Civil War

Secession of Southern States

• South Carolina first, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama

• Georgian Alexander Stephens encouraged Georgia leaders to wait and see what Lincoln would do.

• Georgia Ordinance of Secession, January 19, 1861 – Georgia leaders voted to secede from the Union

Lincoln’s Response to Secession

• Secession is illegal and unconstitutional• The Union is a contract between the

states and national government and both must agree to break the contract.

• Acts of violence within any state against the Union would be considered acts of rebellion.

A New Nation is Formed• When Georgia first seceded from the

Union, Joseph E. Brown was governor and the capital was at Milledgeville.

• However, the seceded states soon saw the necessity of creating a nation of all the seceded states called The Confederate States of America

Challenge 1/7/10

Border States• Border States - Delaware, Kentucky,

Maryland, and Missouri stayed in the Union– Slaveholding states that sided with the

Union

Leaders of the Confederacy• Confederate Capital – Richmond, Virginia

• President - Jefferson Davis– He was a former military officer, senator,

and US Secretary of War• Leader of Confederate Army - Robert E. Lee.

Other notable generals were Stonewall Jackson and Joseph E. Johnston

• Vice President - Alexander Stephens– He was from Georgia

Union Leaders

• President – Abraham Lincoln

• Generals – Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman

Fighting Begins

• Fort Sumter - first shots of the Civil War are fired

• Confederate victory

The Anaconda Plan

• Soon after Ft. Sumter, the Union developed their military strategy against the Confederacy. They called it the Anaconda Plan .

• It was designed to strangle the life out of its victim, the Confederacy.

Three Parts to the Anaconda Plan

1.Naval blockade all along the Confederate coast

2.Union occupation of the Mississippi River to split the Confederacy and control the Mississippi River.

3.Capture Confederate capital, Richmond

Effects of the Union Blockade

• Prevented the exporting of cotton.

• This meant the Confederacy had little money to buy military supplies and food.

• There were food shortages and high prices on all necessities.

Battles 1861-1863• In the first two years it appeared that the

Confederacy would win the war because of superior leadership.

• First major battle – Bull Run (also called Manasas) – a Confederate victory outside of Washington DC

• Antietam – bloodiest day of the war. Led to Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation which freed slaves in the Confederacy. Unfortunately, Lincoln was unable to enforce the Emancipation.

Emancipation Proclamation

• If the Emancipation Proclamation did not actually free any slaves, what did it do?

• It changed the mission of the war in the Union from a fight to preserve the Union to a fight to end slavery.

Georgia is the “Heart of the Confederacy”

• Most important source of supplies for the Confederacy due to industry.

• Best railroad system in the South – Important for transporting troops and crops– Atlanta becomes a military target

The Tide Turns• In a terrible three day battle at

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1, 1863-July 4, 1863, the Confederates were defeated.

• Lee was driven back to Virginia.• Also on July 4, 1863, Vicksburg,

Mississippi fell to the Union which gave the Union control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in half.

Grant takes Control

• After leading Union troops to victory at Vicksburg, General Ulysses S. Grant took control of Union forces.

• Lincoln finally found a general to match Lee.

• Grant chose General William T. Sherman to attack Georgia.

Civil War Comes to Georgia

• Chickamauga – bloody battle that brought the war to Georgia

Sherman Heads for Atlanta

• Atlanta was a military target because of its transportation and industrial resources

• Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign – the series of battles Sherman fought to get to the city of Atlanta

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain

• Sherman pushed South towards Atlanta• Sherman attacked Confederate troops

at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain• 3,000 Union troops were killed while

500 Confederates were killed• Confederates had to retreat to protect

the city of Atlanta

Sherman Takes Atlanta

• Sherman pounded Atlanta for 40 days until the Confederate forces evacuated the city

• Sherman occupied the city of Atlanta and gave orders for it to be destroyed

Sherman’s March to the Sea• Union forces destroyed Georgia’s resources

(railroads) and supplies• Union army destroyed $100 million worth of food

and supplies.• They attacked civilians and destroyed homes

forcing families into homelessness & starvation.• December 21, 1864 – Sherman’s Army entered

Savannah• Sherman gave Savannah to Lincoln as a

Christmas present

War Comes to an End

• April 8, 1865 - Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia– Other Southern generals followed

• War officially ended for Georgia on April 26, 1865

• South had officially lost the Civil War

Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant