Civil war

• Military agenda (Union)

  Wanted a quick victory, conquer the South with Anaconda Plan - surround them and cut their defenses in two
• Military agenda (Confederacy)

  Wanted a quick victory, keep out attacking armies and avoid surrender, take Washington D.C. because it's the capital
• Union Advantages

  • Large population
  • Large industrial base - firearms, ships, trains
• Confederacy Advantages

  • Spirit and determination to defend slavery and way of life
  • Home-field advantage
• Jefferson Davis

  President of Confederacy, ineffective and not inspirational, fought with congress
• Confederate Constitution

  State sovereignty
• Abraham Lincoln

  Honest Abe, wasn't a cultured man, fully recolonized government, able and inspirational, fewer experienced than Davis but better to interpret and lead public opinion
• War Machines South Vs. North

  • South - lack of infrastructure made it difficult to supply troops
  • North - needed to convert industrial resources into war readiness
• Financing War North

  • Tax, income tax, Morrill Tax, Greenbacks, Borrowing, Homestead Act, Morrill Land Grant, National Banking Act
• Financing War South

  • Printed Money - more than $1 billion in notes printed, inflation crushed the Confederate economy
• The Emancipation Proclamation

  Proclamation issued by Lincoln, freeing all slaves in areas still at war with the Union, issued after battle at Antietam, reasons - south depended on slavery for war needs, wants to keep England from recognizing Confederacy
• Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation

  • Enlarged purpose of war
  • Did not apply to border states
  • No immediate effect on enslaved people - still under southern control
  • Blacks were able to serve in Union army
• Reactions to the Proclamation

  • Enslaved people fled the south
  • Southern furious - made compromise impossible
  • North - saw the Proclamation as a way to just antagonize the South and Union soldiers barely accepted - did not support equality but if it's what it takes to unify the nation
  • Europe - backed away from supporting south because they didn't want to support slavery
• Disease - poor sanitation and lack of antiseptic diseases that killed more than battle wounds, doctors were not prepared or trained properly
• New Weapons

  • Repeating rifles and minie ball
  • Ironclads - warships covered with iron plates
• Prisoner of War Camps

  • North - Elmira NY - lack of shelter, bad water, starvation
  • South - Andersonville Georgia - sickness, starvation, cruelty
• Improvements in Medicine - Embalming, sanitation commission, ambulances, field hospitals
• First Battle of Bull Run


  Union Army were untrained volunteers, Confederate Victory, Physiological victory for the South - showed it wasn't going to be a short war, Union buckles down and prepares better
• Battle of Antietam


  South took a chance to get Britain's alliance, Result - stalemate but Union sees it as a victory, Lincoln sees this "victory" and issues the Emancipation Proclamation
• Chancellorsville


  Lee's Confederacy is outnumbered 2 to 1, Wins battle but loses Stonewall Jackson and many of his top officials, Lee is never able to replace his officers or to find another man like Jackson
• Gettysburg


  Largest and more important battle, South tries to invade PA - Lee still wanted to cut off D.C. from the rest of the Union - led by Pickett's charge, Union wins - but didn't chase after Confederacy, Last time the south tries to invade the North, Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address - this prevents south from invading
• Vicksburg


  Grant cut off Vicksburg's supply line and went on a siege (total war), Unions wins, split the Confederacy in two and gave the North control of the Mississippi River, major step to Union Victory
• Sherman's march to the sea

  General Sherman placed Atlanta under siege - crippled Confederacy's will to make war, Sherman kept going and burned Atlanta to the ground and marched to Atlantic coast, Union wins, Sherman's march caused more resentment towards the north
• Appomattox Court House


  April 9, 1865 Lee surrendered at Appomattox court House, Grant allowed Lee's men to return home, Lee allowed Confederate troops to go home with no consequences
• Election


  There had never been a war-time election, Lincoln thought there needed to be an election - RP tried to tell him not to, Democrats were heavily favored to, people were tired of the war, Lincoln thought he'd lose, Lincoln is re-elected
• Democrats


  • George McClellan, They accused Lincoln of expanding executive powers and criticized his economic policies, Democrats were split on peace and war
• Republicans


  • Change the name to Union Party - pro-war Democrats who weren't sure could support Lincoln, Lincoln for President Andrew Johnson for VP - only southern senator to remain in Congress
• Disunity in the South - Confederate soldiers started to give up and go back to work on their farms, Jefferson Davis tried to bribe slaves with their freedom to fight
• Lincoln's Assassination


  Shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., April 14, 1865
• Why the North won


  • Major - Union army could withstand high casualties of war and had a superior network of railroad, telegraph lines, and factory system, Naval strategy, and south and bad transportation, lack of food, and poor government leadership
• Union States


  • 23
• Confederacy states


  • 11