Causes of the Civil War

• The Causes of the war were many, but included the following:

1. The Compromise of 1850

2. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

3. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

4. Formation of the Republican Party (1856)

5. “Bleeding Kansas” (1856)

6. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

7. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

8. Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry (1859)

Civil War- Course of the War

1861-1865

Secession Process

North v. SouthAbraham Lincoln President Jefferson Davis

Ulysses Grant, William T. Sherman

General(s) Robert E. Lee

Washington D.C. Capital Richmond, VA

23 states – 22 million Population 11 states – 9 million Established

Government Abraham Lincoln Large Population Manufacturing

75% more railroads

Wealth

Advantages Reason for Fighting Defensive War Better military

leaders Military tradition Could trade cotton

on world market

Difficult military leadership

Weak motivation Far from home

Long coastline to blockade

Disadvantages Jefferson Davis Inflation

States’ Rights Inferior men, money,

machines

Ft. Sumter, April 1861

First Bull RunManassas, Virginia

July 21, 1861

• Both sides predicted victory within 90 days, and this first battle was met with a carnival spirit.

• Confused and defeated, the Union retreat turned to chaos as the army passed the civilians who had brought picnics out from Washington to “watch the war”.

• Both sides realized that this war would not be short, but long and bloody.

Engaged 35,000Casualties 2,890

Engaged 29,000

Casualties 1,982

Why do some Civil War battles have two names?•Antietam or Sharpsburg? Manassas or Bull Run? For many

Americans, what you call a Civil War battle has nearly everything to do with where you or your Civil War-era ancestors grew up.•Northern soldiers, far more likely to hail from cities or urbanized

areas, are believed to have been impressed with the geography of the south, including its mountains, valleys and abundant rivers and streams. In unfamiliar territory, they named many of their battles after these natural features. •For Confederate troops, familiar with the rural, natural terrain,

towns and buildings were more memorable, and in the south many of the same battles were referred to after the man-made structures nearby.•Those reading northern newspaper accounts of the first major

battle of the war heard of the Union defeat at Bull Run (a nearby stream), while those in the south celebrated their victory at Manassas (the local railroad station).

AntietamSharpsburg, MarylandSeptember 17, 1862

*Bloodiest Day in American History*

Engaged 85,000Casualties 12,410

Engaged 45,000

Casualties 11,172

Results of Battle:•South’s hopes of foreign aid were dashed•Lincoln issued preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

Confederate dead at Antietam

GettysburgGettysburg, Pennsylvania

July 1-3, 1863

• Turning Point of the Civil War

• Lee had several goals:– Draw the Union army out

of Virginia– Fuel anti-war feeling in the

North– Feeding and supplying his

troops– Last-ditch effort to win

foreign aid

• The first two days fought to a draw, Lee made a bold attempt to win– Pickett’s Charge, sending thousands marching over a mile across an open field and in which more the 50% of the Rebels died

• Lee was never able to recover from this loss of men- Gettysburg is the bloodiest battle of the war, the worst ever fought on American soil.

Engaged 95,000Casualties 23,000

Engaged 80,000

Casualties 28,000

Gettysburg

VicksburgVicksburg, MississippiMay 19 – July 4, 1863

• Major Union victory after a long siege:

• Gave North control of the Mississippi and cut the Confederacy in half

• Brought U.S. Grant into the spotlight

Engaged 75,000Casualties 9,362

Engaged 30,000

Casualties 1,000

Captured 29,000

Total War“You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.”

-William T. Sherman, September 1864

Sherman’s March to the Sea

What Sherman Left of Atlanta

-A Southern Lithograph Depicting Sherman’s Army

Appomattox Court HouseApril 9, 1865

Appomattox Court House, Virginia

• Lee surrendered his starving troops to Grant• Grant gave Lee and his men generous terms• The Union soldiers, cheering the end of the war,

were stopped by Grant to show respect to the Confederates

The Human Cost of the War

Dead Wounded Total

North 364,511 288,881 646,392

South 260,000 194,000 454,000

Total 624,511 475,881 1,100,392

The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. Their losses, by the best estimates:

Battle deaths: 110,070

Disease, etc.: 250,152

Total 360,222

The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000. Its estimated losses:

Battle deaths: 94,000

Disease, etc.: 164,000

Total 258,000

In addition to its dead and wounded from battle and disease, the Union listed:

Deaths in Prison 24,866

Drowning 4,944

Accidental deaths 4,144

Murdered 520

Suicides 391

Sunstroke 313

Military executions 267

Killed after capture 104

Executed by enemy 64

Unclassified 14,155

The Economic Cost of the War

• In dollars and cents, the U.S. government estimated Jan. 1863 that the war was costing $2.5 million daily. A final official estimate in 1879 totaled $6,190,000,000. The Confederacy spent perhaps $2,099,808,707. By 1906 another $3.3 billion already had been spent by the U.S. government on Northerners' pensions and other veterans' benefits for former Federal soldiers