HIST 2111U. S. History I

Civil WarChapters 22-23

Mike “Wheels” Breakey

Ugh—paper, what paper?

• TOPIC: Was the US Civil War an irrepressible conflict or could it have been avoided?

• 1000 words paper (about 3 pages minus title page and reference page)

• MLA format with reference page (APA is OK)• At least 4 references (and yes, the text is a fine

reference)• Opinion based in fact please!• Due April 29th—1 weeks

Quiz

Words of the Day• Mollify

The Art and Science of War

• Sun Tzu’s The Art of War influences commanders– Clausewitz On War (Napoleon’s lieutenant) – Focus on occupying high ground– Interior Lines/Concentration in time/Concentration in space

• Focus on taking enemy cities, not destroying opposing army– Retreat when necessary– Napoleonic Warfare?

• The Armies—the basics– Calvary: for reconnaissance– Artillery: weakens enemy– Infantry: backbone of army– Also composed of Corps of Engineers and Quartermaster (supply) Corps

The Art and Science of War (cont.’d)

• Infantry– Brigades of 2,000–3,000 (at least at the outset)– Form double lines of 1,000 yards

• Advance into enemy fire– If they survive, then they fight hand-to-hand– Many battles in dense woods

• Billy Yank and Johnny Reb– Most between 17 and 25– From all states, social classes

• Draft exempts upper class– Anti-draft riots in New York City– Draft dodgers in South– Bounty jumpers and hunters– High desertion rates

• Shirking duty not as common as it sounds

The Art and Science of War (cont.’d)

• Women in the Civil War – Spies (unofficial)• Mary Elizabeth Bowser • Rose O’Neal Greenhow

• Officially serve as nurses– Elizabeth Blackwell first doctor– Founded U.S. Sanitary Commission– Clara Barton, later founded Red Cross

• A few disguise themselves as men to serve

1861 • Northern Grand Strategy

– Anaconda Plan—strangle the Confederacy– Split Confederacy by taking complete control of Mississippi River to isolate Tex., Ark.,

and La. From heart of Confederacy– Blockade southern coastline– Defend Washington; take Richmond

• Southern Strategy—win by not losing• Advantages and Disadvantages of North and South

– North 22 million to 9 million in the South– Industry in North– Railroads mainly in the North– Southerners knew the topography of battlegrounds– Interior lines in the South—plus fighting for home and hearth makes one bolder in

war• Why are you fighting—because you are down here

– More southerners had military training especially officers• Both sides thought war would be short

1861

• Naming battles– Confederates (town) Union (waterway)

• First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) – 20 miles from Washington—picnic atmosphere– Southern spies warn Confederates of Union movement

• South wins by not losing, Union forces flee in panic– South fails to attack Washington– South celebrates victory but still poorly organized– “Stonewall” Jackson hero for South

• Consequences of Manassas, July 21, 1861 (Bull Run)– South becomes overconfident– North prepares for long fight– McDowell out--George McClellan given command of Army of Potomac

1861

• Southern hope for help from abroad– Southern strategy = Hold off North until help comes from abroad (Britain or

France)– Also hope that the North will grow weary of fighting

• France decides to intervene in Mexico, not the United States

• British government pro-Confederate sympathies but…– British people virulently anti-slavery– Britain never provides military forces to Confederacy• Jefferson Davis tries to force Britain’s hand– Withholds sale of cotton--self-embargo– British mills stockpiled cotton before war (plus had wool)– British really need grain more than cotton

1861

• Diplomacy– U.S. captures Confederate diplomats on British ship, Trent

• Britain threatens war– British build a couple of commerce raiding ship for Confederacy, but

not significant military assistance provided to Confederacy by Britain

• U.S. uses diplomacy to keep Britain out of the war– Lincoln—“one war at a time”– France, under Napoleon III, remains preoccupied with Mexico and

remains neutral in Civil War

Theaters

• East—focused on the are between Richmond and Washington DC

• West—Appalachian mountains to the Mississippi (and beyond)

1862

• Copperheads: Northern sympathizers of the Southern cause • Defeatists: Believe war is not worth the expense in blood and

money• Lincoln takes dubiously Constitutional action of suspending

writ of habeas corpus– Jails many dissenters, weakens their effectiveness– Recall DC is surrounded by Maryland and Virginia!

