Chapter 21: The Furnace of Civil War 1861-1865

Bull Run Ends the "Ninety-Day War":
  • July 21, 1861 - Union forces wanted to attack smaller Confederate force at Bull Run (in hopes to capture capital, Richmond)
  • Yanks attacked, but Stonewall Jackson's forces held out - Union fled.
  • Southern victory was bad for them because it caused overconfidence, many deserted thinking war was over.
  • Northern defeat good b.c they had to BUCKLE down, started war for Union and abolition!

"Tardy George" McClellan and the Peninsula Campaign:

  • 1861 General George B. McClellan given command of Union's "Army of the Potomac." Nicknamed "Young Napolean," "Little Mac"
  • McClellan, 100,000 men marched to Richmond - Robert E. Lee launched counter-attck "Seven Days' Battles." Union driven to retreat. McClellan suspended.
  • Lincoln now began to draft emancipation proclamation.
  • Union strategy: 1) suffocate South by blockading coasts, 2) free slaves - ruin S economy, 3) Seize conrol of Mississippi R and cut Confeds. in half, 4) send troops through GA and Carolinas, 5) capture Richmond, 6) make S submit [Anaconda Plan]

The War at Sea:

  • North blockaded Southern ports - Britain recognized this as binding.
  • "Blockade-running" - sneaky trade w/ Confederacy through ports at Nassau, Bahamas.
  • N Navy would seize any ships w/ treade ultimately ending at Confederacy - Britain respected this.
  • Confederate ironclad Merrimack (renamed Virginia) fought Union tiny ironclad Monitor to a standstill.

The Pivotal Point: Antietam:

  • Robert E. Lee's army BTHO John Pope's Union force at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run.
  • Lee's troops marched to Maryland, wanting to win this Border State.
  • McClellan restored to command - found Lee's battle plans and halted Lee at Antietam Creek, Maryland - bloodiest days of the war.
  • It was a draw - Lee retired across Potomac; McClellan removed from command again.
  • Gave Lincoln opportunity to launch Emancipation Proclamation. In 1861, Congress had declared rebel property (including slaves) could be confiscated =>Confiscation Act 1862

A Proclamation Without Emancipation:

  • 1863 Emancipation Proclamation declared slaves in Confederrate States "forever free" - but slaveowners in Border States were not affected.
  • Lincoln couldn't enforce this in the South - but many slaves fled north. Strengthened moral cause of the Union.
  • Many desertions from Union army (Border states, "butternuts")

Blacks Battle Bondage:

  • Blackes enlisted - 10% of total enlistees in Union
  • 38,000 total died - battle, sickness, uprisings
  • Slaves didn't fight for Confederacy (started being enlisted 1 month before war ended), but kept farms.
  • On news of Emancipation Proclamation, most slaves didn't leave out of fear. Many slaves revolted though - joined Sherman's March through Georgia 1864.

Lee's Last Lunge at Gettysburg:

  • Lincoln replaced McClellan w/ A.E. Burnside - made mistake w/ "Burnside's Slaughter Pen"
  • 1863 "Fighting Joe" Hooker took command - got owned by Lee. Stonewall JAckson died.
  • George G. Meade replaced Hooker - fought George Pickett's Confeds at Gettysburg, PA.
  • Union won. It was the Confed's real last chance.
  • Confederacy wanted to negotiate truce...Lincoln wouldn't let them cross Union lines.
  • Gettysburg address!

The War in the West:

  • Ulysses S. Grant - triumphed at Tennessee - drinker.
  • Union win at Vicksburg (day after Gettysburg) -Union now won Control of Missisissippi River
  • End of 1863 - Confeds lost all hope for foreign help.

Sherman Scorches Georgia:

  • Grant wont series of battles at Chattanooga, Tennessee - way to Georgia opened.
  • William Tecumseh Sherman: marched through Georgia - captured and burnt Atlanta, then moved on to Savannah. Burnt houses - brutal!
  • Moved on to South Carolina - destruction! Burnt capital city, Columbia.

The Politics of War:

  • By 1864 - Factions in Lincoln's Party. "Congressional Committee on the Conduct of War" (1861) - "radical Republicans" - resented presidential power and pushed for emancipation.
  • Northern Democrats - Stephen A. Douglas died at beginning of war and they split. "War Democrats" - supported Lincoln, "Peace Democrats" did not -> Copperheads - extremely against war, draft, Lincoln, emancipation (Ohio, Illinois, Indiana), Clement Vallandigham - Ohio Congressman - banished to Confederate lines in 1863 - fled to Canada- snuck back to Ohio => The Man Without a Country - Hale.

The Election of 1864:

  • Republican party joined with War Democrats to form Union party.
  • Movement to "ditch" Lincoln - but he did get nominated to run for Union Party (against War Democrat Andrew Johnson)
  • Peace Democrats and Copperheads nominated General McClellan
  • Lincoln won - last hope for Confederacy was crushed.

Grant Outlasts Lee:

  • Grant chosen to replace Meade - w/ 100,000 men, struck Richmond - butchery, violent, bloody - owned Lee.
  • Confeds tired to meet for "peace between the two countries." Lincoln would accept nothing short of Union and emancipation, and S wanted independence -> continued fighting
  • N troops cornered Lee at Appomattox Courthouse in VA. Lee met w/ Grant and surrendered.
  • Go Abe!!!!!!!

The Martyrdom of Lincoln:

  • April 14, 1865 (5 days after Lee's surrender), Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington
  • His death made him a hero
  • Johnson became prez

The Aftermath of the Nightmare:

  • 6000,000+ men killed in action
  • $15 billion
  • Preserved Union, tested Democracy

1 comment:

Tyler said...

People sometimes forget how ports in areas like the Bahamas were used.