1. Background to Civil War
Conflict over Slavery
— in New Hampshire and across the Nation
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General Ulysses S. Grant, victorious leader of the Union Army and future president of the United States (top)
General Robert E. Lee, revered leader of the Confederate forces who surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House (bottom)
Photographs were accessed via the Civil War Home Page ( Throughout the slide show, images presented without attribution may be assumed to come from New Hampshire Historical Society collections.

2. are probably the men we most closely associate with the Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant
Next to President Lincoln himself, these two great generals
are probably the men we most closely associate with the Civil War.
Transition slide.
Robert E. Lee

3. The 13 original states all were former British colonies…
The map shows states as they are and makes no attempt to trace changing borders as territories develop into states. However, subsequent maps do reflect the absence of West Virginia as an entity separate from Virginia until 1863.
This and subsequent maps are from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
The 13 original states all were former British colonies…

4. Transition slide
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
…and all the colonies allowed slavery and profited from slave labor — including New Hampshire.

5. 1619 – the first African “servants” arrived in the American colonies
Slavery rapidly grew to become an integral part of colonial American life.
1619 – the first African “servants” arrived in the American colonies
1641 – Massachusetts Bay Colony legalized slavery
1645 – The first slave is recorded in New Hampshire
1660 – Virginia legalized slavery
1663 – Maryland recognized “slavery for life.”
1667 – Virginia recognized “slavery for life.”
Slavery was first introduced to British colonies in America in The first African arrivals actually were indentured servants, required to work only for a specific term. Over the next few years, colonial laws made slavery an integral part of colonial American life. This was especially true when two populous colonies legalized slavery:
Massachusetts Bay Colony legalized slavery in 1641.
Virginia legalized slavery in 1660.
In 1663, Maryland recognized “slavery for life,” going against prior English law that freed slaves who became Christian. Virginia followed suit in 1667.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.

6. In general, the well-known Mason-Dixon line established the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland. It becomes associated with North vs. South because the line also reflects the line between free and slave states among the original colonies.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
By the time the United States became an independent nation, the institution of slavery had taken root more deeply in the South than in the North.

7. A Contrast: North and South
Between 1790 and 1860, the disparity between North and South in the number of slaves grew even greater.
U.S. census information is from the University of Virginia Library Geospatial and Statistical Data Center “Historical Census Browser”:
By 1860, the worlds were very different.

8. An Example… New Hampshire South Carolina Transition slide.
Maps are from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
New Hampshire
South Carolina

9. New Hampshire By 1840, New Hampshire had 1 slave…
…the last census year for which any slave is listed in the state.
Some historians list 656 slaves in New Hampshire in While there were probably that many blacks, it is not certain that they were all slaves at the time. The state census of 1775 has a single category listing “Negroes and Slaves for life.”
For the first U.S. census, in 1790, the distinction is clearer. According to that census, 157 slaves lived in New Hampshire in 1790, along with 630 people categorized as “other free persons,” presumably blacks; by 1800 only 8 slaves were listed in the state, along with 852 “other free persons.”
U.S. census information is from the University of Virginia Library Geospatial and Statistical Data Center “Historical Census Browser”:
State census information for 1775 is from Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society for the Year 1824, I (Concord: Jacob B. Moore, 1824).
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.

10. South Carolina
South Carolina, on the other hand, recorded 327,038 slaves in 1840 — more than half its population.
By 1860, just before the Civil War, slaves made up 57% of the state’s total population.
Interestingly, the free population of New Hampshire (284,574) was greater than South Carolina’s (267,360) in 1840 — but South Carolina enjoyed a congressional advantage over New Hampshire because its slaves counted as 3/5 of a person for representational calculations. Because of its slave population, South Carolina had an effective population of 433,582. This advantage carried over to the electoral college, too, giving South Carolina more clout in choosing a president.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.

11. Transition slide.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.

12. Map is from “Graphic Maps” http://www. graphicmaps. com (2004)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
For our founders in 1787, the task of creating a single country from former colonies with widely different social views and economic needs would prove extremely difficult.

13. Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780; Massachusetts, in 1787.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Even before the country agreed to a constitution, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts had abolished slavery.

