History: Chapter 14 Outline

Chapter 14: The Civil War 1861-1865

1.     The War Begins

a.     Lincoln inaugurated as 1^st Republican Pres. in March 1861

                                               i.     Not clear- employ military to challenge secession or no?

                                              ii.     No said intention of interfering w/ slavery or other S. institutions, but no state had the right to break up the Union.

b.     Fort Sumter

                                               i.     Two forts in the South held by fed troops, but claimed by a seceded state.

1.     Fort Sumter- Charleston, SC

a.     Cut off from vital supplies, reinforcements by S. control of harbor.

b.     Lincoln sends food, not defending it or giving up.

                                                                                                     i.     Gives SC a choice to let fort hold out or open fire.

1.     Opened fire, war begins on April 12, 1861.

                                              ii.     Use of executive power

1.     Used powers as chief executive and commander in chief, often w/o approval of Congress

a.     Fort Sumter- called for 75,000 volunteers to put down “insurrection” in South.

b.     Authorized spending for the war

c.      Suspending privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.

                                                                                                     i.     Congress not in session, Abe acted on his own authority.

                                                                                                    ii.     “Indispensable to the public safety”

c.      Secession of the Upper South

                                               i.     Before Fort Sumter, 7 states in Deep South seceded.

                                              ii.     After, 4 states (VI, NC, TN, AR) joined Confederacy

1.     Capital movied to Richmond, VI.

2.     W. VI stayed w/ Union, became state in 1863.

d.     Keeping the Border States in the Union

                                               i.     Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky all slaveholding states, stayed w/ Union.

1.     Union sentiment, shrewd federal policies.

2.     Keeping border states in Union: primary and political goal for Abe.

a.     Loss would upped Fed population by 50%, weakened N’s strategic position for conducting war.

                                                                                                     i.     Reluctant for early emancipation

e.     Wartime Advantages

                                               i.     Military

1.     S. entered war w/ advantage of only fighting a defensive war to win.

a.     Shorter distances

b.     Long coastline- hard to blockade

c.      Experienced military leaders and high troop morale.

2.     North’s hope- population

a.     22 million

                                                                                                     i.     800,000 immigrants

                                                                                                    ii.     180,000 African Americans

b.     Loyal U.S. Navy- gave command of rivers/territorial waters.

                                              ii.     Economic

1.     North

a.     Controlled most banking and capital of country

                                                                                                     i.     85% of factories, 65% of farmlands, 70% of railroads

b.     Skilled clerks and bookkeppers

2.     South

a.     Overseas demand of cotton

                                            iii.     Political

1.     Irony: South needed a strong central gov’t and public support.

2.     South’s hope: North would turn against Abe, Republicans quit war b/c it was too costly.

f.      The Confederate States of America

                                               i.     Constitution of Feds modeled after US constitution, but provided a nonsuccessive 6 year term for prez and vice pres, and presidential item veto.

1.     Denied Congress to levy protective tariff and to appropriate funds for internal improvements, prohibited foreign slave trade.

2.     Pres. Jefferson Davis- tries to increase executive powers during war

a.     S. Governors resisted centralization

                                                                                                     i.     Held back men, resources

b.     Vice pres. Alexander H. Stephens urged the secession of Georgia for “despotic” actions of Fed gov’t.

                                              ii.     Always a shortage of money

1.     Loans, taxes, impressment of private property

a.     Paid a small amount

b.     Issued 1 billion in inflationary paper money

                                                                                                     i.     Reduced to 2 cents @ end of war

2.     First Years of a Long War: 1861-1862

a.     First Battle of Bull Run

                                               i.     July 1861: First major battle

1.     30,000 federal troops marched from Washington, CD to attack the confederates near Bull Run Creek @ Manassas Junction, VI.

2.     Union seemed close to victory, Conf. reinforcements under General Thomas Stonewall Jackson counterattacked, sent inexperienced Union troops in chaos back to Washington.

b.     Union Strategy

                                               i.     General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, vet. Of 1812 and Mexican wars, devised 3 party strategy:

1.     Use US navy to blockade S. ports (Anaconda Plan), cut off supplies

2.     Divide Confeds. in two by taking control of Miss. River

3.     Raise, train an army of 500,000 to take Richmond

                                              ii.     Plan led to Union victory

c.      Peninsula campaign

                                               i.     General George B. McClellan, new commander of Union Army int eh East

1.     Troops be given long training/discipline b4 battle.

2.     Army invaded Virginia in March 1862.

a.     Stopped by Confed. General Robert E. Lee, commander of S’s E. forces.

b.     After 5 months, McClellan forced to retreat, ordered back to Potomac, replaced by General John Pope.

d.     Second Battle of Bull Run

                                               i.     Lee took advantage of change of Union Generals

1.     Strike Pope’s army in N. Virginia

2.     Sent Union back to Bull Run

e.     Antietam

                                               i.     Lee led army across Potomac into Maryland.

1.     Retreated to VI.

2.     Union General McClellan removed for last time

                                              ii.     Decisive battle b/c south didn’t gain recognition and aid from a foreign power.

