THE BLUE AND THE GRAY

The U.S. Civil War

1861-1865

NORTHERN ADVANTAGES

• Population – 22 Million vs. 9 Million (3.5 slave)

• 75 % Nation’s Wealth• 75% Nation’s Railroads• Control of the Seas• Superior Weaponry • Ideal of “Union Forever”

SOUTHERN ADVANTAGES

• Defensive Warfare - Only Needed a Stalemate

• Superior Generals

• Strong Cavalry/Infantry

• Strong Sense of Cause

• More Knowledgeable of the Terrain

Confederate States of America• Constitution like US – Fatal

Flaw for Country of Secession

• Deo Vindice “God Our Vindicator”

• Weak Central Government

• European Support, But No Real Help

THE LEADERS

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

-Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln• 16th US President• Willing to Subvert

Civil Liberties and Constitution

• Fought for Union, Not Against Slavery

• Savvy Political Leader

Abraham Lincoln

“I hold that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these states is perpetual.”

Jefferson Davis

• Only CSA President

• Secretary of War under Pierce

• U.S. Senator from Mississippi

• Faced Impeachment

• Weak Political Leader

Jefferson Davis

“The time for compromise has now passed and the South is determined to… make all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern Steel.”

George McClellan

• Built Army of Potomac

• Unwilling to Use It

• Egomaniacal

• Peninsula Campaign Failure

• Opposed Lincoln in 1864 Election

George McClellan

“By some strange power of magic I seem to have become the power of the land.”

Robert E. Lee• Not a Single Demerit

at West Point• Excellent U.S. Officer• Opposed Slavery and

Secession• Offered Command of

Both Armies• Loyal to Virginia

Robert E. Lee“ Still a Union that can

only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me.”

U. S. Grant• Average student at

West Point

• Failed at Farming and Business

• Slowly Built His Reputation Out West

• “Unconditional Surrender” Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues to attack wins.”

Stonewall Jackson• Teacher at VMI• Practically Unknown

at the Start of War• Got his Nickname at

1st Manassas • Lee’s Right Hand• His Death at

Chancellorsville was Severe Blow to South

Stonewall Jackson

“The patriot volunteer fighting for his country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth.”

KEY BATTLES“War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”

- General William T. Sherman

Fort Sumter

Battle of Fort Sumter• Charleston Harbor• April 12, 1861• CSA – Beauregard• USA - Anderson• After 34-hour

bombardment Union surrendered

• No casualties- Beauregard

1st Bull Run (Manassas)

1st Bull Run (Manassas)• Virginia – 7/21/61 • CSA Beauregard• USA McDowell• Birth of “Stone Wall”

Legend• Southern Rout• CSA 1,982 (387 dead)• USA 2,896 (1,124 dead)

- Stonewall Jackson Statue

Shiloh

Shiloh• Tenn – 4/6-7/62• CSA Johnston• USA Grant• Southern Surprise

Repulsed by North• Lead to Union victories

in the West• CSA 10,694 (1,723 dead)• USA 13,047 (1,754 dead) - Generals of the Battle

as covered in Harper’s Weekly

Antietam (Sharpsburg)

Antietam (Sharpsburg)

Antietam (Sharpsburg)• Maryland – 9/17/62

• CSA Lee

• USA McClellan

• “Bloodiest Day”

• Led to Emancipation Proclamation

• CSA 10,315 (1,546 dead)

• USA 12,401 (2,108 dead)

Antietam (Sharpsburg)

- Lincoln visits battlefield after the battle

Chancellorsville

Chancellorsville• Virginia – 5/1/63• CSA Lee / Jackson• USA Hooker• Lee’s Masterpiece

(Defeats Larger Army)• Jackson Accidentally

Killed by Own Troops• CSA 13,156 (1,683 dead)• USA 16,839 (1,574 dead)

Gettysburg

Gettysburg• Penn – 7/1/63 – 7/3/63• CSA Lee • USA Meade• Lee on Offensive After

Chancellorsville Win• Turning Point of the War• Bloodiest Battle• CSA 28,063 (4,708 dead)• USA 23,049 (3,155 dead)- General George

