Theme- Strategies for the Civil War
Union Goals. The union initially adopted four strategies:
1 Invade the Confederacy and destroy its will to resist.
2 Obtain the loyalty of the border states - Maryland, Delaware,
Kentucky, Missouri, and in 1863, West Virginia.
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This was absolutely essential for several reasons:
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The border states had 2/3 of the South's entire white
population, 3/4 of the South's indusrial
production, and over half of all its food and fuel.
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Each state was geographically strategic for the Union
- Kentucky held a 500-mile border on the Ohio
River; Maryland surrounded the Union capital on
the north; Missouri border the Mississippi River
and controlled its routes to the west; and
Delaware conrolled access to Philadelphia.
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To fight the war on Southern soil meant marching
through hostile border states.
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And how did Lincoln obtain the loyalty of the border
states?
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After Fort Sumter, the northern-tier of the
slaveholding states - known as the border states were still undecided about whether to secede.
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Eventually, all four decided to stay in the Union, but
pro-Confederate sympathizers existed in each
state and men fought for the Confederacy in all
four.
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In Maryland, more than the other states, there
were many Confederate supporters.
Maryland stayed in the Union under duress;
Lincoln declared martial law, arrested
suspected ringleaders of pro-Confederate
groups and held them without trial (by
suspending the writ of habeas corpus), and
detained secessionist leaders. When
secessionists moved to block Union activity
in the first days of the war, Lincoln stationed
Theme- Strategies for the Civil War
Union troops throughout the state and
imprisoned most suspected secessionists.
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In Missouri, an uneasy military rule by Union
troops kept them in the Union.
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Delaware was loyal from the beginning.
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Kentucky declared neutrality which Lincoln
accepted without a fight.
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A fifth border state was created in mid-1863 due
to deep internal divisions in Virginia. Its
western counties refused to support the
Confederacy because citizens had no slaves
or interest in slavery. West Virginia was
formally admitted to the Union in June
1863.
3 Construct and maintain a naval blockade of 3,500 miles of
4 Confederate coastline.
Prevent European powers - especially Great Britain and
France - from extending recognition of and giving assistance to
the Confederacy. Lincoln knew he was in a bind as long as the
Confederacy portrayed their rebellion as one for national selfdetermination. He also knew that if he could redefine the war as a
struggle over slavery, Europe’s sympathies would no longer lay
with the Confederacy. However, he was not able to address these
concerns until mid-way through the war.
5. Fight a war of attrition.
Confederacy Goals . To be victorious, the CSA knew it did not
need to invade the North or capture a mile of its territory. Its
strategies were fairly simple:
1. Defend Confederate land.
2. Prevent the North from destroying the Confederate army.
3. Break the Union's will to fight.
Common Strategies:
Theme- Strategies for the Civil War
1.
2.
Use cavalry to gather in gather intelligence and protect the
flanks of the army
Obtain loyalty in Border States
Key People
1. Winfield Scott
2. Frederick Douglass
3. George McClellan