Transcript Civil War - Old Saybrook Public Schools

The Civil War
1861-1865
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California
Connecticut
Delaware
Illinois
Indiana
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Iowa
Kansas
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
The Union
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Missouri
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Union Facts
President: Abraham Lincoln
Capital: Washington D.C.
Flag: Stars and Stripes
Union
Strengths
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Man power- large navy
Well equipped
Factories and ships
Money to finance
Railroads for supplies
Strongly founded government
Weaknesses
• Disagreement on abolition
• Loss of strong officers to
Confederacy
• Unfamiliar land
• Far from home and supplies
• Fighting offensive
Union soldier hat
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Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana
The Confederacy
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Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Southern sympathizers
• Kentucky
• Missouri
Confederate Facts
President: Jefferson Davis
Capital: Richmond
Flag: Stars and Bars
Confederate “White House”
Confederacy
Strengths
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Fight to keep land (passion)
Stronger generals
Knowledge of land
Trade with Europe
Long coast line
Confederate currency
Weaknesses
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Small navy
Hard to defend coastline
Little industry/production
Struggle with transportation
Weak weaponry
No established government
Important Battles/Events
Fort Sumter
April 12, 1861
– It was a Union fort in South Carolina (one of two still
in Union hands)
– Confederacy demanded the fort be surrendered or
face an attack
– Lincoln’s dilemma: sending forces means creating
hostilities, ordering evacuation means recognizing
Confederacy as a legitimate nation
– Instead, he sent in food for his hungry men
– New dilemma fell to Jefferson Davis: he chose war!
– South Carolinians bombarded fort with over 4,000
rounds
– Anderson surrendered the fort and retreated
Bull Run
July 21, 1861
– Two inexperienced armies met at creek (Bull Run)
25 miles from Union capital
– Seesaw action
– Confederate reinforcements arrived to help secure
Southern victory
– North retreats to the capital
– Confederates still unprepared to attack Union
capital
– Victory helped southern morale
New Orleans
April 24-26, 1862
– Union fleet of 40 ships approached Louisiana port
of New Orleans
– Able to push past Confederate forts
– Five day battle led to Union victory
– Union flag flew at port
– Capture of the Confederates largest city and
busiest port
Antietam
September 17, 1862
– McClellan’s army came upon Lee’s military strategy to
divide his army
– McClellan ordered to attack Lee’s men in Antietam
(Maryland/Virginia border)
– Troops were both devastated but Lee’s men began to
retreat back to Virginia
– McClellan failed to pursue the battered Southern troops
– November 7, 1862: McClellan fired by Lincoln for having
“the slows”
– Bloodiest single day battle
– Standoff, Southern retreat
– 26,000 casualties
Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863
– Proclamation made by Lincoln to offer freedom to slaves if
they fought with the Union
– It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union,
leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border-states.
– It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that
had already come under Union control.
– The freedom it promised depended upon Union military
victory.
– Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into
the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to
become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000
black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and
freedom.
Chancellorsville
May 1-4, 1863
• Battle in Virginia
• Prelude to Gettysburg
• Lee outmaneuvered Hooker and forced the Union army to
retreat
• Stonewall Jackson was shot by friendly fire when returning
from patrol on May 2
• The shot to his arm required amputation but he later
caught pneumonia and died May 10.
• Loss to Confederates but they pushed forward regardless
into the North toward Gettysburg in Pennsylvania
• Confederate victory
Gettysburg
July 1-3, 1863
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Northern most battle took place in Pennsylvania
Bloody and decisive battle that took place in the most unlikely of spots
DAY 1: Barefoot Confederate soldiers under A.P Hill’s leadership went toward Gettysburg after hearing of a possible footwear supply
On their way they met up with brigades of Union cavalry under John Buford who ordered his men to take the defensive positions
(upper ground)
Shooting attracted attention of other troops and each side sent for reinforcements
Northern troops under George Meade began to fall to Confederate troops (furious rebel assault)
Lee knew that the South needed to take the high ground of Cemetery Ridge in order to claim victory
DAY 2: 90,000 Union and 75,000 Confederate soldiers stood ready to fight in Gettysburg
Lee wanted Cemetery Ridge attacked due to Union hold of it so James Longstreet led Confederate troops toward the high ground
Union forces under Joshua Chamberlain met the Confederate forces on Little Round Top (hill that overlooked southern portion of
battlefield).