14. Later, New York and New Jersey also formally abolished slavery.
New Jersey instituted a gradual abolition in 1804; New York abolished slavery in 1827.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Later, New York and New Jersey also formally abolished slavery.

15. Did New Hampshire abolish slavery
Did New Hampshire abolish slavery? The state’s constitution of 1784 indicated that “all men are born equally free and independent,” and certainly some took this to mean that slavery was thereby abolished. In 1788, for example, historian Jeremy Belknap maintained that blacks in New Hampshire were free.
On a contradictory note, a 1784 revenue act listed “male and female negroes and mulatto servants” as taxable property. This phrase was deliberately expunged from the 1789 revenue act. Even so, in 1795, Jeremy Belknap revised his earlier statement to indicate that blacks born after 1784 were free. Census data, too, indicates that blacks were held as slaves in New Hampshire at least as late as (See notes for slide no. 10.)
Information is from Arthur Zilversmit’s doctoral dissertation “Slavery and Its Abolition in the Northern States” (University of California: Berkeley, 1962).
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Even without formal abolition, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island possessed very few slaves.

16. Map is from “Graphic Maps” http://www. graphicmaps. com (2004)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
But in the South, as well as in the border states of Delaware and Maryland, slave labor was economically important.

17. Mutual Needs
The numerous textile mills along New Hampshire’s rivers depended upon a steady and plentiful supply of cotton grown in the South in order to produce cloth.
The South’s need for slave labor was very much linked to production demands of the industrial North.
Shown here are Keene, Claremont, Nashua, Manchester, Franklin, Dover, Somersworth, and Rochester. During the slide show, pointing the mouse at any of the communities will show its name.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.

18. Mutual Needs In the London Economist (circa 1855), a writer noted:
Should any dire calamity befall the land of cotton, … ten thousand mills must stop their busy looms; two thousand thousand mouths would starve, for lack of food to feed them.
The writer was talking about England,
— but he could as easily have been referring to New England, including New Hampshire.
From the London Economist quoted in Cotton Is King: or, The Culture of Cotton (Cincinnati, 1855). This quotation was taken from “The Fabric of History: The Cotton Industry in New Orleans, 1835–1855,” World Wide Web ( 6/4/2004. Accessed June 30, 2004.

19. Compromise
In order to unite North and South as a country, the framers of the Constitution…
Agreed not to attempt to restrict slavery or slave trade in the states for 20 years, and
Agreed to count slaves as 3/5 of a human being for purposes of calculating representation in the House of Representatives — thus giving southern states more power.
These agreements were made as part of the conditions for agreeing to the Constitution.
The word slave never appears directly in the Constitution. For example, the three-fifths person reference in Article one, Section two, Clause three, reads as follows:
“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”

20. Compromise Over the next 70 years additional compromises included…
Forbidding slavery in the new Northwest territories (1787)
Forbidding importation of new slaves from Africa (1807);
Creating a balance of “free” and “slave” states admitted to the Union (1820);
Allowing slave owners to recover runaway slaves, even in “free” states and territories (1793 and 1850); and
Allowing residents of a territory to decide for themselves whether they would be “slave” or “free” (1854).
In 1836, Congress passed a resolution, a “gag rule,” automatically tabling existing or future petitions regarding slavery.

21. Throughout its brief history as a nation —
from its inception in 1787 with the drafting of the Constitution to the election of President Lincoln in 1860 and the start of the Civil War —
the country had struggled with the issue of slavery.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Here is how the nation grew during those tumultuous years.

22. Free States: Vermont Slave States: Kentucky, Tennessee
1790–1799
14. Vermont (1791) Vermont had the first government to abolish slavery (1777), doing so even before it was a state.
15. Kentucky (1792)
16. Tennessee (1796)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Free States: Vermont Slave States: Kentucky, Tennessee

23. Free States: Ohio Slave States: —
1800–1809
17. Ohio (1803)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Free States: Ohio Slave States: —

24. 1810–1819
18. Louisiana (1812)
19. Indiana (1816)
20. Mississippi (1817)
21. Illinois (1818)
22. Alabama (1819)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Free States: Indiana, Illinois Slave States: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama

