North vs. South

The North (Union)

Strengths• 21.5 million people.• 97% of the firearms.• 87% of the banks.• 84% of the manufacturing.• Good transportation

network.• Strong President

Weaknesses• Weak military leadership.• Unfamiliar with land,

unfriendly civilian population.

The South (Confederacy)

Strengths

• Knew the land, fighting for their homes.

• Supportive civilian population.

• Strong military leadership.

Weaknesses

• 9.1 million people, 3.5 million were slaves.

• Little manufacturing, bad transportation network.

New Technology

• New bullets, helped with range and accuracy.• Machine guns (Gatling gun - used rarely)• Weapon technology had moved ahead of

tactics and medicine.– Led to horrific injuries.– Over 700,000 now believed to have been killed.

Fort Sumter – War Begins

• Lincoln’s Dilemma– Does he start the war or evacuate?

• First Shots– Fired by the Confederacy on April 12, 1861.– North surrenders the fort.– Lincoln calls for troops, Virginia secedes.• Why is Virginia an important state?

Strategy

• How would the American Revolution influence the South?

• The South’s plan.– Outlast the North, defensive strategy.

• The North’s Anaconda Plan.– 1. Blockade ports.– 2. Split the South along the Mississippi River.– 3. Take the capital Richmond.

Conscription – the Draft

• Both sides need soldiers – most that fight are volunteers.

• South – 18 – 35 years old, later 17 – 50– 90% of eligible aged men serve

• North – 20 – 25 years old– $300 dollars to get out of service.– 92% of those that fight for the North are

volunteers

Bull Run – Manassas, VAJuly 21, 1861

• Both armies are inexperienced.• Union starts off strong but in the end the

Confederacy wins.• Thomas Jackson gets the name

“Stonewall”• Gives hope to the Confederacy.

Monitor vs. Merrimack• First battle of iron clad ships.

The War for Richmond

• McClellan tries to capture Richmond.

• Enter Robert E. Lee– Lee keeps McClellan

from taking Richmond.

AntietamSeptember 17, 1862

• Deadliest day in American history.• McClellan finds Lee’s plans.• Attacks Lee in Maryland.• Did not pursue the badly hurt

Confederate army.• Lincoln is outraged, fires

McClellan a month later.

Politics of War

• What effect would Britain recognizing the Confederacy as a nation have on the war?– This would recognize the Confederacy as an actual

nation.

• Trent Affair– US takes Confederate diplomats headed to

England hostage.– Upsets the British.

Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln’s Views – main goal is to save the Union

• January 1, 1863 – Frees slaves in states that are controlled by the Confederacy.

• How would the war be fought now? What is at stake? Would other nations without slavery now help the Confederacy?

Frees slaves in the red area on the map.

Political Dissent

• Lincoln ends habeas corpus, the right to a fair trial.

• Copperheads – Northern Democrats that are critical of Lincoln.

The North Takes Charge

After Gettysburg the North is in control of the war.

Gettysburg – A Turning Point

• Lee invades the North after losing Stonewall Jackson– He was shot by his own

men at Chancellorsville, VA.

– A military loss at Gettysburg would hurt the South’s chances to win the war.

Lee’s Plan

• His main goal is shift the balance of power in the Union to the pro-Southern Democrats in the upcoming elections.

• If Lincoln loses his re-election the war could come to a fast political end.

Gettysburg, PA

• Three days of fighting – July 1-3, 1863• 90K Union Soldiers and 75K Confederates.• During the 2nd day of fighting the Union

forces hold their ground.

The Third Day

• Lee attacks the Union line again.

• Pickett’s Charge – South’s attack ends in failure.

• Union army wins the battle.– Union - 23K killed or

wounded– Confederacy – 28K killed or

wounded

Vicksburg – Union Victory

• Vicksburg is on the Mississippi River.– Grant settles for a

siege.– Vicksburg

surrenders on July 4.

Impact of Union Victories

• Weakens the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

• Loss of Vicksburg splits the Confederacy along the Mississippi River.– Second part of the Anaconda Plan is achieved.– First was the blockade.

Gettysburg Address

• November 19, 1863• Dedication to the cemetery.• Edward Everett – Gave the main speech (2

hours long)• Lincoln makes a few remarks.– Rededicates the War Effort

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The Confederacy Wears Down

Southern victory was no longer a likely outcome.

Lacked food and labor.Some soldiers left to fight with the Union.Growth of opposition in the South.

Grant vs. Lee

The final showdownViolent battles in the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and a siege at Petersburg.Grant’s plan is to push on until Lee surrendered, he could replace his losses, Lee could not.

Sherman’s March through the South

William Tecumseh Sherman

Abandoned his supply lines.Lived off the land, destroy what wasn’t needed.Burned Atlanta.Destroyed homes, railroads, and supplies.Hurt Southern morale.

Election of 1864

Lincoln vs. McClellanMcClellan wants to end the war.Lincoln wants to continue fighting.Lincoln wins after multiple Union military victories.

Appomattox

Grant forces Lee to retreat from Petersburg.Grant and Lee meet at Appomattox Court House.

The surrender terms were generous.

Surrender takes place on April 9, 1865.

Assassination of Lincoln

April 15, 1865John Wilkes Booth shoots Lincoln while he watches a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington DC.This greatly changes the path of the nation during Reconstruction.13th Amendment already passed, it ended slavery.

Legacy of the War

Poltical ChangesFederal government assumes supreme national authority

Economic ChangesNational Bank ActIncome taxNorthern economy boomed, Southern economy was destroyed

13th Amendment

Abolishes slavery in the United States.This includes all states that were a part of the Confederacy.

Civilian Life After the War

Former soldiers have to find work.Generals stay in the military.Some enter civilian life.Clara Burton found the Red Cross in 1881.