-"1st battle" of Civil War 

-April 12, 1861

-Confederate bombardment and seizure of a federal arsenal

-Lincoln called for state militia volunteers to crush the "insurrection,"

-he pushed Virginia, N. Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas into the secessionist camp

 Lincoln's Actions immediately after Sumter

-called up state militias

-expanded Navy

-suspended Habeas Corpus

-blockaded the South

-approved military spending funds

-ALL WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL

-many considered him despotic

People who opposed war and secession from the very beginning

Northern advantages

-much larger white population

-increased industrial development

-more money and European trade

Border States

Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia

Why did the South want the border states?

South wanted them because: natural borders, access to Ohio River, tennessee:south's principal source of grain, major railroad link to West went thorugh Maryland, Missouri: control of Mississippi River traffic, Virginia: South's largest ironworks

Why did the North want the border states?

psychological security (according to Nash), economic and strategic advantages

How did Maryland stay in the Union?

-6th Massachusetts Regiment was attacked by mob of southern sympathizers in Baltimore

-mob members burned north-south railroad bridges

-Lincoln routed troops around Baltimore

-In return, Governor called legislature to session in western Maryland

-Lincoln violates habeus corpus: mayor of Baltimore, 19 state legislators, and civilians imprisoned without trial

-Lincoln defies Chief Justice Taney

-effectively pacified revolt

-Maryland stays in the Union

Creating a Confederate Government

-wrote Constituion similar to federal Constitution, emphasizing states' rights and explicitly recognizing slavery

-Provisional President: Jefferson Davis

-had civilian support and sense of nationalism

-Backed by southern religious community

Southern Advantages

-believed to be better fighters

-slaves could do behind the lines work

-had food, draft animals, and cotton

-knew the land

-could easily attack Union supply lines

Jefferson Davis

-provisional President of confederacy

-grew up in South

-went to West Point

-fought in Mexican-American War

-a U.S. Senator

-Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce

-wasn't eager to accept presidency

-didn't have a party to support him

-imprisoned for 2 years w/out trial after war

New military capability

-range of rifles increased from 100 to 500 yards

-new French Minié bullet: fast and accurate

-infantry charges --> horrible carnage

-used defensive positions

-General Lee: "King of Spades" for earthworks

Winfield Scott

-Union's first commanding general

-70 years old at beginning of war

-supported "Anaconda Plan" as war strategy

-quickly replaced with McDowell

The Anaconda Plan

-cautious, long-term strategy endorsed by Scott

-gradually weakening South through land and sea blockades until the North was ready to crush the S.

Battle of Bull Run

-July 21, 1861 

-Confederate victory

-at Manassas Creek (Bull Run), 25 miles from capital

-Union led by Irwin McDowell

-Confederate led by P.G.T. Beauregard

-Nothern picnic-ers had come to watch

-inconclusive until 2300 confed. troops arrived

General Irwin McDowell

-2nd Union Commanding General

-replaced Winfield Scott

-quickly replaced after defeat at Bull Run

Army of the Potomac

General George McClellan

-3rd Union Commanding General

-took over in fall of 1861

-replaced Irwin McDowell after Bull Run

-ended short-term militias

-highly organized

-trained Union forces

-didn't want devastation for South

Battle of Shiloh

-April 6-7, 1862

-Shiloh Church, Tennessee

-Union victory with tremendous losses

-Union: over 13,000 casualties

-Confederacy: 10,000 dead or wounded

-bloodiest 2 days of Civil War

Union objectives in West

-sought control over Kentucky and eastern Tennessee, "avenues to south and west"

-win control of Mississippi River to split confederacy

 Pea Ridge

-March 1862

-Union victory in northern Arkansas

-Forced Missouri into the Union camp

New Orleans

-South's biggest port

-captured by Union in 1862

Ironclad Ships

-ships covered in heavy iron used in Civil War 

-S. turned old Union ship into the Virginia

-Virginia broke Union blockade in Norfolk

-withdrew after confrontation with Monitor

-N. ships were lighter and faster

-the Alabama was another successful S. ship

The Peninsular Campaign

-McClellan attempt to take over Virginia

-delayed by Stonewall Jackson

-the "7 days war" stopped the push for Richmond

-Union loss at Battle of Cedar Mountain

-Union loss at 2nd battle of Bull Run

European involvement

-Europe stayed neutral

-S. had banked on Europe to help them because of Europe's need for cotton

-Europe (Britain rather) found cotton in Egypt and India

-After emancipation proclamation, European nations couldn't be seen supporting south

