Chapter 14 Two Societies At War

• After Lincoln’s Election secessionists fervor swept through the South, but veteran party leaders did not give up. In the 4 months between Lincoln’s elect (November 1860) and his inauguration (March) Washington attempted to forge a compromise that would preserve the Union. The most radical of the States was the Home of John C. Calhoun, South Carolina. On December 20 S. Carolina voted to dissolve the Union. Mississippi seceded in January, in February Florida, Alabama, Georgia Louisiana and Texas left the Union. In February, Jefferson Davis was elected President of the New Confederacy (the provisional Constitution resembled the Articles of Confederation)

South Carolina Secedes!

• President James Buchanan was a lame Duck President (a term meaning a president on his way out of office, with little support for any action)

who declared that Secession was illegal, but also felt the federal government had no authority to force the restoration of the union.

• Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky offered a compromise , calling for a constitutional amendment that would permanently protect Slavery in any state where it exists, an proposed the extension of the 36 30’ line all the way to the California border, allowing future states in territories below that line to become slave states. President elect Lincoln Instructed Republicans to reject the 2nd part of the compromise. They rejected it.

• On March 4th, Lincoln takes the oath of office and states that secession was illegal and that he intended to enforce federal law throughout the union. Lincoln also sends supplies to Ft Sumter, declaring that he was not rearming the fort, unless the South attacks it. Confederate President Jefferson Davis puts this to the test, Attacking fort Sumter in a two day siege, The Captain of the fort is forced to surrender . After the fall of Ft Sumter Lincoln calls for 75,000 state Militiamen into federal service to suppress the “insurrection”. Shortly After Ft Sumter Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina Joined the Confederacy, while Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware and the Western part of Virginia remained in the Union.

• Lincoln’s immediate plan was an aggressive assault on Richmond, the capital would end the rebellion. On July 21 1861 He sent General Irwin McDowell’s 30,000 troops to attack P.T. Beauregard’ 20,000 troops at Bull Run (called Manassas by the South) . A bold counter attack along with the nerve raking “Rebel Yell” sent the undertrained Union troops into a scattered retreat beating a path back north right over the northern civilians who came to have picnics and watch the battle. The battle informed the North this would not be a short war, and Lincoln ordered another million soldiers to be raised for a 3 year term. He also replaced Mc Dowell with George McClellan.

• McClellan Trained his troops well, but was slow moving and very cautious in using his troops. His campaign toward Richmond was botched, allowed the Confederacy to send soldiers toward Washington D.C. forcing Lincoln to recall 30,000 soldiers to protect the capital. And a 7 day engagement ended with Lincoln recalling the army of the Potomac .

The North is losing more battles than it is winning and this puts England & France that much closer to recognizing (and Aiding) the Confederacy. In the West, In Shiloh Ulysses S. Grant is Surprised by a confederate attack and is able to repel them with a significant loss of men. After Shiloh, U.S. Grant, William Sherman, and Phillip Sheridan adopt the Strategy of Total Warfare. Taking the war not just to the enemy in uniform but also to the civilian supporting him.

• In September of 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee determines to change tactics from a defensive war to an aggressive offensive. Attempting to Humiliate the North and taking an aim at Washington D. C. , Lee Invades Maryland and is met by George McClellan at Antietam (Sharpsburg is the name the South gives it) a fierce 1 day battle that claims approximately 21,000 lives (combined Confederate and Union… America’s History text way understates this as 7800, but several other sources place it closer to 21,000) the most Men killed in any one day battle in history (including D-Day 1943). One of Lee’s officers leaves the battle plans behind with three cigars rolled up inside, and a Union soldier finds them, giving McClellan an advantage, even though he loses as many men as Lee. McClellan struck by the dead count, allows Lee to escape. The war drags on because of McClellan’s reluctance to finish Lee off. Lincoln Fires McClellan even though he claims that Antietam is a great victory for the North(to rally support for the war effort and to give him the opportunity to make a proclamation.

The Emancipation Proclamation• Aware that Britain and France may Recognize the Confederacy,

Lincoln wants to turn this war over secession into a war over slavery, (knowing that the France & British citizens would object to aiding the Slavery cause) but If he announces the freeing of the slaves when the north is losing it will look as an act of desperation. He had to be careful not to push the border states into rebellion by freeing their slaves. The Battle of Antietam is the victory that Lincoln needed.

