Chp 15 Identifications: Civil War Recruits And Conscriptions

Chp 15 Identifications

War recruits and conscriptions
● Background Info: The Civil War armies would become the largest org. created in the US. By the end of the war, over 2m would serve in the North, and 800k in the South.
● At first, the raising of armies depended on local efforts. Uniforms were left mainly to local opinion, and officers ranked as high as colonels were democratically elected! In the South, cavalrymen provided their own horses.
● This democratic and informal way of recruits, however, could not withstand the stress of war nor the demand for recruits as casualties mounted.
● In April 1862, the Confederacy enacted the first draft in American history. The Confederacy’s Conscription Act called for all able-bodied male
between 18 and 35 to serve for three years. The act antagonized Southerners.
● Exemptions applied for some, ranging from religious ministry to shoe-making.
● A loophole (closed in 1853), allowed for the wealthy to hire substitutes.
● Southerners widely feared that slaves could not be controlled if all able-bodied men went to war. The so-called 20-Negro Law exempted those with more than 20 slaves, bringing about complaints of “a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight.”
● Sidenote: In 1864, the Confederacy issued a new conscription act requiring those in the army to stay for the duration of war, providing the South with veteran soldiers.
● In March 1863, the Union also turned to conscription. The Enrollment Act made able-bodied male citizen between 20 and 45 eligible for drafting.
● The Enrollment Act granted exemptions, but only to high officials / ministers, and men who were the sole support of widows / orphans. It also allowed for substitutes or paying $300 to the govt. as means of escaping the draft. Some dishonest “bounty jumpers” repeatedly collected their money and then deserted their obligations.
● Despite some opposition to conscription in both the Union and the Confederacy, because the draft became hard to escape, many chose to volunteer. In the Confederate Army 70-80% of eligible men served, but only 1 in 5 was a draftee. In the Union Army, only 8% were draftees or substitutes.

Supplying the troops
● Once its army was raised, the Confederacy had to supply it. At first, they used stopgap methods such as confiscating federal arsenals and relying on EU arms.
● At the same time, they began to build industrial bases by assigning contracts to privately owned factories, providing loans, and creating govt. owned industries.
● By 1862, southerners also had a competent head of weaponry, Josiah Gorgas.
● Supplying troops with clothing and food proved more difficult, and soldiers frequently went without shoes. Supply problems had several sources, including railroads that fell into disrepair or Union hands, an economy that depended on cotton and tobacco, and early Union invasions that overran livestock.
● Close to desperation, the Confederate Congress passed the unpopular Impressment Act in 1863. The act allowed officers to take food from reluctant farmers at certain prices as well as to impress slaves into labor for the army.
● The industrial Union had fewer problems supplying arms, clothes, and food.

Financing the War
● Background Info: The recruitment and supply of huge armies lay far beyond American public finance at the start of the war. In the 1850s, annual federal spending had averaged only 2% of the GNP!
● During the war, annual federal expenses gradually rose to 15% of the GNP, and the need for new sources of revenue became urgent. Neither govt. wanted to impose taxes to which Americans were unaccustomed. The Confederacy enacted a small property tax; the Union an income tax. But neither produced much revenue.
● Therefore, both sides turned to war bonds, loans from citizens to be repaid by future generations. But bonds had to paid for in specie, which was short in supply.
● In the South, its first bond soaked up most of its specie and threatened to be its last war bond. Recognizing limitations, both sides began to print paper money.
● Early in 1862, Lincoln signed the Legal Tender Act, which authorized $150 million of the greenbacks (paper money). Memminger and Chase, the treasury secretary of each side, both distrusted paper money, but eventually came around to the idea.
● Paper money made it easier for money to flow, but the value of paper money depended on the public’s confidence in the govt. that issued it.
● To bolster confidence, the Union made the greenbacks legal tender (an acceptable payment of public and private debts). In contrast, paper money in the Confederacy aroused suspicions. Confidence in the South’s paper money quickly evaporated, and the South experienced over 9000% inflation rate, compared to the North’s 80%.
● The war saw both sides end hard-money, minimal-govt. traditions of US finance.
● The Legal Tender Act and the National Bank Act (see below), reflected the Union’s experience with complex financial transactions, as well as its greater political unity.

