The Tide of War Turns

The Emancipation Proclamation On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in the South – not the border states. Lincoln could issue the proclamation as an action of war and still not over step his constitutional duties as the president.

The Southern states did not recognize Lincoln’s authority over them, because they had declared themselves a new country. Therefore, they did not set their slaves free. Slaves did however begin to run away in large numbers. In addition to freeing the slaves, the Emancipation Proclamation declared that men of color would be accepted in the Union Army.

The 54th Massachusetts The 54th Massachusetts, a black regiment under Colonel Robert Shaw, fought without pay. They showed tremendous bravery at the storming of Fort Wagner where many of them lost their lives for freedom.

War Affects Society Riots protesting the war broke out all over the country. Confederate soldiers had lost morale and began to desert in large numbers. Both sides had initiated the draft or conscription. In the Confederacy, all able bodied men between 18 and 45 were forced to join or be arrested.

The war also affected the economy The war also affected the economy. Food shortages in the South caused drastic inflation. Prices increased 9,000 times over the course of the war. Slaves in the south helped the Union in their own way. They began to work slower and to make errors on the job that would decrease Southern production and weaken the Confederacy. Women began to fill the jobs men had left behind. They plowed fields and worked in factories. Clara Barton set up a relief agency – The American Red Cross - to help soldiers with medicine and other needs.

Civil War Prison Camps Perhaps one of the most shocking aspects of the war were the prison camps for captured soldiers. Camps is both the North and the South were deplorable. Andersonville, Georgia was the most infamous. 100 soldiers a day died of starvation and exposure. All together 50,000 men died in these camps throughout the duration of the war.

The North Wins A series of Union losses at Fredricksburg, and Chancellorsville prompted Lincoln to fire General McClellan and replace him with General Hooker.

The Battle of Gettysburg In late June 1863 the Union and Confederate armies met at Gettysburg. 90,000 Union soldiers under General George Meade and 75,000 Confederate soldiers under General Lee fought for three days.

Gettysburg When the battle was over, 23,000 Union soldiers lay dead or wounded in the field – 28,000 Confederate soldiers with them. The death toll was devastating.

Gettysburg Address President Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and made a his famous speech in a ceremony dedicating the cemetery there where the dead of Gettysburg were buried in mass graves.

Siege of Vicksburg On July 4, 1863, the North seized Vicksburg, Mississippi, taking complete control of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg fell after a long siege in which the Union Army had surrounded the city and cut off food supplies for a month and a half. The people were forced to eat dogs, mules, and rats before they finally surrendered.

Sherman’s Total War Union General William Tecumseh Sherman waged an all out war in the deep south. He marched with his troopsfrom Atlanta to the sea wreaking devastation in a 300 mile wide path. He burned and pillaged as he went. This move was meant to weaken the morale of the Southern citizens. It worked.

Grant’s Virginia Campaign Grant and Sherman joined forces in Virginia and defeated the South at the Battle the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. Finally, the Union troops took the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.

Surrender at Appomattox On April 9, 1865, four years after the fighting began, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in the small town of Appomattox Court House.

The Legacy of the War The Civil War was the deadliest of all wars fought by Americans. 620,000 soldiers died.

The Thirteenth Amendment In January of 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution. The Amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States.

Lincoln’s Assassination Five days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, President Abraham Lincoln was shot at the Ford Theater in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth – a Southern sympathizer. Lincoln died the next day, April 15, 1865.

Consequences of the War The Civil War was an economic disaster for the South. In addition to the heavy losses suffered from battles fought on Southern soil, the end of slave labor froze the plantation system.