Days after the battle Lincoln makes the Emancipation Proclamation, which states that any State Still in rebellion in January 1 of 1863, will lose the rights to slavery, (this excludes Border states not in rebellion, or any state that returns to the Union before January 1863). Of course this has no real effect on slaves immediately because If a state is still in rebellion, the Union has no control over their slaves. But this does have the effect of turning the war into a war over slavery. As the War went on Troops would free slaves as they took a territory. Some of the Slaves followed the troops for safety and support, and would help out with manual labor. Because of the question of legality concerning Lincoln’s authority to free the slaves, the slaves were often referred to as “Contraband” – illegal or stolen goods.

• Lincoln first replaces McClellan with Ambrose Burnsides, Who loses dramatically at the battle of Fredericksburg, Burnside resigns and He is replaced by George Hooker. Generals in the East are failing to match their confederate opponents, but In the West Grant Sherman and Sheridan are much more successful .

• As the war progressed the South was forced to impose a draft. There were exemptions for the draft, if you were wealthy enough to have twenty Slaves for every draft eligible white man in your family, no one had to serve. You could also buy a substitute… the going rate was $300.00 , too much for a yeoman farmer to afford. But the Confederacy was designed for States rights protections and some State governors ignored the draft and some judges issued Writs of Habeas Corpus which freed protesting Draftees. The North also invoked the Draft, and like the South, wealthy people could hire a substitute to take their place in the military, (as future President Grover Cleveland did). there was an effort to resist the draft, primarily by immigrants and poor whites who did not want to fight a war to free the slave. The New York Draft Riots July 1863 resulted in the burning of draft offices attacks on Republicans and Lynching of Free Blacks.

The Union initially resisted recruiting African Americans because most Generals doubted that they would make good soldiers, but in 1863, began to allow Blacks to Join the Military. Although most of the blacks were used for building latrines and digging trenches, a few all black troops were distinguished in battle. The army paid Black soldiers $6.00 less per month (when $6.00 was a lot of money) than White soldiers until mid 1864 and routinely refused to commission them as officers.

• The North had all of these advantages during the War:• Factories in the north accounted for nearly 90 percent of the

nation’s industrial output including mass production of rifles and canons . the Union had 2/3s of the nation’s railroad mileage, and 2/3s

• The Confederates had substantial production in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

• Slaves could continue production of food & cotton for export.

Most of the war was fought in the South which gave them the home court advantage. The South had the top trained West Point Generals and More Southerners had experience with hunting which gave them an advantage at the beginning of the war. The South was able to get loans and weapons from the British who had an interest in the success of their cotton producing source.

• Lincoln tested the bounds of the Constitution during the war. To prevent sabotage and resistance to the war the Writ of Habeas corpus was suspended, Freedom of the press , speech and assembly were limited. People who encouraged draft resistance were jailed without trial, or subjecting them to military courts rather than civilian courts.

• In 1861, Well connected New Yorkers began the U.S. Sanitary Commission. This was a voluntary organization Endorsed by Abraham Lincoln. Its objective was to provide medical treatment, prevent the spread of disease and recruit Doctors and Nurses. Women became important resources during the war. Primarily as nurses , But Dorothea Dix was the first person to receive a federal job. And Clara Barton was a part of the trend to use women as nurses. She would go on to found the Red Cross. During the War 250,000 men were killed by diseases and infection… Twice the number killed in battle. Although Women worked as nurses in the South They were not as well organized and more men died in the South as a result. In general Women were also employed as cooks, military & Civilian bureaucratic staffing, clerical, postal positions, writing letters for soldiers, rolling bandages, & sewing uniforms.

• During the Civil War, Lincoln made use of his rivals in his cabinet. Salmon P. Chase was one of his unrelenting rivals, but Lincoln adroitly appointed him his secretary of the Treasury and was able to masterfully deal with his ego. Chase created a National banking system which helped to finance the war, and he issued bonds which allowed the government to fight the war with a balance of bond issues, taxes and a responsible issuance of paper money. Chase not only financed the war but established the financial foundations for a modern industrialized nation. Unfortunately the South, being states rights advocates would never allow for a National banking system, and to finance the war they printed worthless paper money, which they found more difficult to pass as the war continued on.