National Bank Act (1863)
● The Republicans took advantage of southern Democrats’ departure to push through one measure they and their Whig predecessors had long wanted: national banking.
● The act established criteria by which a bank could obtain a charter and issue national bank notes. It also gave private bankers an incentive to purchase war bonds.

Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens
● Background Info: The South entered the war with apparent political advantage as Lincoln’s call for troops transformed hesitators into united secessionists.
● The first president of the Confederacy and a former secretary of war, Davis was a strong leader. He possessed experience, honesty, and courage.
● But Davis also had a knack for making enemies. His cabinet suffered from frequent resignations (5 secretaries of war in 4 years) and Davis’ relations with his VP, Alexander Stephens (GA), bordered on disastrous.
● Stephens spent most of the war in Georgia, sniping Davis as “weak and peevish.”
● Background Info: The Confederate Constitution, drafted in Feb 1861, guaranteed sovereignty of the Confederate states and prohibited Congress from enacting tariffs and internal improvements.
● Davis and Stephens also clashed ideologically. Stephens and influential governors called for states’ rights, but Davis’ main objective was to secure independence, a goal that often led him to override state wants for the good of the Confederacy.
● Also, in the South, the Democrats and remaining Whigs agreed to suspend party politics during the war in a bid to promote unity. But without party rivalry and party loyalty, southern politics disintegrated along personal lines, encouraging disunity.

Abraham Lincoln, Radical Republicans, and Northern Democrats
● In contrast to the Confederacy, the Union’s list of political liabilities appeared lengthy.
● Contentious to Lincoln and the Republicans were the Northern Democrats, who wanted no drafts, no banks, and no abolition.
● Lincoln’s informal western manners and early northern setbacks in the war convinced most Republicans that Lincoln was an ineffectual leader. Lincoln had to deal with Radicals in his own party, which included Chase, Sumner, and Stevens.
● But the Radicals never formed a tightly knit group. Lincoln’s distinctive style allowed him to disarm opposition by keeping his opponents off-guard. He had the dual benefit of leaving open communication with both the conservative and radical Republicans.
● Like Stephens, the Northern Democrats too opposed centralization. But unlike Davis, Lincoln could control his foes more skillfully because of his temperament.
● More importantly, party politics (which the South abandoned), helped Lincoln keep control. With Democrats’ opposition, the Republicans learned that no matter how much they hated Lincoln, they had to rally behind him, or risk losing office.
● And therefore, as the war progressed, the Union developed more political cohesion than the Confederacy as it managed its divisions more effectively.

Defining the Borders
● Background Info: Washington was bordered by VA, and MY, two slave
states.
● Lincoln quickly moved to protect the capital. Despite a Baltimore mob attacking a MA regiment, enough slipped through to Washington to protect the capital.
● Then, Lincoln moved troops to MY, and suspended the writ of habeas corpus, a court order requiring a prisoner to be brought to court to show reason for detention.
● With the writ suspended, troops could arrest Marylanders without formal charges. Afraid by the bold move, the MY legislature rejected secession. DE followed suit.
● In KY, a slave state, Lincoln authorized the arming of Union sympathizers and stationed Gen. Grant just across the Ohio River in IL. When Confederate troops invaded early in 1862, KY turned to Grant, becoming the 3rd slave state in the Union.
● A fourth, MO, was ravaged by four years of fighting in the Civil War. Despite savage fighting and divided loyalties, MO never officially left the Union.
● Sidenote: West VA, in 1863, became the fifth border state.
● By holding these four border states, Lincoln kept open his route to the free states and gained access to river systems in KY and MO that led into the Confederacy.
● Lincoln’s bold actions prompted him to exercise long-dormant executive powers.
● Chief Justice Taney ruled in Ex parte Merrymen (1861) that Lincoln exceeded his authority in suspending habeas corpus in MY. The president cited the Constitution’s authorization of writ suspensions in “cases of rebellion” (I.ix) and ignored Taney.

War resources and needs
● Compared to the Confederacy’s 9m, the Union had 22m people. The North also had 90% of industry and 70% of railroads. On the other hand, the Union faced the task of forcing the South back into the Union. The Confederates only needed to hold out.
● The North needed to defend long supply lines, occupy captured areas, and keep some men back for labor and industry. The South, which relied on slaves for labor, could assign a higher proportion of white men to combat.
● The South moved short distances w/o railroads inside its defensive arc. The North needed railroads to maneuver around the exterior of the arc, so guerrillas could easily sabotage railroads. Also, once away from railroads, supply wagons slowed in watery ditches. Even on roads, 35k horses were needed to carry 100k men’s supplies.
● Finally, the Confederate troops had an edge in morale, battling on home ground.

