Union & Confederate Homefronts & the Collapse of the Confederacy
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Transcript of Union & Confederate Homefronts & the Collapse of the Confederacy
The Civil War and Reconstruction
Home Fronts & the Collapse of the Confederacy
Union states sent nearly 40% of their military age men to fight in the war. Many of these men did not survive and those who did, were not the same.Historians have been able to learn a great deal about
what happened on the battlefield and on the homefront from the correspondence between soldiers and their families.
The effects of war left deep social and emotional wounds in the lives of soldiers’ families.The wives of enlisted men often had to work to
supplement their husband’s pay.Many families that lost sons, husbands, and fathers
would have a difficult time recovering from the emotional loss.
The Union Home Front
Union women had already been working outside of the home before the war but the war pushed more women into the workforce.
Other women felt compelled to support the war effort by becoming nurses, working in hospitals, serving as spies and messengers, and even fighting in the war disguised as men.
Still other women supported the war effort by doing volunteer work—making uniforms, preserving food stuffs, raising funds, sending supplies to men.The Women’s Central Relief Association coordinated
these women’s work and provided invaluable support to the United States Sanitation Commission.
Union Women
Women Soldiers
Although Civil
War women are
generally
depicted as help-
mates to soldiers,
they served in the
military disguised
as men.
Union Nurses
Clara Barton was one
of many women who
rushed to provide
relief to wounded
soldiers. She was
critical to the Army
Medical Department’s
finally getting enough
supplies to tend to
soldiers.
Barton served at
Cedar Mountain,
Second Bull Run,
Antietam, and
Fredericksburg.
She would later help
to found the American
Red Cross.
African American Union Women
Harriet Tubman
was one of many
African American
women who
provided service
to the Union army
during the war.
Although most
known for her
Underground
Railroad activism,
she served as a
nurse, a cook,
and a spy during
the Civil War.
The economic recession that began before the war continued until 1862 when the recovery began.
Although military service sapped the number of male workers, the entrance of native born women and children and large numbers of immigrants into the workforce as well as the development of new technologies eased the burden and allowed the economy to grow.
Industrial production increased as did the number of national unions designed to protect the interests of workers.
The Union Economy
Cities continued to grow and soon they were filled with such attractions as theaters, circuses, parks, baseball games, opera, resorts, carnivals and shows.
A criminal underclass emerged as people seeking to profit from the war and crime and corruption rose.
Both public and private organizations emerged to provide relief not only to soldiers’ families but also to the poor.
Women’s volunteer work on behalf of soldiers in the Women’s Central Relief Association gave rise to the United States Sanitary Commission which provided medical care and services to soldiers.
Union Life
In 1864, Lincoln faced political opposition to his reelection from both Republicans and Democrats.Republican opponents to Lincoln nominated John C.
Frémont, the Free Soil candidate and general whom Lincoln removed for issuing and order that enslaved Missourians be freed.Frémont eventually withdrew from the race.
Lincoln won the party’s nomination and in 1864 the Republicans restyled themselves as the National Union party. In the summer, some Republicans called for a stronger candidate.
Their platform included an insistence on the CSA’s unconditional surrender, a nascent plan for reconstruction, support for a Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, encouragement of immigration and funding for the building of a Pacific railroad. The party was by no means solidly behind all of these issues.
The Union’s Political Landscape
In 1864, Lincoln faced political opposition to his reelection from both Republicans and Democrats.Many Democrats supported war for the restoration of
the Union but as the war went on, a faction in the party started advocating a Peace Movement, led by Clement Vallandigham.The terms of negotiating peace with the CSA involved
such issues as surrender, amnesty to Confederates, the terms of state readmission to the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation, and compensation to slaveholders.
In the end, Democrats nominated George C. McClellan, the general who was loved by soldiers but who clashed so often with Lincoln.
Lincoln won 55% of the vote in the election.
The Union’s Political Landscape
Women served a
multitude of
roles in the Civil
War, both on the
battlefield and
the home front.
