Civil War

1861–1865

A nation divided by slavery, united through sacrifice

Origins of the Conflict

• The institution of slavery and its expansion westward divided the nation politically and morally for decades before 1861.
• The Republican Party (formed 1854) opposed slavery's expansion into western territories, alarming Southern slaveholders who saw this as a threat to their "peculiar institution."
• The 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln—who won without carrying a single Southern state—convinced many Southerners that their interests could no longer be protected within the Union.
• Abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison (since the 1830s) and radical actions like John Brown's raid intensified sectional tensions and Southern fears.

The Secession Crisis

• The Crittenden Compromise (December 1860) proposed six constitutional amendments to protect slavery forever, including restoring and extending the Missouri Compromise line (36°30') to the Pacific.
• Republicans, including Lincoln, rejected this plan because it contradicted their core principle of stopping slavery's expansion.
• The Corwin Amendment (passed Congress February-March 1861) would have made it impossible for Congress to abolish slavery where it already existed—Lincoln endorsed it, but Southern states had already begun leaving.

The Confederate States of America

• Meeting in Montgomery, Alabama (February 1861), delegates from the seven seceded states drafted the Confederate Constitution, which closely followed the U.S. Constitution with one crucial difference: it explicitly protected slavery.
• Article One, Section Nine declared that "No law impairing or denying the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed."
• The new Confederacy elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as provisional president and Alexander Stephens of Georgia as vice president.
• The Confederacy was structured as a confederation (loose alliance of states) rather than a federal union, to protect state sovereignty and slavery from federal interference.
• Despite these efforts, the CSA faced internal divisions over centralized power that would plague it throughout the war.

Fort Sumter & the Upper South

• On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor after the Union garrison refused to surrender.
• After 34 hours of bombardment, Union Major Robert Anderson surrendered on April 14—the first shots of the Civil War had been fired.
• Lincoln immediately called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion, forcing Upper South states to choose sides.

• Virginia's addition was especially significant—it brought General Robert E. Lee, the finest military commander of his generation, to the Confederate cause.
• The northwestern counties of Virginia, where few slaveholders lived, refused to join the Confederacy and eventually formed West Virginia (admitted to Union in 1863).
• The Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole) in Indian Territory also joined the Confederacy—many were slaveholders themselves.

Border States & First Battle

• Four slave states remained in the Union: Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky—their loyalty was crucial.
• Maryland was especially vital because it surrounded Washington, D.C. on three sides; Lincoln suspended habeas corpus there to prevent secession.
• Kentucky declared neutrality (both sides violated it), while Missouri became a battleground with vicious guerrilla warfare.
• These states provided critical resources, manpower, and geographic advantages to the Union war effort.

• On July 21, 1861, Union and Confederate forces clashed near Manassas, Virginia—just 30 miles from Washington.
• Washington socialites and politicians brought picnic lunches to watch what they expected to be a glorious Union victory.
• Instead, Confederate reinforcements under General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (who earned his nickname here) turned the tide, routing Union forces.
• Panicked Union soldiers and spectators fled back to Washington in chaos—the defeat shattered Northern hopes for a quick, easy victory.

Comparative Strengths in 1861

Early Campaigns: 1862

• General George B. McClellan, commanding the Army of the Potomac, believed (incorrectly) that Confederate forces vastly outnumbered his own—he was overly cautious and reluctant to fight.
• In spring 1862, McClellan moved 100,000 troops by sea toward Richmond but stopped a few miles outside the city.
• General Robert E. Lee launched the Seven Days Battles (June 25–July 1, 1862), inflicting nearly 20,000 Confederate and 10,000 Union casualties, forcing McClellan to retreat.
• Lincoln grew increasingly frustrated with McClellan, who referred to the president as a "baboon" and "gorilla."

• General Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee (February 1862), gaining control of key rivers.
• At Shiloh (April 6–7, 1862), Grant's forces were surprised but held on after reinforcements arrived; ~23,000 casualties made it the bloodiest battle to date.
• Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans (April 1862)—the Confederacy's most important port—and Union forces took Memphis (June 1862).