• War in the West begins in earnest– Union moves troops to Kentucky– Union captures Forts Grant and Donelson

• Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6, 1862– North wins in incredibly bloody battle– Grant victorious yet relieved of command

1862

• War at sea– Confederates use commerce raiders– Confederates try to outrun North’s blockade

• South’s Merrimack, North’s Monitor ironclad ships– March 9, 1862 first clash of ironclad ships—a draw– North builds more ironclad ships; South lacks resources

• Union General McClellan has the “slows”– Army well-trained and equipped– McClellan reluctant to attack

• McClellan was Democrat and disliked Lincoln’s war policy– Called Lincoln “The original gorilla”– Lincoln frustrated with McClellan’s recalcitrance

1862• Union stagnation—East and West• Emancipation Proclamation

– Lincoln’s war aim to save Union but no victories was undermining this cause– Antislavery sentiment growing– Lincoln authors the Emancipation Proclamation in fall 1862– Supposed to be released ASAP but Lincoln needs a victory to release it—why?

• Effective January 1, 1863– Lincoln frees slaves in slave states which were part of the Confederacy – So, how many slaves did it free?

• Slavery: The Beginning of the End – Emancipation Proclamation, a political move by Lincoln– Reassures Unionist slave owners– Allows North to use black troops– Mollifies Radical Republicans

1862• Peninsula Campaign

– Restored Union Army of the Potomac• McClellan a great organizer, a poor commander

– Union troops to the peninsula between York and James Rivers– Diversionary ruse successful but McClellan still moves to outskirts of Richmond

• 7-days– Inconclusive battles; Johnston wounded, Lee eventually replaces him as commander of the Army

of Northern Virginia– Lincoln recalls troops and replaces McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac

• Antietam, September 17, 1862– Bloodiest one-day battle in American history; 23,000 killed, wounded or missing after 12 hours of

savage fighting– Lee’s forces retreat haphazardly to Maryland side of Potomac

• Anticipate McClellan (back in charge again) counterattack – Never occurs; Lincoln enraged at McClellan’s undue caution—OUT!

1862

• Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862– McClellan replaced by Lincoln with General Ambrose E. Burnside, an

overmatched commander of the Army of the Potomac• Burnside’s Union forces slaughtered at Fredericksburg,

Virginia – Sometimes it is the little things—pontoons too big!– Frontal assault on Lee’s high ground position

• War also bogs down in West, as Union and Confederate forces battle to stalemates in Tenn. And Ky.

• Both sides go to winter quarters over the winter of 1862-1863

1863

• War at standstill– South: shortages and inflation– North: frustration with inferior military leadership

• Chancellorsville, May 1863– General Joseph Hooker commands Union troops

• Hooker outnumbers Robert E. Lee in troop strength with two-fold advantage– Lee outmaneuvers Hooker, wins battle– South suffers substantial casualties including death of Stonewall Jackson– Shot by his own troops in the dark

1863

• Fortress of Vicksburg– South still held small, but strategic section of Mississippi near Vicksburg– Union forces initially unable to take Vicksburg

• General U.S. Grant– Re-enlists when Civil War breaks out– Wins Forts Henry and Donelson– Shiloh creates questions about soberness

• Siege of Vicksburg, (May-July 1863)– Grant (back in command) marches down west bank of river– Crosses river south of Vicksburg

• Takes surrounding area– Lays siege to city

1863• Gettysburg July 1-3

– Lee invades Pennsylvania– First foray into Northern territory

• Antietam was in border Maryland (heavily South leaning)

• Moves up the Shenandoah Valley—screened from the Army of Potomac commanded by Meade (in charge only days)– Meade follows but must keep himself between Lee and Washington

• Armies meet accidently at Gettysburg’– South fails to take advantage – North gains strategic positions

• Fishhook– “Baldy” Ewell told to take Culp’s Hill “if practicable” – Ewell was the replacement for Stonewall– Lee and Stonewall “if practicable” would have been enough– Ewell deemed it impracticle

1863

• Little Round Top – Chamberlain told to “hold to the last”– Holds off multiple Confederate advances but low (almost out) of ammo– Orders a bayonet charge

• Day 3--Pickett’s Charge– Lee plans frontal assault on Union center– Loses 10,000 men in less than an hour; a tactical blunder and deadly debacle

for Confederacy– WHY—why would the master tactician make such a mistake?WHY—why would the master tactician make such a mistake?

