Civil War Outline
1. Election of Lincoln 1860
December-South Carolina Secedes
By February 1, 1861-Mississippi, Florida, Alabama
Georgia, Louisiana, Texas
2. Confederacy Formed-February, 1861
a. First Capital- Montgomery, Alabama
b. President: Jefferson Davis; Vice President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
c. Take over federal buildings
d. Lincoln as President: Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens (Fl) in Confederate hands
e. Border states-slave but stay in Union: Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri
i. How did Lincoln keep Border States in Union?
ii. What did the Court rule in Ex Parte Merryman?
f.
Virginia Secedes-April 17, 1861-when Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers after Ft Sumter
i. Western Counties of VA were anti-slavery
1. Admitted as West Virginia-1863
g. Followed by Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee
h. Confederate States-11 states:
SC, MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX, VA, AK, NC, TN
3. Lincoln’s Goal: Preserve the Union
Secondary Goal – End Slavery
4. Southern Goal: Win Independence
Secondary Goal-Preserve Slavery
???Is Secession Treason???
What is the Southern Justification?
What is Lincoln’s Argument?
Advantages:
United States of America (USA)
North/ Union/Federals/Yankees
Confederate States of America (CSA)
South/Confederacy/Confederates/Rebels
Population: N-24 million, S-9 million, 3.5 m slaves
Superior Officers : West Point, Experience
Industry/Manufacturing: 92% of Industries
Defensive War-Just Need a draw
Finances-controlled gold supply, more $
More Experience in Outdoor Living
Transportation-Railroads, most were in North
Felt Great Britain and France Would Help
-Imported Southern Cotton-textile mils
Agriculture/Natural Resources
-farmland v cotton, tobacco
-PA-coal
Navy (More Ships
Comparison of Union and CSA[117]
Union
Total population
CSA
22,000,000 (71%) 9,000,000 (29%)
Free population
22,000,000
5,500,000
1860 Border state slaves
432,586
NA
1860 Southern slaves
NA
3,500,000
Soldiers
2,200,000 (67%) 1,064,000 (33%)
Railroad miles
21,788 (71%)
8,838 (29%)
Manufactured items
90%
10%
Firearm production
97%
3%
Bales of cotton in 1860
Negligible
4,500,000
Bales of cotton in 1864
Negligible
300,000
Pre-war U.S. exports
30%
70%
5. Strategies
North
Anaconda Plan (Winfield Scott’s)
1. Blockade Confederate Coastline
2. Split Confederacy by taking control of the Mississippi
3. Take Confederate Capitol-Richmond, VA
Later: War of Attrition
South
Defensive War
Later-Take Washington D.C., continue north to split the Union
6. Early Battles
FYI-Union –nearest geographic feature; Confederacy-nearest town
a. First Bull Run/Manassas-1861, VA
i. “The Great Skedaddle”
ii. Stonewall Jackson gets his nickname
iii. Union-McDowell replaced by McClellan
iv. Southern Victory
b. Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing-April, 1862, Tenn
i. Union Victory along TN-MS Border
ii. Enables Union to capture Corinth, MS-rail junction
c. Ironclads-March 1862
i. USS Monitor (N) v CSS Virginia (Merrimac )(S)
1. Hampton Roads, VA
2. Merrimac sank numerous Union ships
3. Actually considered a draw
4. New Era in Naval Warfare
d. Peninsula Campaign, March-July, 1862
i. Southern Victory
ii. McClellan: “VA Creeper”; relieved of command
e. Second Bull Run/Manassas
i. Southern Victory
ii. Pope retreats; relieved
iii. McClellan restored
f.
Antietam/Sharpsburg, Sept 17, 1862
i. Draw/Lincoln claims narrow victory
ii. Turned back first Confederate invasion of North
iii. Single Bloodiest day-22, 720.
1. 3 parts: Cornfield and Dunkard Church, Bloody Lane, Burnside Bridge
Alexander Gardner took 70 photographs of the
battlefield starting just two days after the battle.
This was the first time an American battlefield had
ever been photographed before the dead had
been buried. Gardner, 41 years old at the time of
the battle, was employed by Mathew Brady
g. McClellan lets Lee escape; removed from command
h. Antietam Enabled Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation
i. Effective Jan 1, 1863
7. Politics
a. Dissent
i. Habeas Corpus
1. Right to be brought before a judge when arrested
2. Lincoln suspended this right and imposed martial law in certain areas
a. In particular-Maryland
b. Ex Parte Merryman, 1861
i. 1. That the president, under the constitution of the United States,
cannot suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, nor
authorize a military officer to do it. 2. That a military officer has no
right to arrest and detain a person not subject to the rules and articles
of war, for an offence against the law of the United States, except in
aid of the judicial authority, and subject to its control; and if the party
be arrested by the military, it is the duty of the officer to deliver him
over immediately to the civil authority, to be dealt with according to
law. Taney
b. Trent Affair, 1861
i. US Naval Vessel Intercepted a British ship, HMS Trent, and removed two Confederate envoys.
