The Civil War

Why Fought?

How Fought?

Results or Consequences?

Impact on the Homefront?

I. Formation of the Confederacy

• Secession of the Deep South

• New Confederate government

• Confederate Constitution (Feb., 1861)

• A Conservative Revolution

II. The Question of War

A. Compromise Fails

• Crittenden Compromise

• Lincoln’s Response• Willard Hotel Peace

Conference (Feb., 1861)

• Proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution

B. Firing on Fort Sumter

• Lincoln’s Inauguration• Challenges facing the

new President• Four southern forts

still in Union hands• Shelling of Sumter• Lincoln calls for 90-

day enlistments• Upper South secedes

C. Border State Loyalty?

• Kentucky• Maryland• Missouri• Delaware

III. Assessing the Two Contenders

• Northern Advantages?--industrial might--population size--railroad mileage--better navy

• Southern Advantages?--familiar ground--stronger motivation--defensive tactics--better military leadership at first

IV. Northern Military Strategy

• Direct Strike at Richmond--Manassas, Peninsula Campaign, Cold Harbor

• “Anaconda Plan”• Two-Front war to put

both strategies into action

V. Mobilizing the Home Fronts

• Volunteers at first—a draft later

• Reliance on private industry

• Feeding the troops on both sides

• Attempts to pay for the war: North and South

• Southern railroad difficulties

V. Mobilizing the Home Front (cont)

• Early problems with discipline of troops

• A “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight”

• The problem of local regiments

• War disrupted the lives of most civilians

VI. Analysis of Presidents

• Some doubt about Lincoln’s leadership abilities

• Reasons for Lincoln’s effectiveness

• Lincoln allowed dissent

• Davis’ liabilities as a leader

VII. Life in the Civil War Army

A. A Soldier’s Experience

• Life of tedium• Poor medical

conditions• Food complaints• Southern veterans

make up for fewer numbers

• “Seeing the Elephant”

A. A Soldier’s Experience (cont.)

• A “Brothers War”• Early problems with

fraternization between the two armies

• Constant battle with lice

• Importance of letter writing

• Premonitions of death

B. The Changing Face of Battle

• Early Union naval victories

• Lincoln’s Early Search for a General who can produce victories

• Turning Point Victories in 1863

• Grant’s Victory at Chattanooga

B. Changing Face of Battle (cont.)

• Sherman’s March on Atlanta and then his March to the Sea

• The early face of battle: First Manassas (Bull Run)—July, 1861

-- “The Great Skedaddle”

B. Changing Face of Battle (cont.)

• Changes in Weaponry• Battles late in the War:

Cold Harbor—June, 1864

• Grant’s Strategy in 1864-1865-- “The Butcher”

• Changing Notion of Courage

VIII. Foreign Diplomacy

• Southerners employ a voluntary embargo on cotton

• Europeans waiting on a crucial southern victory

• Europeans fear war with the U.S. and need northern wheat

• French invasion of Mexico in 1863

IX. The African-American War Experience

• Timing of the Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln’s justification of emancipation

• Slavery was already falling apart in the south

• Running away to Union lines

• Word reaches southern slaves of emancipation

IX. African-American War Experience (cont.)

• 54th Massachusetts Regiment

--Robert Gould Shaw

--Assault on Fort Wagner

• Pay and activities of the Black soldiers

• Dangers facing Black soldiers

--Battle of the Crater outside of Petersburg, Va.

IX. African-American Experience (cont.)

• Emancipation Proclamation and using northern Black soldiers turned the war into a racial revolution

• Northern racism declines

• Southern organization of Black troops

X. War as Social Disorder

• Civil War ruined southern economy and society based on the institution of slavery

• Guerilla warfare in the south

• Southern bread riots in the spring of 1863

• New York City Draft Riot of July, 1863

XI. Election of 1864 and Final Days of the War

• The Election of 1864• Grant’s Siege of

Petersburg• Importance of

Sherman’s Capture of Atlanta

• The end at Appomattox Court House

XI. Final Days of the War (cont.)

• Lincoln’s Assassination at Fords Theater in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865

• Surrender of Fort Sumter to the U.S. on the same day

• First occupation troops to Charleston, S.C. in February of 1865 were Black troops

XII. Effects of the War

• Temporary gain for women--U.S. Sanitary Commission--Nurses like Clara Barton

• Freedom for Blacks, but still a long way to go

• Decrease in Nativism• States Rights was dead—

Federal Authority expanded• Northern “organizational

revolution”