New wartime technologies
● The Civil War witnessed experiments with a variety of newly developed weapons, including the submarine, the repeating rifle, and the Gatling gun (like a machine gun).
● Yet these futuristic innovations had less impact than the perfection of a bullet, whose powder would not clog a rifle’s internal grooves after a few shots.
● This allowed for the Springfield or Enfield rifles to replace the smoothbore muskets by 1863. Unlike the muskets, which had only a range of 80 yards, the improved rifles could now hit targets up to 400 yards away.
● The improved rifles made straight-out infantry charges against weaker opponents more difficult, as they could now shoot more rounds accurately before the enemy got closed enough to thrust bayonets.
● Thus the rifle produced tactical changes. The value of trenches, which provided defenders protection, became valuable. Furthermore, cavalry, which was prestigious, lost its rank because the new rifles decreased its effectiveness against infantry.

Offensive tactics
● Despite the improved rifles, the attacking army still stood an excellent chance of success, provided it achieved surprise, which the South’s lust forests provided.
● Because surprise often proved effective, most generals continued to believe that their best chance of success lay in striking an unwary or weakened enemy.
● Much like previous wars, the Civil War saw infantry trade volleys, charge, and counter-charge, until a side withdrew from the field.
● The side that lost thought to have lost the battle, but often sustained lighter casualties. As a rule, the beaten army moved back a few miles while the winners stayed to nurse the injured. Politicians raged at generals for not pursuing a beaten foe, but it was difficult for a mangled victor to regroup for a new attack.

Winfield Scott and the Anaconda Plan (1861)
● The North devised a long-term strategy. The so-called Anaconda plan, devised by Scott, called for the Union to blockade coastlines, and then snake down the Miss. R..
● Scott hoped that this would make the South recognize the futility of secession and bring southern Unionists to power.
● But Scott overestimated the strength of Unionist spirit in the South. Furthermore, although Lincoln quickly ordered a blockade, the North hardly had the troops and navy to seize the Mississippi. So the Anaconda Plan remained only an objective.
● In the early war, the North followed no blueprint. The need to secure KY and MO dictated the West. Once they did, they stormed into TN.
● The Appalachians tended to seal this western theater off from the eastern theater.

