Hist 110American Civilization I

Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer

Upper Iowa University

Lecture 14The Secession Crisis

Lincoln’s election with only northern votes and his firm opposition to the spread of slavery into the territories convinced Lower South states to secede

South Carolina seceded: Dec. 20, 1860 Quickly followed by six other Lower

South states Feb. 7, 1861: Confederate States of

America formed John J. Crittenden of Kentucky

attempted a new compromise but failed

The new Confederate government seized federal installations in the South

Federal troops retained Fort Sumter on an island in Charleston Harbor

Lincoln decided to try to hold on to this fort by resupplying the garrison, forcing the Confederates to act

Fort Sumter fired on by the Confederates: April 12, 1861—war resulted

The attack on Fort SumterApril 12, 1861

Lecture 14First Battles

After the attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for 90 days

Four border (Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) states responded by seceding and joining the Confederacy

Bull Run-Manassas (July 21) First major battle of the war Union forces tried to capture a critical

railroad junction leading to the new Confederate capital at Richmond

The timely arrival of Confederate reinforcements won them the battle

Other notable events William Rosecrans, under George

McClellan, drove the Confederates from West Virginia (May-June)

Wilson’s Creek (August 10): Confederates won the first major engagement in the Far West, but failed to capitalize on it because most of Missouri’s population remained firmly pro-Union

The Orange and AlexandriaRailroad: used the

Confederatesto move troops from the

Shenandoah Valley and winthe First Battle of Bull Run

Lecture 14Capabilities and Strategies

Over 90 percent of U.S. industry in North in 1860

22 million people in the North vs. 9 million people in the South

Nearly 4 million southerners were slaves

Lack of southern financial infrastructure

Forced the South to rely mostly on printing money to finance its war effort

South had a poorer transportation network

Less railroad mileage Poorly maintained, with less

uniformity of gauges Made it harder for the Confederates

to shift troops between theaters Northern Strategy: Anaconda Plan

(1861) Brainchild of Winfield Scott, became

strategy by default Naval blockade of the South Capture strategic southern

territory, slowly strangle the South Southern Strategy

Exhaust northern resolve, win foreign recognition

WinfieldScott

Ulysses S. Grant advanced in the western theater

Captured Forts Henry and Donelson

Battle of Shiloh (April): Grant won the battle, but nearly lost his command over high casualties

George McClellan took charge of the Union Army in the East

Built the Army of the Potomac Failed Peninsula campaign:

McClellan dithered in his preparations, overly cautious in his advance up the peninsula

Union offensive in the East stopped at the Seven Days (June-July 1862)

Robert E. Lee took command Confederate offensive into the

North stopped at Battle of Antietam (Sept. 1862)

The Union defeat at Fredericksburg prevented the Union from exploiting its victory at Antietam

Lecture 14 1862

GeorgeMcClellan

UlyssesS. Grant

Lecture 14The Strange Advent of Emancipation

Both sides tried to ignore slavery at the beginning

Lincoln was especially eager to do so because he did not wish to alienate the remaining loyal slave states

“Contraband of War” Union commanders in the field quickly

realized the military value of slaves General Benjamin Butler declared

slaves to be “Contraband of War” which meant that they could be confiscated and put to work for the Union

Congress made Butler’s policy law and a year later authorized freedom for slaves confiscated from disloyal owners

Emancipation Proclamation (Sept. 1862)

Border states and occupied South exempted

Signaled change in Northern war strategy

Helped prevent European recognition of Confederacy

Drawing from a Britishillustrated newspaper

depicting slaves seekingrefuge inside Union lines

(c. 1861)

Chancellorsville (May): Confederate victory convinced Robert E. Lee to mount a new invasion of the North

Gettysburg (July 1-3) Three day battle, culminating in a

disastrous Confederate assault on the center of the Union line (Pickett’s Charge)

Lee lost ¼ of his army at Gettysburg and was forced to retreat back south

Fall of Vicksburg (July 4) Ulysses S. Grant captured Vicksburg

after a long and difficult campaign Its loss cut the Confederacy in two and

denied them the use of the Mississippi Grant followed up his victory at

Vicksburg with a campaign that drove the Confederates from Tennessee

Lincoln rewarded Grant with a promotion to Lieutenant General and gave him overall command of the Union army

