I. Introduction
Northerners and Southerners supported the war for a variety of reasons, such as ending slavery, preserving the Union, defending states’ rights, or protecting the Confederacy. Whatever the purpose of the war, it brought tremendous change to the United States as the conflict spawned new social and racial arrangements in the nation.
II. America Goes to War, 1861-1862
A. First Battle of Bull Run
Upon Lincoln’s call for volunteers to restore the Union, additional states from the upper South seceded. Southerners faced the war with an optimism that grew stronger following the Confederate victory at Bull Run.
B. Grand Strategy
Union strategy¾the “Anaconda plan” called for a blockade of southern ports and the capture of the Mississippi. The Confederacy pursued an “offensive defensive” strategy¾attack when possible, otherwise prevent conquest.
C. Union Naval Campaign
Early in the war Federal ships began to blockade the South, a tactic that enjoyed mixed results. Union coastal victories off South Carolina resulted in a stream of runaway slaves as planters abandoned their lands.
D. Grant’s Tennessee Campaign and the Battle of Shiloh
The first great campaign of the war unfolded as Ulysses S. Grant led troops into Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry and Fort Donelson which guarded the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. The shocking casualties of the two-day Battle of Shiloh revealed the true nature of the war.
E. McClellan and the Peninsula Campaign
Slow to move, McClellan finally advanced on Richmond, moving within 7 miles of the Confederate capital. Lee moved in behind Union forces, threatening Washington, D.C. The Seven Days’ Battles followed, which forced McClellan to retreat.
F. Confederate Offensive in Maryland and Kentucky
Following early southern victories, President Jefferson Davis ordered his armies to engage in offensive tactics. The attempt to lure Maryland and Kentucky into the Confederacy failed.
III. War Transforms the South
A. The Confederacy and Centralization of Power
In the South, the tradition of localism and states’ rights gave way to centralization as the Confederacy fought to preserve itself. When the South failed to achieve a quick victory, the Confederacy resorted to conscription.
B. Wartime Southern Cities and Industry
Wartime needs led to a new bureaucracy and an emerging industrialism in the South.
C. Changing Roles of Women
With men off to fight, women began to assume many of the responsibilities males had previously held.
D. Human Suffering, Hoarding, and Inflation
The war caused economic dislocations in the South that resulted in great suffering for many people. The Federal blockade created shortages of important commodities in the South, while Confederate financial policies generated intense price inflation.
E. Inequities of the Confederate Draft
Wealthier southerners seemed immune to many of the problems that others faced, and anger over the elite’s exemptions from conscription led to tensions in the South.
IV. Wartime Northern Economy and Society
A. Northern Business, Industry, and Agriculture
The war generally spurred economic activity in the North, but the initial loss of southern markets caused some disruptions for the Union. Federal spending helped many businessmen and farmers because the government needed vast amounts of material to win the war. Fiscal policy, especially the sale of war bonds, also shaped the northern economy.
B. New Militancy Among Northern Workers
Inflation and a tight job market produced problems for the working class, difficulties that led to a growing interest in trade unionism.
C. Government and Business Partnership
Railroads and other companies with government contracts earned especially high profits. New land policies and high tariffs encouraged economic activity.
D. Economic Nationalism
Through the Morrill Land Grant Act Congress authorized sales of large parcels of public lands, the proceeds to be used for public universities promoting education in agriculture, engineering, and military science. The Homestead Act of 1862 offered cheap land to people who would settle the West. A national banking system was created and higher tariffs were enacted.
E. Expansion of Presidential Power
The war fostered great patriotism in the North, but the conflict also led to increased power for the President.
F. The Union Cause
Northerners rallied to the Union cause. While some northerners ostentatiously displayed their new wealth, others advanced more idealistic values.
G. Northern Women
Northern women assumed new roles during the war.
V. The Advent of Emancipation
A. Lincoln and Emancipation
Lincoln understood the political dangers of the slavery issue and at first shied away from advocating abolition. Eventually, he began suggesting that southerners gradually free their bondspersons. He also promoted a plan to colonize blacks outside the United States.
