Civil War part 1

The Union vs. The Confederate States of America The Union (USA) The North Blue President: Abraham Lincoln Capital: Washington, DC Commander(s): George McClellan; Ulysses S. Grant * GOAL: preserve the Union The Confederate States of America (The Confederacy) The South Grey President: Jefferson Davis Capital: Richmond, Va. Commander: Robert E. Lee GOAL: preserve states’ rights

Advantages Southern Advantages Confederate Profits from “King Cotton” provided money for the war effort. Great military leaders & a strong military tradition Fight a defensive was on familiar grounds Soldiers fighting for a “cause” who were highly motivated (survival) Northern Advantages Union Larger population so more fighting power (22 million) Resources such as coal and iron Manufactures and labor to produce war goods More food production Establish Navy Extensive railroad system to transport goods and troops Lincoln was a skilled leader.

Opening Moves Bull Run / Manassas Junction, VA (July 22, 1861) The Confederate victory showed that it would be long. Both sides had underestimated the magnitude of the conflict. Total War Previous warfare as it had evolved in Europe consisted largely of maneuverings that took relatively few lives, respected private property, and left civilians largely unharmed.

The North’s Strategy The Anaconda Plan Proposed by General Winfield Scott Blockade and surround the Confederacy (U.S. Navy) Cut off its supplies (isolate) Slowly strangle it into submission South also had to be invaded and defeated Key: Union control of the Mississippi River

Anaconda Plan

The South’s Strategy King Cotton Diplomacy Looked to diplomacy as a way to lift the blockade. Hoped that Europe would formally recognize the Confederacy and come to its aid. By 1862, cotton supplies were dwindling, and France was ready to recognize the Confederacy, but only if Britain would follow suit. The British government favored the South, but it hesitated to act until the Confederate armies demonstrated that they could win the war. Meanwhile, new supplies of cotton from Egypt and India enabled the British textile industry to recover.

The North’s Strategy David Farragut captures New Orleans in April of 1862 U.S. Grant in the West Realized that rivers were avenues into the interior of the Confederacy. Forced the Confederates to withdraw from Kentucky and middle Tennessee. Battle of Shiloh April 6-7, 1862 Nearly 20,000 casualties

Eastern Stalemate Union generals in the East were cautious or just plain incompetent McClellan did nothing but train and plan. Lincoln would replace him with Pope, Burnside, & Hooker.

Eastern Stalemate Robert E. Lee takes control of the Confederate army. Realizing that the Confederacy needed a decisive victory, he invades Maryland. Lee’s invasion fails at the Battle of Antietam Creek. Sept. 17, 1862 23,000 casualties made it the bloodiest single day of the war. The deaths kept mounting, and no end to the war was in sight.

Lincoln and Emancipation Republican radicals pressed Lincoln to support a policy of emancipation. Lincoln at first refuses and supports the Crittenden Resolution, which declared that the war was being fought solely to save the Union. “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.”

Emancipation Proclamation Reason Lincoln wanted to hurt the Confederacy militarily. By making it a war against slavery the South would not be able to get help from Great Britain or France. The Proclamation On September 22, 1862 in the aftermath of the victory at Antietam, Lincoln announced that all slaves within rebel lines would be freed unless seceded state returned to their allegiance by January 1, 1863. When that day came, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect.

Emancipation Proclamation Excluded from its terms were the Union slave states and areas of the Confederacy that were under Union control. In all, about 830,000 of the nation’s 4 million slaves were not covered by its provisions. Since Lincoln justified his actions on strictly military grounds, he believed he had no legal right to apply it to areas not in rebellion. Importance It had immense symbolic importance, for it redefined the nature of the war. The North was fighting, not to save the old Union, but to create a new nation.