Girding for War: The North and the South

1861-1865

“I consider the central idea pervading this struggle is the necessity that is upon us, of proving that popular government is not an absurdity. We must settle this question now, whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose. If we fail it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves.”

Abraham Lincoln, May 7 1861

The Menace of Secession• Abraham Lincoln took office March 4, 1861

– 7 states already seceded– 8 states ‘teetering on the edge’ of secession

• First Inaugural Address– Pledged to restore the Union – Promised no conflict unless provoked by the South– Declared that there were no geographical divisions

• Secession created controversy– Sharing of national debt and division of federal

territories– Break up U.S. would dissolve the only democracy in Western

Hemisphere• Weaken Monroe Doctrine• Potentially allow European nations to regain foothold in the

Americas

A Nation Divided

South Carolina Assails Fort Sumter• Confederacy seized federal

property after secession• Fort Sumter, off coast of

Charleston, South Carolina, refused to relinquish control to Carolinian army

• Lincoln notified southern leaders that he would be sending provisions to the fort, with no intent to reinforcements.

• April 12, 1861, Southerners fired on the fort (after 36 hour bombardment, it surrendered)

• Northerners, previously inclined to favor peaceable secession, were inflamed

• Lincoln called for volunteers• South viewed call for volunteers

an act of aggression and 4 additional states seceded – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina

Border States• Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and later, West Virginia

(western counties of ‘mountain whites’ that illegally separated from Virginia in mid-1861) were slaveholding states that did not secede

• Border States were crucial to the success of both sides– Would have doubled the manufacturing capacity of the Confederacy and

increased the number of horses and mules by nearly half– Contained white population more than half that of the rest of the

Confederacy– Vital Ohio River and its tributaries, the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers,

were strategically important

• Lincoln sacrificed moral high ground to keep the Border States– Made the war about preserving the Union rather than about freeing the

slaves– Reportedly said he hoped to have God on his side, but he had to have

Kentucky

• Lincoln used dubious legality to hold the Border States– Declared martial law in Maryland to prevent secessionists from holding a

convention– Deployed Union soldiers in western Virginia and Missouri (where a local civil

war raged throughout the war) to secure those areas

Union and Confederacy, 1861

Billy Yank and Johnny Reb• Brother’s War

– Border States contributed 300,000 men to U.S. army; 50,000 additional Southerners fought for Union army

– Senator Crittenden fathered two sons – one served as a Union general, the other served as a Confederate general

– Lincoln’s wife, Mary, had four brothers who fought for Confederacy

• “Billy Yank” - ordinary Union soldier– Typically more literate, intellectual, practical ,efficient– Usually adapted quickly to army discipline

• “Johnny Reb” - typical Confederate soldier– Generally more jocular, emotional, religious, and

personally concerned about the war– Cared deeply about ‘home and hearth’ (mainly because so

much of the war was fought on Southern soil– Distinct rural individualism and disrespect for authority

Citizen Armies

– Two million Union soldiers

– One million Confederate soldiers

– 10 percent of population– Overwhelmingly

amateur and volunteer (especially at beginning of war)

Balance of ForcesThe North

• Population– 22 million to the South’s 9 million

(including 3.5 million slaves) in 1860 • Manufacturing

– 80% of factories located in the North– Produced more than 90% of the

nation’s clothing, boots, & shoes– Produced 93% of country’s pig iron– Manufactured almost all the nation’s

firearms & gunpowder• Railroads

– Twice the mileage of railroad track– Allowed the North to transport troops,

food, and supplies by rail• Economy

– Controlled national treasury– Able to raise money from tariffs– Majority of banks, facilitating

borrowing of money effectively– Balanced between farming and

industry

The South• Agriculture

– Majority of Southern production– Able to produce food (distribution problems

during war)• Debt

– Most planters deeply in debt– Forced to tax trade to raise money, which was

disrupted by Northern blockade– Forced to directly tax citizens

• States’ Rights– Hindered ability of southern states to work

together– Fostered political upheaval, with states and

citizens refusing to obey laws passed by Confederacy/states

• Military Leadership– Best officers joined Confederacy– Only had to maintain defensive position– Fighting for a cause they believed in

Northern vs. Southern Resources, 1861

Population ComparisonSlave and Free States, 1861

Railroad Lines, 1860

Balance of ForcesNorth

• Poor leadership– No good leaders throughout early years of the

war– Grant and Sherman eventually emerged

• Wealth– Economy was North’s greatest strength– Held ¾ of nation’s wealth

• Transportation– Held ¾ of nation’s railroad tracks

• Navy– Over ¾ of U.S. naval officers were from the

North– Most crews of U.S. merchant ships were from

the North– Owned most of U.S. warships– All but one of nation’s shipyards located in

North– Successfully implemented blockade

• Immigrants– 800,000 new immigrants during war (most were

forced to serve in Union army)

