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Common Question about Dates and This History Class: Does having these dates in here mean students are expected to memorize them? The answer is “no.” To understand how things happened, you want to notice the order of events. Think of it this way: if you were watching two people fight, how you interpreted things would probably depend on who did what first. |
Civil War Between Brothers (and Sisters): Comparison of
Strengths
Tip: Compare the column for the North and the South. Who might win in a short war? Who probably cannot win in a long war? |
|
Issues |
The |
The Confederacy
(the South) |
|
Basics |
23 states (4 slave[1]);
22M people. |
11 states; 9M people (5.5M white; 3.5M slave) |
|
Goal of war |
Stop the secession
(only later is slavery an official objective of the war) |
Secede – Act like
the Patriots in the American Revolution: avoiding defeat is enough. |
|
Infrastructure,
banking |
Money in place (2X
banking) |
¾ |
|
Infrastructure,
communication |
Communication in
place (telegraph lines) |
¾ |
|
Infrastructure,
government –people |
Central bureaucracy in place –
including for collecting taxes and dealing with revenue |
Bureaucracy to build – including lacking
a system for collecting taxes or dealing with revenue (Done by state governments.) |
|
Infrastructure,
government –system itself |
Constitutional
system of government |
Government
equivalent to Articles of Confederation |
|
Infrastructure,
manufacturing technology |
Technology to manufacture; 6X South |
¾ (and only 3%
of firearm manufacture) |
|
Infrastructure,
government income |
Printing paper money (greenbacks), but Legal Tender Act
Taxes (income and tariff) |
Printing $1 billion in paper money and few goods. (What’s the result?) Confederate bonds. Taxes (property and by
1863 nearly everything) |
|
Infrastructure,
transportation –land |
Railroad network in place (some varied gauges) |
Inadequate
railroads (varied gauges) |
|
Infrastructure,
transportation –sea |
Navy in place to block ports (no Southern imports in,
no Southern cotton out). |
Dependent on imports of war materials and on exports of
cotton to British and French. |
|
Infrastructure,
transportation –sea - protection for |
Navy in place |
Navy on order from
British and French |
|
Leadership |
Abraham Lincoln |
Jefferson Davis |
|
Population, for
manufacture |
People to manufacture (quantity & consolidation) |
¾ |
|
Population, for
military |
400,000
soldiers = immigrants |
20 slave/1 white
exemption |
|
Population, for
military¾the negatives |
(But NY draft riots
in 1863) |
(But 1865 law to
conscript 300,000 slaves) |
|
Population, for
nursing |
Women as nurses - notice wounded |
Women as nurses |
|
Raw materials for
manufacturing |
Raw materials |
Raw materials |
|
Overall strength |
Diverse economy, diverse infrastructure, large
population with immigrants |
Agricultural economy, limited infrastructure – and it
remains so during and after the war |
Civil War between Brothers: Comparison of
Enlistments, the Wounded, and the Dead[2]
Notice
the difference in the Enlistments. Remember: 22 M whites in the North; 5.5,
South. |
|
Issues |
The |
The Confederacy
(the South) |
|
Enlistments
– See the Basics above |
1,557,000 |
1,082,000 |
|
Wounded – See nursing above |
275,000 |
100,000 minimum |
|
Dead, # |
365,000 |
200,000 |
|
Dead, % |
5% |
11-12% |
South’s Assumptions About Their Success and the Reality of Each Assumption
|
|
Assumption |
Reality |
|
|
Could get Egyptian cotton Also needed Northern wheat |
|
Britain and France need our orders for a
navy. |
Union threat of war with them, plus South’s
failure to win at |
|
Northwest needs our rivers to get to
market. |
Unaware of the Northeast-Northwest connection
by canal and railroad grid Rivers opened South to Union forces (US
Grant in 1862) |
|
We’re fighting a defensive war just like
the Patriots. |
War on the homeland—disruption of food
supplies and civilian losses, as shown in |
|
We’re experienced fighters. |
North had Singer sewing machine, Borden
milk, immigrant solders. |
|
We have experienced generals. |
North had, when he was sober, U.S. Grant;
North had William Sherman. |
|
We’re fighting for a higher cause of
liberty. |
Abraham Lincoln, Radical Congress, Radical
officers, and the Emancipation Proclamation—Slavery became the cause and
liberty became the cause. |
Timeline: Civil War
– April 1861 to April 1865
Tip
on the History: Look at the map provided in the course with this
resource. It has instructor’s notes. The date column in the timeline shows the year followed by the number of the month. For example: 1861-04 means 1861 in April |
|
Date |
Details |
|
1861-04 |
Fort Sumter (harbor of Charleston, SC)—Lincoln states his intent is only to “hold, occupy, and possess”
federal property in the South. That is all he is going to do. Provisions in short
supply, Lincoln sends an unarmed
supply ship. 2 days firing by
the South and surrender of fort. South became the
aggressor. Threat
to slavery in the South by Lincoln: none |
|
1861-07 |
Bull Run (near Manassas, VA) – failure of Northern generals Officially a
Southern victory |
|
1862-04 |
A mixed outcome
with each side having a claim to success, but the South is unable to stop the
Union’s moves (led by U.S.
