The Civil War

An Interactive Slide Show

Bombardment of Ft. Sumter, Charleston Harbor

Ft. Sumter

2/1861: 7 states have seceded. Jefferson Davis has been elected president of the CSA.

3/1861: Lincoln is inaugurated. Only 2 southern forts remain under Union control, including Ft. Sumter.

4/6/1861: Lincoln informed South Carolina officials that he intended to resupply Ft. Sumter.

4/12/1861: Confederate forces open fire on the fort before the supplies can arrive. After 33 hours, the Union commander of the fort surrendered on April 14.

Lincoln issues a call for troops to put down the rebellion of the Confederate states. Volunteers head towards Washington, D.C.

Ft. Sumter Activity

Answer the following from the point of view of the individuals in the picture:

What are you doing? Why are you attacking that fort?

What dangers do you face? Have you ever experienced war? What do you expect will happen?

Do you expect to win this battle? To win the entire war? Why?

Why are you fighting your fellow countrymen? How does that make you feel?

Map of the United States, 1861

Map of the United States, 1861

Arkansas, Tennessee, N. Carolina, and Virginia secede after Ft. Sumter. Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri remained in the Union.

To silence secessionists in Maryland, Lincoln suspended Habeus Corpus, arresting and jailing them without a trial.

Choosing sides was especially difficult for Southern military officers, such as Robert E. Lee. “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.”

Map of the United States, 1861

Northern advantages: larger population, controlled 75% of nation’s wealth, 81% of factories, 67% of farms, 66% of rail lines.

Southern advantages: strong support for the war, fighting in familiar territory, superior military leadership

Northern strategy: blockade the southern coast, gain control of the Mississippi River, capture Richmond, the CSA capital.

Southern strategy: defend homeland, hold onto as much territory as possible until the Union gets sick of fighting.

Gloom in the North

Caption:

“Shall it come to that?”

Left: Lincoln

Right (in stroller):

General McClellan

Gloom in the North

July, 1861: Union loses the first major battle of the war, The Battle of Bull Run/Manassas. Lincoln hires George McClellan to head the Army of the Potomac (Union army in East).

June, 1862: McClellan’s troops are forced to retreat after an unsuccessful attempt to take Richmond.

September, 1862: Davis orders Lee to take the offensive, and move into Maryland. Union soldiers discover Lee’s battle orders and are ready. The Battle of Antietam is the bloodiest single day of the war.

Lee retreats, and McClellan is ordered to follow him and “destroy the rebel army.” When he refuses, he is replaced by Ambrose Burnside.

Gloom in the North, Activity

Study the picture to the right. Lincoln is on the left, and McClellan is on the right. They are in McClellan’s tent at Antietam.

Imagine that the battle has just ended. What are they saying to each other?

The Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation.

His left hand rests on a Bible, that is on top of a copy of the Constitution

What do you notice? How would you analyze the symbols in this image?

The Emancipation Proclamation

After the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln declared that on Jan. 1, 1863, he would sign a proclamation freeing all slaves in rebel territory. He says of his decision, “The time came when I felt that slavery must die that the nation might live.”

Though the proclamation freed no one (Lincoln had no power to emancipate the slaves of the CSA), it changed everything. The war became a crusade for freedom. After signing the document, Lincoln said, “If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.”

African Americans in the War

African Americans in the War

In 1863, Lincoln ordered Union recruiters to accept African American soldiers. 215,000 black troops join the Army and Navy, more than half of whom were fugitive slaves.

The most famous of the black units was the 54th Massachusetts regiment, under the command of Robert Gould Shaw (subject of the movie, Glory: see clip).

Over half of the regiment was wounded, captured or killed at an attack on Ft. Wagner near Charleston, SC. Their bravery won respect for African American troops.

African Americans in the War

Answer the following from the point of view of the individuals in the picture:

What are you doing here? Are you from the North or the South?

Why have you chosen to fight for the Union? What do you expect will happen to you when you reach the South?

What are your goals in this war? What problems do you face as a soldier? Are

you willing to fight despite discrimination?

Women in the War:What do you see them doing?

Women in the War

Women took on new responsibilities while the men were away at war: they became teachers, office workers, sales clerks, and government workers. They worked in factories and on farms.

