Transcript The Furnace of Civil War

The Furnace of Civil War
1860-1865
Union Strategy
1. Slowly suffocate South by blockading its ports
2. Liberate the slaves and undermine South’s
economy
3. Cut the Confederacy in half by seizing the
Mississippi
4. Chop Confederacy in pieces by sending troops
through GA, SC, NC
5. Capturing Richmond
6. Try everywhere to engage Confederacy’s main
strength
“Anaconda Plan”
Scott's Great Snake
Scott's Great Snake
General Winfield Scott's scheme to surround the South and await a seizure of power
by southern Unionists drew scorn from critics who called it the Anaconda plan. In
this lithograph, the "great snake" prepares to thrust down the Mississippi, seal off the
Confederacy, and crush it. (Library of Congress)
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War at Sea
Blockade of 3500 miles difficult at best
– North converted yachts and ferryboats
– Concentrated on main ports
Britain recognized the blockade as that was
Royal Navy’s best-used weapon
*Blockade-running profitable
– Risks great, but high prices brought large
profits
Ironclads
Confederacy plated sides of Merrimack
with iron
– Easily defeated two wooden Union ships
– Threatened Union blockade
*March 9, 1862: Merrimack fought Union’s
Monitor to a standstill
– First battle-testing of ironclads spelled doom
for wooden ships
Pivotal Point: Antietam
Lee thrust into Maryland after success of Second
Bull Run
– Wanted to encourage foreign intervention and seduce
Border States to leaving Union
2 Union soldiers found Lee’s plan dropped by
Confederate officer
– Lee halted at Antietam on September 17, 1862 in
bloody battle
– Military draw
Antietam
Antietam
In the photograph of Antietam, dead rebel gunners lie next to the wreckage of their
battery. (Library of Congress)
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Antietam dead, Confederates lined for burial
Antietam dead, Confederates lined for burial
This photograph of corpses awaiting burial was one of ninety-five taken by Mathew
Brady and his assistants of the Antietam battlefield, the bloodiest single day of the
war. It was the first time Americans had seen war depicted so realistically. When
Brady's photographs went on display in New York in 1862, throngs of people waited
in line to see them. (Library of Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Pivotal Point: Antietam
Results:
– London and Paris declined to help Confederacy
– *Lincoln launched his Emancipation
Proclamation
• *Announced that as of January 1, 1863, slaves in
rebellious states were “forever free”
• *Border States not affected
*Proclamation without
Emancipation
Thousands of slaves flocked to invading Union
armies
Goal not only to liberate slaves but to strengthen
the Union’s moral cause
– Ardent abolitionists said Lincoln did not do enough
– Those with Southern sympathies felt he went too far
– Diminished moral cause of the South
Freedom to the Slave, 1863
Freedom to the Slave, 1863
This engraving celebrating the
Emancipation Proclamation first
appeared in 1863. While it places a
white Union soldier in the center, it also
portrays the important role of African
American troops and emphasizes the
importance of education and literacy.
(The Library Company of Philadelphia)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Blacks Battle Bondage
Black enlistees accepted as manpower ran low
– 180,000 served, most from slave states, with 2 full
regiments from MA
– Fought in 500 engagements, high casualties
– Not recognized by CSA as POWs, but as slaves in
rebellion
Confederacy did not use black troops until end of
war
– Most forced to work shoring up defenses
Black Troops from Company E
Black Troops from Company E
Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, photographed at Fort Lincoln, Virginia, in
1864. Nothing so symbolized the new manhood and citizenship among African
Americans in the midst of the war as such young black men in blue. (Chicago
Historical Society)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863
A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863
(Library of Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
*Martyrdom of Lincoln
April 14, 1865: Lincoln assassinated at
Ford’s Theater in DC
–
–
–
–
John Wilkes Booth
Lincoln’s death calamity for North and South
Increased bitterness in North
Reconstruction more brutal for the South.
Why?
Aftermath of the Nightmare
*Over 620,000 died in
action or from disease
– Over a million seriously
injured or dead
Direct costs of $15 million
– Does not include continuing
costs (pensions, etc)
Nullification and
secession laid to rest