-The North had their own economic ties

-Secretary of State Seward's goal: make sure Europe does not recognize the South

Financial solutions in North

-taxation ultimately financed 21% of war

-selling government bonds ($2 billion worth)

-printing money

-this led to inflation

Conscription

-Life of soldier was difficult and dangerous

-Many dropped out, few volunteers

-March, 1862:

-Confederate Congress passed first concription act

-July 1862:

-Union passed a conscription Act

-conscription acts= vastly unpopular

-South angry due to violation of states' rights

-North pissed because of econ. discrimination

-many thought Lincoln=despot, again

-Southern exemption for 20< slaves and purchase of substitutions

-Northern exemption for $300 or hiring substituion

-New York Riot a result of conscription act

-Fed class tension and led to desertion on both sides

-Rich man's war, poor man's fight

New York Riot

-Result of concription

-3 day riot

-Irish immigrants fought because they didn't want black economic competitors

-many others just fought because they were unfair

-Many free blacks were slaughtered

Copperheads

-Northern anti-war, pro-peace Democrats

-considered Lincoln arbitrary and tyrannical

-thought working class was being hurt

The Transition towards Emancipation

-emancipation bothers northern racists

-no emancipation bothers northern abolitionists

-Lincoln tries for middle ground

-spring, 1862:

-lincoln proposes offering federal compensation for states beginning gradual emancipation

-Seward tells Lincoln to wait 'til a victory

-Antietem--> Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

-September 22, 1862 

-States had until Jan. 1, 1863 to join Union

-Emancipation for all slaves NOT in the Union or in territories conquered by Union (i.e. Emancipation for slaves in the Confederacy)

Effects of Emancipation

-Became a war to free the slaves (for Union)

-Foreign powers couldn't be seen supporting S.

-Stanton + Anthony formed woman's Loyal National League to lobby congress for emancipation

-N. started accepting blacks as soldiers

-Subverted S. war effort (if S. slaves knew they were free- many slaves fled to Union)

Black Soldiers

-54th Regiment of Massachusetts

-Led by Colonel Shaw

-Bureau of Colored Soldiers

-Treated as "second-class soldiers" (i.e. poorer food, less pay, less benefits, discrimination)

-186,000 black troops, 10% of Union army

-Most were former slaves

-16 medal of honor winners

Southern Strategy starting mid-1863

-Lee saw that they needed Northern victories

-Led Confed. army of N. Virginia into MD. and S. PA.

-Goal: threaten Washington + Philadelphia

Gettysburg

-Gettysburg, PA.

-July 1-3, 1863

-Lee vs. General George Meade

-Lee overused costly infantry charges

-Pickett's Charge=utter failure

-Bloodiest 3 days of Civil War

-28 k confed losses

-23 k Union losses

-Lee procured food, fodder, and prisoners

-Union victory

-Lincoln disappointed in Meade for not finishing off Lee's retreating army (retreating to VA)

Seige of Vicksburg

-July 4

-Union victory credited to Grant, who Lincoln soon makes general in chief

-Union gains control of Mississippi

-Confederacy is divided

Grant's Strategy

-"Total war"/war of attrition

-not one decisive victory but a campaign of annihilation

-Large casualties, quick victory

-also block south economically with blockade

-did not believe in hurting civilians but only taking what could help support the Army

-Grant appointed General-in-Chief, March 1864

William Tecumseh Sherman and his Campaign

-A Union General 

-Destroyed Atlanta, marched on to Savannah

-psychological warfare (i.e. destroy EVERYTHING)

-destroys everything in "Sherman's March"

-took over West

Changes in the South

-expansion on central government

-reinforced by conscription act

-started recuiting slaves for army, southerners felt this defeated entire purpose of war

-considered offering emancipation to slaves who fought in war

-needed to switch from cashcrops to food crops and military-related industry (because of blockades), private manufacturing firms awarded contracts by gov.

