Unit 7: The Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Causes Leading up to Civil War: Economic and social differences between the North and South State vs. Federal rights The issue of slavery The election of Abraham Lincoln

The Election of 1860: Abraham Lincoln elected 16th President 7 southern states secede…4 more to follow

The Civil War Begins! After South Carolina secedes, it demands Union forces give up Ft. Sumter. The Union refuses so the South fires upon the fort on April 12th-13th, 1861… The Civil War Begins!

Comparing the Resources of the Union and the CSA at the Dawn of War (1861): USA CSA Population Military Leadership Government Manufacturing Trans. Network

North’s Military Strategy: Union: The Anaconda Plan (3 Part Plan): 1. The eastern campaign to capture Richmond. 2. Naval blockade of the CSA 3. Control of the Mississippi River to cut the CSA in half.

South’s Military Strategy: Fight a War of Attrition The CSA did not have to win the War…just not lose it. Goal: Drag out the War and make it too costly for the Union to continue (Similar to the American Rev.) Assumed England and/or France would come in as an ally…why?

Early Battles of the Civil War (1861-1862): 1st Battle of Bull Run/Battle of Manassas (July, 1861) McDowell (Union) vs. Jackson (Conf.) in VA. South stopped the North’s advance. It became clear to the North that the war would not be over quickly. Battle of Shiloh (April, 1862): SW Tennessee, Grant pursues Anaconda from the west. Union prevails on 2nd day. 25,000 dead. North and South horrified at carnage.

Early Battles of the Civil War Cont: 2nd Battle of Bull Run/Second Manassas (Aug. 1862) 14,000 Union/8,000 Confederate Casualties. Confederate Victory motivates the South. Battle of Antietam (Sept. 1862): Lee leads troops into Maryland hoping to inspire a pro-Confederate uprising. At stake: Confederate victory on Union soil might lead to European recognition of the CSA. Result: Bloodiest single day of Civil War (23,000 dead). Lee retreats to VA, Union Victorious.

The Emancipation Proclamation Issued by Abraham Lincoln (Sept, 1862) Declared freedom of all slaves in states of the CSA that did not return to the Union by 1863. The EP did NOT free slaves in the border states (where slavery existed) that did not secede. 20,000 slaves freed on January 1, 1863.

1863: The Pivotal Year: The Siege of Vicksburg (May-July 1863): The North (Grant) surrounds Confederate fort and blocks supplies from being delivered. After 40 days, the garrison surrenders. Victory gives Union forces command of the Mississippi River region.

1863: The Pivotal Year, Cont. The Battle of Gettysburg (July, 1863): Significance: The Confederates hoped to sway Northern attitude toward the war with a victory on Northern soil and draw Grant from Vicksburg. The Turning Point of the war: The North defeats Lee’s Confederate Army in the war’s bloodiest battle (46,000 dead). 90,000 Union troops met 75,000 Confederates at the village of Gettysburg

Gettysburg (con’t.) Although R.E. Lee would continue to lead his troops (Army of Northern VA) for 2 more years, the CSA would never recover from the losses at Gettysburg.

1864-65 and the end of the war In 1864, Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant Commander of the Army of the Potomac Gave William Tecumseh Sherman command of the Army of the West. Their strategy to end the war:

Grant: fight his way through VA no matter what the cost in lives (b/c the North could afford the losses while the CSA could not.) Sherman: advance from the west, capture Atlanta, and continue his march to the sea, laying waste to everything in his path (a “scorched earth” policy) Following his “March to the Sea”, Sherman turned his army north

Surrender R.E. Lee recognized the War was lost… surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse The War was over