the furnace of civil war 1860-1865. bull run ends the 90-day war union army ill-prepared for battle...

The Furnace of Civil War

1860-1865

Bull Run Ends the 90-Day War

Union army ill-prepared for battle in 1861– Attack on smaller Confederate force at Bull

Run would demonstrate superiority– Could lead to capture of Richmond if

successful

July 21, 1861: spectators crowded to watch – Confederate reinforcements arrived– Union troops panic and flee

Bull Run, con’t

Victory worse than defeat for the South – Inflated a dangerous overconfidence– Southern enlistments fell off sharply – Preparations for long conflict waned

Defeat better than victory for the Union – Dispelled notion of a one-punch war – North buckled down to preparations

The Peninsula Campaign

Gen. George McClellan command of Army of the Potomac – Great organizer and drillmaster, but

overcautious and loathe to sacrifice troops

Moved to Richmond via water in 1862 – Stalled outside city by efforts of Jackson and

Stuart

The Seven Days’ Battles June 26-July 2, 1862

Gen. Lee launched a counterattack – Drove McClellan back to sea

Results: – Lincoln abandoned McClellan as general

– Had McClellan won, the union restored with minimal disruption

– Lee’s win ensured that war would endure until end of slavery

– Lincoln began to draft Emancipation Proclamation

Union Strategy

1. Slowly suffocate South by blockading its ports 2. Liberate the slaves and undermine South’s

economy 3. Cut the Confederacy in half by seizing the

Mississippi 4. Chop Confederacy in pieces by sending troops

through GA, SC, NC 5. Capturing Richmond6. Try everywhere to engage Confederacy’s main

strength “Anaconda Plan”

Scott's Great SnakeGeneral Winfield Scott's scheme to surround the South and await a seizure of power by southern Unionists drew scorn from critics who called it the Anaconda plan. In this lithograph, the "great snake" prepares to thrust down the Mississippi, seal off the Confederacy, and crush it. (Library of Congress)

Scott's Great Snake

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

War at Sea

Blockade of 3500 miles difficult at best – North converted yachts and ferryboats – Concentrated on main ports

Britain recognized the blockade as that was Royal Navy’s best-used weaponBlockade-running profitable – Risks great, but high prices brought large

profits

Ironclads

Confederacy plated sides of Merrimack with iron– Easily defeated two wooden Union ships – Threatened Union blockade

March 9, 1862: Merrimack fought Union’s Monitor to a standstill – First battle-testing of ironclads spelled doom

for wooden ships

Pivotal Point: Antietam

Lee thrust into Maryland after success of Second Bull Run – Wanted to encourage foreign intervention and seduce

Border States to leaving Union

2 Union soldiers found Lee’s plan dropped by Confederate officer – Lee halted at Antietam on September 17, 1862 in

bloody battle

– Military draw

AntietamIn the photograph of Antietam, dead rebel gunners lie next to the wreckage of their battery. (Library of Congress)

Antietam


Antietam dead, Confederates lined for burialThis photograph of corpses awaiting burial was one of ninety-five taken by Mathew Brady and his assistants of the Antietam battlefield, the bloodiest single day of the war. It was the first time Americans had seen war depicted so realistically. When Brady's photographs went on display in New York in 1862, throngs of people waited in line to see them. (Library of Congress)

Antietam dead, Confederates lined for burial


Pivotal Point: Antietam

Results: – London and Paris declined to help Confederacy– Lincoln launched his Emancipation

Proclamation • Announced that as of January 1, 1863, slaves in

rebellious states were “forever free”

• Border States not affected

Proclamation without Emancipation

Thousands of slaves flocked to invading Union armies

Goal not only to liberate slaves but to strengthen the Union’s moral cause – Ardent abolitionists said Lincoln did not do enough

– Those with Southern sympathies felt he went too far

– Diminished moral cause of the South

Freedom to the Slave, 1863This engraving celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation first appeared in 1863. While it places a white Union soldier in the center, it also portrays the important role of African American troops and emphasizes the importance of education and literacy. (The Library Company of Philadelphia)

Freedom to the Slave, 1863


Contraband slave groupA group of "contrabands" (liberated slaves) photographed at Cumberland Landing, Virginia, May 14, 1862, at a sensitive point in the war when their legal status was still not fully determined. The faces of the women, men, and children represent the human drama of emancipation. (Library of Congress)

Contraband slave group


Blacks Battle Bondage

Black enlistees accepted as manpower ran low – 180,000 served, most from slave states, with 2 full

regiments from MA

– Fought in 500 engagements, high casualties

– Not recognized by CSA as POWs, but as slaves in rebellion

Confederacy did not use black troops until end of war – Most forced to work shoring up defenses