25. Free States: Maine Slave States: Missouri
1820–1829
Maine’s entry into the Union was allowed only with acceptance of Missouri as a slave state.
As part of the agreement, it was decided that in the future, slave states would be confined below a latitude roughly along Missouri’s southern border.
The agreement became known as the Missouri Compromise.
23. Maine (1820)
24. Missouri (1821)
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 allowed for the entrance of Maine (a free state) with the admission of Missouri as a slave state.
Earlier, Missouri had petitioned for statehood, and since many of its settlers were from the South, it was expected that Missouri would be a slave state. But resistance by representatives from the North was strong. Representative Arthur Livermore of Holderness, N.H., asked, “How long will the desire for wealth render us blind to the sin of holding both the bodies and minds of our fellow men in chains?” In the House of Representatives, the bill to admit Missouri was amended to forbid importing slaves into the state and to eventually free existing slaves. The Senate rejected the amended bill.
The following year, when Maine petitioned to enter the Union, the Senate tied the admission to the admission of Missouri. As a compromise, it was agreed to forbid slavery in future entries from the Louisiana Purchase above the latitude of 36º 30’ (the southern border of Missouri.)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Free States: Maine Slave States: Missouri

26. Free States: Michigan Slave States: Arkansas
1830–1839
25. Arkansas (1836)
26. Michigan (1837)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Free States: Michigan Slave States: Arkansas

27. Free States: Iowa, Wisconsin Slave States: Florida, Texas
1840–1849
27. Florida (1845)
28. Texas (1845)
29. Iowa (1846)
30. Wisconsin (1848)
Entry of Texas into the Union was fiercely opposed by abolitionists and “free-soilers” from the North. At issue was the fact that Texas would be a populous — and therefore powerful — addition to the ranks of slave states.
In Concord, N.H., Franklin Pierce and John Parker Hale debated the issue in Hale opposed annexing Texas because of the immorality of slavery; Pierce countered that the preservation of the Union should not be pegged to a single issue.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Free States: Iowa, Wisconsin Slave States: Florida, Texas

28. Free States: California, Minnesota, Oregon Slave States: —
1850–1859
31. California (1850)
32. Minnesota (1858)
33. Oregon (1859)
New compromises — including a tough fugitive-slave law — allowed the entry of California as a free state.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Free States: California, Minnesota, Oregon Slave States: —

29. 1854
Earlier disagreements over admitting Texas and California flared again with proposals to admit Kansas and Nebraska.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 undid the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed freedom of choice for the residents of Kansas. This act precipitated a rush to Kansas by slave-sympathizers from Missouri to influence the vote for statehood. The territory became known as “Bleeding Kansas” from the violence that followed. In 1861, as southern states were seceding from the Union, Kansas was admitted as a state loyal to the Union. Nebraska would be admitted in 1865, shortly before the end of the war.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.

30. Kansas became known as “Bleeding Kansas.”
1854
Earlier disagreements over admitting Texas and California flared again with proposals to admit Kansas and Nebraska.
President Pierce’s signature on the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed residents of a territory to choose for themselves whether they wished to be a “free” or a “slave” state.
Abolitionists from the North and slave-holders from the South both raced into Kansas Territory to influence the vote — often with incredible violence.
Kansas became known as “Bleeding Kansas.”
President Pierce was widely blamed for signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act of He became so unpopular that he was not invited by the Democratic Party to run for re-election.
To charges that the 1854 law undid the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing freedom of choice for the residents of a territory and by allowing a slave-state to exist above the agreed-upon latitude, Pierce could point out that California’s petition to enter as a free state had been accepted even though parts of the state lay well below the established latitude.

31. South Carolina secedes from the Union.
1860
In December, 1860, South Carolina is the first state to secede. The state had been the focus of dissatisfaction with the Union from the very beginning. Along with Georgia, in 1787, South Carolina threatened not to join the Union without a promise that no action would be taken to impinge upon the institution of slavery for twenty years. In 1832, South Carolina threatened secession because of unfavorable tariff laws. It even organized an army at this time.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
South Carolina secedes from the Union.

32. 1861
Following (1) South Carolina’s secession, ten other states secede as follows:
2. Mississippi
3. Florida
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Louisiana
7. Texas
8. Virginia
9. Arkansas
10. North Carolina
11. Tennessee
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Ten other slave states secede and declare themselves the Confederate States of America.

