Chapter 15 Notes

I. Preparing for war

A. Recruitment and conscription
1. In early 1891, the Union had an army of 16000 men, mostly serving in the west.
2. 1/3 of officers resigned to join confederacy
3. As the war started, both sides relied on local efforts to recruit and train volunteers
4. By April 1862, the Confederacy had to resort to conscription- first time in US history.
5. The Confederacy’s draft policy was criticized for favoring the wealthy (20 slave law)
6. Due to smaller population, as many as 80% of eligible white southerners served in the war
7. The Union also needed to draft men and passed the Enrollment Act in March 1863. Bounties were also paid to volunteers
8. Union draft policies were also criticized for favoring the wealthy, who could hire substitutes or pay a $300 commutation fee

B. Supplying the Armies
1. At first, the south relied on arms and ammunition imported from Europe, confiscated from federal arsenals or captured in battle. Eventually “Iron works” were built to furnish sufficient arms and ammunition.
2. The Confederacy had difficulty providing enough food and clothing for its soldiers. The Impressment Act of 1863 allowed the confederate Army to seize supplies from private citizens
3. The Union had ample supplies but had difficulty getting supplies to soldiers as they moved deeper into the south.

C. Paying for War
1. At first, both sides relied on war bonds. Because bonds had to be bought with specie, they raised limited revenue (esp. in the South)
2. Both sides began to print more paper money. The Union mad its paper money “legal tender” while the Confederacy did not, which raised confidence issues. Inflation occurred in both the North and South, however the South experienced hyperinflation (9000%)
3. The North began to tax income while the south began to tax property
4. Due to the absence of Southern Democrats in congress, Republicans were able to revive the National bank system and federally backed paper money

D. Commanders in chief
1. Jefferson Davis, a former general, secretary of war, and Democratic senator from Mississippi was chosen as the Confederate President
2. Abraham Lincoln, who had never held executive office, appeared ill suited for the Presidency. Also, he faced opposition from Radical Republicans (Sumner, Chase, Stevens- who wanted abolition) and Northern Democrats (who were against abolition).
3. Lincoln proved to be a masterful politician: not sharing ideas until ready to act, diplomatically disarming and co-opting opponents.
4. Davis faced opposition from Confederate Democrats who wanted to uphold states’ rights at all costs. Accustomed to giving orders, Davis made political enemies.

E. Establishing Union Borders
1. Immdei1ately after the attack on Ft Sumter, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and sent troops to secure Maryland.
2. Intimidated by Lincoln’s actions, Maryland and Delaware (slave states) rejected secession and stayed in the Union.
3. Lincoln dispatched Grant to hold Kentucky
4. Missouri stayed in the Union despite Confederate agitation
5. The western part of Virginia separated from the rest of Virginia in order to also stay in the Union.
6. These “Border” stated provided a buffer zone for the Union as well as access to river systems that led into the Confederacy
7. By suspending the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland, Lincoln also established the precedent for citing rebellion as a justification for exceeding the powers of the executive in wartime (opening him to criticism from Republican “copperheads”)


II. Fighting the War

A. Advantages and disadvantages of the union
+Larger population (22 million vs. 9 million, 3.5x more white men of fighting age.
+90% of US Industrial capacity
+2/3 of US railroad track
+Increased grain production due to mechanical reaper
+Excellent political leader
+Large naval force
-Fighting an offensive war for loft ideals (union then abolition)
-Fighting away from supply source
-Lack of railroads in south and bad roads that bogged down major troop deployments
-Fighting far from home caused lower soldier morale
-Lack of military leadership (5 supreme commanders during the war)


B. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Confederacy
+Fighting a defensive war on familiar ground
+Close to supplies and homes
+Fighting for concrete objectives: to defend homes and preserve a way of life
+Strong military leadership (Lee, arguable America’s greatest general)
-Fewer eligible soldiers
-Lack of industrial base, railroads, food, clothing
-Increasing #s of runaway slaves hurt economy
-Small naval force

C. Weapons and Military Strategies
1. New weapons like the repeating rifle, submarine, ironside ship and Gattling Gun
2. Widespread use of rifles led to tactical changes such as the use of trenches and the diminished importance of bayonet thrusts and cavalry
3. As with prior wars, infantry traded volleys, charged and counter-charged, leading to very high casualty rates. At the end of a battle, the winning side was often devastated to regroup and pursue the retreating army
4. Attacking armies relied on the element of surprise and taking the higher ground for tactical advantage
5. Winfield Scott devised a long-term strategy to ensure a union victory- the Anaconda plan called for the union to blockade southern ports then take the Mississippi to cut the confederacy from the west. By surrounding and choking off the rebellion, Scott expected Southerners to give up and rejoin the Union. Though this plan was not fully implemented, some elements were put into action.