Lee's First Northern Invasion

• After defeating Union forces at the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 1862), Lee decided to invade Maryland, hoping to win a victory on Northern soil.
• Lee also hoped a Confederate victory might convince Britain and France to recognize the CSA and encourage Northern peace advocates.
• At Antietam (Sharpsburg) on September 17, 1862, the bloodiest single day in American military history unfolded.
• Over 22,000 casualties occurred in one day, with bodies piled in Bloody Lane and along Antietam Creek.
• McClellan, believing he was outnumbered (he wasn't), held back reserves that could have destroyed Lee's army. Lee withdrew to Virginia.
• Lincoln, frustrated by McClellan's failure to pursue, replaced him with General Ambrose E. Burnside.

• In December 1862, Burnside launched a frontal assault at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
• Entrenched Confederate forces slaughtered wave after wave of Union troops—a devastating Union defeat that severely damaged Northern morale.
• Lincoln replaced Burnside with General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker in January 1863.

Mobilization & Total War

• The Confederacy instituted the first draft in American history in April 1862: all men ages 18–35 (later expanded to 17–50) for three years.
• The Union passed the Enrollment Act in March 1863: men 20–45 subject to draft, but could pay $300 to avoid service or hire a substitute.
• Both draft laws favored the wealthy, creating resentment among poor whites with slogans like "rich man's war, poor man's fight."

• Both Lincoln and Davis suspended habeas corpus (the right to appear before a judge when arrested).
• Lincoln closed 300 newspapers as national security threats; both governments arrested thousands of suspected dissenters.
• These unprecedented expansions of government power marked a dramatic departure from antebellum America.

• Confederate economy: Refused to tax cotton or enslaved people (protecting planter class), printed massive amounts of paper money, causing runaway inflation—$1 in 1861 = $46 in 1864.
• Union economy: Income tax on wealthy, inheritance taxes, high tariffs, issued "greenbacks" (paper money), sold war bonds, booming Northern industry.

Home Front & Social Upheaval

• Homestead Act (1862): Offered 160 acres of western land free to settlers who lived on and improved it for 5 years—encouraged westward expansion and free labor.
• Morrill Land Grant College Act (1862): Funded agricultural colleges through federal land grants—foundation of modern state university system.
• Pacific Railroad Acts (1862–1864): Chartered Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads to build transcontinental line.
• These Republican measures transformed American society while prosecuting the war.

• Richmond Bread Riots (April 1863): Thousands of hungry women rioted in the Confederate capital, looting stores for food until Jefferson Davis threatened to order troops to fire on them.
• New York Draft Riots (July 13–16, 1863): The worst riots in American history erupted after the first Union draft lottery.
• White working-class rioters, many Irish immigrants, attacked symbols of the war effort and Black New Yorkers, killing over 100 people.
• An African American orphanage was burned; Black residents fled the city in terror. Federal troops finally restored order.

Women's Mobilization

• With men away at war, women took over farms and businesses, ran plantations, and managed family finances.
• Women organized ladies' aid societies to sew uniforms, knit socks, and raise money for troops.
• The United States Sanitary Commission (formed June 1861) recruited thousands of women volunteers to inspect military camps, improve sanitation, and reduce disease deaths.
• Reformer Dorothea Dix was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses—she sought "respectable" women over 30 who were "plain almost to repulsion in dress" to avoid romantic entanglements.
• Thousands of women served as nurses, cooks, laundresses, and some even disguised themselves as men to serve in combat.
• Women on both sides also served as spies, gathering intelligence and passing information across enemy lines.

The Emancipation Proclamation

• Since May 1861, General Benjamin Butler had declared escaped enslaved people "contrabands" (confiscated enemy property), refusing to return them under fugitive slave laws.
• Congress passed the First Confiscation Act (August 1861) allowing seizure of property, including enslaved people, used for Confederate war effort.
• Second Confiscation Act (July 1862) freed enslaved people who escaped to Union lines and those captured by Union armies.
• Congress abolished slavery in Washington, D.C. (April 1862) and banned it in all western territories (June 1862).

• In a letter to Horace Greeley (August 22, 1862), Lincoln wrote: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery."
• After Antietam gave him a military victory, Lincoln issued the preliminary proclamation on September 22, 1862: Confederate states had until January 1, 1863 to rejoin the Union or all enslaved people would be freed.
• On January 1, 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring "all persons held as slaves" in rebel states "thenceforward, and forever free."

Impact of Emancipation

• The proclamation did not free enslaved people in border states (Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, Missouri) or Union-occupied areas like New Orleans and Tennessee.
• It only applied to areas "in rebellion"—where Lincoln had no actual power to enforce it.
• This strategic limitation meant Confederate states couldn't sue, and border states remained loyal.
• However, the proclamation transformed the war's moral purpose: now the Union fought to end slavery, not just restore the Union.