Civil War Women
Because much of the Civil War was fought in the CSA, southerners experienced the horrors of war more directly than did their Union counterparts.
They experienced moving armies and in different parts of the region, some of them were even occupied by both the CSA and USA armies. See for example Drew Gilpin Faust’s Mothers of
Invention for coverage of women and Anya Jabour’s Topsy-Turvy analysis of children.
Some 50,000 civilians died of war related problems like epidemics, starvation, stray bullets.
The Confederate Home Front
Once it became clear to the USA that they couldn’t easily vanquish the CSA, officials opted for occupation, seizing control and setting up in Tennessee, in Louisiana near New Orleans, and in select areas of Virginia and along the Atlantic Coast.
The primary objective was to remove Confederate officials from power and restore local communities to the Union’s fold.
Occupation proved to be an effective war strategy not only for its ability to allow the USA to gain control over CSA territory but also for its demoralization of proud Confederates.
Union Occupation
One striking example of the demoralizing effects of occupation was Benjamin Butler’s Woman Order.
During the occupation of New Orleans, Butler and his men encountered proud and defiant Confederate sympathizers in women who broadcast their loyalty to the CSA (and opposition to the USA) by their dress (adorning themselves in CSA garb) and their sometimes callous treatment of Union soldiers while still demanding the protections of a lady.
Historians believe that to avoid a likely violent incident in which the women’s behavior elicited a response from the men, Butler issued his famous General Order No. 28, which became known as the “Woman Order.”
Union Occupation
Butler indicated that
women who didn’t
comport themselves
as ladies could not
expect to be treated
as ladies and might be
treated as callously as
prostitutes were
treated.
Confederates
interpreted this as an
authorization of rape
but Butler and his
supporters saw it as a
way to make
southerners accept
occupation and to
keep the peace.
Benjamin Butler’s War Order
This image depicts the effects of the order on the behavior of Confederate women.
Confederate Spies
Rose O’Neal
Greenhow was
one of the most
successful CSA
spies.
Her activities led
to her arrest
several times and
her exile from
Maryland into the
CSA.
Other occupying Union generals encountered resistance.
In some places Union forces seized buildings and destroyed Confederate plantations, including Jefferson Davis’s.
In the end, the Union’s occupation of land and confiscation of goods sapped the resolve to continue fighting of many Confederates.
Union Occupation
It took a while
for the USA’s
blockade to work
but when it did,
it deprived the
CSA of access to
valued goods like
salt, which
people used to
preserve
foodstuffs.
Squeezing the CSA
“A Confederate salt factory, with approaching Union raiding ships in the background.”
As the war went on with no end in sight, the effects of the CSA’s policies of conscription and impressment of goods started to take their toll on the civilian and military population.
The military men who survived the horror of battle faced insufficient food, clothing, and pay, which made less inclined to continue fighting in what some characterized as a lost cause.
At the same time, they felt the pressure to provide relief for their family members who were suffering in their absence.
Desertion
CSA conscription stripped many working class and poor families of the men who helped provide for the family’s basic needs. Longterm military service combined with the CSA’s impressment of 10% of whatever families produced left many civilians starving.
Both men and their families called upon the CSA for relief for their families to little avail.
The combined effects of continued battle and significant hardship at home triggered desertion.
Deserters left individually but as the war continued, they also departed in groups. The significant loss of men to death on the battlefield and to desertion made it much harder for the CSA to wage war effectively.
Desertion
With so many of the males fighting the war, with much of the war being fought in their communities, and with occupying forces, Confederate women of all classes faced significant hardship.
Women were left to manage farms and plantations in the absence of men and sometimes the absence of slaves who ran away.
Initially, they volunteered enthusiastically to nurse soldiers, teach children, and provide goods and uniforms for soldiers but this wore off.
They bore alone the hardship of losing multiple male kin.
Confederate Women
Some historians argue that they railed against what appeared during the war to be men’s inability to provide them with the protection and care they needed.
