth.
• Union forces had been victorious at Shiloh.
• Union forces were also victorious at New Orleans,
Perryville, Memphis, and in Texas as well as New Mexico.
• Union forces were now in control of most of the
Mississippi River and the West.
Early Achievements
• Northern achievements by 1862
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total naval supremacy
Confederate troops cleared from West
Virginia, Kentucky, much of Tennessee
New Orleans captured
• Confederate achievements by 1862
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stall campaign for the Mississippi at Shiloh
defend Richmond from capture
The Coming of Emancipation
• Lincolns’ original proposal was to emancipate the slaves
in the border states with compensation.
• However, after much pressure from the Radical
Republicans, and as a result of Union success at
Antietam, Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation
Proclamation.
• Lincoln believed that the Constitution allowed each state
to decide the fate of slavery, so his only legal avenue was
to act as commander in chief of the armed forces.
• He felt that it was a “necessary war measure” to save the
union.
• Lincoln hoped that the Confederacy would return to the
Union and thus preserve slavery. Surrender in 100 days
or lose slaves. They did not however.
The Emancipation Proclamation
• On January 1, 1863 the official Emancipation
Proclamation was issued.
• Emancipation of the slaves was now part of the war
goal.
• Lincoln received some criticism from various groups,
but he did not retract on his decision.
• He said, “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I
was doing the right thing…”
• Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation gave the federal
war effort a greater moral legitimacy and undermined
any hopes of support for the Confederacy from
Europe.
African Americans and the War
• By 1865, about half a million slaves were in Union
hands.
• The Emancipation Proclamation also brought about
large-scale enlistment of African-Americans.
• By the end of the war, 186,000 African-Americans had
served in the Union Army.
• Blacks served in separate regiments under white
officers and they also received less pay.
• Lincoln however, promised equal pay by 1864.
African Americans and the War
• By 1863, Lincoln had written off the colonization
argument. He had instead worked out a “refugee
system,” enrolling all abled-bodied freedmen in the
army, employed others as military laborers, and hired
others to work on farms and plantations for wages set by
the government.
• The system kept the freedmen out of the North, and it
got them jobs as wage earners.
• The Emancipation proclamation angered many northern
laborers, bringing about antiwar riots (Race and Draft
Riots). The N.Y. race riots killed 105 people and injured
thousands.
• Federal soldiers had to put an end to the riots, although
they would continue in others cities like Boston.
Civil War, 1863-1865
1863 The Tide Turns
• Union fortunes will start to improve in 1863.
• May, 1863--war-weariness
– Grant seems bogged down at Vicksburg
– Union defeated at Chancellorsville
• July, 1863
– Lee loses Battle of Gettysburg
– Vicksburg falls, North holds the
Mississippi
1863
May 1863 (Battle of Chancellorsville)
• The Union will have a new general, Joseph Hooker.
• Hooker would disappoint, losing to Stonewall Jackson and Robert
E. Lee at Chancellorsville, Virginia, making it another Confederate
Victory.
• Lee had been extremely successful, but had lost his “Right Arm –
Stonewall Jackson.” Jackson died of pneumonia while nursing an
amputation.
May-July 4, 1863 (Battle of Vicksburg)
• Grant attempts to capture Vicksburg in order to gain control of the
Mississippi River and thus splitting the Confederate forces. The
fortress of Vicksburg was the key to the last Confederate held
stretch of the Mississippi River, thus completing the Anaconda Plan.
• Grant was successful at capturing Vicksburg and he also took
Jackson, Mississippi along the way, making the siege a huge
victory for the Union.
1863
July 1-3, 1863 (Battle of Gettysburg)
• Lee again tries to take the offensive and invade the North.
He envisioned a victory.
• Lee pressed forwards into southern Pennsylvania where he
faced Union General George G. Meade at Gettysburg.
• Believing that Union flanks had been weakened, Lee
attacked Cemetery Ridge in the center of the North’s
defensive line.
• By July 3, Lee’s army had been defected and mangled ,
forcing him to retreat.
• Gettysburg will mark the last attempt at a Confederate
offensive, making it a turning point in the war.
• Gettysburg was also the greatest battle (most casualties) of
the Civil War.
1863
September-November 1863 (Battle of Chattanooga)
• This a battle between General William S. Rosecrans
(Union) and Braxton Bragg (Confederate).
