1. FIGHTING THE CIVIL WAR

2. CSA Advantages 7 out of 8 military colleges were in the South.
Strong military history and tradition would favor the Confederacy.
Many southern soldiers were already trained to shoot and ride horses, and would be defending their own lands.

3. CSA Advantages
Hundreds of military officers resigned from the U.S. army to fight for the South.
Talented Robert E. Lee had been offered command of Union troops, but turned it down to fight with Virginia.

4. CSA General Robert E. Lee

5. Union Strengths
¾ of the Navy’s officers were from the North, and the Union controlled the seas.
North’s population in 1860 was 22 million, the South’s was 9 million.
90% of the nation’s factories were in the North.

6. Union Strengths
The South had only ½ as many miles of railroad track as the North.
The North controlled the national treasury and continued to gain revenue from tariffs (taxes on trade).

7. Paying for the War
Legal Tender Act – created a national currency and allowed the federal government to issue paper money for the first time – known as greenbacks.
Issued to finance war, the paper money depreciated in terms of gold and became the subject of controversy.
Sales of war bonds and a temporary income tax (the first) helped pay the $4 billion cost

8. Greenbacks

9. Paying for the War
The South had smaller banks and most planters were in debt.
They couldn’t raise much money from taxes on trade because the Union Navy blockaded southern ports.
The South resorted to taxing its citizens, but many refused to pay.
They printed Confederate money, but this caused high inflation and the money became worthless (a barrel of flour cost $1000 by war’s end.)

11. Obstacles/Division within the Union
Lincoln had to deal with political disagreement within his own Republican party in the North.
Lincoln’s goal to preserve the union, even if he had to leave slavery alone, did not satisfy abolitionists.

12. Division
War Democrats – supported the war to preserve the Union, but opposed ending slavery.
Peace Democrats - became known as Copperheads because Republicans viewed them as traitors. They opposed the war and wanted to restore the union through negotiations.

13. Division
Democrats and Republicans disagreed over conscription – the draft. Riots erupted in northern cities.
Criticism of Lincoln’s suspension of writs of habeas corpus – the right to be charged with a crime or be released.

14. The South tried to gain support from Britain and France
The South tried to gain support from Britain and France. Both countries utilized southern cotton for their textile factories.
Confederate diplomats aboard the British ship Trent were taken into custody by Union navy and held for several weeks. This incident, which led to discussion of war between the U.S. and Britain, became known as the “Trent Affair”.

15. Civil War Weapons/Technology
The telegraph made it easier for military and political leaders to communicate, and for news of battles to reach the public.
The Civil War was the first modern war. Armies had traditionally fought in long lines, facing each other at close range. New weapons that were more accurate at greater distances would eventually change the way armies fought.

18. Civil War Innovations Aerial Reconnaissance –Balloon Corps
Rifling –putting grooves in musket barrels and artillery to create spin that resulted in greater accuracy over longer distances
Minie balls –new bullett
Gatling Gun –ancestor of modern machine gun
Army ambulance corps
Naval mines and torpedoes
Ironclad warships
Submarine (rudimentary) – H. L. Hunley

19. Battle of the Ironclads, Hampton Roads, VA (1862)

20. War of Attrition
Armies began using trenches and barricades for protection.
Combination of better weapons and new strategies led to mass casualties and the need for greater numbers of of soldiers.
Attrition: wearing down the other side by exhausting their supply of resources & men Petersburg trenches

21. Union Strategy
Anaconda Plan –a strategic plan proposed by Winfield Scott to slowly strangle the South, ending the Civil War before it had begun.
The Union would blockade Confederate sea ports, and send troops and gunboats down the Mississippi River to divide the Confederacy. Once commerce was sealed off, Southerners were expected to compel their Secessionist leaders to “make terms.” Success would take time, but entail less bloodshed.

22. Anaconda Plan

24. Anaconda Plan
This diplomatic strategy was not adopted because Union military leaders and the war-fevered press claimed that to aggressively destroy the Confederate armies was the only way to win the war.
Key parts of the plan would be adopted later in conjunction with major military offensives in the South.

25. CSA Strategies
The South was fighting a defensive war, one which Jefferson Davis saw as similar to the American war for independence: if the South could avoid major losses and prolong the war, the North, like the British, should tire of the costs of war and release them.
Many believed that military traditions, hunting and rural life made southerners better fighters, and that one dynamic victory could determine the war’s outcome.

26. CSA President Jefferson Davis