THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865

BASIC FACTSUnited States of America=Union, aka The North; President is LincolnConfederate States of America= Confederacy, aka The South; President is Jefferson Davis

1860Lincoln is elected PresidentBy February 1861, 7 states leave the Union

The War BeginsApril 1861Lincoln tries to resupply Union troops at Fort Sumter in the harbor at Charleston, SCConfederates bomb the fortFOUR more states leave the UnionThe bombardment of Fort Sumter

4 slave states stayed with the Union1 new state got created (West Virginia)

Northern AdvantagesPopulation: 22 million vs. Souths 9 million

Economic advantage: 85% of U.S. industry Railroads: 20,000 miles of track vs. 9000 miles

Control of U.S. Navy: used the Anaconda Plan to blockade the South

Southern Advantages

defensive war

excellent military leadership

Robert E. LeeServed in the Mexican War.Lincoln asked him to lead the Union Army but he said no.Opposed secession and slavery but said he could not fight against his home state of Virginia. Commander of the Confederate Army

Battle of Bull Run / ManassasThe first major battle of the Civil War, July 1861

BULL RUN

Confederate victory

North was shamed; realized the fight would be long

South got overconfident

Fighting ConditionsLack of supplies Disease, malnutrition and infection took the lives of over 65% of the soldiersA Union doctor gets ready to amputate a soldiers leg. Amputations were a very common procedure during the war.

FIVE OBJECTIVES OF UNION STRATEGYBlockade the coastLiberate slaves/undermine economy of the SouthCut Confederacy in half by seizing Mississippi RiverChop the Confederacy to pieces by sending troops through Georgia and the CarolinasCapture Richmond, the Confederate capital

Merrimack (Virginia) vs. Monitor

Battle of the first ironclad ships

Antietam, MDSeptember 1862

AntietamConfederate soldier dropped battle plans wrapped around a cigar pack

Union victory and turning point in the war

Hopes of European aid for the South dim

Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation ProclamationEffective January 1, 1863

Freed slaves in areas rebelling against the Union (NOT those in border states)

Mixed reactions

Chancellorsville, VAMay 1863The Confederacy wins with a surprise attack from behind Union forces But Stonewall Jackson was mistakenly shot late in the day by his own men and died days later.

Jackson is buried in Lexington, KY, but his arm is buried 100 miles away where it was amputated.

GettysburgJuly 1-3, 1863

GettysburgLee tries to invade the North Lees army was short on supplies, and the North is where they would be able to raid towns for food, clothes and other necessities.He hopes that Northern public support would drop and bring about an end to the War.

75,000 Confederates in Pennsylvania!The first shots are fired by Illinois Cavalry when a Southern raiding party was discovered coming into Gettysburg looking for shoes.This was the only major battle fought in the North

Sample battle maps

Day 2: Little Round Top

Little Round Top after the Battle

Cemetery Ridge

The weapons were more advanced than the tactics

Day 3: Picketts ChargeOn the 3rd day of the battle, Lee orders 15,000 men under Gen. George Pickett to assault the center of the Union line. They must cross a half mile of open ground to get there.

Casualties after 3 days at Gettysburg Union: 23,000; Confederacy: 28,000. Gettysburg permanently turned the tide of the war for the North. From that point on Lees army was hurting.

Matthew Bradys photos of Civil War battlefields presented the horrors of the war to the public in a way they had never seen before.

Gettysburg Address: 272 words that provide hope for liberty worldwide

Meanwhile.Out West

Battle of Shiloh, TNApril 1862

Shiloh was a particularly gory northern victory.

Casualties from the entire Revolutionary War: 4,500Casualties from two days at the Battle of Shiloh: 23,500

Battle of New Orleans, spring 1862Farragut commands the troops

Battle of Vicksburg, 1863

Goals: control of the Mississippi River and cutting off Confederate supply routes

Vicksburg factsSiege ended July 4, 1863Confederate garrison was so hungry that men were eating rats and mules to survive Union victory came one day after the victory at Gettysburg and ended any hope that the Confederacy had of getting foreign aid from England or France

Ulysses S. GrantGrants victory at Vicksburg gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.Grant was an aggressive military leader and always wanted to push his army forward.The Norths most effective general.

Atlanta and Shermans March to the Sea

Facts about the March to the SeaShermans men captured Atlanta in September 1864 and burned the cityThey then cut a 60-mile-wide path of destruction during their 250 mile journey southeast to SavannahSoldiers burned buildings, tore up railroad tracks and shaped them into pretzels, and ran off with souvenirs after looting towns

William Tecumseh Sherman

Ruins in Charleston, SC

As the Union reached Victory. . .Grant fought a war of attrition and pressed on until the South ran out of men, supplies and the will to fightThe Wilderness Campaign (Grant vs. Lee) led to high numbers of casualties and brutal guerilla warfare as the Union tried to capture Richmond, Virginia

Appomattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865

Lee Surrenders at AppomattoxLee meets with Grant to sign terms of surrender in Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia

Lee thought Grants terms were generous.The Confederate Army had to turn over its arms and provide lists of its men.After that, all Confederate soldiers could go home.Officers could keep their side-arms, horses and baggage.40 hours after Jefferson Davis fled Richmond, Lincoln sat in his office and walked the streets of the former Confederate capital.

Casualties of war

Casualty rates for many Civil War battles were at 50%. Nowadays a 10% casualty rate is considered a bloodbath

Some regiments that began with around 1,500 men would be reduced to less than 300 in a year.

Toll the war took on the countryOver 600,000 people died, which is more than the total deaths in all other US wars from 1776-1991$15 billion in losses

Southern economy paralyzed

Ended ideas about secession and nullification

Ended slavery in the US

Despite the destruction, the war served as inspiration for the champions of democracy in the US and around the world.though the road to equality would be difficult for African-Americans