South• Military Colleges

– Seven of nation’s eight military colleges in the South

– @ 1/3 of U.S. officers joined Confederate army

• Robert E. Lee– Offered command of Union army by

Lincoln– Generally opposed slavery but refused

to bear arms against home state of Virginia

• Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson– Chief lieutenant to Robert E. Lee

• “Rebel Yell”– Instilled fear in Union army

• Shortages– Mainly due to poor transportation– Included shoes, uniforms, blankets, and

even food

Diplomatic Challenge• European Support

– South expected support from Europe, esp. Britain– British textile mills depended on Southern cotton– Overproduction during pre-war years created surplus of cotton for

British manufacturers, allowing the country to adopt a “wait and see” attitude

– Cotton supply ran out in 1861, British textile workers were laid off and people were going hungry

– Britain experienced series of bad harvests during the war, forcing them to depend on grain exports from the North (which had surplus, due in part to invention of mechanical reaper by McCormick)

– Although France indicated that she would recognize Confederacy if Britain did so, Britain did not want to risk war with the U.S. and lose supply of grain• “King Cotton” usurped by “King Corn” and “King Wheat”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin• Aristocratic classes supported

Confederacy• Most Europeans had read

Uncle Tom’s Cabin and opposed slavery, esp. in Britain

• Most working class people in Britain were opposed to slavery and supported the North

• Hoped that a Union victory would end the practice

The Trent Affair• Confederacy sent official ministers to

Britain and France to negotiate• Both ministers boarded the Trent, a

British ship, in Havana, Cuba• British warship intercepted the ship

and arrested Mason and Slidell• Britain threatened war with U.S. if the

Confederate prisoners were not released, arguing that the U.S. government had no right to interfere with a British ship (sent troops to Canada to strengthen position)

• Lincoln ordered the men released to avoid warMason

Slidell

Foreign Flare-ups• British built Confederate commerce

raiders– Technically did not violate British

neutrality because ships left British ports unarmed, then picked up guns elsewhere

– Most notable were the Alabama and the Florida• Alabama captured 64 ships• Florida destroyed 38 merchant ships• Alabama was sunk off the coast of France in

1864

• Laird Rams– British shipyard was building two

Confederate warships whose iron rams would have destroyed Union blockade

– London government, under threat of war with U.S., bought the ships for the Royal Navy

Oh, Canada• U.S. angry at Confederate use of Canada as launch pad for

attacks against northern cities• Numerous immigrant groups, notably Irish Americans,

launched retaliatory invasions into Canada• Dominion of Canada

created by British government in 1867– Direct result of American

Civil War– Attempt to strengthen

Canada against U.S. retaliation after the war

Mexico• Emperor Napoleon III of France sent French troops to

occupy Mexico City– Believed that the U.S. was too occupied by war to retaliate

• Installed Maximillian as emperor of Mexico– Direct violation of Monroe Doctrine

• After the war, U.S. prepared to invade Mexico

• France forced to abandon effort to establish empire in North America– Maximillian, without French

support, was executed by firing squad

Weak Southern Government• Confederate Constitution

– Protected slavery– Created by secession

• States’ Rights– Emphasized by Constitution– Leaders opposed conscription and

martial law– Threatened to secede– Opposed suspension of writ of

habeas corpus

• Jefferson Davis– Never a popular leader– Hampered by threat of

impeachment throughout war– Often opposed by vice president of

Confederacy, Alexander Stephens

Free State of Winston• Created by Winston County,

Alabama• Meeting held at Looney’s Tavern• Argued that if the South could

secede from the Union, then the county could secede from the state

• Declared neutrality• Refused to support Confederacy during war• Many residents volunteered to fight in Union army• Remained apart from Confederacy throughout the

Civil War

Limited Wartime Liberty• Proclaimed a blockade without consent of Congress• Increased size of U.S. army, a right given solely to Congress by the

Constitution• Suspended writ of habeas corpus

– Allowed government to arrest secessionists for indefinite periods without trial– Probably helped keep Maryland from seceding– Used to imprison anyone who openly supported the Confederacy or resisted

conscription

• Ordered loan of money to private citizens• Ordered “supervised” voting

– Border States– Citizens forced to identify party alliances and walk through armed guards to cast

ballots

• Limited freedom of the press– Pro-Confederacy newspapers forced to close– Editors arrested for duration of war

ConscriptionNorth

• First Federal conscription law passed in 1863– Opposed by many Democrats– Volunteers remained mainstay of Union army (90%)

• Unfair to the poor– Substitutes could be hired to serve in one’s place– Exemption could be purchased for $300

• Draft riots– Broke out in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and