-class relations changed but structure stayed the same

-serious poverty for non-slave owning southerners

-fed class tension

Changes in the North

-1863-1864 Congress reestablishes federal bank that issues national currency

-Northern agriculture and investment in farm machinery expanded

-War industries expanded and profited

-Woolen and Leather industries expand

-Meatpackers and producers of iron, steel, and pocketwatches profited

Life Behind the Lines in Union

-war stimulated religious efforts, adds spiritual dimension to conflict

-People became more interested in the news and used the mail more

-some northerners profited from war contracts

-mostly, war=deprivation

-employment patterns change

-women and black temporarily enter work force

-inflation

-# of jobs increased, lower real income

Life Behind the Lines in the Confederacy

-Southern blockade runners profited

-inflation especially destructive

-strikes and union organizing

-food shortages, dislocation, little medicine or manufactured goods for civilians

-food riots indicate poor urban living conditions

-many refugees

-around 20% of slaves fled towards Union lines

Role of Women during the War

-women had to find jobs + sustain farms

-farm women in S. forced to do manual labor alone

-hundreds of women in N. became military nurses

-nursed wounded + dying for little or no pay

-Emily + Elizabeth Blackwell, Dorothea Dix, Clara Barton were all prominent nurses

-also worked to improve hospital conditions

-S. women nursed behind battle lines

-N. nurses closer to the actual battle

-many women did volunteer war work

-man joined the U.S. Sanitary Commission

-role of woman went back to normal for most women after war's end

-still faced discrimination

Democrats in Election of 1864

-nominated General McClellan

-branded war a failure

-demanded armistice

-accused Lincoln of despotism

-argued that Rep. had turned war into one for emancipation

Republicans in Election of 1864

-party did not unite behind him

-vetoed reconstruction act for S, Wade-Davis Bill

-didn't want to see their party lose to Dem.

Election of 1864- Won won?

-Lincoln won 55% pop. vote

-Lincoln swept electoral college

-Sherman's capture of Atlanta in sep. of 1864 and march to Savannah helped swing voters

Battle of Five Forks

-last major battle of Civil War before S. surrenders

-Union army trapped and destroyed major sections of Lee's army

-complete and total defeat

-Union Victory

-April 1st, 1865

Assassination

-Lincoln shot on 4/14/1865 at Ford Theatre

-John Wilkes Booth=assasin

-Vice President, Andrew Johnson, takes over

Why did the North Win?

-N. outnumbered S. 2 to 1

-N. blockade of food + ammunition

-Europe never recognized S.

-top S. commanders died early

-Rise of Grant + Sherman

-Total War/War of Attrition

-"What Ifs" (ex. what if Stonewall hadn't been shot)

Appomattox

-April 9, 1865

-Lee surrendered

-S. soldiers and officers told to lay down their arms and then allowed to go home w/horses

Burnsides

-friend of McClellan

-a major Union general, replaced McClellan

-defeated at Fredericksburg

-Army of Virginia defeated Union forces

 Western Campaign

-General Grant mostly in charge of war in west

-Army of the Ohio under Grant secured the whole Ohio River Valley

-Battle of Fort Donnelson

-Battle of Fort Henry

-Battle of Shiloh

-Those 3 battles gave Union control of Tennessee, Cumberland, and Kentucky Rivers

-Major players of the Western front: Hood (Confed.), Grant (Union), Thomas (Union general, important at battle of Chicanaggua and Shiloh)

-Eventually wins Mississippi River and splits Confederacy in 2 at Vicksburg from 5/22-7/4, 1863

Southern conditions at end of war

-troops and people poorly fed and clothed

-S. industries still couldn't equip army

-transportation=ineffective

-lost civilian support

-no party system hurt Davis:

-couldn't get what he needed from state governors to support army (states' rights +private property)

-no party to engender enthusiasm and loyalty

-By December 1864, Confed. desertion rate=50%

-S. farmers no longer supported gov.

Northern conditions at end of war

-North had surplus of supplies and more men

-Northerners more cooperative of fed. gov.

-party system helped Lincoln

-social system more equipped to deal w/ war's demands

-army could afford massive casualties and equipment losses

West Virginia

-area conquered by Grant in 1864

-became a state

-mountain people very different politially from folks in Eastern and southern Virginia

Antietem

-bloodiest day of Civil War

-Union victory

-September 17, 1862

-turning point in war

-Union intercepted Confederate plans

-Sharpsburg, MD.

-Lee had invaded Maryland on offensive

-after defeat, Lee retreated to VA.