                                            iii.     Lincoln announces plans for Emancipation Proclamation

f.      Fredericksburg

                                               i.     General Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellan

1.     Dec. 1862 Union attacks Lee’s army @ Fredericksburgh, VI.

a.     12,000 dead compared to 5,000 Confeds.

                                              ii.     Moniter vs. Merrimac

1.     Moniter-Merrimac Duel

a.     Draw, revolutionize naval warfare

g.     Grant in the West

                                               i.     Ulysses S. Grant

1.     In charge of taking control of Mississippi River

a.     Fort Henry, Fort Donelson on Cumberland River

3.     Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy

a.     Trent Affair

                                               i.     1861- Mason, Slidell try to gain Brit recognition

1.     Union warship stops them

2.     Confeds fail to gain recognition

b.     Confederate Affairs

                                               i.     Confeds buy Brit shipyards, damage Union merchant ships

                                              ii.     Charles Francis Adams, Union’s minister to Brit stops further damage, Union gets paid 15.5 mill.

c.      Failure of Cotton Diplomacy

                                               i.     Britain finds another source of cotton

                                              ii.     Antietam

                                            iii.     Slavery

4.     The End of Slavery

a.     Confiscation Acts

                                               i.     Slaves= “contraband of war”

                                              ii.     2^nd Confiscation Act freed slaves engaged in rebellion against US, let pres use freed slaves in Union

b.     Emancipation Proclamation

                                               i.     Jan. 1, 1863- Emancipation Proclamation issued (announced Sept. 22, 1862)

                                              ii.     Consequences

1.     Didn’t free any slaves at first, as Union moved more southward, more slaves freed.

2.     Union now fighting against slavery.

c.      Thirteenth Amendment

                                               i.     December 1865 (after Lincoln’s death) 13^th amendment ratified by required number of states.

1.     Abolished slavery

d.     Freedom in the War

                                               i.     After Eman. Proclam., hundreds of thousands of slaves became free

1.     200,000 fought in war

2.     Massachusetts 54^th Regiment

a.     37,000 African Americans died

                                                                                                     i.     Army of Freedom

5.     The Union Triumphs, 1863-1865

a.     Turning point

                                               i.     Vicksburg

1.     1863- Union bombarded Vicksburg, Confeds surrender city.  Federals controlled all of Mississippi River, cut of TX, LA, AR from the rest of Confederacy

                                              ii.     Gettysburg

1.     Lee attacks Maryland, PA on July 1, 1863.

a.     Futile, bloodiest (50,000 casualties)

b.     Confeds retreated to VI, not to regain offensive.

b.     Grant in Command

                                               i.     Used strategy- slowly dwindled Lee’s army, wait until they used up their limited sources.

                                              ii.     Beginning of trench warfare.

                                            iii.     “total warfare” including civilians and soldiers

                                            iv.     Sherman’s March

1.     Marched through Georgia and North Carolina

a.     Burned everything in path

b.     Sept. 1864- took Atlanta. Feb. 1865 set fire to Columbia

2.     Broke Confed’s will to fight

                                              v.     The Election of 1864

1.     McClellan- Democrat nominee

2.     “War Democrats”

3.     Republicans- Lincoln

4.     Lincoln wins

c.      The End of the War

                                               i.     Surrender at Appomattox

1.     Confeds try to negotiate

a.     Lincoln only accepted restoration, Jefferson Davis only freedom.

2.     Lee’s army: less than 30,000 men.

a.     Lee tries to escape: cut off, for to surrender on April 9, 1865 at Appomatox Court House.

                                              ii.     Assassination of Lincoln

1.     April 14- John Wilkes Booth assassinates Abe

2.     Secretary of State William Seward injured by another man.

3.     North furious

6.     Effects of the War on Civilian Life

a.     Political Change

                                               i.     Not much change

1.     Republicans are the majority

2.     Most democrats supported war, did not like how Abe handled it.

                                              ii.     Civil Liberties

1.     Prosecuting w/ war > citizens rights

a.     Lincoln suspended writ of habeas corpus in Maryland, etc (Confed. sentiment)

2.     Ex Parte Milligan (1866)

                                            iii.     The Draft

1.     Conscription Act (March 1863)

a.     Men 20-45 liable for service

                                                                                                     i.     Can find substitue, pay $300 fee

b.     July 1863- Riot (Irish @ blacks, wealthy)

                                            iv.     Political dominance of the North

b.     Economic Change

                                               i.     Financing the war

1.     North financed by borrowing $2.6 billion

a.     Gov’t bonds.

2.     Raising tariffs (Morrill Tariff of 1861), excise taxes, income tax.

3.     Greenbacks

a.     First national bank since Andrew Jackson’s veto.

b.     Inflation

                                              ii.     Modernizing northern society

1.     Workers pay didn’t keep up w/ inflation

2.     Some aspects accelerated industrial economy

3.     Republicans passed:

a.     The Morill Tariff (1816), The Homestead Act (1862), The Morrill Land Grant Act (1862), and the Pacific Railway Act (1862)

c.      Social Change

                                               i.     Affected women- work more burdensome

1.     Nursing open to women, equal voting rights

                                              ii.     End of slavery

1.     4 million became free