ii. Violation of International Law
iii. Crisis Passed when Lincoln released them
c. Emancipation Proclamation-1862, Effective Jan 1, 1863
i. Freed slaves in states in rebellion
ii. Made Abolition a Northern War Aim
iii. Discouraged any interference of Foreign Governments
8. Conscription
a. Military Draft-used by both sides. CSA-1862, USA-1863
9. Draft Riots
a. New York-started mostly by poor. Lasted 4 days. Took federal troops and temporary suspension of the
draft to stop it.
b. Copperheads-“Peace Democrats”-N. Dem who opposed all measures in support of war.
i. Vallandigham
10. Middle Battles to the End
a. Fredericksburg, VA, Dec 1862
i. Heavy Union losses-many charges up Maryes Heights
ii. Burnside removed from command
b. Chancellorsville, VA, May1-4, 1863
i. Confederate victory
ii. Losses: 30, 099
iii. Jackson Killed
c. Gettysburg, July1-3, 1863
i. Confederate Invasion
ii. Bloodiest Battle: 51, 112
iii. High water mark for the Confederacy
iv. Turning Point
The Angle-Day Three
d. New Orleans-April l1862
i. Union Victory-unopposed
ii. Union moves gunboats up the MS River
e. Murfreesboro/Stones River
i. Union Victory
ii. South retreats south
f.
Vicksburg-April 16-July 4, 1863
i. Key MS port and rail junction
ii. Union Victory
g. Port Hudson, Louisiana, May-July, 1863
i. May-African American soldiers advanced over open ground in the face of deadly artillery fire.
Although the attack failed, the soldiers proved their capability to withstand the heat of battle
ii. After hearing of the fall of Vicksburg, Confederate garrison surrendered
iii. Union in control of the Miss River
h. Chickamauga, GA-Sept, 1863
i. Initial Success by South
ii. South stopped by GenThomas “the rock of Chickamauga”
iii. Union retreated to Chattanooga
iv. Rosecrans replaced by Grant who brought in reinforcements
i.
Chattanooga, Tenn-Nov, 1863
i. Union Victory-Grant
ii. Brass (CSA) retreats to Georgiq
iii. “Gateway to the Lower South”-became supply and logistics base for Sherman’s 1864 Atlanta
Campaign
j.
Gettysburg Address, Nov 19, 1863
i. Dedicated the Battlefield as a National Cemetery
ii. “last full measure of devotion”
iii. “gov’t of, for, by the people”
k. Grant Appointed Commander of All Union Forces –March 1864
i. Sherman – succeeds Grant in the Western Armies
ii. May-begins massive coordinated campaign of all Union Armies
1. In VA-Grant begins moving toward Richmond to engage Lee
iii. Begins a War of Attrition
1. Will include battles at the Wilderness (May5-6)-Union/Draw;
Spotsylvania (May8-12)-Union win; Cold Harbor (June 1-3) Union called off the attack
l.
Sherman’s March to the Sea
i. With 100,000 men, begins an advance toward Atlanta to engage Johnston’s 60,000 men
ii. Designed to defeat the South, destroy its economic base, break its will to resist
m. Siege of Petersburg June 20 for 9 months
i. Grant delayed long enough for Lee to gather reinforcements
ii. Petersburg did not fall until the end of the war
iii. Atlanta-July 20-Sept 2
1. Sherman-“Atlanta is ours, and fairly won”
2. Union victory insures Lincoln’s reelection
n. Lincoln is reelected-Nov 8
i. Second Inaugural-“with malice towards none, with charity for all…bind up the nation’s
wounds”. March 4, 1865
o. Sherman’s March to the Sea-Nov 15-Dec 21
i. Atlanta to Savannah-300 mile long path of destruction 60 miles wide
ii. Sherman telegraphs Lincoln, offering Savannah as a Christmas present
p. Peace Conference-Lincoln and CSA VP Stephens-meeting ends in failure, war will continue
q. Petersburg and Richmond, April 2
i. After 9 months, Lee forced to retreat
ii. Confederates burned Richmond before leaving to keep Union from getting supplies
iii. Ambrose P Hill is killed
r.
Appomattox Courthouse, April 9
i. Lee surrendered to Grant (Chamberlain)
ii. CSA allowed to keep belongings including pistols and horse and could go home
s. Lincoln assassinated, April 14
i. Good Friday at Ford’s Theatre by john Wilkes Booth
ii. Booth fatally shot 12 days later. Part of a group of co-conspirators including Lewis Powell and
Lewis Payne who stabbed Sec of State Seward, who lived
iii. 8 Conspirators: 4 hung, 4 imprisoned
t.
April 26-Johnston surrendered to Sherman
u. May 11-Jefferson Davis is captured
v. May 26-last Confederate troops surrender
w. Dec 16-Thirteenth Amendment is ratified. Slavery Abolished
11. People
a. Frederick Douglas-former slave, abolitionist, urged Lincoln to recruit former slaves to fight in Union
army
b. Robert E Lee: Confederate General of the Army of Northern Virginia
i. Opposed secession
ii. Did not believe the Union should be held together by force
iii. Urged Southerners to accept defeat and unite again as Americans
c. Stonewall Jackson
i. Key Confederate Military commander killed at Chancellorsville
d. James Longstreet
i. Key Confederate Military commander who led Pickett’s Charge although he opposed it
e. Ulysses S Grant: Union military commander who won victories over the South after several
commanders had failed