• At first glance, the battle looked like a Union disaster.
Union forces were outnumbered 70,000 to 56,000. And
they had been defeated earlier at the Battle of
Chickamauga, Georgia.
• However, Union forces received reinforcements from
William Tecumseh Sherman and Grant.
• Union troops then swarmed Confederate defenders,
who panicked and fled.
• The Battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee had been a
decisive victory for the Union .
1864/1865
•
After the battle of Chattanooga, Lincoln promoted
Ulysses S. Grant to General-in-Chief of the Union
Army.
• Furthermore, after the battle of Chattanooga, a new
Union strategy had also developed.
1. Pursuit of the Confederates
Grant was to pursue Lee in Virginia
Sherman was to pursue Johnston in Georgia
2. Attrition (Continuous Pressure)
Last Stages: Union Invades the South
Grant lays siege to Petersburg, Richmond
1. Battle of the Wilderness (May 5 –7, 1864) - Grants first
confrontation with Lee. Although Lee outmaneuvered Grant and
won the battle, he was unable to halt Gant’s army from advancing
towards Richmond.
2. Spotsylvania (May 8 –19, 1864) - Grant loses men but
continued his drive towards Richmond.
3. Battle of Cold Harbor (June 3, 1864) - Grant’s biggest defeat
by Lee. Forced to attack an entrenched Confederate army, his
army was repeatedly repelled by the Confederates
4. Petersburg (June 15, 1864 – April 2, 1865) - The fourth and
final battle between Lee and Grant in 2 months. The siege of
Petersburg spelled the end of the Confederacy. Lee finally halted
Grant’s drive towards Richmond, but could not defeat him. On
April 3,Union troops enter Richmond.
Appomattox Courthouse (April 9, 1865) - Lee surrenders to
Grant.
Last Stages: Union Invades the South
Sherman lays siege to Atlanta, Savannah
• William T. Sherman marches through Georgia with
98,000 men.
• During the siege of Atlanta, Sherman uses the
modern practice of total war (destroying houses,
railroad facilities, and spreading fires).
• General Joseph Johnson retreats towards Atlanta.
Jefferson Davis replaces him with General John B.
Hood. Hood is unable to defend Atlanta.
• September 2, 1864- Sherman takes Atlanta
• Siege of Savannah (December 21, 1864)- Sherman
uses the same destructive strategies employed in
Atlanta.
Last Stages: Union Invades the South
Sherman Continues his March
• William T. Sherman headed north toward the
Carolinas, taking Columbia, South Carolina on
February 17, 1865 and continued towards North
Carolina where the Battles of Fayetteville and
Bentonville were fought and won by the Union
forces.
• Followed by thousands of slaves, they destroyed
everything that could aid southern resistance.
• Finally, on April 18, 1865, General Joseph Johnston
surrenders to William T. Sherman.
Lincoln’s Election & Assassination
• Lincoln wins the election of 1864. Republican Party
uses the name National Union Party and nominates
Andrew Johnson, a Democrat for the Vice Presidency.
This temporary name was used to attract War
Democrats.
• Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while
visiting Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865.
• There was also an assassination attempt on Secretary
of State William H. Seward, who was stabbed on the
cheek.
• The original plan also included the assassination of Vice
President Andrew Johnson. This plan was never carried
through however.
• Union troops hunted down Booth and shot him. Other
accomplices were hanged or imprisoned.
Effects of the War
• 618,000 troops dead
• Four million African Americans free, not
equal
• Industrial workers face wartime inflation
• Federal government predominant over
states
• Federal government takes activist role in the
economy
Federal Governments’ Role in the Economy
1. Higher tariffs (Morrill Tariff Act, 1862)
2. Transcontinental Railroad (Pacific Railroad Act,
1862)
Issued land grants & other loans to railroad companies.
3. Free Land (Homestead Act, 1862)
Provided settlers with 160 acres of public land to
encourage Western migration. Settlers had to establish
residence for five years.
4. Free Land (Morrill Land Grand Act, 1862)
Provided grants of land to States to finance the
establishment of colleges specializing in agriculture and
mechanical arts.
5. National Banking System (National Bank Act, 1863)
Established nationally chartered banks. Taxed state bank
notes in order to create a uniform currency.