Wisconsin– Most notable riots occurred in New York City

• Spurred by poor Irish Americans• In 1863, city was “held hostage” for several days, resulting

in deaths of numerous people, including many blacks

• Bounty Jumpers– Bounties were offered to encourage enlistment– Many immigrants convinced to enlist– Often enlisted, deserted, then reenlisted (thus the

nickname)

South• Draft laws passed in

April 1862• Eventually included all

men ages 17 to 50• Unfair to poor

– Substitutes or exemptions could be purchased

– Slaveowners or overseers with 20+ slaves was exempt

– “Rich man’s war, but a poor man’s fight”

• Mountain whites, who rarely owned slaves, were most likely to resist conscription laws

Military Life• Soldiers in the Field

– Confederate soldiers were poorly supplied• “Homespun” uniforms (made of yellowish fabric at home to replace tattered

Confederate uniforms)

– Union soldiers relied on hardtack (a hard biscuit made of wheat flour)– Both armies supplemented diets with fruits, vegetables and wild

animals seized or purchased from farms

• Battlefield Medicine– Little understanding of infectious germs

• Used same unsterilized equipment on patient after patient

– Disease rampant• Unsanitary water and supplies caused diseases like dysentary• Smallpox, typhoid, etc. spread through camps, killing many soldiers

– Extreme Medical Techniques• Doctors resorted to amputation for many injuries• Gangrene and other infections rampant

Military Prisons• Prisoners of War

– Early in the war, Union and Confederacy held prisoner exchanges

– After Emancipation Proclamation, South refused to exchange free African Americans for Southern white prisoners of war

– South began executing blacks or re-enslaving them, so Lincoln stopped all prisoner exchanges

• Andersonville– Infamous Southern prison, located in

Georgia– Poor conditions killed over 100 men per

day– Henry Wirz, the commandant, executed

for war crimes (only war criminal executed after the war)

Women in the War• Government

– “Government girls” worked for the federal government to replace lost men who were fighting

• Factories – Demand for shoes and clothing paved the way for women into industrial

employment

• Military– Many women posed as men to become soldiers or follow their husbands– Some women served as spies for the Union and Confederacy (one was

executed)

• Medicine– Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first female doctor, organized the U.S.

Sanitary Commission for the Union• Trained nurses, collected supplies, etc.• Helped improve sanitation during the war

– Dorothea Dix served as superintendent of nurses for the Union army– Sally Tompkins, a Confederate nurse, was promoted to rank of captain for

service to wounded Confederate soldiers in Virginia

The Angel of the Battlefield• Clara Barton• Served as a nurse for the Union army

during the Civil War– Appointed Superintendent of Nurses– Worked for two years ministering to

soldiers at the front– Earned the nickname

“Angel of the Battlefield”

• Organized the American Red Cross– Convinced U.S. to sign

Geneva Treaty and support relief work

Economic Stresses of WarNorth

• Taxes– Excise taxes passed on alcohol and tobacco– First federal income tax passed

• Morrill Tariff Act– Increased customs duties– Passed as a result of absent anti-protective tariff

Southerners in Congress

• Legal Tender Act– Allowed government to issue greenbacks, paper

money that served as currency during the war– Not backed by gold, causing fluctuations of value– Eventually became worthless

• Treasury Bonds• National Banking System

– Established standard bank note currency– First attempt to reestablish unified national banking system – Replace by creation of Federal Reserve System in 1913

South• Customs Duties

– Choked by Union blockade

• Confederate Bonds– Raised substantial funds

to finance war effort

• Farm Tax– States’ rightists often

refused to pay

• Confederate Money– Blue backed paper

money – Led to runaway inflation

(about 9,000%)– Virtually worthless by

end of war

Northern Economic Boom• New Factories

– Sheltered by protective tariffs– High prices, resulting from inflation, hurt blue collar workers as well as some white

collar workers– Manufacturers and businesspeople profited

• New Millionaires– Millionaire class for 1st time in American history– Opportunities for graft, gluttony, and greed

• Profiteering– Profit above patriotism– “Shoddy millionaires” often cheated government purchasers

• New Machinery– Sewing machine helped meet demand for uniforms and shoes– Graduated standard measurements introduced (created “sizes”)– Mechanical reapers helped produce surplus of grain

• Growth of Industry– Discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1859 created “Fifty-Niners”– Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged westward expansion

A New “Federal” System• “Cotton Kingdom” in ruins at end of Civil War– Southern wealth, 30% of national total in 1861, reduced to

12% by 1870– Per capita income of Southerners reduced from 2/3 that of

Northerners to 2/5 of the Northern level– Transportation collapsed

• Northern ‘Captains of Industry’ conquered Southern ‘Lords of the Manor’– Full fledged industrial revolution began dominance over

American economics and politics– Manufacturing and business would grow without restraint,

impeded no longer by the agrarian ‘slavocracy’ of the South• Cotton capitalism defeated by Industrial capitalism