Poor women faced significant hardship in that in the absence of men, they had fewer people to help grow basic food stuffs. Their problems were compounded by the blockade and by profiteering in the CSA which drove up the price of food.
Confederate Women
Conditions of
hardship as well
as ineffective
policies of the
CSA to manage
civilian life led
some Confederate
women to wage
riots for bread and
foodstuffs in 1863.
The women’s
actions forced
governors as well
as CSA officials to
provide relief.
Bread Riots
The Bread Riots exposed the class divisions in the CSA and how the civilian burden of the war was being carried by the poor.
Some CSA officials tried to develop nationalized programs and policies to increase food production and provide relief to the civilian population but this contradicted many southerners’ cultural beliefs in small government.
CSA officials tried to regulate production of goods and to limit profiteering but this was met with swift resistance by civilians and by state officials.
Some historians argue that what the CSA needed to wage and win the war was a nationalization program that allowed Davis, Congress, and the generals to harness all of the resources at their disposal. The principles of white southern life—states’ rights, protection of the individual rights of white males—made it difficult for them to do, which in turn made it harder for them to fight the war.
Political Subversion
The Union occupation and advancement in 1864-1865 combined with the CSA’s sociopolitical challenges further demoralized Confederates.
In North Carolina and Georgia a peace movement emerged.
After the 1863 election, Jefferson Davis faced a more hostile CSA Congress, as Confederates became more vocal in their opposition to his management of the war.
Civilians continued to defy official CSA policies re: not trading with the enemy. They resisted strongly the CSA’s policies to confront political subversion.
Even when generals like Robert E. Lee called for enlisting enslaved men to fill the CSA’s depleted ranks, it took so long for Congress to authorize enlistment (March 20, 1865) that it was too late.
Political Subversion & Chaos
This cartoon
depicts Jefferson
Davis trying
(unsuccessfully)
to obtain
Napoleon III’s
recognition of
the CSA after
France declared
itself neutral in
the Civil War.
Failure to obtain European recognition
Despite uneven numbers, the CSA proved itself to be a serious contender.
Their willingness and ability to fight for their independence resulted in enough early and continuing victories in such places as Bull Run, Chancellorsville, and the Crater that they were even more emboldened to fight.
Nevertheless, even with these significant wins, the CSA’s continued loss of men to battlefield death and to desertion depleted the ranks.
At the same time, Union’s occupation, blockade, and increasing number of battlefield victories (beginning in 1863) combined with hardship on the home front sapped the CSA’s resolve to fight.
Confederate Collapse
John Bell Hood
The CSA’s John Bell
Hood moved from
Atlanta toward
Tennessee, hoping to
draw Union forces
away from
Confederate territory,
where he encountered
the USA’s John
Schofield outside
Nashville.
Hood’s forces
assaulted Schofield’s
entrenched men and
in the process
suffered 6300
casualties, including
several generals and
regimental
commanders.
John Schofield
Schofield suffered
2000 casualties
and made his way
to Nashville where
he connected with
George Thomas.
Hood followed and
tried to lay siege
to the city.
Thomas’s forces
struck back,
pushing Hood’s
forces out of the
city, ending the
western
campaign.
Lee replaced Hood with Joseph E. Johnston with orders to stop Sherman from advancing through the Carolinas but neither he nor William Hardee were able to halt Sherman’s march.
Lee faced his own challenges of with confronting Grant at Petersburg.
With these and other defeats, the residual morale of civilians evaporated. CSA calls for more men went unanswered and civilians did not resist when Union forces advanced.
Final Eastern Campaigns
In February, a peace conference was in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Lincoln’s terms: ReunionEmancipationNo suspension of fighting as the CSA requested
Davis balked at these terms:The CSA wanted compensation for slaveholdersA temporary suspension of fighting so that they could
regroup.Lincoln was flexible on a number of terms, including
emancipation, but he would not budge on the issues of reunion and his insistence that CSA armies disband. The conference ended without agreement so the fighting continued.