III. Fighting the Civil War

A. Battles of the Civil War
1. Bull Run or First Manassas (Virginia, July 1861)
a. First major battle
b. Major confederate victory
c. Showed both sides that it would be a long, bloody, war
d. Union Potomac Army (central Union Army) General McDowell fired and replaced by McClellan
e. Confederate Stonewall Jackson gets his nickname and establishes his reputation
2. Peninsula Campaign (Virginia, 1862)
a. Devised and led by Union General McClellan
b. Entailed attacking Richmond from the south
c. Very successful at first, but bogged down 5 miles from Richmond
d. McClellan hesitated, Stonewall Jackson arrived with reinforcements forcing McClellan to retreat; Lincoln recalls him to Washington
3. Battle of Shiloh (Tennessee, April 1862)
a. Grant and Sherman were nearly defeated but pulled off victory
b. Confederates moved troops away from New Orleans, leaving the city defenseless.
c. Union Admiral Farragut takes New Orleans and Baton Rouge
d. All but 200 miles of the Mississippi River now under Union control
4. Battle Antietam (Maryland September 1862)
a. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia barely beaten by McClellan’s Army of the Potomac
b. McClellan fired for not perusing and fully defeating Lee; replaced by Burnside
c. Bloodiest single day of the war (24000 casualties)
d. Sold as victory by the Union; allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation (abolition only in confederate states, not union states)
5. Battle of Fredericksburg (Virginia, December 1862)
a. Burnside leads victory over outnumbered confederates then needlessly loses many soldiers in futile attempts to take over hills.
b. Stalemated the war in the East; Burnside replaced by Hooker
6. Chancellorsville (Virginia, May 1863)
a. Lee and Stonewall Jackson convincingly defeated Hooker
b. Stonewall was accidentally shot and died soon after
c. Hooker replaced by Meade
7. Gettysburg (Pennsylvania, July 1-4 1863)
a. Meade’s army captured the high ground and defeated Lee’s Army in a three-day battle
b. Confederates suffered very high casualties aggravated by Pickett’s Charge
c. Second and last attempt by Lee to attack Union territory
d. Lee retreated, Meade was criticized for not perusing
e. 50000 combined casualties
8. Vicksburg (Mississippi, July 4 1863)
a. After a six-week siege, the Confederate Army surrendered to Grant and Sherman
b. The Mississippi River was now completely under Union control
c. Soon after, Grant would become next and last general of the Army of the Potomac
9. Chattanooga (Tennessee, September 1863)
a. Reinforced by Grant and Sherman, the Union wins
b. Opens path for Sherman’s attack on Georgia
10. Atlanta (Georgia, September 1864)
a. Sherman takes Atlanta and burns it to the ground
b. Sherman adopts “Total War” Strategy in his March to the Sea (Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia)
11. Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor
a. Brilliant victories by outnumbered Confederates led by Lee
b. Still, Grant held his ground and dug trenches, waited for the eventual arrival of Sheridan and Sherman
B. Ending the War
1. Total War in Virginia- Grant ordered Sheridan to “Peel the Land” in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia
2. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” – A 185 mile trek from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. 62,000 men spread over a 60-mile front burned and pillaged everything in their paths. Taking Savannah in December 1864, Sherman’s Army turned north along the coast to South and North Carolina.
3. Battle of Five Forks- (April 2) Led by Grant and Sheridan, won the city of Petersburg next to Richmond. Union marched into Richmond, unopposed on April 3.
4. Appomattox Court House- surrounded on all sides, cut off from supplies, and discouraged by the Union’s total war strategy, Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865. On April 18, Johnston surrender to Sherman in North Carolina, essentially ending the war
5. Lincoln Assonated- On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head at Ford’s Theatre in DC. He died the next day, leaving his VP Andrew Johnson (an ex-tailor from Tennessee) to begin the Reconstruction period.

IV. War and Society

A. Economics
1. Strengthened the Northern Industrial economy, demolished the Southern
2. Southern Planters refused to divert production into food, setting off massive food shortages
3. Disproportionate number of Southern men in army together with loss of slaves left a labor vacuum in the south
4. New national banking system and currency
5. Huge build up of railroads- more track than the rest of the world combined
6. Wartime contractors and speculators made much money
7. Homestead Act- free land given to Western Settlers (160 acres per family
8. More women and children entered the workforce
9. Widespread exploitation of workers led to the rise in unions and organized protest

V. ON YOUR OWN

A. Minority groups (Women, African Americans, Immigrant)

B. Soldier’s wives (Union, Confederates, Black Soldiers)

C. Dissent

D. Diplomacy
1. Confederacy hoping that England and France would come to their defense against the English
2. Emancipation Proclamation- designed to win European’s admiration

E. And the Naval War