To help the soldiers, they made bandages, blankets, and ammunition. They collected food, clothing, medicine and money.

Many women worked as nurses, including Dorthea Dix, Clara Barton, and Sally Tompkins. Others worked as spies, including Harriet Tubman, Rose Greenhow, and Loretta Velazquez.

In the North, life remained much the same. In the South however, where most of the fighting took place, goods were scarce, and crops, homes, and whole cities were destroyed.

Gettysburg, the Turning Point

Gettysburg, The Turning Point

In June, 1863, Lee began moving North. The new Union commander, General Meade, was told to protect Washington and Baltimore from attack.

The two armies met on July 1 near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Union took the high ground (day one).

On day two, Lee sought to take the hills on either side of the Union line (the “round tops”). The Confederate Army took Big Round Top, and then headed towards Little Round Top.

Little Round Top was protected by the 20th Maine Regiment, headed by Joshua Chamberlain. The Confederate soldiers were held back 5 times. Out of ammunition, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge. They hold the hill. See clip from “Gettysburg.”

Gettysburg, The Turning Point

On the third day of battle, Lee ordered General George Pickett to lead a charge into the center of the Union line. They are ordered to march without shooting until they reach the Union line.

Pickett’s Charge was a huge failure. Lee’s army would never again reach so far into Northern territory. Pickett says of Lee “That old man had my division slaughtered.”

1/3 of the 51,000 soldiers at Gettysburg were lost. There were 23,000 Union casualties and 28,000 Confederate casualties.

Gettysburg, the Turning Point: Activity

On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln delivered a short speech to dedicate a national cemetery on the Gettysburg battlefield.

Read the Gettysburg Address on page 618 of your book.

In what ways could this speech have boosted morale in the North?

Sherman’s March

What do you see?

What emotions are conveyed by this painting?

Sherman’s March

Total War: War on all aspects of the enemy’s life. While Union commander Ulysses S. Grant was camped outside

of Richmond at Petersburg, William T. Sherman was given the task to wage total war on the South.

He started by taking Atlanta in the summer of 1864. After burning the city to the ground, he and his 62,000 men marched towards the seaport of Savannah.

The Army was to live off the land and burn anything that was useful to the Confederacy. The men tore up railroad tracks, burned fields and stole food. They were ordered to leave the homes alone, but this order wasn’t enforced.

Sherman’s march resulted in $100 million worth of damage over 425 miles of territory. After reaching Savannah, Sherman headed North to meet up with Grant, traveling through the Carolinas.

Viewing without Context

Andersonville Prison Camp

Appomattox Courthouse

The Home of Wilmer McLean

Listen to his story…

Appomattox Courthouse

April 7, 1865: Grant writes to Lee, asking him to surrender.

April 8, 1865: Lee meets with his officers. His army is surrounded at Appomattox 5 to 1.

April 9, 1865: Lee sends a letter of surrender under a white flag to Grant.

Terms of Surrender: Confederate officers can keep their side arms, and horses. Grant gave Lee 25,000 rations for the starving Confederate troops.

On May 10, Jefferson Davis was captured by Union forces. The War was over.

Lincoln: Before and After.What are the differences between these two photos?

Lincoln: Before and After

On March 4, 1865, Lincoln was sworn in as president for the second time. After his inaugural address, he said “I am a tired man. Sometimes I think I am the tiredest man on earth.”

Lincoln had dealt with a lot in his first term as president: running the government, and the war; going through six different Union commanders; public criticism for the war; death threats from secessionists; the death of his son, Willie, in 1862; his wife’s mental illness.

On April 14, 5 days after Lee’s surrender, Lincoln and his wife went to Ford’s Theater in D.C. to see the play “Our American Cousin.” He was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth, a Southern sympathizer, and died the next morning. Booth was trapped and shot on April 26.

Lincoln: Before and After

How do you think Lincoln would have responded to the following questions:

Mr. President, did you dream come true? What should happen to your assassin? Why? You lived to see the end of the war, but you have

not seen the Union reunited. How do you feel about that?

If you could have lived out your term in office, how would you have treated the South?

If you had three wishes, what would they be?