THE UNITED STATES CIVIL WAR

1861 - 1865

The War Between the States, the Causes, Conflicts, and Consequences, 1861 - 1865

South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, on December 20, 1860, so it is appropriate enough that the fighting would begin there. When Lincoln and his cabinet arrived at the conclusion that Sumter must be resupplied, the die was cast. Pierre Beauregard ordered that the Fort be surrendered and began a bombardment which left Major Robert Anderson no option but to surrender. The only casualty that day was a Confederate horse, killed in an accident during the shelling. The only man to die during the entire event was an unlucky Confederate Private, Daniel Hough, who was the victim of a misfire during the 50 gun salute after the fort was surrendered.

FORT SUMTER AND SECESSION

Lincoln’s momentous decision to call up 75,000 soldiers – rather than to allow the seven Confederate States which had already surrendered to have the fort – proved to be momentous. Four more states – including the critically populous and industrially developed Virginia – seceded now. Most of Virginia, anyhow! With Virginia went General Robert E. Lee – the man Lincoln had asked to command the United States Army during the Civil War.

LINCOLN CALLS UP 75,000

When Virginia seceded from the Union, West Virginia seceded from the state. Lincoln was in the uncomfortable position of approving WV statehood – against his own claim that secession was not tenable in a democracy.

LOSING THE UPPER SOUTH

States in the Upper South, which seceded after Lincoln’s call for 75,000 soldiers:

Virginia

North Carolina

Arkansas

Tennessee

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States which remained in the Union:

West Virginia (formerly part of VA)

Delaware (controlled access to Philadelphia)

Maryland (central hub of rails; Washington D.C. would be surrounded)

Missouri (Western trails started here)

Kentucky (navigation of the Ohio River)

It was not certain that Virginia would leave the Union, even after Ft. Sumter. Virginia was the mother of United States Presidents, and many Virginians opposed secession vehemently. Lincoln did everything in his power to keep Virginia in the Union, and acted as cautiously as was practical in calling up soldiers. However, due to the heavy handed tactics of secessionists at the Virginia Convention, the state was lost. Others soon followed. Lincoln’s primary concern now was not to lose all of the “Border States.” Recall, even after the Civil War began, Lincoln insisted that he had no inclination to rob Southern people of their slave property. Yet, he would still need to use military force to compel these states to remain in the Union.

THE BORDER STATES – UNION SLAVE STATESThe border states were each essential

to the Union for the purposes of conducting the war.

Delaware had to be controlled in order to protect the Delaware Bay – and the city of Philadelphia which it surrounded.

If Maryland had gone to the Confederacy, Washington, D.C. would have been surrounded. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus to insure it did not fall.

Kentucky allowed the Union to control the Ohio River – permitting trade and opening supply lines.

Missouri was the starting point for all trails to the West. It had to be kept in Union hands, too.

The goal of the war for the Confederacy had already been accomplished when the fighting started. They sought independence, and need only defend themselves from the onslaught of the Union military.

The Union’s goals were decidedly more difficult. They would need to invade the South, defeat her militarily, force the rebellious states back into the Union, and reconstruct her society in a more agreeable fashion

It is extremely important to note that the goal of the Union at the start of the Civil War WAS NOT to end slavery. Lincoln explicitly denounced ending slavery as a goal even in his inaugural address. The border states were proof that his intentions were true.

THE GOALS OF THE WAR

The population of the Northern states was over 22 Million. Compared to the Confederacy’s 5.5 Million people, the Union had a huge population from which to draw soldiers.

The network of railroads, canals, and highways in the Union was far superior to that of the Confederacy. The Union had well over 20,000 miles of railroad tracks; the Confederacy had fewer than 10,000.

The agricultural economy of the North was diversified enough to provide all of its soldiers with food and supplies.

The vast majority of the financial resources of the nation were in the North.

ADVANTAGES OF THE UNION

The Confederacy had a strong military tradition, and many brilliant officers.

The goal of the South was much easier to achieve.

The Confederacy was self-sufficient agriculturally.

Much of the fighting would take place in the South, and this gave the Confederacy a huge advantage when it came to knowledge of the terrain.

The Confederacy believed the since France and England depended upon Southern cotton, they may intervene in the war.

