The American Civil War
Causes of the Civil War
• The Causes of the war were many, but included the following:
1. The Compromise of 1850
2. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
3. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
4. Formation of the Republican Party (1856)
5. “Bleeding Kansas” (1856)
6. __________ v. Sanford (1857)
7. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)
8. Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry (1859)
North v. SouthAbraham Lincoln President Jefferson Davis
Ulysses Grant, William T. Sherman
General(s) Robert E. Lee
Washington D.C. _________ Richmond, VA
23 states – 22 million Population 11 states – 9 million
Established Government
Abraham LincolnLarge PopulationManufacturing
75% more railroadsWealth
Advantages Reason for FightingDefensive WarBetter military
leadersMilitary traditionCould trade cotton
on world market
Difficult military leadership
Weak motivationFar from home
Long coastline to blockade
Disadvantages Jefferson DavisInflation
States’ RightsInferior men, money,
machines
The Early Years of the War1861-1862
• The war was initially fought both in the East (mainly Virginia) and in the West (Tennessee).
• The Union plan, called the _______________ by critics, proposed to:– Capture Richmond
– Blockade the Atlantic Coast
– Gain control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two.
• Most victories early in the war went to the _______________
• Lincoln had begun a search for a general that would last him two long, bloody years.
Fort SumterApril 12-14, 1861
Charleston, South Carolina
• Lincoln ordered reinforcements of the Fort, and the Confederates attacked
• First firing of the Civil War—South fires on _______ property!!
• No one was killed by the firing, but Lincoln’s call for volunteers convinced the last four Confederate states to __________
First Bull RunManassas, Virginia
July 21, 1861
• Both sides predicted victory within 90 days, and this first battle was met with a carnival spirit.
• Confused and defeated, the Union retreat turned to chaos as the army passed the civilians who had brought picnics out from Washington to “watch the war”.
• Both sides realized that this war would not be short, but long and bloody.
Engaged 35,000Casualties 2,890
Engaged 29,000
Casualties 1,982
ShilohShiloh, Tennessee
April 6-7, 1862
• ___________ surprise attack- attempt to control the West
• ______ recovered and barely won – led by Sherman and Grant
Engaged 62,000Casualties 13,000
Engaged 44,000 Casualties 11,000
AntietamSharpsburg, MarylandSeptember 17, 1862
Lee’s 1st invasion of the North
o Lee hoped to win __________ support (and supplies) for the South and win European support
o Lincoln needed a Northern victory to issue an ___________________________
o The North knew Lee’s plans but Lee was able to rebound quickly
o The battle was a draw, but Lee retreated South of the Potomac
*Bloodiest Day in American History*
AntietamEngaged 85,000Casualties 12,410
Engaged 45,000
Casualties 11,172
Results of Battle:•South’s hopes of ___________ were dashed
•Lincoln issued preliminary _________________________
This photo of the battle of ________ was one of the first battle photos ever taken.
Dunker ChurchIronically, the Dunkers were a pacifist sect. In four hours of
fighting around this church, 13,000 men fell.
Burnside BridgeGeneral Burnside forced his men to cross this narrow bridge even though
the surrounding water was shallow enough to ford.
Confederate dead at Antietam
FredericksburgFredericksburg, Virginia
December 13, 1862
• This Union loss halted the march on ___________
• Union losses were heavy as they marched across an open field; many wounded froze to death overnight
Engaged 120,000Casualties 12,630
Engaged 79,000
Casualties 5,300
Wounded soldiers at Fredericksburg
Confederate dead at Fredericksburg
These Confederate dead are waiting to be buried
Chancellorsvillenear Fredericksburg, Virginia
May 1-5, 1863
• Lee again repulsed a march on Richmond
• Perhaps Lee’s greatest _______, the Rebels suffered the loss of Stonewall Jackson to friendly fire
• The poor morale of the Union troops convinced Lee to again invade the North
Engaged 130,000Casualties 17,000
Engaged 60,000
Casualties 13,000
GettysburgGettysburg, Pennsylvania
July 1-3, 1863
• _________ ______ __ ___ ______________
• Lee had several goals:– Draw the Union army
out of Virginia– Fuel anti-war feeling in
the North– Feeding and supplying
his troops– Last-ditch effort to win
foreign aid
• The first two days fought to a draw, Lee made a bold attempt to win– _________ ______, sending thousands marching over a mile across an open field and in which more the 50% of the Rebels died
• Lee was never able to recover from this loss of men- Gettysburg is the bloodiest battle of the war, the worst ever fought on American soil.
