The Civil War Begins! Or, Let’s Get This Party STARTED! Chapter 11.1 and 11.2

Fort Sumter Post-secession, South takes most Federal (Union) outposts in their territory – Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor is last significant holdout ◦ Lincoln doesn’t want to send in navy to reinforce – why? ◦ Also can’t just give the fort up – why? ◦ Jefferson Davis bombards the fort, which eventually surrenders

Comparison North has large advantages in industrial production, military-age population, military production, food production South has Cotton income, great generals, possibly a “better” military, and an advantage in motivation – defending their way of life

Strategies North – Anaconda Plan ◦ Blockade Southern ports – limit Cotton income, ability to import manufactured goods ◦ Take the Mississippi and split the Confederacy in two ◦ Capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, VA South ◦ DEFENSE! – of land, economy, way of life, etc.

Bull Run/Manassas First major bloodshed Back and forth battle, but stalwart Confederate defense plus reinforcements = Confederate VICTORY! ◦ Originates nickname Stonewall Jackson Union retreats to Washington, Confederates too disorganized and exhausted to follow Lincoln calls for 1,000,000 new enlistments

Grant and Farragut in the West Ulysses S. Grant leads Union in Western campaign ◦ Takes two forts (Ft Henry and Ft Donelson) on Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers Battle at Shiloh (near Mississippi border) ◦ Confederate surprise Union troops, but good Generalling by Grant and a swift counterattack secure a draw Union fleet under David Farragut starts push up Mississippi River to try to complete the division of South

Capturing Richmond? Blockade of ports is working, progress on Mississippi, but phase 3 of Anaconda is not going so hot McClellan (Union) very slow to act, forced into retreat by Robert E. Lee ◦ Confederates had less soldiers and suffered higher casualties, but McClellan lost his nerve Lee makes move toward Washington (why is Washington so vulnerable?)

Antietam McClellan catches a break ◦ Finds a copy of Lee’s orders – learns he and Stonewall Jackson are separated Orders an attack on Lee near a creek named Antietam ◦ Bloodiest single day in American history!  more than 20,000 casualties (~3,650 killed) Battle essentially a standoff, but McClellan doesn’t pursue the battered Confederate retreat Soon fired by Lincoln

Political Issues Emancipation Proclamation ◦ Slaves in rebelling lands are made free (as soon as Union gets in to liberate them) ◦ Why not declare all slaves free? ◦ Also allows blacks to join Union army ◦ Confederacy more determined than ever – way of life more directly threatened than ever Suspension of Habeas Corpus ◦ Lincoln suspends right to have court determine if a person is jailed legally  Uses this power to jail dissenters, Southern sympathizers  Jefferson Davis initially denounces measure, but later does it himself

Issues 2: Electric Boogaloo Conscription – Draft ◦ South – 1862  Drafts all able-bodied men (1864 changes to 17-50)  You could hire someone to take your place, also exempted planters who owned more than 20 slaves – “rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight” ◦ North – 1863  Drafts white men  Also allows people to employ substitutes or to buy their way out  Riots is NY – many poor white workers object to fighting a war to free people who might then take their jobs – wreck newspaper offices, homes of antislavery leaders, political offices  Also attack many African-Americans and well-dressed people (who looked like they could afford the $300 buyout

Summation Questions Find a page in a notebook that you can keep, not lose, and continue to periodically add to. Then answer the following: Why wouldn’t Lincoln reinforce Fort Sumter? In your opinion, what was the biggest advantage held by both the North and the South at the start of the war? Explain.