Lesson 19: The Civil War

Synopsis: For four bloody years, North and South struggle in the Civil War as the North tries to restore the Union and to end slavery. Finally, Northern Summary advantages in population, industry, and resources ensure victory.

The Civil War Begins Chapter 11 Section 1

Objectives• Explain how the Civil War started.

• Explain Northern and Confederate shortsightedness about the duration of the war.

• Identify the Northern generals and their initial campaigns in the West.

• Describe new weapons and other changes in warfare.

• Explain Northern and Southern military strategies to capture their opponent's capital.

Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter

Lesson 19: The Civil War part 1

The seven southernmost states that had already seceded formed the Confederate States of America by February 4, 1861.

Confederate soldiers immediately began taking over federal installations in their states, courthouses, post offices, and especially forts.

• By the time of Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, only a few Southern forts remained in Union Hands.

The more important was South Carolina’s Fort Sumter, on an island in Charleston harbor.

The day after his inauguration, the new president received an urgent dispatch from the fort’s commander, Major Anderson.

• The Confederacy was demanding that he surrender or face attack, and his supplies of food and ammunition would last six weeks at the most.

The news presented Lincoln with a dilemma.

• If he ordered the navy to shoot its way into Charleston harbor and reinforce Fort Sumter, he would be responsible for starting hostilities, which might prompt the slave states still in the Union to secede.

If he ordered the evacuation, he would anger the Republican Party, weaken his administration, and endanger the Union.

Lincoln executed a clever political maneuver. He would not abandon Fort Sumter, but neither would he reinforce it. He decided to send “food for hungry men”.

A Union merchant ship, the Star of the West, was fired upon as it tried to deliver supplies to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. This incident was the first time shots were exchanged between North and South, although it not trigger the Civil War.

• Now it was Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederacy) who faced a dilemma.

If he did nothing, he would damage the image of the Confederacy as a sovereign, if he attacked, he would turn peaceful secession into war.

• Davis chose War. The Civil War had begun.

At 4:30 A.M. on April 12, Confederate batteries began thundering away on Fort Sumter.

Charleston’s citizens watched and cheered as though it were a fireworks display.

The South Carolinians bombarded the fort with more than 4,000 rounds before Anderson evacuated. Unbelievably, no soldiers were killed.