Regional economic interests led to social and political differences that seemed insurmountable
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Indicator4-6.4: Summarize the significant battles, strategies, and turning points of the Civil
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It is essential for students to know:
Lincoln made two promises to the South, neither of which were heeded, causing a civil war to
begin. First, he did not desire to fight a war but was constitutionally bound to protect federal
property despite the efforts of the South to take over federal property prior to his inauguration.
By the time he was sworn into office only two federal properties in the South remained under
Union control- those in Charleston, SC and Pensacola, FL. Second, Lincoln’s stated position
was that he did not want slavery to spread into the territories but would not interfere with it
where it was already established. The war began with the Battle of Fort Sumter, in Charleston
harbor, South Carolina. President Abraham Lincoln informed the Confederate President,
Jefferson Davis that he was resupplying the United States troops stationed at the federal
properties that guarded Charleston’s harbor. Badly outnumbered Union troops were ordered to
surrender by the Confederates, but they would not. After a US resupplying mission was turned
back by Confederate fire and the small Union garrison moved to the centrally located island fort,
Jefferson Davis ordered Confederate troops to fire on Fort Sumter, thus beginning the Civil War.
The bombardment lasted for thirty-four hours. Buildings at the fort were burned, but there were
no casualties during the battle. After the battle, four more states joined the Confederacy, bringing
the total number of states to eleven (four slave states located on the border between the opposing
sides remained in the Union and did not secede.) Once the promise of war became an actuality,
both sides regrouped to recruit troops and develop war goals and strategies.
The strategies of the North and the South were based on geography, resources, and the
economies of each region. The North initially fought to preserve the Union and victory would
only come with southern surrender (a war on the offensive). The strategy of the North [called the
Anaconda Plan] was fourfold. First, it blockaded the southern ports in order to stop shipping
between the South and their British allies. Second, their aim was to split the Confederacy in two
at the Mississippi River costing the South its unity. [They were finally successful with this phase
of the plan as a result of the fall of Vicksburg, another turning point that occurred simultaneously
with the battle of Gettysburg.] Third, they would increase doubt and confusion by destroying the
South from within by attacking its transportation (railroad) and communication (telegraph)
systems and thus its morale. Finally, they would attack the Confederate capital of Richmond. To
win the war and achieve Southern independence, the South had only to outlast the patience of the
North for the war and the cause of Unity. (Later, when the cause of emancipation was added,
new dynamics rejuvenated the Northern outlook.) The strategy of the South was to fight a
defensive war and depend upon the already-established cotton trade with England for funds and
support. They hoped England would lend the monetary resources for the materiel as needed in
order to have a monopoly on being the sole buyer of the southern cotton. The Southern armies
were able to defend Richmond and threaten Washington. The Confederate army fought most of
the battles in their own section of the country, attacking the Union in the north only twice
[Antietam and Gettysburg].
The Emancipation Proclamation was an order issued after the Union victory at Antietam by
President Lincoln as Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces that freed the
slaves in all the states still fighting against the Union (10 states), effective January 1, 1863. It did
not free the slaves that were living in the states that remained loyal to the United States (the
border states) or those already defeated (like Tennessee), and was thus done for political reasons
at home and abroad on both sides of the war. Although the proclamation achieved its purpose in
changing the tone of the war by adding another cause for which to fight, creating problems of
slave control in the South and enabling African Americans to legally serve their country, it did
not actually outlaw slavery. Slavery’s end needed to be accomplished legally through an
amendment to the Constitution and was thus accomplished through the 13th amendment in 1865.
Since the Confederate states did not recognize the authority of the President of the United States,
they did not obey his order. Slaves were freed only as the Union army liberated them. However,
the proclamation transformed the war into a war to liberate slaves, giving it an additional cause.
Consequently, it made it harder for the British government to continue to support the South and
therefore slavery. Great Britain had already abolished slavery and many British citizens opposed
slavery and their government’s continued assistance in its continuance.
\During the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate Army, led by General Robert E. Lee, invaded
the North for a second time, but was turned back. This fight was the turning point of the Civil
War because the Confederate Army was so severely decimated that they never again had the
military strength to attempt an invasion in the North. After Gettysburg, the South could only
fight a defensive war. Four months after the battle, President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg
Address to dedicate part of the battlefield as a National Cemetery to honor the men who were
killed in the battle. This carefully crafted two minute speech reminded everyone that the war
was worth fighting because the Union and democracy needed to be preserved and that
“government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” It is
one of the most famous speeches in our history because it so succinctly articulated reasons for
which the US government exists and why the war was being waged, rededicating the Union to its
cause.
