By: Rejina Koshy & By: Rejina Koshy &

Sharona ShimunovaSharona Shimunova

1861-1865

• In April 15, 1861 President Lincoln issued a call to the states for 75,000 militiamen expecting the war to last no more than 90 days. “On to Richmond!” was their optimistic cry.

• Although the Union army was ill prepared for battle, the press and public urged for action to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond.

• In July 1861 the Union army marched from Washington D.C., to attack the Confederate forces at Bull Run in Virginia.

• The battle went well at first, however the Confederate army under General Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson counterattacked sending the inexperienced Union troops in a panic back to Washington.

• The “military panic” at Bull Run had many political and physiological consequences.

1. It inflated a dangerous overconfidence amongst the South Confederate states.

2. Because the Confederate troops felt that the war was surely over, southern enlistments fell sharply, and preparations for conflict were slackened.

3. That military panic at Bull Run ended the illusion of a short war and promoted the myth that the Rebels were invincible in battle. This compelled the Union troops to buckle down and prepare for war.

4. It set the stage that war would be waged not only for the cause of the Union but for the abolitionist ideal of emancipation.

• General George B. McClellan- the new commander of the Union army of the Potomac, which was the force near Washington.

• “Tardy George” as he was known by many insisted that his troops be given a long period of training and discipline before going into battle.

• After many delays he The Army of Potomac invaded Virginia in March 1862.

• The Peninsula Campaign- McClellan decided on a water-borne approach to Richmond which lies on a narrow peninsula formed by the James and York Rivers. The Union army advanced toward the Confederate capital

• The Union army was unsuccessful as Confederate commander General Robert E. Lee pushed the Union forces back to sea.

• The Union forces abandoned the Peninsula Campaign as a costly failure and McClellan was replaced.

• General in Chief Winfield Scott devised a three-part strategy for winning a long war.

1. ANACONDA PLAN- Blockade southern ports to suffocate the South and cut it off from essential supplies.

2. LIBERATION- Liberate the slaves 3. CONTROL OF MISSISSIPPI- Divide

the Confederacy in half by taking control of the Mississippi River backbone.

4. TAKE CONTROL OF RICHMOND- Raise a Confederate army of 500,000 to take over Richmond.

• Blockading of the Southern ports was simplified by concentration on docks where bales of cotton were unloaded.

• The blockade was profitable as the growing scarcity of Southern goods drove prices skyward.

• The Yankee captains and Northern Navy seized British freighters that were stocked with war supplies destined for the Confederacy.

• The Union troops at the docks had to counter resistance by the Confederates, such as the Confederate warship Merrimack which destroyed two wooden ships of the Union navy in the Virginia waters of Chesapeake Bay.

• At the Second Battle of Bull Run of 1862 Robert E. Lee of the Confederate army stoke Pope’s army in northern Virginia sending the Union army backward to Bull Run.

• Lee then led his army across the Potomac and into the Union state of Maryland. Lee hoped that if they would win this battle in the north, then Britain would recognize and support the Confederacy.

• In 1862, before Lee initiated the Antietam Battle McClellan’s troops found a copy of Lee’s battle plans that was dropped by a careless Confederate officer.

• The Union army intercepted the invading Confederates at Antietam Creek in the Maryland town of Sharpsburg. This became the bloodiest single day of combat of the entire war.

• Lee’s Confederate army was able to retreat to Virginia. • EFFECT: a- The union displayed unexpected power

b- The Antietam was the long waited victory that Lincoln needed to launch his Emancipation Proclamation

c- Confederates defeat stopped the Confederates from recognition and aid from a foreign power.

July 1862 after the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 declared that the slaves in the states that were at war with the United States were “forever free”

The Blacks in the loyal Border States were not affected, nor were those in specific conquered area in the South.

The announcement of Lincoln’s proclamation was delayed until he was able to receive full support from the conservative northerners.

He encouraged border states to come up with plans for emancipating slaves and he was even willing to compensate the owners of slaves.

Lincoln’s goal was not to liberate slaves but to strengthen the moral cause of the Union at home and abroad.

CONSEQUENCES:

The Proclamation committed to the policy of abolition in the South, and enlarged the purpose of the war.

Union armies were now fighting against slavery and not just for secession and rebellion.

Thousands of slaves, learning of the proclamation went to join the Union armies and abandoning their plantations.

Opposition mounted in the North against supporting an “abolition war” . Many agreed to fight for union not against slavery.

The proclamation authorized recruitment of freed slaves as Union soldiers.

• Lincoln replaced McClellan with a more aggressive General Ambrose Burnside. • In December 1862- the Union army under Burnside attacked the Confederate general Lee’s

army at Fredericksburg, Virginia. This was known as the Fredericksburg Battle. • The Union army suffered immense losses. This war signified the magnitude of the war where

no prospect of military victory was seen for either side. • Then in 1864, Lincoln had finally found a general who could fight and win having; General

Ulysses S. Grant. In early 1864, Lincoln made him commander of all the Union armies. Grant’s strategy was to wear down the southern armies and destroy their vital

lines of supply. Grant's most significant triumphs was in Tennessee where he opened the

gateway to the important regions in Tennessee, Georgia and the heart of Dixie. Grant won a series of battles in 1863, and eventually cleared out the

Confederates which opened way to an invasion into Georgia. • Another general, General William Tecumseh Sherman was made in charge of the conquest

of Georgia where he was supposed to destroy the supplies destined for the Confederate army and to weaken the morale of the men in the South.