-war in East --> stalemate

Conditions in South after War

-2/3 railroads destroyed

-thousands of homeless

-more than 3 mil. slaves free

-258,000 casualties from war

Major Republican Legislation passed during war

-Pacific Railroad Act of 1862:

-set aside huge tracts of land to finance transcontinental railroad

-Homestead Act of 1862:

-provide yeomen farmers cheaper and easier access to public domain

-Morrill Act of 1862:

-support for agricultural colleges

-Banking acts of 1863 and 1864

Lincoln's Reconciliation Plan

-10% of state's citizens must pledge allegiance and accept abolition of slavery in order to be readmitted to Union

-1865 inaugural: harbor "malice towards none... charity for all"

Composition of Rep. Party after War

-Whigs

-Know-Nothings

-Unionist Democrats

-antislavery idealists

spring of 1865

Economy: North vs. South

-industry thriving in Northern cities vs. total destruction in Southern cities

-North- active railroads vs. 2/3 damaged in S.

-S.=bankrupt vs. N. banks flourished

-N. farming increasing vs. S. farms=wasteland

-Mostly due to Grant's War of Attrition

1865 Life for Freedpeople

-many went to find family members

-legal marriage=access to land titles, moral importance, legit. children, econ. opportunity

-got to choose surnames (ex. Washington)

-promised 40 acres and a mule

-land was extremely important

-education was a priority

-many expected civil rights and the vote

White Southern Fears regarding freedpeople

-semblance of racial peace during slavery gone

-lost cheap labor

-would have to associate as near-equals

-"Africanization" + destruction of white race

 Black Codes and Vagrancy Laws

-Black Codes:

-must be qualified for rights to testify against whites, sue and be sued, own property, etc.

-intermarriage, bearing arms, having alcohol, congregating, being out on city streets at night, sitting on trains forbidden

-Vagrancy Laws: any black not employed by white employer could be arrested, jailed, fined, or virtually economically enslaved

 Johnson's Reconstruction Plan

-adopted Lincoln-like policy

-amnesty and restoration of property for confed.

-RICH Confed. gov. leaders had to apply for individual pardons

-Johnson hated Southern aristocratic planters

-for readmission as state: Johnson appoints provisional governor, gov. calls state convention, convention must ratify 13th amendment, void secession, repudiate debts, elect new officials

Radical Republican Leaders of Congress

-Congressman Thaddeus Stevens of PA.

-Senator Charles Sumner of MA.

 Congress on Johnson's "completion" of Reconstruction

-refused to seat senators + reps from old confed.

-said they had constitutional authority to decide on their own membership

-established Joint Committee on Reconstruction to investigate conditions in South

Congressional Actions on behalf of freedpeople

-passed 1866 Civil Rights Bill

-funded Freedmen's Bureau

-Johnson vetoed both these bills and Congress overrode him

-14th amendment

-Republican victory in 1866 despite Johnson

 Reconstruction Acts

-1867

-3 acts

-S. states divided into 5 military districts

-commanders must maintain order + protect civil+property rights

-"qualified voters" would elect delegates to write new state constitution w/ black suffrage

-when state ratified 14th amendment, Congress would accept Reps. and state would actually be readmitted to the Union

Johnson's Impeachment

-Tenure of Office Act designed to prevent firing of Secretary of War, Edward Stanton

-Johnson responded by vetoing reconstruction acts, messing w/ freedmen's bureau +military commanders, + removing cabinet officers

-August 1867, Johnson orders Stanton out of office leading to 3-month senate impeachment trial

-didn't get impeached by one vote

-needed 2/3 majority

Election of 1868 and Resurgence of Moderate Republicans

-Moderate Republicans gained strength over Radicals from Ulysses S. Grant victory

-to ensure black votes, Congressional Republicans accepted consideration of suffrage amendment

-1870, 15th amendment is added to Constitution

-women still not granted right to vote

-created rift in suffrage movement

-Stanton and Anthony fought for national amendment ensuring female suffrage

Southern Homestead Act of 1866

-made public lands available

-for loyal whites and blacks in 5 S. states

-Less than 800 Black families got land through it

Task of Freedmen's Bureau

-emergency food rations

-clothe and shelter homeless victims of war

-establish medical + hospital facilities

-relocate thousands of freedpeople

-creating education program

-setting up schools

-helped search for relatives

-helped blacks get legally married

-represented A.A. in local civil courts

-getting freedpeople started w/ tools, seed, animals and work contracts

-often succumbed to needs of white farmers for cheap labor

Battle of Chancellorsville

-Hooker defeated by Lee

-4/30-5/6 1863

-Confederate Victory

-fought in Virginia

Reality of Freedmen's Bureau

-underfunded

-900 employees at peak

-in 2 years:

-gave 20 million rations, resettled 30,000 refugees, treated 450,000,

-built 40 hospitals, 4000 schools

-provided books, tools, furnishings to freedpeople

-sometimes provided land

-still overall unsuccessful

one crop farming

-1870s: wealthiest 10% owned 60% of land

-increasingly specialized in one crop

-tied into international market

-steady drop in postwar food production

-one crop farming creating new credit system:

-most farmers (black and white) rented seed, farm tools and animals, provisions, housing, land

-sign contracts

"Juneteenth"

-When slaves in Texas learned they were freed

-2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation

 Sharecropping

-sharecroppers moved houses away from main house

-got seed, fertilizer, tools, food, + clothing

-had to grow a certain amount in return

-landlord usually took half

-other half normally all went to pay for goods on credit (with high interest rates)

-sharecroppers tied to landlord

-peonage replaced slavery

-ensured continuance of cheap labor

-few sharecroppers made an overall profit

Landowning Blacks

-very few

-in VA., decline in tobacco crop forced white planters to sell small bits of land to blacks

-3-4% blacks: independent landowners, 1880

-close to 25% by 1900

Cotton and white landowners ca. 1880

-# whites working their own land declined from before Civil War to 1880

-cotton production doubled

-fewer food crops led to a greater dependence on merchants for provisions

-25 years early, many farms were self-sufficient

-transition: self-sufficiency to interdependence

Cultural Life of Poor Southern Whites

-emotional religion centered on camp meeting revivals

-clung to white superiority

-many joined Ku Klux Klan + other terror groups

-emerged between 1866 and 1868

Religion for Freedpeople

-rapid increase in membership growth in black churches

-Negro Baptist Church

-African Methodist Episcopal Church

-ministers were community leaders

-1/5< black officeholders=ministers

-got many female teachers from the American Missionary Association

Education for Freedpeople

-got many female teachers from the American Missionary Association

-blacks began to prefer black teachers

-N. philanthropists founded Howard, Atlanta, Fisk, Morehouse to train A.A. preachers and teachers

-schools became community centers

-schools published newspapers, provided training in trades and farming, promoted political participation and land ownership

-Many black schools were burned down

 Benjamin "Pap" Singleton

-former Tennessee slave

-encouraged freedpeople to abandon politics and move westward

-organized land company (1869) purchased public property in Kansas

-took several groups to establish separate black towns

-by 1880s couldn't attain economic independence, encouraged emigration to Canada and Liberia

 Andersonville

-One of the worst Confederate prison camps

-about 31,000 Union soldiers confined

-counted 12,000 graves

-only confed. executed was person who ran it

Creation of new state governments

-many white southerners refused to, or were not eligible to, vote

-local Republicans took advantage and elected their own delegates to state conventions (1867)

Republican Rule in the South

-old Whiggish elite

-those more interested in economic reform than social reform

-northern Republican capitalists who went S. to invest in land, railroads, and new industries

-Union veterans

-missionaries + teachers at freedmen's Bureau

-Moderate African americans

-Effects:

-eliminated undemocratic features from prewar state constitutions (ex. granted male suffrage)

-financially and physically reconstructed S., overhauled tax systems approving railroads and other investment capital bonds

-created 1st S. public school systems

-Republicans ruled for longest in Deep South, black pop.=white pop.

Resurgence of Democrats in the South

-KKK and other organizations:

-forcibly drove Republicans from office

-several Republicans killed

-local courts wouldn't prosecute anyone for violence

-Democrats rose in Election of 1870

-Mississippi Plan:

-threats, murders, and beatings kept Republicans away from voting booths

Three Force Acts

-Passed by Congress to address violence in S.

-1870-1871

-gave Pres. power to use federal supervisors to ensure citizens could vote without force or fraud

-3rd act (aka Ku Klux Klan Act) made the KKK and like organization illegal