ADVANTAGES OF THE CONFEDERACY

THE ANACONDA PLAN – GEN. WINFIELD SCOTTGeneral Winfield Scott’s

Anaconda Plan was designed to strangle the Confederacy into submission. Unable to trade their cotton for goods – military supplies, food, and finished goods, in particular – the South would be forced to capitulate. The plan was effective – over a long, long time. Fortunately for the Northern states, almost the entire US Navy remained loyal to the Union.

The first major encounter of the war too place in July of 1861 at Manassas Junction Virginia. High society from Washington, D.C. took carriages out to view the carnage from afar. They were horrified when what appeared to be a decisive victory for the Union turned into a disorderly rout. The Confederate soldiers, following the example of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, held their ground, organized a counterattack, and sent the green Union troops running. “Stonewall” Jackson became a legend overnight. Meanwhile, the troops under Irvin McDowell had to be stopped at gunpoint and under threat of execution just to defend their capital city in Washington, D.C.

“THE GREAT SKEDADDLE”

George McClellan picked up the pieces of the Army of the Potomac and put them to work training and drilling until they were a well-disciplined army. McClellan had several small scale victories in West Virginia prior to being appointed the general of the army, and was well loved by his men. His real skill, though was for training and not for combat. Skittish in battle, he preferred not to attack unless the odds were very much in his favor, and even then, he was deliberate and cautious. He was also as ambitious as any American general who ever lived, and supremely self-confident, to the point of narcissism.

ENTER GEORGE MCCLELLAN

During the Peninsula campaign of 1862, McClellan spent months preparing for an invasion that was never executed. Fearful that he was outnumbered (he was not) McClellan paused and hesitated, started and stopped, and eventually outmaneuvered by General Robert E. Lee. When Lincoln refused to supply McClellan with additional troops – Washington, D.C. was essentially exposed to enemy attack – McClellan sulked and insulted the commander-in-chief. In letters, he routinely insulted the President and his Cabinet.

THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN: LEE VS. MCCLELLAN, 1862

Robert E. Lee and his partnership with Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson can hardly be underestimated as a factor in prolonging the war. Indeed, had Jackson lived, many historians believe that the war may have ended differently. When Lee realized the McClellan would not attack even with an enormous advantage, he took the offensive himself, punished the Union Army, and forced them to retreat. Richmond was saved.

THE SEVEN DAYS BATTLES

THE IRONCLADS MEET:

CHESAPEAKE BAY

The USS Monitor VS. The CSS Virginia, April, 1862

The Confederacy seized and converted a Union vessel, the Merrimack into an ironclad ship, renamed her the Virginia, and did considerable damage before the Union’s own Monitor fought her to a draw. Modern Naval Warfare began here, when the two ships fought to a draw. Later, the Confederates were forced to scuttle the ship when Norfolk surrendered in 1862.

DURING THE TWO DAY LONG BATTLE OF SHILOH, MORE AMERICANS DIED THAN HAD PERISHED IN ALL AMERICAN WARS UP TO THAT DATE COMBINED. MANY CALLED FOR THE RESIGNATION OF THE VICTORIOUS NORTHERN COMMANDER: ULYSSES S GRANT. L INCOLN REFUSED, STATING, “ I CANNOT SPARE THIS MAN. HE F IGHTS!”

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH, TENNESSEE

The bloodiest day in the history of the United States occurred in September of 1862 in Maryland. Over 12,000 casualties occurred in few bloody hours. It was barely a victory at all, but the Union sold it as such. They had repulsed the Confederates thrust into Northern territory, and Lincoln would use the victory to redefine the goals of the war. The following day, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

ANTIETAM

It was Benjamin Butler that first objected to the notion of returning runaway slaves during the Civil War. He argued that if the CSA insisted she was a sovereign nation, the Union should take her at her word and protect the refugees that ran away. Before Butler’s analysis of the situation, the Fugitive Slave Law had been upheld. Now, Butler claimed that he would protect the runaway enslaved people as “contraband of war.” The enslaved were property – according to their Southern owners. Benjamin Butler claimed that he would take them at their word.

FORTRESS MONROE’S “CONTRABAND”

Lincoln’ Emancipation Proclamation was issued in two parts – an initial announcement in September of 1862 and the formal statement of the rule in January. It only freed slaves in parts of the South which were actively rebelling, but it still had a huge impact on the conduct and the meaning of the war. First, it was a military measure. African-Americans were encouraged to flee the South, where they were the backbone of the Confederacy’s workforce. And each slave who fled the South was a double victory, because frequently, African-American men sought to fight for the Union!