• Abolitionists celebrated it as the fulfillment of their decades-long crusade.
• Enslaved people celebrated in jubilation—it signaled their eventual freedom.
• Confederate leaders raged, seeing it as proof of Northern aggression against their way of life.
• Working-class whites in the North, especially Irish immigrants, resented it—fearing job competition from freed Black people (leading to Draft Riots).
• Britain and France abandoned any plans to recognize the Confederacy—neither would support a slaveholding nation after the proclamation.

Turning Point: Gettysburg & Vicksburg

• After defeating Hooker at Chancellorsville (May 1863)—where Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded—Lee decided on another Northern invasion.
• Lee hoped to relieve Virginia, threaten Northern cities, and win a decisive victory that might force Lincoln to negotiate peace.
• The armies met at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1–3, 1863—the largest battle ever fought in North America.
• On July 3, Lee ordered Pickett's Charge: 15,000 Confederates advanced nearly a mile across open ground against entrenched Union forces on Cemetery Ridge.
• More than half were killed or wounded in what proved to be a disastrous Confederate defeat.
• Total casualties: ~23,000 Union, ~28,000 Confederate (over 50,000 total).

• After months of failed attempts, Grant laid siege to Vicksburg, Mississippi in May 1863.
• Civilians hid in caves; residents ate their pets to survive the bombardment.
• On July 3, 1863 (same day as Pickett's Charge), the Confederate garrison surrendered.
• The Union now controlled the entire Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy in two.

The Gettysburg Address

• In November 1863, Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to dedicate the new Soldiers' National Cemetery.
• After a two-hour speech by orator Edward Everett, Lincoln spoke for just two minutes.
• His Gettysburg Address redefined the war's purpose and the nation's meaning:

• Lincoln invoked the Declaration of Independence (1776, "four score and seven years"), not the Constitution (1787), emphasizing equality over states' rights.
• The phrase "new birth of freedom" signaled that Union victory would mean not just preserving the nation but expanding freedom to all.

African American Soldiers

• The Emancipation Proclamation opened Union military service to Black men; by war's end, over 190,000 African Americans had served.
• 85% were formerly enslaved people fighting for their own liberation and the end of slavery.
• Initially assigned to labor duties (digging trenches, hauling supplies, cooking), Black soldiers fought for the right to serve in combat.

• Black soldiers received only $10 per month (minus $3 for clothing) while White soldiers received $13 per month with no deductions.
• Abolitionists and Republican congressmen fought this injustice; in 1864, Congress equalized pay and provided back pay to 1863.
• The Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Regiment—one of the first Black units—distinguished itself at Fort Wagner, South Carolina (July 1863), assaulting a heavily fortified position with extraordinary courage.
• Despite proving their valor, Black soldiers faced unique dangers: Confederate forces often refused to treat them as prisoners of war.

• At Fort Pillow, Tennessee (April 12, 1864), Confederate forces under Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest (future founder of the Ku Klux Klan) overran the Union garrison.
• After Union forces surrendered, Confederates executed Black soldiers instead of taking them prisoner, while sparing White soldiers.
• The massacre outraged the North and the Union refused any further prisoner exchanges with the Confederacy.

Failed Foreign Recognition

• The Confederacy counted on "King Cotton" to secure British and French support—both nations depended on Southern cotton for textile mills.
• Britain did build and sell ironclad ships to the Confederacy: the CSS Florida and CSS Alabama wreaked havoc on Union shipping (both eventually destroyed).
• However, European intervention never materialized as the South hoped.

• Britain had abolished slavery in 1833; public opinion strongly opposed the Confederacy after the Emancipation Proclamation.
• Britain found alternative cotton sources in India and Egypt, reducing dependence on the South.
• The Union's naval blockade made Southern trade increasingly difficult and risky.
• Britain feared war with the United States would mean the invasion of Canada and loss of lucrative American grain imports.
• France's Napoleon III invaded Mexico (1861) during the war, establishing a puppet regime (1864–1867)—he used the Civil War as a distraction, not an opportunity to help the South.

Grant's War of Attrition: 1864

• In March 1864, Lincoln promoted Grant to General-in-Chief of all Union armies—finally, Lincoln had found a commander willing to press the fight.
• Grant understood the Union's advantage in numbers: Union soldiers could be replaced; Confederate soldiers could not.
• He committed to relentless pressure, accepting heavy casualties to grind down Lee's army.