33. All the free states remain loyal to the Union.
1861
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
All the free states remain loyal to the Union.

34. 1861
Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware all had many Confederate sympathizers, even though their governments remained loyal. Conflicted feelings were strong enough that Kentucky and Missouri fielded regiments on both sides in the Civil War.
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri — all slave states — remain loyal to the Union. Civil War begins!

35. 1861–1865 34. Kansas (1861) 35. West Virginia (1863)
36. Nebraska (1865)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.

36. 1861–1865
34. Kansas (1861)
35. West Virginia (1863)
36. Nebraska (1865)
Map is from “Graphic Maps” (2004). Accessed December 21, 2004.
Three states join the Union during the war: Kansas (1861), West Virginia (1863)*, and Nebraska (1865) *West Virginia seceded from Confederate Virginia.

37. Fought from 1861 to 1865, the Civil War remains the bloodiest war in our country’s history.
Photograph of dead Union soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg was accessed through the Civil War Home Page (

38. While no battles were fought in the state, New Hampshire supplied 18 infantry regiments to the Union cause.
New Hampshire soldiers would fight in all the major theaters of the Civil War.
“Loyal to the Union” is from the New Hampshire Historical Society’s extensive collection of patriotic envelopes from the Civil War; the Portsmouth recruiting poster is also in the NHHS collections.
All together, approximately 37,000 men New Hampshire men served in the war. About 4,500 died while serving, most from disease.
Information is from Frederick H. Dyer’s A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908).

39. Five of the seven would be killed or seriously wounded during the war.
A New Hampshire soldier in South Carolina poses with slaves left behind after their owners fled the plantation.
Soldiers of Company A, 3rd N.H. Infantry Regiment, pose for Concord photographer Henry P. Moore.
Five of the seven would be killed or seriously wounded during the war.
These photographs are by Concord photographer Henry P. Moore, who was born in Goffstown. (NHHS Collections)
The black field workers in the photograph on the left, though no longer enslaved, were not yet free. In the years before the Emancipation Proclamation, such slaves were in legal limbo. To skirt the legal issues, Union soldiers declared the slaves “contraband” — confiscated property.

40. More than 1,000 men would be killed or wounded in battle.
New Hampshire’s Fifth Infantry Regiment would suffer the greatest number of casualties of any regiment in the Union Army.
More than 1,000 men would be killed or wounded in battle.
The image is from the New Hampshire Historical Society’s extensive collection of patriotic envelopes from the Civil War.
Information is from Frederick H. Dyer’s A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908).

41. New Hampshire people would serve in other ways, too.
Thaddeus Lowe, a Jefferson native, pioneered aeronautics in the war, commanding the Balloon Corps.
Here, he prepares to provide reconnaissance information at the battle of Fair Oaks.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-B DLC

42. New Hampshire people would serve in other ways, too.
A number of women served as nurses in the war.
Notable among them was Harriet P. Dame of Concord, who tended the 2nd N.H. Regiment throughout the war.
On two separate occasions she was captured behind Confederate lines
— and released.
The picture depicts Harriet Patience Dame, circa Born in 1815, she was not a young woman when she went to the battlefront as a hospital matron.
In A History of the Second Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, in the War of the Rebellion (Lakeport, N.H., 1896), Martin A. Haynes asserts, “There were army nurses and army nurses; but those who, like Harriet Dame, ‘roughed it’ with the men, who shared their hardships, and often their dangers, whose ears were familiar with the roar of battle, and whose hands bound gaping wounds fresh from the battle line, could probably be counted upon the fingers of one hand, with fingers to spare.”

43. © 2008 Christopher MacLeod for the New Hampshire Historical Society
The image is from the New Hampshire Historical Society’s extensive collection of patriotic envelopes from the Civil War.
Throughout the slide show, images presented without attribution may be assumed to come from New Hampshire Historical Society collections.
All outline maps are from “Graphic Maps” at
Christopher MacLeod
New Hampshire Historical Society
6 Eagle Square
Concord, NH 03301
603/
Updated: 12/15/2008
© 2008 Christopher MacLeod for the New Hampshire Historical Society