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

A NOTE ON THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONEnslaved people living in parts of the South which had already surrendered to the Union were not freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. This had special relevance in our own region. Among the Virginia cities and counties where slaves were not freed:

Elizabeth City County (Hampton, VA)

Portsmouth

Norfolk

Princess Ann County (Virginia Beach, VA)

THE RMSTRENT AFFAIR AND KEEPING EUROPE OUT OF THE UNITED STATES CIVIL WAR Early in the Civil War, the Union had come into conflict with England when the Navy stopped a British vessel on the open seas in order to kidnap two Confederate diplomats: John Slidell and James Mason. England was offended, and rumblings of war began. Some feared that England – or perhaps France – would intervene in the Civil War. England and France, after all, both relied on Southern cotton to make their economies run. The Emancipation Proclamation, in part, was issued to help keep these European powers on the sidelines. Although both relied on Southern cotton, neither nation approved of slavery.

There were over 200,000 African-American soldiers who served the Union Army during the Civil War. They served in supply roles and in combat, and every runaway slave was twice effective. They had robbed the Confederacy of their labor, and now, they were serving in the Union Armed forces. Perhaps the most famous group of African American soldiers from the period was the 58th Massachusetts Colored Regiment. African-American soldiers were crucial to the Union’s ability to reinforce it’s lines and win the war.

AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS

One of the most horrifying battles of the entire war, the Union’s effort to control Fredericksburg by way of an assault on Marye’s Heights resulted in thousands of deaths. General Ambrose Burnside, who had ordered the assault, would resign his command post shortly. There were over 10,000 deaths and casualties on the Union side, and the mission was a catastrophic failure. For the remainder of the winter of 1862 and 1863, the Union Army remained nearby, and the bitter cold, the stalemate, and the despair of failure lowered morale.

FREDERICKSBURG

Chancellorsville was another classic victory for Robert E. Lee. Splitting his already outnumbered army against a skittish Union adversary in General Thomas Hooker, Lee was able to convince Hooker that he was surrounded, and press him to retreat with enormous losses. The most horrifying loss of the day, however, was for Lee. General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was mortally wounded at the battle. He was shot by his own men after returning from a night recognizance raid. His arm was amputated; he died several days later.

CHANCELLORSVILLE

After having won victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee, Ulysses S. Grant was gaining a reputation as a leader on the battlefield. When his forces met Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnson in the Southern part of Tennessee in April of 1862, over 20,000 casualties resulted – but Grant’s forces controlled the battlefield and much of the Mississippi River Valley in the wake of the battle. Shiloh, ghastly as it was, was another victory. Everywhere Grant went, his reputation proceeded him. No terms of surrender would be accepted. If he had the military capacity to defeat his Confederate rivals, he was willing to accept casualties in exchange for victories. Some called him a butcher, and Grant himself would have regrets after the war. But as Lincoln stated, he fought.

“UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” GRANT

David Farragut made the famous statement at the Battle of New Orleans in April of 1862. New Orleans fell quickly, and Farragut would make his way north towards Natchez, MS. Eventually, he met the soldiers of Ulysses S. Grant, who’s goal was to capture and control the entire Mississippi River. Only Vicksburg stood in the Union’s way, now, as they attempted to sever the Confederacy in half.

“DAMN THE TORPEDOES, FULL SPEED AHEAD!”

The siege of Vicksburg was a painstaking and brutal affair, but one which resulted in a decisive Union victory and absolute control over the Mississippi River. Before the city surrendered, it had been bombed into submission for a period of months. Everyone in the town was living in dugout shelters – the town was disparagingly referred to as “Prairie Dog Town” by Union soldiers. On July 4th, the town surrendered to Grant. All commerce and traffic along the Mississippi River was now controlled by the Union Army. Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana were effectively severed from the rest of the Confederacy. Independence Day would not be celebrated in New Orleans again for generations

VICKSBURG: PRAIRIE DOG TOWN

By the second year of the war, despite some signs of progress on the part of the Union, all of the bloodshed and violence was getting to be too much for some Americans. The 1862 Elections saw gains for so-called “Peace Democrats” – Copperheads – who sought to end the war by negotiation. Since the opening years of the Civil War were characterized by Union failures, many Democrats and Southern sympathizers spoke out against the war.