Grant) into the |
|
1862-09 |
Antietam (creek near Sharpsburg, MD) - Lee attacks in the North. 2,100 Union deaths
and 2,700 Confederate; wounded 18,500. Stalemate, but Lee
retreated¾Official victory |
|
1863-01 |
Emancipation
Proclamation - freed slaves in rebellious territory only
(where the Union troops conquered the South), not in the border states still in the Union—a beautiful chess move.
His action §
Did
nothing that could be stopped (Northern Democrats could criticize, but not
stop it.) §
Did not offend the slave-holding
Union states – Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky §
Did
give a reason for black freemen to join the Union army §
Blocked
Radical Republicans—pressing §
Blocked
the radical press—arguing for emancipation § Blocked the Radical military—freeing slaves
they found and classifying them as contrabands. § Blocked
French and British sentiment toward South (The British public was increasingly anti-slavery as were the textile
workers, who remained supportive of the North even as they lost jobs.) Threat to slavery in the South by Lincoln: only if a state continues to be in
rebellion (but no Southern state took his offer) |
|
1863-07 |
Gettysburg (PA)¾Eastern part of the war - Lee attacked in the North—the last time. Why? Hopes for 165,000 troops;
Southern charge (George Pickett’s charge), 14,000-15,000 soldiers made it to
engage the Union forces. Later, Confederate retreat. Consequence: §
Union
had clout to threaten to §
British
blocked delivery of ironclads/rams §
French
blocked delivery of 6 vessels. (FYI: French in June had occupied Mexico City,
placed Maxmilian of Austria as Emperor of Mexico.) Vicksburg
(MS)—Western part of the war -Defeat of the South by Ulysses S. Grant –
Confederacy now divided at the Mississippi; Mississippi now controlled by North. Tip on
the History: Look at the map of the war. Notice that the North
has divided the South vertically at the Mississippi River. The North can now
use the Mississippi to get to the Gulf of Mexico from the west. |
|
1863-12 |
Lincoln
Plan¾Proclamation
of Amnesty and Reconstruction – a moderate, not a Radical
§
Premise—The states never left the §
Presidential
control §
10 % legal voters taking oath of
allegiance accepting end of slavery §
Amnesty with the oath §
Legitimate
state government, representatives and senators to Congress 1864 Per this plan,
Tip on
the History: Notice the offer to the South and the 10%. Do the
math on the years: how long has this war lasted? |
|
1864-05 - 09 |
§
60,000
Union soldiers - Their Orders: To
“forage liberally on the country” §
300
miles long §
60
miles wide. Tip on the
History: Why would Sherman do this and at this time. Look
at the map of the war. Notice that the North has now marched across the South
diagonally from the West in Tennessee down to the East through Georgia. |
|
1864-11 |
Re-election of Lincoln over Democrat George B. McClellan, former General, means the war continues. |
|
1865-01 |
13th
amendment¾passed Tip on
the History: What’s the difference between: § An
amendment and a law? § Passing
an amendment and ratifying it? If you
do not know, then ask. Glad to help you. |
|
1865-02 |
Sherman’s March
to the Carolinas Tip on
the History: Look at the map of the war. Notice that the North
has now marched across the South from Georgia through North and South
Carolina. |
|
1865-02 |
Meeting: Hampton
Roads (VA) – not in your book but useful to realize Lincoln and
Secretary of State Seward with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens Confederate
President Jefferson Davis rejected the offer because he wanted independence Tip on
the History: How realistic was the rejection? Do the math: § On the years: how long has this war lasted? § On the geography: how much has the North conquered? § On the number of population for a war: how many did each side have and
how many at the end of the war? |
|
1865-04 |
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
(VA) -
Previously at 165,000 before Gettysburg in 1863, Lee’s army to 25,000,
rations short. |
|
1865-04 |
|
|
Copyright C. J. Bibus,
Ed.D. 2003-2016 |
|
WCJC
Department: |
History
– Dr. Bibus |
|
Contact
Information: |
281.239.1577
or bibusc@wcjc.edu
|
|
Last
Updated: |
2016 |
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