• Lee retreats and awaits a counterattack• Meade fails to counterattack and take advantage of opportunity

– Lee completes an effective retreat– Lincoln beside himself at Meade’s inaction– Was Lincoln right to be pissed?Was Lincoln right to be pissed?

1863• The High Tide of the Confederacy

– Gettysburg/Vicksburg ravage Southern morale• Vicksburg falls to Grant and Union forces on the same day

– Vicksburg does not celebrate the 4th of July (surrender) till 1950s– Port Hudson, Louisiana, final Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi falls

July 9, 1863• Massive casualties and deaths of Confederate forces devastating to

South• Tennessee Campaign

– Battle at Chickamauga Creek– Union troops fall back into Chattanooga– South lays siege to Chattanooga but Grant established a supply line– Union breaks out of Chattanooga—on to Atlanta and beyond

• Grant becomes commander of all Union forces• November—Gettysburg Address

Total War• What is total war?• Many call the Civil War the last Napoleonic War

– Yes but post Gettysburg/Vicksburg, it resembles WWI more

• Grant now in charge– Totally destroy enemy’s ability to fight– Force Confederacy to fight on all fronts– William T. Sherman heads toward Atlanta

• On the Road to Richmond– Grant marches into The Wilderness– Lee outmaneuvers Grant and attacks– Heavy losses on both sides, as Civil War becomes a war of attrition

• Union can withstand losses; South cannot absorb the heavy casualties suffered during war of attrition– Grant, tactician or butcher?

Total War• Petersburg and the Shenandoah Valley

– Grant lays siege to Petersburg– Siege lasts nine months

• Union forces lay waste to Shenandoah Valley• General Sherman in Georgia

– Union troops occupy Atlanta (September 1864)– Union victory in Atlanta key to Lincoln’s re-election

• Sherman marches to sea (Atlanta to Savannah)– Intends to destroy South’s ability and will to fight– Destroys everything in path

• The end: April 1865– Lee abandons Petersburg, Richmond– Lee tries to make last stand

• Lee, Grant meet at Appomattox Court House– Grant gives Lee generous surrender terms

The (avoidable?) American Tragedy• Casualties

– About 620,000 – More deaths than all other wars combined– Medical care poor so wounded often meant dead!

• Lincoln’s Assassination: April 14, 1865– John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer shoots Lincoln in

Ford’s Theater, Washington• Booth part of a conspiracy

– Booth killed; four more conspirators hanged• “Father Abraham” now a martyr

– Not overly popular as president– Worries about winning 1864 election– Wins re-election due to military victories– Democrat Andrew Johnson running mate

• Had won respect with his humility and eloquence• Did Booth strike a blow or hurt the Confederate cause?

Consequences of the Civil War

• Union victory– Destroys political dominance of South– Establishes inseparability of the states– Northeastern industrial, financial interest now dominant

• New Economic Policies– Pacific Railways Act: transcontinental railroad– Morrill Tariff: high protective tariff

• Becoming the Usa

Consequences of the Civil War

• Free land• Homestead Act

– 160 acres of public domain; must live on land for 5 years; or after six months living on the land, they could buy it for $1.25 per acre

• Morrill Act of 1863 – Gives land to states to fund public agricultural and mechanical colleges

and universities (e.g., University of Massachusetts, founded as Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1863)

• Free people– Slavery immoral, archaic– Thousands of slaves flee to Union Army– 15,000 blacks serve in Union army– Thirteenth Amendment ends slavery

Next week• April 29—chapters 24 and review

• April 29—paper due

• May 6 Final—normal time (5:30pm)