COPPERHEADS AND THE DRAFT

Lee invaded the North in the summer of 1863 believing his men were invincible. He also was under the impression that a victory by his army in the North may bring diplomatic recognition from England or France – tilting the balance of power to the Confederacy again. Although outnumbered – as usual – Lee would choose to take the offensive in the critical stages of the battle. Some historians contend that Lee literally suffered a heart attack during the battle, clouding his judgment. It is certain that his decisions were questioned by Longstreet.

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

George Meade was the general for the Union during the Battle of Gettysburg. In spite of his great victory, he would be removed from command following the battle for failing to pursue Lee’s broken Army of Northern Virginia. The best known hero of the Battle of Gettysburg today, though, may be Joshua Chamberlain, who saved the high ground at Little Round Top by executing a swinging gate maneuver – bayonets fixed – to attack a larger Confederate force. The Rebels surrendered.

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG – JULY, 1863

The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg began with Pickett’s Charge. The glorious but unsuccessful mission turned into a rout; the Confederacy retreated in an unorganized manner. Only Meade’s incompetence allowed the Army of Northern Virginia to escape. Even at that the Confederacy’s greatest army would be crippled and outnumbered for the remainder of the war. This battle, coupled with the loss of the Mississippi River at Vicksburg the same week, proved to be the turning point in the Civil War for the Union.

GETTYSBURG

NEW YORK CITY DRAFT RIOTS, 1863 Many Americans are shocked to learn that even after the decisive victory at Gettysburg, Union morale remained low, and conscription efforts were met by violent protests. In New York City, where many immigrant communities and urban poor opposed the emancipation of slaves in the South, rioting broke out. African American neighborhoods and black orphanages were targeted by arsonists, and some were lynched. In fact, soldiers from Gettysburg were sent from the battlefield to New York City in order to put down the New York City draft riots in the summer of 1863.

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

“A New Birth of Freedom”November 19th, 1863, Gettysburg, PA

COLD HARBOR, VIRGINIA, 1864

Once appointed to lead the Army of the Potomac and to serve as the General in Chief of the Union Army, Grant vowed to fight it out with Lee along the lines of this battle all summer. It would take all summer and then some. Working clockwise around Richmond, Grant met Lee repeatedly in one ghastly battle after another. He sacrificed soldiers for victories, secure in the knowledge that while the Union could replace their casualties, the Confederacy was rapidly running out of men to fight. Soldiers at the Battle of Cold Harbor wrote letters home that began, “I died today.”

SIEGE OF PETERSBURG By the summer of 1864, Union Soldiers were at the southern gates of Richmond. However, the Confederate lines were strong and well reinforced. A siege was set into motion in Petersburg. In one dramatic episode, a group of coal miners in the Union camp attempted to pack an enormous load of dynamite beneath the Confederate lines. The explosion worked, but the execution of the assault that followed was catastrophic. Union soldiers rushed into the crater the explosion formed, and were pinned in. They were shot to death like fish in a barrel.

SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA

In 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman left the supply lines behind in Georgia, and devoted himself to punishing the people of the South for the war he felt the Confederacy had brought upon the nation. His men foraged across the land, taking any supplies they wanted. They set fire to every home, business, civic building, barn, chicken coop, and outhouse they came across, and tore up railroad tracks to create their signature “Sherman’s Ribbons” – warming the steel until it was malleable, then wrapping the tracks around trees.

Although nicknamed “unconditional surrender,” when Grant received General Lee in Appomattox Court House, he offered quite generous terms. Lee’s men were fed, they were given permission to take their horses and their guns, and Lee himself was treated with dignity. For Grant, this was the beginning of the reconstruction. His actions during this meeting in the parlor of Wilmer McClain showed him to be both a brilliant general and a statesman.

Both men understood that the future of the nation would be determine by how former foes decided to move towards reconciliation. Had Lee acted spitefully, he may have directed his men to launch a guerrilla style war which – although self-destructive – may have dragged on for years. He did not. The war would soon end.

SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX

Over 625,000 men died during the Civil War – more men died in this war than in any war the United States has ever participated in, including World War II.

Slavery, as an institution, was ended. Over four million enslaved African-Americans had helped to secure their own freedom, and now, a complete Reconstruction of Southern Society would begin.

The supremacy of the federal government had been established, and the usurpation of the powers of the executive were almost too long to enumerate. Lincoln had established a draft, suspended the writ of habeas corpus, and expanded the powers of his office on numerous occasions.

The power of corporations in the North expanded exponentially.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR

LINCOLN’S MARTYRDOM

On April 15th, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth, a stage actor and Confederate sympathizer. Lincoln died the following morning.