Lecture 141863

Confederate dead afterthe Battle of Gettysburg

Lecture 14Why the Civil War was so Deadly

620,000 American died in the Civil War

Union deaths: 360,000 Confederate deaths: 260,000 Since Confederate forces (820,000)

were much smaller than Union forces (2.1 million) a southern soldiers was more likely to die in the conflict

Dirty secret of death in the Civil War: most soldiers died of disease in camp rather than because of conflict

A combination of war before germ theory’s discovery and exposing soldiers to diseases they wouldn’t have encountered otherwise

But the battlefield was more deadly than in earlier wars because of advances in military technology

The development of the minie ball allowed all soldiers to use rifled muskets

Rifled muskets and artillery expanded the zone of lethal fire, making Napoleonic tactics commonly used in the Civil War largely useless and increasing casualties

Rifling the inside of amusket barrel made it

considerably more accurate

Over a longer distance than

she previously commonsmoothbore musket“Minie ball”

ammunitionwas as easy to load in a

rifled musket as roundball

in a smoothbore, making

it a feasible weapon forordinary infantry

Lecture 141864

Grant left William Tecumseh Sherman in charge in the western theater, while he took personal charge of the eastern armies

Grant and Sherman’s approach in 1864 was later called “total war” or “hard war”

Keep engaging Confederate forces to deny them time to rest, resupply, and regroup

Destroy anything of value to the Confederates, even if it meant civilian suffering

Grant engaged Lee’s army, maneuvering until he bogged down in front of Petersburg, Virginia

Trench warfare until Spring 1865 Sherman invaded Georgia

Captured Atlanta after a long, difficult campaign

Then raided through Georgia until he reached the Atlantic Ocean

Sherman’s victories and other Union successes guaranteed Lincoln’s re-election in November 1864

Result showed the North’s resolve to fight until it had achieved total victory

WilliamTecumsehSherman

Lecture 14The Civil War in the Far West

Both the North and the South coveted the Far West

Confederate sympathizers throughout the region, but Union supporters more prevalent

Pro-Confederate supporters strongest in southern New Mexico territory, where they unsuccessfully tried to establish a Confederate territorial government

New Mexico (1862) Confederate forces invaded New

Mexico territory from Texas in Spring 1862

They won two tactical victories at Val Verde (February) and Glorieta Pass (March) but the destruction of their supply wagons by Colorado militia forced them to retreat back to Texas

Native Americans remained a problem

The Santee Sioux rose up in Minnesota, forcing Lincoln to divert troops there

Colorado militia massacred peaceful Indians at Sand Creek(Nov. 1864)

Glorieta Pass, New Mexico

Site of the western-most

battle of the Civil Warin March 1862

Lecture 14Final Collapse of the Confederacy

Confederate situation in early 1865 desperate

Sherman’s army marched through the Carolinas largely unopposed

Lee’s army barely held on in front of Petersburg Hungry and increasingly

demoralized his army faced constant desertion

Confederate Congress votes to arm slaves (March)

Lee’s lines collapsed on April 2 Richmond fell (April 3) Lee surrenders (April 9)

Palmetto Ranche (May 13): last land battle in Texas (a Confederate victory)

CSS Shenandoah (Nov. 5): Confederate commerce raider finally ends in campaign by seeking sanctuary in Great Britain

Wilmer McLean’s HouseAppomattox, Virginia

Site of Lee’s surrenderto Grant

Lecture 14 Why the Union Won

Superior Resources With a much greater population,

virtually all the industry, and better financial resources than the South, the North was able to recover from its early defeats and ultimately grind down the South

Flawed Confederate Approach The South also often failed to take

advantage of being on the defense, which would have allowed it conserve its limited resources and stretch out the war

Southern public opinion demanded its armies too often fight aggressively, losing a greater amount of men and material

Failed Ideologies States Rights ideology kept valuable

resources out of the hands of the central government where they might have done more good

Racist ideology prevented the South from using African Americans as soldiers, while driving black men to fight for the Union

A busy Union supply depot

at City Point, Virginia, which

kept Grant’s forces wellsupplied during the

1864-1865 campaign against

Lee