The Civil War & Reconstruction Unit 10: Chapter 9 Lesson 1-3 and Chapter 10 Lesson 1-3

Chapter 9: Lesson 1 – A Nation Divided By War The War Begins In the beginning, leaders in both the North and South thought the Civil War would last about two months. By 1862, people on both sides realized the war was turning into a long, drawn out conflict. The Civil War would become the bloodiest war in American History.

The First Battle of Bull Run 1st major battle of the Civil War was fought on July 21, 1861. Took place in a stream called Bull Run, near the town of Manassas, Virginia. (located between Washington D.C. and Richmond, Virginia) Sightseers followed the Union troops. Many expected a rapid Union victory and Richmond would fall to the Union. Instead the sightseers saw bloodshed and death. Union soldiers attacked Confederate lines and did not break through. Confederate General Thomas Jackson stood firm with his troops. “Stonewall” Jackson became a Confederate hero. Battlefield littered with bloody bodies, fresh Southern troops arrived by railroad. Northern troops retreated in panic. The South had won the first major battle of the war. The excitement of the war, many joined. As the war dragged on, the death toll rose. Both the North and South had to use a draft. Draft is the selection of people who must serve in the military. Draft riots broke out in many Northern cities.

The Master Plan Confederacy Union Southerners believed they would win the war because they had a stronger military tradition than the North. Southern generals had more experience. Confederate soldiers grew up riding horses and hunting. Southerners volunteered to fight. Northerners believed they would win because they had more people and more money than the South. Northerners also brave fighters, but many lived in cities. Military tradition NOT strong in the North.

General Winfield Scott, commander of the Union Army, made a plan to win the war. Plan would make it difficult for the South to get supplies. Called: Anaconda Plan (Anaconda snakes strangle their prey.) Anaconda Plan has three parts: 1. Northern ships would blockade, or cut off Southern seaports. Without trade, the South would be unable to buy weapons. 2. North would take control of the Mississippi River. Divide the South and prevent Confederates from using the river to move supplies. 3. Union troops would invade the South. Squeezing the region from both the east and the west. The Anaconda Plan

The South’s Strategy Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, knew that a Union blockade could destroy the Confederate economy. Great Britain and France needed Southern cotton. Davis believed British would break the Union blockade. Davis was wrong. Europe had a surplus of cotton. British and French did not want to get involved in a foreign war.

The Battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862, Confederate forces under General Albert Sidney Johnston surprised Union forces commanded by Ulysses S. Grant. Many soldiers had never seen battle. Confederacy pushed Union lines. The battle areas were so fierce, one area was called “Hornet’s Nest” because of all the bullets buzzing through the air. Following day, dead bodies covered a bloody battlefield. Union troops near defeat. The North won at Shiloh, but both sides paid a heavy price. Twice as many Americans died in this single battle as died in the entire American Revolution. Shiloh showed both sides that the war would be long and bloody. People stopped sightseeing at the battlefields.

A New Kind of War Civil War is called by some historians: first total war, attacking an enemy’s soldiers, civilians, and property. Each side strikes against the economic system and civilians of the other. Farms and cities were burned. People were terrorized. Technology transformed the Civil War. Railroads and telegraphs changed the way generals made battlefield decisions. Rifles could fire bullets longer distances and with greater accuracy. Land mines were used. Iron-covered battle ships, called ironclads, made wooden ships seem outdated because cannon balls bounced off the metal sides.

A New Kind of War Confederates built the first ironclad ships, the CSS Virginia, formerly the USS Merrimack. Union built the ironclad USS Monitor. March 9, 1862, the two ironclads fought off the Virginia coast. Neither ship could sink the other. Victory for the North, because they kept their blockade in place. April 1862, Union captured the port of New Orleans. (continuing the Anaconda Plan and controlling the Mississippi River) “Monitor fever” swept the nation. Ironclad railroad cars were manufactured. Horace L. Hunley, invented a submarine. February 16, 1864, CSS H.L. Hunley sank the USS Houstonic near Port of Charleston. The Hunley also sank. The Union’s ability to cut off the South’s supplies would have a significant effect on the outcome of the Civil War.