B. Confiscation Acts
Radical Republicans demanded immediate emancipation. One of their first efforts to achieve it came with laws allowing the confiscation of slaves as “contraband.”
C. Emancipation Proclamation
In September 1862, Lincoln announced a plan to free slaves in the Confederate states. In his proclamation of January 1, 1863, all areas in the Confederacy that were under Union control were exempted, the border states included. This ambiguous proclamation provided Lincoln with some political benefits, but by 1864 he recognized the need for a stronger stand on the slave issue and gave his support to a constitutional ban.
D. Who Freed the Slaves?
Emancipation came as the result of two forces: one, Lincoln’s policy; and two, the will and courage of slaves who fled for freedom.
E. A Confederate Plan of Emancipation
Jefferson Davis proposed emancipation of the slaves in exchange for military service against the Union. Southern resistance to abolition proved powerful, however, and Davis could only make a limited effort to free the slaves.
VI. The Soldiers’ War
A. Hospitals and Camp Life
Soldiers endured unsanitary conditions, unsafe water supplies, and badly managed hospitals. In addition, they witnesses mass violence and bloodshed.
B. The Rifled Musket
Development of the “minie ball” made rifles accurate to 400 yards and useful up to 1,000 yards.
C. The Black Soldier’s Fight for Manhood
Thousands of blacks served with honor and distinction in the Union army, but discrimination persisted.
VII. 1863: The Tide of Battle Turns
A. Battle of Chancellorsville
On the battlefield, the southern army began the 1863 campaign with a victory at Chancellorsville, Virginia. However, the Confederate army suffered the loss of Stonewall Jackson.
B. Siege of Vicksburg
This Confederate defeat divided the southern states in two and gave control of the Mississippi to the Union.
C. Battle of Gettysburg
In July 1863, the Union army scored a major victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, inflicting heavy losses on Lee’s army.
VIII. Disunity, South and North
A. Disintegration of Confederate Unity
Planters, unable to adjust to changed circumstances, increasingly opposed the Confederate government.
B. Food Riots in Southern Cities
Food riots occurred in several cities in 1863. Ordinary rural southerners resisted by refusing to cooperate with conscription, tax collection, and impressments of food. Meanwhile, Davis failed to communicate with the masses.
C. Desertions from the Confederate Army
As conditions at home deteriorated, many southern soldiers reacted by deserting from the army.
D. Southern Peace Movements
From 1863 on, military defeats and social disruptions fueled a growing discontent with the war. For many people the solution seemed to be simply to give up on the southern cause.
E. Antiwar Sentiment in the North
Opposition to the war in the North was less severe than in the South. Lincoln, unlike Davis, had the ability to stay in touch with ordinary citizens.
F. Peace Democrats
Some Northerners expressed unhappiness with the war, but much of the northern discord reflected political party differences rather than support for the Confederacy.
G. New York City Draft Riots
One sharp statement of northern anger over the war came in the New York City draft riots. In theory aimed at conscription, these violent demonstrations revealed powerful underlying class and racial tensions.
IX. 1864-1865: The Final Test of Wills
A. Northern Diplomatic Strategy
Lincoln understood the importance of European relations, and he worked diligently to prevent European support of the Confederacy.
B. Battlefield Stalemate and a Union Strategy for Victory
Grant proposed raids into the South on a massive scale to lay waste to all resources useful to the military and to the civilian population of the Confederacy.
C. Atlanta
Sherman’s occupation of Atlanta boosted northern morale and ensured Lincoln’s reelection in 1864.
D. Sherman’s March to the Sea
Sherman adhered to a “burned earth” policy in his march to the sea.
E. Virginia’s Bloody Soil
During the spring and summer of 1864, Grant continually hurled Union forces against Lee’s army in Virginia. Even though losses were appalling, these battles prepared the way for Union victory.
F. Surrender at Appomattox
Lee could not stand up to the Union forces, leading him to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia in April 1865.
G. Financial Tally
The costs of the war ranged into the billions of dollars, while the social burden to the South remains incalculable.
H. Death Toll
About 600,000 Americans died, more deaths than occurred in all other American wars combined prior to Vietnam. Still, the war left unresolved the crucial issue of the place of African Americans in the United States.