African Americans participated in a variety of ways in the Civil War. Many African Americans
in the North, like Fredrick Douglass, recognized long before most white Northerners that the fate
of the Union was tied to the issue of slavery. Any possibility of eliminating slavery was tied to
the outcome of the conflict. When the Civil War began, Northern African Americans formed
and financed military companies and began to drill. They requested permission to go to war but
were turned down by the Secretary of War. Although Southerners did not hesitate to re-enslave
or even execute African Americans caught trying to obtain freedom, thousands of contrabands
still fled to Union military sites. Initially, slaves who fled to the Union army lines and tried to
join were turned away because, the war was being fought to preserve the Union, not to free the
slaves. By 1862, the increasing number of slaves seeking refuge with Union forces and
arguments made by abolitionists such as Fredrick Douglass convinced Lincoln that victory and
the future of the Union were tied directly to the issue of slavery. In the Emancipation
Proclamation, President Lincoln specifically called for the enlistment of African Americans as
soldiers in the Union army. By late 1861, parts of South Carolina Low country were under Union
control. The First SC Colored Volunteers became the first black unit recognized by the Union
Army. Many African Americans joined segregated units commanded by white officers. The
most famous was the 54th Massachusetts that led an attack on Fort Wagner outside of Charleston.
African Americans also helped themselves and the Union causes by acting as liberators, spies,
guides, and messengers, including Harriet Tubman.
The Confederacy, though afraid to arm the majority of the slave population, was more than
willing to require the use of their labor. Both slaves and free African Americans were forced
into service throughout the South. Some of their services included: building fortifications,
working in factories, and performing menial duties sometimes under heavy combat. Some slaves
accompanied their masters to the battlefields and others were promised manumission for
fighting. Although few in number, black slave-owners’’ experiences were akin to those of their
white counterparts.
After four years of fighting, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General
Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The end came because Lee’s troops
were exhausted and without supplies. The Confederate army and Confederate economy had also
been decimated by four years of war against a larger, stronger, wealthier federal system. This
surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia was the initial surrender and would be followed by
the surrender of other armies of the South.
Four days after the surrender at Appomattox, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by
John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Booth was unhappy with the outcome
of the war. He was a Confederate sympathizer and had initially devised a plan to kidnap the
president and other cabinet members. When the plan was foiled in several instances by regular
circumstances and then the war ended without its occurrence, Booth determined to instead take
the life of the Lincoln. He hoped the assassination would cause great disarray for the United
States. Lincoln’s assassination did in fact leave the nation in shock and disbelief. The difficult
task of rebuilding a divided nation proved to be far more difficult without the capable guidance
of the man who labored long and hard to preserve it.
Lincoln made two promises to the South, neither of which were heeded, causing a civil war to
begin. First, he did not desire to fight a war but was constitutionally bound to protect federal
property despite the efforts of the South to take over federal property prior to his inauguration.
By the time he was sworn into office only two federal properties in the South remained under
Union control- those in Charleston, SC and Pensacola, FL. Second, Lincoln’s stated position
was that he did not want slavery to spread into the territories but would not interfere with it
where it was already established. The war began with the Battle of Fort Sumter, in Charleston
harbor, South Carolina. President Abraham Lincoln informed the Confederate President,
Jefferson Davis that he was resupplying the United States troops stationed at the federal
properties that guarded Charleston’s harbor. Badly outnumbered Union troops were ordered to
surrender by the Confederates, but they would not. After a US resupplying mission was turned
back by Confederate fire and the small Union garrison moved to the centrally located island fort,
Jefferson Davis ordered Confederate troops to fire on Fort Sumter, thus beginning the Civil War.
The bombardment lasted for thirty-four hours. Buildings at the fort were burned, but there were
no casualties during the battle. After the battle, four more states joined the Confederacy, bringing
the total number of states to eleven (four slave states located on the border between the opposing
sides remained in the Union and did not secede.) Once the promise of war became an actuality,
both sides regrouped to recruit troops and develop war goals and strategies.
The strategies of the North and the South were based on geography, resources, and the
economies of each region. The North initially fought to preserve the Union and victory would
only come with southern surrender (a war on the offensive). The strategy of the North [called the
Anaconda Plan] was fourfold. First, it blockaded the southern ports in order to stop shipping
between the South and their British allies. Second, their aim was to split the Confederacy in two
at the Mississippi River costing the South its unity. [They were finally successful with this phase
of the plan as a result of the fall of Vicksburg, another turning point that occurred simultaneously
with the battle of Gettysburg.] Third, they would increase doubt and confusion by destroying the
South from within by attacking its transportation (railroad) and communication (telegraph)
systems and thus its morale. Finally, they would attack the Confederate capital of Richmond. To
win the war and achieve Southern independence, the South had only to outlast the patience of the
North for the war and the cause of Unity. (Later, when the cause of emancipation was added,
new dynamics rejuvenated the Northern outlook.) The strategy of the South was to fight a
defensive war and depend upon the already-established cotton trade with England for funds and
support. They hoped England would lend the monetary resources for the materiel as needed in
order to have a monopoly on being the sole buyer of the southern cotton. The Southern armies
were able to defend Richmond and threaten Washington. The Confederate army fought most of
the battles in their own section of the country, attacking the Union in the north only twice
[Antietam and Gettysburg].
