Chapter 21: The Furnace of Civil War (1861 - 1865)

Battle of Bull Run

• July 21, 1861
• Everyone expected a short war
• Spectators even came to watch the battle
• The battle was going well for the Union at first but "Stonewall" Jackson and his warriors stood strong like a wall and Confederate enforcements arrived unexpectedly.
• Union soldiers were rattled and retreated.
• Confederates were too exhausted or disorganized to pursue, so they feasted on captured lunches.

    Results:

• South won and became dangerously overconfident (worse for them)
• South believed war was over
• North realized that they would have to fight to win the war (better for them to lose)

George McClellan & the Peninsula Campaign

• McClellan was given command of the Union Army of the Potomac in 1861.
• McClellan was overcautious and addressed the President in an arrogant tone
• Started moving toward the Confederate capital in the spring of 1862 with about 100,000 men.
• Named the Peninsula Campaign because Richmond lies at the western base of a narrow peninsula formed by the James and York Rivers.

    Results:

• Things were going good for the North
• General Robert E. Lee launched a counter attack, the Seven Days' Battle from June 26 to July 2, 1862, driving McClellan back to the sea.

Seven Days' Battle

    Results:

• Lee lost 20,000 men compared to McClellan's 10,000.
• Lee had achieved a bloody triumph.
• abandonment of the peninsula campaign
• Lincolon temporarilly abandoned McClellan as comander of the Army of the Potomac.

Significance:

•  It was a good thing that Lee won otherwise the Confederacy might have joined the Union again and slavery would have continued.

Union Strategy- now shifted toward full war

1. Blockade Coast
2. Free Slaves
3. Cut South in half by taking Mississippi River
4. Send troops through Georgia and Carolinas
5. Capture Richmond
6. Engage enemy's main strength and destroy it

The War At Sea

    Monitor vs. Merrimack

• The Merrimack was a reconditioned former wooden U.S. warship.
• The Monitor was built in about 100 days.
•  The two ships battled to a standstill and the Confederates destroyed the Merrimack to keep it from approaching Union troops.

Antietam

• September 17, 1862
• Union gets victory
• Stops Confederacy from getting foreign aid
• Springboard for Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1963.
• McClellan was suspended as military commander for the second and final time

Blacks Battle Bondage

• At first whites were outraged at blacks trying to enlist in the army, but eventually adjusted.
• 180,000 blacks enlisted in Union army.
• Blacks accounted for 10% of total enlistments in the Union forces.
• Slaves contributed powerfully to the collapse of slavery
  • Fear of slave rebellion kept potential Condederate soldiers at home.
  • Slave resistance slowed down productivity on plantations.
  • Slaves served as spies, guides, scouts, cooks, stewards, fireman, and sheltered Union soldiers.
• Casualties were heavy, more than 38,000 died.
• Many who were captured were put to death as slaves in revolt until 1864 when the South recognized them as prisoners of war.
• Several black soldiers were massacred after they had formally surrenderd at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, thereafter vengeful blacks cried "Remember Fort Pillow" as they went into battle.

Battle of Gettysburg

• July 1-3, 1862
• George C. Meade won for the Union
• George Pickett (south) charged, but lost, which pretty much killed the south's chances of winning the war.

Significance of the Gettysburg Address

• Raised support for the war.
• As the country expanded, it came to a point where they had different ideas. This address realigned what the U.S. was about, brought us back together.
• Emphasized American equality.

Sherman's March to the Sea

• 1864-1865
• William Sherman and his 60,000 soldiers went from Chatanooga to Atlanta, Savannah, Columbia, and Raleigh, destroying everything in their path.

How Civil War Ended:

• The Union soldiers siezed Richmond (capital for the Confederates) and pushed Lee back to Appomattox Courthouse in Virgina, where finally he had to give up.

Tragedies of the Civil War:

• Over 600,000 men died in fighting or of a disease
• 1 million people were killed or badly hurt
• not a lot of new born babies because men were always out fighting
• in all, the Civil War cost America about $15 billion

Presidential Election of 1864:

• Republicans joined with the war democrats and became the Union party.
• Lincoln(nominated by Union party) vs. McClellan (nominated by democrats)
• Lincoln wins.
• Not good for the South.
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Lincoln's Assassination

• April 14th, 1865 (Good Friday)
• John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln while he was watching a play at Ford's Theater