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The Secession Crisis
- States in the deep south begin to secede
- Feb 1861 Jefferson Davis becomes the president of the Confederate States of America
- Each state is independent, president has 6 year term
- Buchanan deemed secession illegal, but claimed the govt right to take the states back by force
- Crittenden Compromise failed to get govt support
- Wanted to keep the peace by extending the Missouri line and leaving slavery in all states where it currently exists
- In his inaugural address, Lincoln says how the Union cannot be split and reiterates that secession is illegal
- Swears to fight against slavery
Fort Sumter and the Seccessiom
- Fort Sumter was a fort in the South, Union troops fled there
- Jefferson demanded its surrender, and bombarded for 33 hours to get it back
- Lincoln sends an unarmed ship to give them food so they dont die
- Ruffin fires the first shot on Fort Sumter and leads to battle
- Lincoln eventually had to pull 75k troops from state militias into service
- After Fort Sumter, the Upper South seceded and joined the confederacy
- Border States don’t secede and are imposed martial law upon these states
- Habeus corpus suspended and confederate supporters were arrested
- Maryland was the most important state, if they seceded the US Capitol would be located in another country
- Kentucky was important because of its position on the Ohio River
Union War Strategy
Anaconda Plan
- Surround the Confederacy by the bottom and slowly go around and strangle it
- Blockade exports and capture Mississippi River
- Capture the capital at Richmond
- Everyone in the South has a gun
- Large military tradition
- The North has a subpar military leadership
- Legal Tender Act:
- Created a national currency
- Paper money known as greenbacks
- This paper money could be traded in for specie (gold)
- Homestead Act:
- Free land to farmers in the Union to boost wartime agricultural output
- In 1862 congress chartered the Union Pacific and Central railroads to create the transcontinental railroad
- The Union had unlimited men, unlimited supplies, and a large rail network
- Also had food farms, not cash crop farms
- The North is more able to support an army
Confederate War Strategy
Link to original
- Compare themselves to the colonies in the American Revolution
- Defend its borders, fight a defensive war, and negatively affect northern morale
- The Confederacy also sought foreign recognition so they could sell their cotton
- Countries were hesitant to make deals with them because of slavery
- To pay for the war they tried to tax trade
- Limited because of the Union naval blockades and because of the Cotton Diplomacy
- Cotton Diplomacy
- Stop exporting cotton so that the rest of the world cannot depend on their crazy cotton exports
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Naming
Confederacy names after town or states, Union names battles after rivers
Emancipation Proclamation
- Radical republicans pushed for emancipation of slaves as war goal
- Confiscation Act sllowed for seizure of all property to support the rebellion
- Document does not free any slaves immediately nor abolish slavery
- Adds war goals:
- Free the slaves
- Keep Britain and France out of the war
- Emancipated slaves are welcomed to join the Union army
Conscription
- Confederate Conscription: Confederacy approved first military draft for all men ages 18-25, with an exemption if you own over 20 slaves
- **Union Conscription:
- Militia Act of 1862 offered high incentives to meet recruiting goals
- Enrollment Act of 1863 formally initiated draft. Many immigrants resisted
- NY Draft Riots
Lee’s String of Victories
Battle of Fredericksburg
- Ambrose Burnside is put in charge of the 122k man army of the potomac
- Lee only has 78k
- Burnside takes 12k casualties while Lee only takes 6k
Battle of Chancellorsville
Link to original
- Known as Lee’s perfect battle
- Lee divides his forces and defeats Hooker (Burnsides replacement)
- Stonewall Jackson killed in battle
- Lee goes crazy and takes a ton of losses
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The Turning Point 1863
Seige of Vicksburg and Capture of Mississpii
- VIcksburg surrenders to Grant
- Key to the Mississippi
- City laid seige to for weeks before surrender
Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania
- Confederacy is in the north and they might be able to go further but they can’t
- Battle of Gettysburg is the bloodiest battle of the war
- Located in a crossroads town and the Union wins
- Popular opinion turns in favor of war
- Lee flees the north
- Lincoln gives Gettysburg address at a ceremony for the soldiers killed in the battle
Grant Takes Command
Link to original
- Lincoln chooses Ulysses S Grant to be the commander of all Union forces
- His reasoning was that he fights
- Lincoln engaged in a strategy of total war that mobilized all of society’s resources towards winning
- Also destroyed everything the enemy could use to their advantage in order to gain an advantage
- War of Attrition: fight until your enemy gets tired
- Union has more supplies, more soldiers, etc
- Overland Campaign
- Lee held strong defensive positions and only attacked when he had the advantage
- Seige of Petersburg
- brutal fighting and put lincoln out of favor
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Election of 1864
- Andrew Johnson was chosen as Lincoln’s running mate
- Lincoln tries to push a message of bringing the country together and ending slavery
- Opponent is George McCullen
- Platform rejected emancipation and only wanted to oppose Lincoln
- Sherman Captures Atlanta, confederates abandon the city
- Lincoln wins the election, 13th Amendment is passed to end slavery, then sent to the states for ratification
Sherman’s March to the Sea
- Sherman marches to Savanna destroying everything useful and convinces the people he doesnt want to keep fighting
- Burns a swath from Georgia to the sea
- Plantations, railroads, everything burned
- Sherman reaches Savannah and finds it too beautiful to burn
- Moved north, burns capitol at Columbia, SC
- continued north and reached NC border where he stopped burning
- Spreads message that secessionists will be punished
End of the Confederacy
Link to original
- Grant took control of the rail lines leading into Petersburg
- Cuts off Lee from supplies into Richmond
- Forces Lee to abandon the city and flee west
- Lincoln visits Richmond and Grant pursues Lee
- On April 9, Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House
- Grant offers generous terms to Lee.
- All soldiers can return home
- Drop your guns and go home
- Lee acceps
- Confederate government dissolved, Jefferson David was captured by Union troops on may 10