Meade

Gettysburg – Day 1

• Southern Troops Arrive and Drive Union back

• Because Jeb Stuart and Cavalry Are Away, Lee Has No Idea of What He’s Up Against

• North is Able to Secure Superior Positions Along Cemetery Hill

Gettysburg – Day 2• Lee Attacks• Union is Able to

Hold Line at Little Round Top

• Professor Joshua Chamberlain May Have Saved the Union

- Joshua Chamberlain

Gettysburg – Day 3• Last Ditch Southern

Efforts• Pickett’s Charge is

Repulsed Ending Any Chance of Southern Victory

• Last Major Battle Fought in the North

- George Pickett

Pickett’s Charge “For every Southern boy

fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants, there is the instance when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863…”

- William Faulkner Intruder in the Dust

Turning Points1863• Vicksburg campaign lasted for

seven months – last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River (Fell Day After Gettysburg)

1864• Burning of Atlanta• Sherman’s “March to the Sea”

Election of 1864• Union Party - Lincoln with

Andrew Johnson

• Johnson – small slaveowner from Tennessee, loyal War Democrat

• Slogan “Don’t swap horses in the middle of the river.”

• Democratic Party nominates George McClellan

Election of 1864• Copperheads “peace at any

price”

• Lincoln defeats McClellan 212 to 21

• Second Inaugural address –

“With malice toward none, with charity for all.”

Turning Points1865• Siege of Petersburg• After 9 month siege, fell in April of

1865• Siege of Richmond• Early 1865, Confederates tried to

negotiate peace between “two countries”

• Unconditional Surrender Grant

April 9,1865

• Appomattox Court House

• Terms of surrender generous

• Grant “The war is over; the rebels are our countrymen again.”

10 ORDINARY PEOPLE

“Was it God’s command we heard, or His forgiveness we must forever implore?”

- Joshua Chamberlain

Joshua Chamberlain• Professor from Bowdoin

College• No Military Training• Hero of Gettysburg• Selected to Receive

Southern Surrender• Last soldier to die from

wounds received during the war - 1914

Nathan Bedford Forrest

• No Military Training• Born Poor and

Became Rich• Enlisted as Private

and Rose to General

• South’s Best Cavalry Officer

Clara Barton

• Nurse known as “Angel of the Battlefield”

• Led Donation Drives for Medical Supplies

• Founded the American Red Cross

Richard Kirkland• Southern Soldier

Who Risked Life to tend to Union Wounded at Fredericksbug

• Cheered by Both Sides

• “Angel of Marye’s Heights”

Matthew Brady

• Pioneer Photographer

• Studios in New York and Washington

• Risked Life to Photograph War

Mary Boykin Chestnut

• South Carolina Politician’s Wife

• Famed for Keeping Detailed Diary

• A Diary of Dixie published after her death in 1905

Walt Whitman

• Poet

• Went to Battlefield to look for Brother

• Volunteered as a Union Nurse

• Wrote “O Captain My Captain” about Lincoln’s Death

Mark Twain• Journalist and

River Boat Pilot• Helped Form A

Southern Militia Only to Desert

• His Voice Helped Define Post War America

Harriet Tubman

• Underground Railroad Conductor

• Served as a Union Spy During the War

• 1st American Woman to Plan a Military Operation – a raid that freed 750 Slaves

John Wilkes Booth• Popular

Shakespearean Actor• Probable Southern

Spy• Plotted

Assassination of Lincoln, Johnson and Secretary of State Seward

Lincoln Assassination

Lincoln Assassination• April 14, 1865• Ford’s Theater in Washington• Killed During Biggest Laugh in

“Our American Cousin”• Good Friday – Led to Comparisons

with Christ• “Sic Semper Tyranns” means

“Thus Always to Tyrants”

O Captain My Captain

Exult O shores, and ring, O bells!

But I with mournful dreadWalk the deck my Captain

liesFallen cold and

dead