Girding for War: The North and the South 1861-1865

Menace of Secession z Lincoln “No conflict unless the South provokes it” “Physically speaking, we cannot separate” Debt New Territories North Offensive South Defensive

Fort Sumter = South Carolina z Fort Sumter = South Carolina April 12, 1861 Lincoln’s inauguration = only 2 significant forts in South remained in Union hands Fort Sumter --- Charleston Harbor Fewer than 100 men Decided to neither abandon nor reinforce Only send in food Fall of Fort Sumter united the North Lincoln called for volunteer troops 75,000 militia Response overwhelming

Richmond, Virginia = Capital Border Blood Richmond, Virginia = Capital Boarder States Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, & W. Virginia Lincoln = Publicly announced not fighting to free blacks Save the Union at all costs 5 Civilized Tribes = Sided with Confederacy Plain Indians = Union Brothers War

Balance of forces Union and Confederacy were unevenly matched Union More people = 22 million More factories Greater food production More extensive railroad system = ¾ Economy = Greatest strength = ¾ nations wealth Controlled Sea = Blockade Confederacy “King Cotton” First-rate Generals Calvary / Foot soldiers Motivated Soldiers Economy = Greatest weakness Balance of forces

King Cotton British depended on South 75% of cotton supplies 1857 – 1860 Enormous exports of cotton = surplus in British warehouses Pinch did not come until mid war Americans sent over cargoes of food North captured / bought supplies of cotton and sent to Britain War Industries = relieved unemployment King Wheat – King Corn Reaper North – export huge quantities of grain

Decisiveness of Diplomacy z Decisiveness of Diplomacy Trent Affair = 1861 British mail steamer stopped Removed 2 Confederate diplomats bound for Europe Reluctantly released Britain = Chief naval base of Confederacy Alabama Confederate commerce-raiders “British Pirate” Captures 60 Yankee Ships Laird Rams = 2 Metal ships Not released by Brits

Limitation on Wartime Liberties Neither side was completely unified North = Harbored thousands of Confederate sympathizers South = Had thousands of Union sympathizers Lincoln dealt forcefully with disloyalty and dissent Suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus Holds citizens without formally charging them with crimes Jefferson Davis also adopted practice Neither followed Constitution

Volunteers and Draftees z Draft – forced men to serve in the army 1863 = Conscription New York Pay your way out = $300 “Three-hundred dollars or you life” 90% of Union Troops were volunteers Bounties for enlistments = $1,000 Bounty Brokers Deserters North = Led to draft riots Volunteers and Draftees

Cont. South “Cradle and Grave” Rich man could hire a sub = purchase exemption Slave owners = 20+ = exemption “Rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight” Conscription Agents Sharp shooting mountain whites = Traitors “Yankee lovers” Cont.

Economic Stress North South Excise Tax Income Tax Morrill Tariff Act Tobacco and Alcohol Income Tax Morrill Tariff Act 5 to 10% higher Greenbacks Inadequately supported by gold Value dropped = inflation Bonds National Banking system= 1863 Standard bank-note currency South Increased taxes Print blue backed paper money Runaway inflation

North’s Economic Boom North prospers during war Homestead Act of 1862 Women’s war Industrial employment U.S. Sanitary Commission Trained nurses Clara Barton = Red Cross Dorothea Dix North prospers during war Manufacturers / Businessmen Millionaire class Laborsaving machinery Sewing machine Sizes Mechanical reapers Petroleum “Fifty-Niners” = Pennsylvania “Coal Oil Johnnies”

Crushed Cotton Kingdom South Fought to the point of exhaustion Squeezed the average income Transportation collapsed Economic cannibalism Resourcefulness / Spirit “Northern Captains of Industry conquered the Southern Lords of the Manor”