Engaged 95,000Casualties 23,000
Engaged 80,000
Casualties 28,000
Gettysburg
Confederate Dead at Devil’s DenThe hand-to-hand fighting was fierce – one in every
three men in the 4th Maine was killed
Union dead July 1st and 2nd
Gettysburg Address
This crowd at the dedication of the __________ ________ in November, 1863 hears Lincoln utter, in less than three minutes, one of the greatest political speeches in American history.
VicksburgVicksburg, MississippiMay 19 – July 4, 1863
• Major Union _______ after a long siege:
• Gave _____ control of the Mississippi and cut the Confederacy in half
• Brought U.S. _____ into the spotlight
Engaged 75,000Casualties 9,362
Engaged 30,000
Casualties 1,000
Captured 29,000
The Wildernesswest of Fredericksburg, Virginia
May 5-6, 1864
• Grant, marching on Richmond, engaged in a war of _________ that Lee could not afford
• The dense wood made for low visibility and fighting at close range
• The firing ignited a forest fire from which many wounded were unable to escape
Engaged 119,000Casualties 18,000
Engaged 62,000
Casualties 10,800
The Wilderness
Sherman’s March to the SeaAtlanta to Savannah, Georgia
July to December, 1864
• Sherman wanted to break the South’s ___ __ _______
• Sherman cut his army from supply lines and lived off ___ _____
• The army cut a sixty-mile wide path of destruction, virtually destroying the state
All of these incidents stemmed from the same root question:
Who is more important, the states or the Federal government?
Appomattox Court HouseApril 9, 1865
Appomattox Court House, Virginia
• Lee surrendered his starving troops to Grant• Grant gave Lee and his men generous terms• The Union soldiers, cheering the end of the war,
were stopped by Grant to show respect to the Confederates
The Human Cost of the War
Dead WoundedTotal
North 364,511 288,881 646,392
South 260,000 194,000 454,000
Total 624,511 475,881 1,100,392
The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. Their losses, by the best estimates:
Battle deaths: 110,070
Disease, etc.: 250,152
Total 360,222
The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000. Its estimated losses:
Battle deaths: 94,000
Disease, etc.: 164,000
Total 258,000
Confederate losses by states, in dead and wounded only, and with many records missing (especially those of Alabama):
North Carolina 20,602
Virginia 6,947
Mississippi 6,807
South Carolina 4,760
Arkansas 3,782
Georgia 3,702
Tennessee 3,425
Louisiana 3,059
Texas 1,260
Florida 1,047
Alabama 724
(Statisticians recognize these as fragmentary, from a report of 1866; they serve as a rough guide to relative losses by states).
In addition to its dead and wounded from battle and disease, the Union listed:
Deaths in Prison 24,866
Drowning 4,944
Accidental deaths 4,144
Murdered 520
Suicides 391
Sunstroke 313
Military executions 267Killed after capture
104
Executed by enemy 64
Unclassified 14,155
The Economic Cost of the War
• In dollars and cents, the U.S. government estimated Jan. 1863 that the war was costing $2.5 million daily. A final official estimate in 1879 totaled $6,190,000,000. The Confederacy spent perhaps $2,099,808,707. By 1906 another $3.3 billion already had been spent by the U.S. government on Northerners' pensions and other veterans' benefits for former Federal soldiers
The Faces of the Civil War
Abraham LincolnOur __th President, Lincoln was a self-made man. Lincoln was an ambitious, prosperous lawyer from Illinois who led the Union while maintaining the belief that the American experiment of democracy
was sacred and must be preserved. Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, and died the following day.
Robert E. Lee
Lee did not approve of secession or of slavery, but he could not fight against his native Virginia. After the war he encouraged his fellow Southerners to accept their defeat and rejoin the Union. He died in 1870.