• Grant then moved to Petersburg, Virginia, a critical rail center supplying Richmond, laying siege for nine months.
• The immense losses hurt Union morale—many Northerners began calling for peace negotiations.

Sherman's March & Atlanta

• General William Tecumseh Sherman advanced from Tennessee into Georgia, fighting Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston at every turn.
• When Jefferson Davis replaced Johnston with the more aggressive John B. Hood, the Confederates launched a costly direct attack that failed.
• Atlanta fell on September 2, 1864—a crucial victory that reversed sagging Northern morale and secured Lincoln's reelection.

• Sherman pioneered total war tactics: his army of 60,000 cut a 60-mile-wide path of destruction from Atlanta to Savannah.
• Under orders to "make Georgia howl," Union soldiers destroyed railroads, burned crops and cotton, killed livestock, and looted plantations.
• Though instructed to spare civilian homes, soldiers often disobeyed—entire towns were left in ruins.
• Thousands of formerly enslaved people followed Sherman's army to freedom, though many faced hardship.
• Savannah fell on December 21, 1864—Sherman telegraphed Lincoln offering the city as a "Christmas present."
• In 1865, Sherman turned north through South Carolina (seen as the heart of secession), where his troops burned Columbia and Charleston, showing even less restraint.

The Election of 1864

• By summer 1864, Lincoln appeared likely to lose reelection:
• Critics called him a dictator for suspending habeas corpus.
• The Emancipation Proclamation and Black soldiers angered racist Northern voters.
• Grant's heavy casualties (60,000 in two months) earned him the nickname "Butcher Grant."
• The war seemed endless with no victory in sight.

• Copperheads (antiwar Northern Democrats) demanded immediate peace negotiations—Republicans depicted them as traitors.
• Radical Republicans wanted faster emancipation and harsher treatment of the South—some considered replacing Lincoln.
• Democrats nominated General George B. McClellan on a peace platform (though McClellan personally supported continuing the war).

• Admiral David Farragut captured Mobile Bay (August 1864).
• Sherman took Atlanta (September 2, 1864)—transforming the election.
• General Philip Sheridan devastated the Shenandoah Valley (fall 1864).
• In November 1864, Lincoln won decisively—even Union soldiers voted overwhelmingly for him, carrying all but three states.

The War Ends

• By spring 1865, the Confederacy was collapsing: most major cities had fallen, supply lines were severed, and Lee's army was trapped.
• Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond (April 2, 1865), hoping to unite with General Johnston's forces in North Carolina.
• Grant cut off Lee's escape route, surrounding him at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
• On April 9, 1865, with fewer than 35,000 starving soldiers facing Grant's 100,000, Lee surrendered.
• Grant offered generous terms: Confederate soldiers could return home with their horses and would not be prosecuted for treason.
• Lee told his men: "I have done the best I could for you. Go home now, and if you make as good citizens as you have soldiers, you will do well."

• Other Confederate forces surrendered over the following weeks. The Civil War was over.

The War's Cost & Legacy

• Over 620,000 soldiers died (360,000 Union, 260,000 Confederate)—more than all other American wars combined until Vietnam.
• Hundreds of thousands more were wounded, many permanently disabled.
• Disease killed more soldiers than combat: typhoid, dysentery, and pneumonia ravaged camps.
• Thousands of women were left widowed; countless children grew up fatherless.
• In some Southern communities, entire generations of young men were wiped out.

• The South lay in ruins: cities burned, railroads destroyed, farms abandoned, livestock killed.
• Southern wealth evaporated: property values collapsed, Confederate currency became worthless, and emancipation ended slaveholders' "investment" in enslaved people.
• Millions of dollars of property destroyed across both regions.

• ✓ The Union was preserved—secession was not a constitutional option.
• ✓ Slavery was destroyed throughout the United States (13th Amendment, 1865).
• ✓ The federal government emerged stronger than ever—centralized power increased dramatically.
• ✓ The stage was set for Reconstruction—the difficult work of reuniting the nation and defining freedom for 4 million formerly enslaved people.

End of Presentation

The Civil War transformed the United States from a loose confederation of states into a unified nation, destroyed the institution of slavery, and set the stage for America's emergence as a modern industrial power.