• Lee determine to make another invasion into the North in order to divert Union forces from the West and relieve pressure on the Mississippi Valley, to Capture Washington or some other big Northern City to embarrass and break the Union’s will to fight Lee Invaded the North. At the Battle of Gettysburg July 1863,. On the first two days of the battle Lee’s men were holding up well but could not make a decisive victory.

On the 3rd day (July 4th) Lee Sent General George Pickett’s men up Cemetery ridge, where the Union soldiers were entrenched. It was a massive mistake. The Total killed in the 3 day battle at Gettysburg was about 53,000, the deadliest of the war ( a 3 day battle as opposed to Antietam’s 1 day battle). General Meade was So Devastated that he let Lee’s men escape, but this was one of the two battles that are called the turning point in the war.

• At the Same time Lee was losing at Gettysburg , Grant was victorious at Vicksburg and succeeded in dividing the South and taking control of the Mississippi River. Gettysburg & Vicksburg helped win political victories for the Republicans in Pennsylvania, Ohio, & New York . Lincoln found his leader in Grant, and made him Commander of the army of the Potomac. Grant Changed Union Strategy by advancing on all Confederate armies Simultaneously, even at the cost of large numbers of casualties.

• Before Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Britain had been manufacturing and supplying Armed Cruisers - Blockade runner ships to the Confederacy… One of these Ships, the Alabama had sunk or captured more than 100 Union Merchant ships and the British were about to deliver two more ironclad cruisers when the News of Gettysburg and Vicksburg signaled the impending defeat of the South. There was a risk that The Union might take aim at Canadian Merchant Ships and the victories demonstrated Union military strength. Because of this, Foreign Minister Charles Francis Adams persuaded the British to stop the delivery of these ships.

• William T. Sherman and Sheridan vigorously pursued a strategy of Total Warfare in 1864 , Sheridan in Shenandoah Valley, when his men Raided and burned farms , grain stores and mills to starve the South into submission. As Sherman and his men marched to Atlanta His men lived off the land so they did not have to rely upon slow moving supply wagons. Upon approaching farms and plantations, they took what they could carry to eat and destroyed the rest to demoralize the Confederacy. This strategy had an effect on the Confederate soldier, who in many cases hearing that Sherman was heading toward his farm would go AWOL to save what he could of his property. In addition Sherman’s campaign produced rising class resentment among poor White Southerners who blamed wealthy Slave owners for bringing this disaster upon them.

• The Republican Party, now pretty much in control of Congress and the White house during the War years were finally able to implement the American System of economic development championed by the Whig party. The Creation of the National Bank, development of Roads and Railroads, (including the Transcontinental Railroad) , increasing Protective tariffs, and the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, which gave 160 acres of land to anyone who developed and lived on the land for 5 or more years, for a small registration fee.

It is Sherman’s Victory in Atlanta and Grant’s

Victory in taking Richmond, that changed public opinion radically for the President who

won reelection by a large margin, partly aided by his allowing his soldiers

time off to vote.

• Sherman began, In July of 1864, the siege of Atlanta, and after several vicious battles, Sherman was able to take the City in September. The City was set afire (not clear if it was done by Sherman or the Confederates who did not want to turn the city over to the Union). Following his Atlanta Victory, Sherman began his “March to the Sea” in which he burned and pillaged the farms and plantations, destroying what was left of the Southern will to fight.

• Lincoln was Concerned that the Legality of the Emancipation Proclamation. A wartime act that might be unconstitutional in peace time. So he was determined to Pass the 13th Constitutional Amendment ending Slavery while there were still enough democrats in congress to stop it, but before the war ended and stopped momentum of the move toward ending slavery.

The 13th Amendment passed Congress before Lincoln was assassinated

• Robert E. Lee Finally Surrenders to Grant on April 9th 1865, at McLean’s house In Appomattox Courthouse Virginia. Lee Requests that his men be allowed to keep their rifles and Horses so they may be able to hunt for food and plow their farms. Grant agrees. The war is over.

The CSS ALABAMA

• The Monitor & The Merrack (Virginia)

Chapter 14 end