4.2 The Civil War Begins How did the Civil War become the conflict that divided the nation?

Union and Confederate Forces Clash Lincoln called for troops to fight to restore the Union; the Confederates attacked and took Fort Sumter The fall of Fort Sumter united the North, and was met with an overwhelming response for soldiers Only four slave states remained in the Union: Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware, and Missouri

Continued The North had many advantages over the South: it had more people, more factories, more food production, and better railroads The South’s advantages were the demand for its cotton, better generals, soldiers eager to defend their way of life, and the fact that the North had to conquer Southern territory to win

Continued The North had a three-part plan: 1.) to blockade Southern ports to keep out supplies 2.) to split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi 3.) to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA

Battles The Confederates won the first battle of the war, Bull Run, and were led by General Stonewall Jackson In 1862, the Union, led by General Ulysses S. Grant, captured Confederate forts in Tennessee Both sides suffered terrible losses in the Union victory at Shiloh, and eventually the Union navy captured the port of New Orleans

Continued Also in 1862, the Union army marched towards Richmond; General Robert E. Lee successfully defended the Confederate capital and then marched towards Washington He was defeated by Union forces at Antietam, Maryland, in the bloodiest battle of the war Union troops chose not to chase Lee back into Virginia

The Politics of War The South hoped Britain would support them in the war, but Britain needed supplies of wheat and corn from the North, so they remained neutral More and more people in the North felt slavery should be abolished; Lincoln did not feel he had the Constitutional right to end slavery where it already existed On January 1, 1863, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves behind Confederate lines, not slave states still in the Union, because he viewed slaves there as enemy resources contributing to the war effort

Continued In the North, the Emancipation Proclamation gave the war a high moral purpose In the South, people became more determined to preserve their way of life The high number of casualties forced both sides to impose conscription, a draft that forced men to serve in the army, and led to draft riots in the North

Changes Due to War In 1862, Congress allowed African Americans to serve in the Union Army; many enlisted after the Emancipation Proclamation and by the end of the war they were 10% of the Union Army African Americans served in separate regiments, were paid less than whites, and suffered discrimination

Continued Soldiers suffered and died from battle wounds They also suffered from poor army food, filthy conditions, and disease; war prisons were even worse Early in the war, nurses like Clara Barton and doctors set up a commission to improve sanitary conditions for soldiers Congress later decided to impose an income tax to help pay for the war