Civil War
Lincoln wins with 40% of the popular vote - he was not on the ballot  in 10 southern states.

South Carolina SECEDES -
Dec.20, 1860
GA/TX/MS/FL/AL/LA - follow within a few months
      
                    CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA FORMED

President - JEFFERSON DAVIS / MS
Vice-Pres - ALEXANDER STEPHENS/ GA

ADVANTAGES / DISADVANTAGES

NorthSouth
23,000,000POPULATION   9,000,000 (3.9 slaves)
24     STATES11
URBAN       LIFESTYLE     RURAL / OUTDOORS
106,000FARMLAND/ ACRES          57,000
22,000 miles RAILROAD TRACKS          9,000 miles
120,000FACTORIES           21,000
$1.8 BIL      MFG GOODS  160 MIL
1,200,000  IND WORKERS       110,000
U.S. NAVY     NAVAL  VESSELS     PRIVATEERS
TO WIN       FIGHTING     NOT TO LOSE
AVERAGE MIL OFFICERS       SUPERIOR

Major Stats
1 out of every 65 would be killed
1 out of every 10 would be wounded
Average age of a soldier was 25
Average height 58
Average weight 143 lbs
Youngest known wounded was age 11
Most thought the war would last 2 to 3 months

Major Events
Ft. Sumter
South Carolina
April 1861

South -- General PGT Beauregard
North --  Major Rober Anderson

Union troops possess the fort in Charleston harbor. 
Cut off from the North. 
Lincoln sends in supplies and reinforcements.
Confederates fire on the fort before the aid gets there.

1st Battle of Bull run (Manassas) 
July 1861

South -- General PGT Beauregard
North -- Irwin McDowell

Fought on a branch of the Potomac river. 
South was guarding a key rail center at Manassas. 
Lincoln ordered McDowell to attack. 
Sightseers from D.C. go to see the defeat of the Rebels. 
"Stonewall" Jackson reinforces the Confederates and earns his nickname. 
Union troops retreated in panic.

North Blockades the South 
March 1862

South -- Merrimac
North -- Monitor

The wooden Merrimac is converted with medal plates and renamed the Virginia.  Destroyed several woden Union Ships.  Next day the Monitor shows up and after fierce fighting the Merrimac withdraws.

Union Controls the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers

Fort Henry and Fort Donelson are taken by the Union troops.
Grant earns his nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.

Battle of Shiloh,  Tennessee
April 1862

South General Albert Sidney Johnston
North General U. S. Grant

Johnston surprises Grant and was winning until Johnston is killed and reinforcements come for Grant.  Next day the North takes the victory.  Nearly one-fourth of the Union and Confederate troops fighting here were either killed or wounded.

Union Takes New Orleans
David Farragut
"Damn the Torpedoes"

2nd Battle of Bull Run
August, 1862

South -- General Robert E. Lee
North -- General Pope

Lee wins and crowwes the Potomac into Maryland.  Lee was stropped at Sharpesburg, MD by Union General McClellan.

Antietam Creek
September 17, 1862
The Bloodiest Day of the War was fought and ended in a draw.  Lee withdraws but McClellan does not pursue.

Over 20,000 troops are killed or wounded at Shiloh and 30,000 at Antietam Creek!
President Lincoln  -- Issues the Emancipation Proclamation  --  frees all slaves in the "Rebelling States"

13th Amendment Aboloishes Slavery

Conscription Act, 1863 -- the Draft for the Union

Bounty System is more successful

Confederates Win
Chancellorsville, VA

Stonewall Jackson accidentally Killed by his own men.

1863
Vicksburg and Gettysburg Fall

Viksburg, Mississippi
July, 1863

South General Pemberton 
Northe General Grant

Grant laid seige to the city of Vicksburg for six weeks and starved it into submission.  Confederates surrender on July 4, 1863.

Gettysburg, PA
July 1 -3, 1863

South -- General Robert E. Lee
North -- General George Meade

General Lee sends George pickets troops up Cemetery Ridge.  Confederates are severely defeated.  Lee retreates into Maryland but General Meade does not pursue.

Gettysburg is the Turning Point of the War

Chattanooga,
Sep. - Nov., 1863

Grant takes Chattanooga.  This opens up the South.  Chattanooga is important because of it is a rail center.

Grant named Commander of the Union Army

Fall of Atlanta
Shermans March to the Sea
September, 1863

Sherman invades Atlanta with 100,000 troops. Confederates hold against Grant at Kennesaw Mountain.  Finally, the Union troops get through to Atlanta.

William T. Sherman   -- "The First Modern Warrior"

Shermans March to the Sea -- Total War

Atlanta to Savannah
300 miles long by 60 miles wide 

Union Troops Devestated in Numbers
Casualties p.395
Battle of the Wilderness -- 18,000
Battle of Spotsylvania   -- 12,000
Battle of Cold Harbor  - 9,000

In a months time, Grant lost more men than Lee had in his entire Virginia Army -- 60,000

Copperheads -- Northerners who opposed the war

Lee Surrenders at Appomattox Court House
General Lee Surrenders to General Grant

Presidential Election of 1864

Republican - President    --    Abraham Lincoln
      Vice Pres.   --    Andrew Johnson  (Tenn)
Democrat     President    --    General George McClellan

Lincoln wins easily because the warnews was good at the time: 
212 to 12 in electoral votes!

Lincolns Republican Program is implemented   p. 376
Morrill Tariff of 1861  -  protected northern industries by raising import tax 47%

Homestead Act - Spurred Westward Movement
 


Press Back to return to previous page.