Black Troops from Company ECompany E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, photographed at Fort Lincoln, Virginia, in 1864. Nothing so symbolized the new manhood and citizenship among African Americans in the midst of the war as such young black men in blue. (Chicago Historical Society)

Black Troops from Company E


Build-up to Gettysburg

Union’s McClellan replaced with Ambrose Burnside – Burnside replaced by Joe Hooker after the

defeat at Fredericksburg, VA (12-13-1862) – Hooker replaced by George Meade after loss at

Chancellorsville, VA (5-2 to 5-4-1863)

GettysburgJuly 1-3, 1863

Outcome in doubt until the end– Davis sent peace negotiators towards DC in

hope of Confederate victory – Lincoln refused to allow them past Union lines

Beginning of the end for the Southern cause

A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863

(Library of Congress)

A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July 1863


War in the West

February 1862: Grant captures Forts Donelson and Henry– Bound Kentucky more securely to Union– Opened gateway to TN & GA

April 1862: Defeated by Confederate forces at ShilohJuly 4, 1863: Grant captures city of Vicksburg– Severed the spinal cord of the Confederacy – Britain stopped delivery of the Laird rams and France

stopped purchase of warships for Confederacy

Sherman Scorches Georgia

Fall 1864: Sherman captures/burns Atlanta – Major purpose to destroy supplies destined for

Confederacy and weaken moral of men by waging war on their homes

– Strategy worked: Southerners deserted in droves

Winter 1865: South Carolina--by-passed Charleston and burnt Columbia

Sherman's March to the SeaDetermined to "make Georgia howl," William Tecumseh Sherman and his band of "bummers" slashed their way through the South during the winter of 1864, destroying military and civilian property along the way. This painting shows Sherman astride a white horse looking on while his men rip up a rail line and burn bridges and homes. (Collection of David H. Sherman)

Sherman's March to the Sea


Atlanta's Depot, 1864Atlanta's depot in ruins after Sherman's siege of the city in 1864. (Library of Congress)

Atlanta's Depot, 1864


Politics of War

Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War: late 1861– Radical Republicans resented expansion of political

power

Democrats tainted by the seceders– Stephen Douglas died before war began

– War Democrats supported Lincoln administration

– Peace Democrats and Copperheads did not

Eagle cartoon"Annihilation to Traitors," screams the American Eagle as it watches various evil and slimy creatures hatching in its nest enfolded in the American flag. Various southern secession leaders are named, some being shown as beasts, while a copperhead snake, the popular cartoon image representing northerners who sympathized with the southern cause, prepares to strike at the national symbol. The Union states are represented as healthy eggs, holding out promise for the future. (Library of Congress)

Eagle cartoon


Election of 1864

Union Party– Composed of Republicans and War Democrats

– Republicans temporarily did not exist

– Lincoln/Johnson ticket

Democrats chose McClellan

Lincoln aided by series of Northern successes – Soldiers furloughed home to vote

– 121 electoral votes/21

Grant Outlasts Lee

1864: Grant heads towards Richmond February 1865: Grant meets with Confederate diplomats to broker peace terms – Lincoln wanted no less than Union and emancipation

April 1865: Union troops capture Richmond and cornered Lee at Appomattox CourthouseApril 9: Grant met with Lee,

giving generous terms of surrender

Lee with his son after the surrenderAfter opposing secession, General Robert E. Lee accepted a commission in the Confederate army and commanded the Army of Northern Virginia for most of the war. Photographer Mathew Brady took this picture of Lee (center), his son Major General G.W.C. Lee (left), and his aide Colonel Walter Taylor (right) eight days after Lee's surrender to General Grant. The forlorn expression on the general's face vividly demonstrates the agony of defeat. (Library of Congress)

Lee with his son after the surrender


Martyrdom of Lincoln

April 14, 1865: Lincoln assassinated at Ford’s Theater in DC – John Wilkes Booth – Lincoln’s death calamity for North and South – Increased bitterness in North– Reconstruction more brutal for the South

Aftermath of the Nightmare

Over 620,000 died in action or from disease– Over a million seriously

injured or dead

Direct costs of $15 million– Does not include continuing

costs (pensions, etc)

Nullification and secession laid to rest

the furnace of civil war 1860-1865. bull run ends the 90-day war union army ill-prepared for battle...

Documents

union blockade

stuart slide

union troops

union soldiers

union strategy

photograph of antietam

antietam dead

wooden union ships