1865 Peace Conference
Union officials continued to fight and Grant combined his forces with those of Sherman, Sheridan, and Meade and made his move toward Lee where he was dug in at Petersburg.
The USA’s forces besieged Lee’s army at Five Forks, many of Lee’s men were without adequate food.
Lee evacuated Petersburg the next day heading towards Lynchburg . Union forces took the city and Grant moved his men to stop Lee from joining up with Johnston.
Jefferson Davis and his cabinet fled Richmond leaving the city in chaos.
On April 3, Union forces entered the city led by African American soldiers. Lincoln entered the city the next day before he visited Libby Prison where POWs had been held.
Final Eastern Campaigns
One of the last
major battles
was at Five
Forks.
Five Forks
Grant
stopped Lee
from escaping
and initiated
discussions
about
surrender.
Lee agreed,
hoping to
avoid losing
any more
men.
Lee Surrenders to Grant
The terms of surrender included:Lee and his men being released once they promised
not to take up arms against the U.S.They had to turn over their weapons and surrender
public property.Grant allowed Lee’s officers to keep their weapons
and he allowed soldiers to keep their horses and mules.
Grant supplied rations to Lee’s hungry men.Although Lee suffered casualties and desertions,
there were still 60000 troops remaining. Rather than continue to wage war informally, as some, including Jefferson Davis preferred, Confederates lay down their arms.
Final Eastern Campaigns
Union forces outside Appomattox
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, John
Wilkes Booth and
other Confederate
sympathizers struck
Union officials.
Wilkes assassinated
Lincoln and another
conspirator
attacked Secretary
of State William
Seward before they
fled and were
eventually captured.
Johnston
surrendered on
April 17 after he
lost at
Bentonville, after
he learned of the
fall of Richmond
and Petersburg
& Lee’s
surrender, and
then found
himself facing
the combined
forces of
Schofield and
Sherman.
Johnston Surrenders to Sherman
Truce at Mobile
The CSA’s Lt.
General Richard
Taylor commanded
the Department of
Alabama,
Mississippi, &
Louisiana.
After Mobile fell to
Union forces and
Taylor learned that
Johnston had
surrendered to
Sherman, he and
his 12,000 troops
surrendered.
Capture of Jefferson Davis
When Davis fled
Richmond, he
hoped to continue
waging war.
On May 10, Union
forces under the
First Wisconsin
and Fourth
Michigan cavalries
captured Davis and
transferred him to
prison at Fortress
Monroe, where he
remained
imprisoned for two
years.
Surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department
The CSA’s Lt. Gen
Edmund Kirby Smith
commanded forces
west of the Mississippi
after Vicksburg.
By the spring of 1865
there were only small
numbers of CSA forces
west of the river.
Smith held out on
accepting Grant’s
terms but increasingly
his men understood the
war was over and Lt
Gen Simon Buckner
surrendered the Trans-
Mississippi Department
on May 26.
Confederate Indians surrender
It was not until after
Richmond fell and
Lee and Johnston
surrendered that
Native American
Confederates
agreed to negotiate
peace terms with
Union officials.
Stand Watie of the
Cherokee Nation
was one of the last
Confederates to
surrender, which he
did on June 23.
Between 750,000 and 850,000 soldiers dead (60% from the Union, 40% from the Confederacy).
More than 1 million soldiers maimed and incapacitated.
More than 50,000 civilian casualties and injuries (starvation, stray bullets, soiled wells, disease).
Few Americans were untouched by the war.It would take the nation decades to recover
from the sense of horror over the loss of life.
The War Ends
At the beginning of the war, both sides expected the war to be a short, victorious one. Neither side had any idea that the war would last as long as it did and that it would result in as much devastation as it did.
Although the Union won, its victory was not predestined. Indeed, research by military historians reveals that there were numerous instances when the Union could have lost not only major battles but also the war.
Nevertheless, the USA prevailed and the CSA did not and so now we can explore the reasons why.