He led his army through a “March through Georgia” Captured and burned Atlanta in 1864, left his supply base, lived off the country, and rose at Savannah on the sea Sherman’s enemies, Blue Bellies, burned buildings leaving only the blackened

chimneys; tore railroad rails, heated them and twisted them into “iron doughnuts” and “Sherman’s hairpins”

Seized Savannah, went north to South Carolina as Columbia, the capital, burst to flames

• Battle of Gettysburg- General Lee decided to invade the North again through Pennsylvania, which he hoped would encourage foreign intervention and force the North to call for peace.

July 1, 1863, the southern army surprised the Union troops at Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania.

This was the most crucial battle of the war and the most bloodiest with over 50,000 dead.

Unfortunately for the Confederate, the victory at Gettysburg belonged to the Union and Lee’s troops retreated to Virginia, finally called truce.

• Battle of Vicksburg- In the West in 1863, the Union forces under Grant had won over New Orleans and most of the Mississippi River, however not all.

The Union’s objective was to gain control of all of the Mississippi River. So they attempted to gain control of the fortress Vicksburg.

Vicksburg was essential for the South because it was the South’s guard protecting the lifeline to the western sources of supply.

Grant was given command of Union forces attacking Vicksburg, Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863 & five days later Port Hudson fell.

Union victory allowed trade to flourish again by reopening the Mississippi River.

• Both victories tipped the diplomatic scales in favor of the North, and also killed all hope of foreign help.

• The Election of 1864 fell in midst of war- Lincoln’s role was doubted for even his own party distrusted his ability of abolition.

• Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War formed in late 1861 » dominated by radical Republicans who resented the expansion of presidential

power in wartime and pressed Lincoln on emancipation• Northern Democrats were another danger to Union

» Leader Stephen A. Douglas died of typhoid fever seven weeks after war began » Democrats were divided; “War Democrats” supported Lincoln’s administration,

“Peace Democrats” did not» Copperheads were extremely obstructed war through attacks against the draft,

against Lincoln and against emancipation. They obtained support from southern parts such as Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. For example Clement L. Vallandigham- congressman from Ohio who stirred trouble & was a great orator; southern partisan who demanded end to war

• In the Election of 1864, Lincoln won support from the Republican Party but was threatened by the Peace Democrats and the Copperheads.

» Although Lincoln was renominated, most favored Secretary of treasury Salmon Chase.

» Lincoln accused of lacking force, over-ready to compromise, and not winning the war but he was still nominated by Union party

» running mate ex-tailor Andrew Johnson, loyal War Democrat from Tennessee, both southerners and copperheads disliked both candidates therefore General McClellan was elected

• As balloting day neared: Admiral Farragut captured Mobile, Alabama; General Sherman seized Atlanta; General Sheridan held Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and Lincoln’s triumphs were crushing the spirits of the Confederates

• Although The Lincoln-Johnson ticket won 212 electoral votes to the Democrats’ 21, ending up in Lincoln’s success, Johnson received the majority of the popular votes.

THE END OF THE WAR

• The Union Blockade; which was combined with Sherman’s march of destruction and the spread of hunger by controlling the Mississippi River weakened the South. Finally it was time to march and destroy the Confederate capital of Richmond.

• After Gettysburg, Grant was brought in from West over Meades who failed to defeat Lee, therefore Lincoln called upon Grant who struck Richmond and met with Lee in a series of battles in the Wilderness of Virginia in May & June of 1864

• June 3, 1864: Grant ordered frontal assault on Cold Harbor- brutal but necessary

• Northern troops captured Richmond and cornered Lee at Appomattox Court which is a house in Virginia.

• At this time the Confederate government tried to negotiate for peace but Lincoln would accept nothing but restoration of the Union.

• In April 1865, after Lee was cornered, the Confederates officially surrendered.

• Lincoln delivered one of his greatest speeches- his second inaugural speech.

• He urged that the South be treated nicely “with malice toward none; with charity for all.”

• April 14, 1865- John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln on the head.

• Booth was an embittered southern sympathizer who shot the president as he was entering a Theater in Washington.

• his nobler qualities stood out more than his shortcoming

• His assassination led to increases bitterness in the North

• AFTERMATH OF THE WAR: • Civil War affected many aspects of America• thousands of men were killed, there were

unborn babies, costs rose to $15 billion which did not include pensions and interests on national debt

• English Reform Bill of 1867 was passed two years after Civil War, under which Britain became a true political democracy

• Slaves began to gain their freedom and rights & the nation was united politically

• Emancipation was the groundwork, and a united and democratic United States was free to fulfill it destiny as the dominant republic of the hemisphere, later the world