Chamberlain’s men ran short of ammunition and therefore a bayonet charge was enforced which surprised the worn out Confederates
(still tired from climbing to the high ground) who inevitably surrendered
Chamberlain succeeded in holding the high lines but Union forces had given up some ground on Day 2
Day 3: Lee felt the third day was all he needed to break Union defenses
Lee ordered an artillery barrage (gunfire bursts) on the middle of Union lines (high ground)
The two sides continued firing on one another for 2 hours until the Union artillery fell silent
Lee commanded Longstreet to push forward and attack the middle lines (high ground)
Union continued its firing attack when the armies had nearly reached their lines (high ground)
South retreated and the North was able to hold the high ground
Lee’s continued struggle to push forward into Northern territory failed and he was left to retreat back to Virginia with his men
Total casualties were more than 30% with the Union wounded/killed were 23,000 and the Confederacy was 28,000
Corpses covered the battle grounds and the heat brought about an unbearable stench
Confederate losses at Gettysburg were so great and Lee’s men were never able to recover
Draft Riots
July 13-16, 1863
• All male citizens between twenty and thirty-five and all unmarried
men between thirty-five and forty-five years of age were subject to
military duty. The federal government entered all eligible men into
a lottery. Those who could afford to hire a substitute or pay the
government three hundred dollars might avoid enlistment. Blacks,
who were not considered citizens, were exempt from the draft.
• NYC housed angry poor whites that did not agree with fighting a
war to free the slaves
• Mobs rampaged through city destroying draft offices, Republican
newspaper offices and homes of anti-slavery leaders
• Attacked well-dressed men and African Americans
• 100 killed as a result of the four day riots
Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
• Ceremony held by the Union to dedicate a
cemetery to those lives lost at Gettysburg
• Speech lasted just over 2 minutes
• Lincoln promoted endurance and devotion of
the Union
• Speech strengthened Union ideals and morale
• Lincoln remakes America from “The United
States are” became “the United States is”
Fort Pillow Massacre
April 12, 1864
• Confederate victory in Tennessee
• Confederate casualties were comparatively low (14 killed
and 86 wounded) and Union casualties were high. Of the
585–605 men present, the Union losses were reported as
277–297 dead
• After battle, Confederate troops shot more than 200
African American prisoners (some whites also) as they
begged for their lives
• Mortality rate was much higher for African Americans
• Debate in South on whether or not to draft slaves
• Gruesome massacre
• Display of hatred toward African Americans
Election of 1864
• Presidential election drew several contenders
• Many were upset at the wars length and Union losses and
looked for an armistice in war
• Others wanted a harsh proposal for readmitting southern
states to the Union
• Republican title dropped to attract other Democrats
• Johnson, a Democrat, was selected as running-mate of
Lincoln
• Union Generals continued making advances in the South,
Fremont withdrew from race, and absentee ballots were
able to be cast by Union soldiers
• Lincoln wins second term
Surrender at Appomattox
April 9, 1865
– By late March in 1865 Union forces were approaching
Richmond from all sides
– Jefferson Davis and government abandoned their
capital setting it on fire so the Northerners couldn’t
take it
– Lee and Grant arranged to meet at the Appomattox
Court House in Virginia on April 9.
– The terms of the surrender were generous at Lincoln’s
request
– Lee and his men were paroled and sent home
– Within 2 months all remaining Confederate resistance
collapsed
Assassination of Lincoln
April 14-15, 1865
– Five days after the surrender, Lincoln attended a British comedy
with his wife at Ford’s Theatre in D.C.
– John Wilkes Booth, 26, entered the unguarded doors to the
presidential box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head
– Booth was a Southern sympathizer
– Booth was found twelve days later and surrounded at a tobacco
barn in VA
– The barn was set on fire to draw him out but he refused, a shot
was fired but its unknown whether it was him or the cavalry
that fired the shot
– Booth claimed he died for his country and did what he thought
was best
– Lincoln died on the 15th and his funeral train took from D.C. to
Springfield, Illinois (14 days) and approximately 7 million
Americans (1/3 entire population) turned out to mourn
Civil War Forces
War:
Facts and Figures
Union
Confederate
Battle Deaths: 110,070
Disease, etc: 250, 152
Total: 360,222
Battle Deaths: 94,000
Diseases, etc: 164,000
Total: 258, 000
Total Costs of War: $56.3 billion
Total Costs of War $24.5 billion
Technology of Civil War
NEW KINDS OF WEAPONS
• Before the Civil War, infantry soldiers typically carried muskets that held just one
bullet at a time. The range of these muskets was about 250 yards. However, a
soldier trying to aim and shoot with any accuracy would have to stand much closer
to his target, since the weapon’s “effective range” was only about 80 yards.
Therefore, armies typically fought battles at a relatively close range.
• Rifles, by contrast, had a much greater range than muskets did–a rifle could shoot
a bullet up to 1,000 yards–and were more accurate. However, until the 1850s it
was nearly impossible to use these guns in battle because, since a rifle’s bullet had
roughly the same diameter as its barrel, they took too long to load. (Soldiers
sometimes had to pound the bullet into the barrel with a mallet.)