The Emancipation Proclamation was an order issued after the Union victory at Antietam by
President Lincoln as Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces that freed the
slaves in all the states still fighting against the Union (10 states), effective January 1, 1863. It did
not free the slaves that were living in the states that remained loyal to the United States (the
border states) or those already defeated (like Tennessee), and was thus done for political reasons
at home and abroad on both sides of the war. Although the proclamation achieved its purpose in
changing the tone of the war by adding another cause for which to fight, creating problems of
slave control in the South and enabling African Americans to legally serve their country, it did
not actually outlaw slavery. Slavery’s end needed to be accomplished legally through an
amendment to the Constitution and was thus accomplished through the 13th amendment in 1865.
Since the Confederate states did not recognize the authority of the President of the United States,
they did not obey his order. Slaves were freed only as the Union army liberated them. However,
the proclamation transformed the war into a war to liberate slaves, giving it an additional cause.
Consequently, it made it harder for the British government to continue to support the South and
therefore slavery. Great Britain had already abolished slavery and many British citizens opposed
slavery and their government’s continued assistance in its continuance.
\During the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate Army, led by General Robert E. Lee, invaded
the North for a second time, but was turned back. This fight was the turning point of the Civil
War because the Confederate Army was so severely decimated that they never again had the
military strength to attempt an invasion in the North. After Gettysburg, the South could only
fight a defensive war. Four months after the battle, President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg
Address to dedicate part of the battlefield as a National Cemetery to honor the men who were
killed in the battle. This carefully crafted two minute speech reminded everyone that the war
was worth fighting because the Union and democracy needed to be preserved and that
“government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” It is
one of the most famous speeches in our history because it so succinctly articulated reasons for
which the US government exists and why the war was being waged, rededicating the Union to its
cause.
African Americans participated in a variety of ways in the Civil War. Many African Americans
in the North, like Fredrick Douglass, recognized long before most white Northerners that the fate
of the Union was tied to the issue of slavery. Any possibility of eliminating slavery was tied to
the outcome of the conflict. When the Civil War began, Northern African Americans formed
and financed military companies and began to drill. They requested permission to go to war but
were turned down by the Secretary of War. Although Southerners did not hesitate to re-enslave
or even execute African Americans caught trying to obtain freedom, thousands of contrabands
still fled to Union military sites. Initially, slaves who fled to the Union army lines and tried to
join were turned away because, the war was being fought to preserve the Union, not to free the
slaves. By 1862, the increasing number of slaves seeking refuge with Union forces and
arguments made by abolitionists such as Fredrick Douglass convinced Lincoln that victory and
the future of the Union were tied directly to the issue of slavery. In the Emancipation
Proclamation, President Lincoln specifically called for the enlistment of African Americans as
soldiers in the Union army. By late 1861, parts of South Carolina Low country were under Union
control. The First SC Colored Volunteers became the first black unit recognized by the Union
Army. Many African Americans joined segregated units commanded by white officers. The
most famous was the 54th Massachusetts that led an attack on Fort Wagner outside of Charleston.
African Americans also helped themselves and the Union causes by acting as liberators, spies,
guides, and messengers, including Harriet Tubman.
The Confederacy, though afraid to arm the majority of the slave population, was more than
willing to require the use of their labor. Both slaves and free African Americans were forced
into service throughout the South. Some of their services included: building fortifications,
working in factories, and performing menial duties sometimes under heavy combat. Some slaves
accompanied their masters to the battlefields and others were promised manumission for
fighting. Although few in number, black slave-owners’’ experiences were akin to those of their
white counterparts.
After four years of fighting, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General
Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The end came because Lee’s troops
were exhausted and without supplies. The Confederate army and Confederate economy had also
been decimated by four years of war against a larger, stronger, wealthier federal system. This
surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia was the initial surrender and would be followed by
the surrender of other armies of the South.
Four days after the surrender at Appomattox, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by
John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Booth was unhappy with the outcome
of the war. He was a Confederate sympathizer and had initially devised a plan to kidnap the
president and other cabinet members. When the plan was foiled in several instances by regular
circumstances and then the war ended without its occurrence, Booth determined to instead take
the life of the Lincoln. He hoped the assassination would cause great disarray for the United
States. Lincoln’s assassination did in fact leave the nation in shock and disbelief. The difficult
task of rebuilding a divided nation proved to be far more difficult without the capable guidance
of the man who labored long and hard to preserve it.