The Civil WarBy: Reagan Eddy

5th grade

Ms. Berglund’s class

Trouble Between the States

• Slavery and states’ rights were big during the 1800s.

• At that time one half of the country had all free people, the North.

• Farmers in the South had slaves to work on plantations.

• The North believed that all Americans should follow all federal laws.

• The South thought that all Americans should only follow state laws.

Causes of the Civil WarUncle Tom’s Cabin, the Dred Scott Decision, the Raid on Harpers Ferry, and the Election of 1860.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• In 1852, an abolitionist named Harriet Beecher Stowe who was against the Fugitive Slave Law wrote a book called Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

• The book told about the horrors of slavery.

• It also convinced many northerners that slavery had to be stopped.

• The book also drove the North and the South further apart.

• She quoted “I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation.”

• For more quotes go to http://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html?q=Harriet+Beecher+Stowe

The Dred Scott Decision

• In 1857, a slave named Dred Scott demanded he should be free because he once lived in the state of Illinois, a free state.

• The Supreme Court stated that slaves were property and are still slaves even if they are in a free state or territory.

• The Dred Scott Decision was a victory for slave owners.

• Abolitionists were afraid that slavery would spread.

Raid on Harpers Ferry/ John Brown’s Raid

• In 1859, an abolitionist named John Brown broke into an army warehouse in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in search of weapon to give to slaves.

• He was quickly surrounded by a local militia and was captured.

• He was put on trial and he was guilty of treason.

• Before he was hanged he stated “I did no wrong, but right.”

The Election of 1860

• In 1860, the election for president had taken place.

• The candidates were John Breckinridge, Stephen Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln.

• Breckinridge and Douglas were with slavery, Lincoln was not.

• Abraham Lincoln won the election for president with no votes from the South.

• Then, the southern states seceded from the country and became the Confederate States of America.

People Involved With the Civil War

Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William Sherman, and

Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.

President Abraham Lincoln

• Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States.

• He grew up in a log cabin in Kentucky on February 12th, 1809.

• Lincoln loved to read books.

• His family moved to Indiana and then to Illinois, where he started politics and won an election for the legislature.

• He ran for president in 1860 and won.

• On January 1st, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a document to get rid of slavery.

• He was shot by John Wilkes Booth and died on April 15, 1865.

Jefferson DavisPresident of the Confederacy

• Jefferson Davis was born in a log cabin on June 3rd, 1808.

• His family moved to a small farm in Mississippi when he was two years old.

• He graduated from Transylvania University and went to West Point Military Academy.

• After graduating from West Point, he worked in the army and later married Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of future president Zachary Taylor.

• Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederacy on February 9th 1861.

• He died on December 6th, 1889.

General Ulysses S. Grant

• He was born on April 27th, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio.

• He grew up on a farm and became amazing at riding horses.

• He later attended the West Point Military Academy. After graduating, he became an officer in the Mexican War. After the war he left the army and opened a general store.

• At the start of the Civil War, Grant reentered the army. He started out in the militia and soon reached the rank of general.

• His first major victory was at Fort Donelson in Tennessee.

• He then fought General Robert E. Lee for over a year and won. Lee had surrendered.

• He became the 18th president in 1869.

• He died of throat cancer in 1885.

General Robert E. Lee

• He was born on January 19th, 1807 in Stratford Hall, Virginia in a poor family. His father went to the East Indies and never came back.

• Lee went to, you guessed it, West Point Military Academy at the age of eighteen.

• He graduated at the head of his class and join the Army Corps of Engineers.

• He fought in the Mexican War and was promoted to colonel.

• He led the militia to capture John Brown.

• At the start of the Civil War, Lee was asked to lead the Union army, but Lee couldn’t fight against his home state.

• At the end of the Civil War, Lee surrendered to General Grant.

• He died of a stroke on October 12th, 1870 in Lexington, Virginia.

William T. Sherman

• He was born on February 8th, 1820.

• When he was nine years old, his father died suddenly. Sherman was raised by a family friend, Senator Thomas Ewing.

• In 1836, Sherman appointed the West Point Military Academy and graduated in 1840, sixth in his class.

• After the firing on Fort Sumter, Sherman asked his brother, Senator John Sherman, to make a commission with the Union.

• He fought with General Grant at the Battle of Shiloh.

• Afterward, he rallied three armies and commanded his sixty-mile wide line of destruction, also known as Sherman’s March to the Sea, while using the military strategy called ‘total war’.

Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson

• He was born on January 21st, 1824 in Clarksburg West Virginia (Was Virginia at the time.)

• His sister and father died from typhoid fever. When his mom became sick, he went to live with his uncle.

• When he was seventeen, he went to West Point Military Academy and he graduated in 1846.

• After he graduated, he fought in the Mexican War and became a major.

• When the Civil War started, Jackson joined the Confederate army.

• He had gotten his nickname ‘Stonewall’ in the First Battle of Bull Run.

• After the Confederates won at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Jackson was accidentally shot in the arm by his own men. He died on Pneumonia on May 10th, 1863 in Guinea Station, Virginia.

The Battles of the Civil War

The Attack on Fort Sumter, the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Vicksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, and Sherman’s

March to the Sea.

The Attack on Fort Sumter

• The Attack on Fort Sumter was the first battle of the Civil War.

• On April 12th, 1861, General P.T. Bauregaurd of the South, sent a warning to Major Robert Anderson saying that they will fire on Fort Sumter in one hour if he didn’t leave. Anderson didn’t leave.

• The Confederates fired on Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours. The Union soldiers eventually surrendered.

• Nobody was killed because Anderson kept his men out of harm’s way.

The First Battle of Bull Run

• The battle took place on July 21st, 1861 and was lead by General Irvin McDowell and General Robert Patterson of the North.

• The problems were the young Union soldiers didn’t understand the plan and Confederate soldiers couldn’t communicate well.

• When the Union attacked, the Confederates retreated, but then, General Jackson and his men charged with a what we call today a ‘rebel yell’.

• Lastly, the Union soldiers fled and the Rebels won another major battle.

The Battle of Vicksburg

• The battle took place on May 18th, 1863 and was led by General Grant.

• At first, Grant tried to attack with numbers but suffered many casualties.

• He then thought of bombing the city multiple times a day, until they surrendered.

• Many people in Vicksburg died of disease because of malnutrition from food shortages

• The Confederates finally surrendered on July 4th, 1863.

The Battle of Gettysburg

• The battle took place on July 1st-3rd, 1863 near the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and was lead by General Lee and General Pickett of the South.

• On the first day, the Union was outnumbered and was forced to retreat, but the Greys stalled, giving the Blues time to set up their defenses.

• On the second day, The South was badly outnumbered, but attacked with both sides with heavy casualties, and the Union held their ground.

• On the third day, General Pickett charged at the Union soldiers and was badly beaten and had to retreat. This attack is now called Pickett’s Charge.

Sherman’s March to the Sea

• On September 2nd, 1864, General William Sherman took control of Atlanta, Georgia and decided to take over the city of Savannah.

• Sherman made a risky move because he was well within rebel territory and he had no supply lines, but he captured the farmers and killed livestock to feed his army.

• Also, Sherman and his army destroyed everything in their path to weaken the Greys.

• When he reached Savannah, the local militia fled and the mayor surrendered.

Sites Used for This Presentation

• http://www.ducksters.com/history/civil_war.php For Info

• http://www.biography.com/ For Info

• https://www.google.com/ For Pictures