The War Ends
CSA11 states9 million (30% of whom
were enslaved)1 million white men for
military service1 million served
800,000 enlisted (3 yrs of service)
340,000 casualties250,000 killed in action
or from disease
22 states22 million people3.5 million white men for
military servicePlus about 100,000 loyal
southerners & later free blacks and runaway slaves
2.9 million served1.5 million enlisted (3
years)650,000 casualties360,000 killed in action or
from disease
Demographic Profiles
USA
Recent research suggests the number of fatalities was higher. See the NYT Disunion Blog
ConfederacyHad to create a new
governmentWar fought on their turf,
750,000 sq miDetermination of the
Confederates to winMore men trained to fight
Numerous military academies, inc West Point
Culture of chivalry, honor, weaponry
Possibility of foreign recognition of the CSA
Slave labor
Economic strength—wealth and the nation’s banking and financial centers were located in NYC
Modern infrastructure (communication, transportation, industry)
Existing governmentExisting military service
MilitiaRegular armyVolunteers
Profiles in Strength
Union
ConfederacyGet the support of
and/or occupy the Border States
Protect Richmond (CSA capitol), threaten Washington, D.C.
Get recognition from Britain, France, and Spain
Keep the support of the Border States
Recall armies from the West
Protect the South’s valuable resources for the return to the Union
Protect Washington, D.C. (USA capitol), threaten Richmond
Control the Mississippi River—Anaconda Plan
Blockade southern coasts
Initial Priorities
Union
Despite the Union’s initial profiles in strength, the CSA managed to even the odds.
Many historians identify fatal flaws in the CSA’s campaign: Inability to follow through on victories because of high
casualties and low resources;Failure to provide the necessary resources for civilians; Tensions between the CSA states and the CSA Congress and
the Davis administration; Inability to overcome their cultural focus on individual rights
and states’ rights to marshal all resources needed to fight the war;
Failure to obtain recognition from European government;Failure to consider the actions of enslaved people and to
mobilize them for military service;Failure to win enough northern campaigns to demoralize the
Unionists.
Why the Confederacy Lost
Many of the Union’s initial profiles in strength made them overconfident and therefore unprepared for the determination and initial success with which Confederates waged war.
Historians point to some of the following reasons for why the Union won: Manpower (larger population and then the enlistment of black
soldiers); Runaway slaves; Vast resources (food, trade, wealth, existing army & navy,
access to industrial complex); Ability to maintain the Border States and get European
countries to remain neutral; Blockade; Ability to nationalize necessary resources to wage war; Ability to maintain the morale of civilians and soldiers.
Why the Union Won
CSA’s Salt Factory: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/squeezing-the-south-into-submission/ .
Butler’s Order: http://hill.blogs.lib.lsu.edu/2011/02/. Bread riots: http://lifeofthecivilwar.blogspot.com/2011/04/let-them-eat-bread.html European recognition: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/a-dangerous-neutrality/ John Bell Hood: http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/john-bell-hood.html John Schofield: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/John_Schofield.jpg. Five Forks:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Battle_of_Five_Forks_Kurz_%26_Allison.jpg
Lee surrenders to Grant: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/82272/Confederate-Gen Union forces outside of Appomattox:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Appomattox_courthouse.jpg Johnston surrenders to Sherman:
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=703863&imageID=813699&word=Document%20signings&s=3¬word=&d=&c=&f=2&k=1&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&sort=&total=24&num=0&imgs=20&pNum=&pos=20&print=small
Richard Taylor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Taylor.jpg Edmund Kirby Smith:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Edmund_Kirby_Smith.jpg Stand Watie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stand_Watie.jpg Capture of Jefferson Davis:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Jefferson_davis_fort_monroe_capture.jpg
Images
Harriet Tubman: http://americancivilwar.com/women/harriet_tubman.html
Clara Barton: http://americancivilwar.com/women/cb.html
Rose O’Neal Greenhow: http://americancivilwar.com/women/rg.html
The Influence of Women: http://americancivilwar.com/women/index.html
Images
The Search for Meaning.What the War Wrought.Emancipation.Reconstruction.
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