• In 1848, a French army officer named Claude Minié invented a cone-shaped lead
bullet with a diameter smaller than that of the rifle barrel. Soldiers could load
these “Minié balls” quickly, without the aid of ramrods or mallets. Rifles with
Minié bullets were more accurate, and therefore deadlier, than muskets were,
which forced infantries to change the way they fought: Even troops who were far
from the line of fire had to protect themselves by building elaborate trenches and
other fortifications.
Minie Ball
“REPEATERS”
• Rifles with Minié bullets were easy and quick to load, but
soldiers still had to pause and reload after each shot. This
was inefficient and dangerous. By 1863, however, there was
another option: so-called repeating rifles, or weapons that
could fire more than one bullet before needing a reload.
The most famous of these guns, the Spencer carbine, could
fire seven shots in 30 seconds.
• Like many other Civil War technologies, these weapons
were available to Northern troops but not Southern ones:
Southern factories had neither the equipment nor the
know-how to produce them.
BALLOONS AND SUBMARINES
• Other newfangled weapons took to the air–for example, Union
spies floated above Confederate encampments and battle lines in
hydrogen-filled passenger balloons, sending reconnaissance
information back to their commanders via telegraph–and to the
sea. “Iron-clad” warships prowled up and down the coast,
maintaining a Union blockade of Confederate ports.
• For their part, Confederate sailors tried to sink these ironclads with
submarines. The first of these, the Confederate C.S.S. Hunley, was a
metal tube that was 40 feet long, 4 feet across, and held an 8-man
crew. In 1864, the Hunley sank the Union blockade ship Housatonic
off the coast of Charleston but was itself wrecked in the process.
THE RAILROAD
• More important than these advanced weapons were larger-scale
technological innovations such as the railroad. Once again, the
Union had the advantage. When the war began, there were 22,000
miles of railroad track in the North and just 9,000 in the South, and
the North had almost all of the nation’s track and locomotive
factories. Furthermore, Northern tracks tended to be “standard
gauge,” which meant that any train car could ride on any track.
Southern tracks, by contrast, were not standardized, so people and
goods frequently had to switch cars as they traveled–an expensive
and inefficient system.
• Union officials used railroads to move troops and supplies from one
place to another. They also used thousands of soldiers to keep
tracks and trains safe from Confederate attack.
THE TELEGRAPH
• Abraham Lincoln was the first president who was able to
communicate on the spot with his officers on the battlefield. The
White House telegraph office enabled him to monitor battlefield
reports, lead real-time strategy meetings and deliver orders to his
men. Here, as well, the Confederate army was at a disadvantage:
They lacked the technological and industrial ability to conduct such
a large-scale communication campaign.
• In 1861, the Union Army established the U.S. Military Telegraph
Corps, led by a young railroad man named Andrew CarnegieThe
next year alone, the U.S.M.T.C. trained 1,200 operators, strung
4,000 miles of telegraph wire and sent more than a million
messages to and from the battlefield.
CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHY
• The Civil War was the first war to be documented through the lens
of a camera. However, the era’s photographic process was far too
elaborate for candid pictures. Taking and developing photos using
the so-called “wet-plate” process was a meticulous, multi-step
procedure that required more than one “camera operator” and lots
of chemicals and equipment. As a result, the images of the Civil War
are not action snapshots: They are portraits and landscapes. It was
not until the 20th century that photographers were able to take
non-posed pictures on the battlefield.
• Technological innovation had an enormous impact on the way
people fought the Civil War and on the way they remember it.
Many of these inventions have played important roles in military
and civilian life ever since.
Weapons of War
Artillery
• Smoothbore Napoleon Cannon: renowned for
its sturdiness, reliability, firepower, flexibility,
relatively light weight, and range of 1,700 yds
• Rifled Ordnance and Parrott Cannon: More
accurate and had a longer range of 2,300 yds
• Siege Howitzer Cannon: had a range of over
2,000 yds and could fire 45 and 90 lb shells
Small Arms
• .58 caliber Springfield musket and .69 caliber
Harpers Ferry Rifle: muzzle loading arms that
fired deadly mini ball (slower to load)
• Spencer Carbine: breechloader held .52
caliber cartridges (easy to use and lightweight)
• Revolvers: Colt, Remington New Model, Starr
Army Percussion
• English Enfield Rifle fired a .557 caliber shot
(over 700,000 used by Confederates during
war)
Edged Weapons
• Bayonets, Sabers, Swords, Short Swords,
Cutlasses, Bowie Knives, Pikes, Lances
• Inflicted few casualties
• Swords were symbol of an officer’s authority
• Weapons shortages led to the use of lances
and pikes
Bayonet
Cutlass
Bowie Knife
Important Generals
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Union
General Robert Anderson
General Ulysses S. Grant
General George McClellan
General Joseph Hooker
General George Meade
General Ambrose Burnside
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Confederate
General Pierre Beauregard
General George Pickett
General Robert E. Lee
General Thomas J.
“Stonewall” Jackson
James Longstreet
Lee
Meade