First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas)
● Background Info: The Confederacy’s decision to move its capital north to Richmond, VA shaped Union strategy in the East. They cried, “Forward to Richmond.”
● Before the Union could reach Richmond (100 mi), they first needed to dislodge the Confederate army parched 25 miles away from DC. Lincoln ordered General Irvin McDowell to attack his West Point classmate, General P.G.T. Beauregard.
● This resulted in the First Battle of Bull Run. Amateur armies clashed under a blistering July sun. Aided by last-minute reinforcements, Beauregard routed the disorganized attacking federals of the larger Union army. General George B. McClellan, the Peninsula Campaign, and Seven Days’ Battles
● After the loss at Bull Run, Lincoln replaced McDowell with McClellan.
● McClellan had also served in the Mexican War. Few generals could match his ability to turn a disorganized mob into a disciplined fighting force.
● Although his followers loved him, Lincoln quickly became disenchanted. Whereas Lincoln wanted to make use of superior numbers by coordinated attacks on several fronts, McClellan, a proslavery Democrat, hoped to maneuver the South into a relatively bloodless defeat and negotiate a peace treaty.
● McClellan soon got his chance to put his ideals in motion.
● Background Info: After Bull Run, the Confederate Army had pulled back.
● Rather than directly attack the Confederates, McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign would move the army by water, safe from Confederate cavalry that could cut off the Union if moving by rail. Then, the army would move northwest towards Richmond.
● The plan was also advantageous as it threatened southern supply lines as well.
● McClellan’s goal was to maneuver directly to the capital, rather than aiming for the Confederate army. This, he hoped, would avert a destructive siege.
● The most massive military campaign to date, the plan at first unfolded smoothly.
● Begun in spring 1862, McClellan’s army of 100k came within 5 miles of Richmond by May. But McClellan overestimated the Confederates’ strength and waited, calling for reinforcements from Pope’s troops in the Shenandoah Valley.
● Confederate general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson turned back Pope’s troops.
● While McClellan hesitated, Confederate general Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederacy’s Northern Virginian army and attacked McClellan in late June.
● The seemingly gentle but bold Lee suffered twice as many casualties as McClellan in the ensuing Seven Days’ Battles, but an unnerved McClellan sent panicky reports to DC, and Lincoln ordered McClellan to call off the campaign and return. Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas) and Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
● Background Info: With McClellan out of the way, Lee and Jackson struck north.
● In the Second Battle of Bull Run, Lee and Jackson routed a Union army under General Pope, and even more boldly, crossed the Potomac River in early Sept.
● Lee hoped that the forthcoming harvest would provide his army with much needed supplies. Lee also hoped to relieve Richmond by threatening DC, and at the same time induce Europe to recognize the Confederacy’s independence.
● But Lee met McClellan at the Battle of Antietam on Sept 17. Union victory saw Lee call off his plans and retreat. 24k deaths made it the bloodiest day in the entire war. Battle of Fredericksburg and stalemate in the East
● Background Info: Lincoln faulted McClellan for not pursuing Lee after Antietam, and replaced him with General Ambrose Burnside.
● In Dec 1862, Burnside captured Fredericksburg, but then sacrificed his army in futile charges. The massive number of Northern casualties shook even Lee.
● The war in the East had become a stalemate. Ulysses S. Grant and the War in the West
● Unlike in the East, the Union fared better in the West. Here, war raged over a vast territory and the key lay in access to rivers leading directly into the South.
● The West also gave rise to an obscure Union general, Grant, who had fought in the Mexican War, retired (1854) with a reputation for heavy drinking, then gained an army commission when the Civil War began.
● In 1861-62, Grant retained MO and KY, and moving into TN, he captured two strategic forts, Fort Henry on the TN R. and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland R.
● Confederate forces under Johnston and Beauregard made a surprise attack on Grant’s army in southern TN near a church named Shiloh.
● The Confederates exploded out of the woods and almost drove the federals into the TN River, but Grant and his lieutenant, William T. Sherman, steadied the Union line.
● With reinforcements the next day, the Union forces drove away the Confederates. Antietam would erase distinction, but the Battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest to date.
● More importantly, the Confederates had pushed up most of its troops to TN, leaving NO exposed. And a combined land-sea force under General Benjamin Butler didn’t fail to capitalize. Admiral David G. Farragut took NO in late April and soon moved up the Mississippi River.
● At the same time, Grant and Cairo moved Southward down the Mississippi River from Memphis to Vicksburg. Now the North controlled all but 200 miles of the river. Trans-Mississippi West and Indian Wars
● Union and Confederate forces also clashed at the Rio Grade, where Union volunteers, joined by MEX-AME companies, drove a Confederate army out of NM and back to TX.
● Farther east, in AR and western MO, armies vied for the MO R., which connected to the Mississippi R. Battles often involved the Natives too, who fought on both sides.
● After Union victory in Pear Ridge, AR, and likewise victories farther west, the Union victories changed the nature of the war in the trans-Mississippi.
● As Confederates’ threats faded, the same Union volunteers now turned to Natives.
● Indian Wars erupted everywhere. After 1865, federal troops completed the rout of Natives that had begun in the Civil War. The Naval War and the Battle of the Merrimac and the Monitor
● Background Info: The Union began the campaign with over 40 active warships (compared to the South’s zero) and exploited one of its clearest advantages.
● Sidenote: By 1865, the US had the largest navy in the world.
● The Union’s steam-driven ships penetrated crucial rivers from all directions, including from the South, as seen in Farragut’s invasion of New Orleans.
● Despite its large size, the navy faced a challenge in blockading the South’s 3500 miles of coastline. Early in the war, up to 90% of Confederate ships sailed past.
● The North gradually tightened its control, and by 1865, only about 50% made it through. Furthermore, Northern seizure of ports shrank South’s foreign trade as well.
● The Union navy shrank the South’s ocean trade to 33% of its pre-war level.
● Despite its meager resources, the South tried to offset the North’s advantage. Raising the scuttled Union Merrimac, the Confederacy transformed it into an ironclad, and renamed it Virginia. The Virginia went on to beat two Union warships.
● But the Virginia soon met its match. In the first ironclad engagement in history, the Virginia and Monitor fought an indecisive battle on Mar 9, 1862.
● The South went on to build more ironclads, and even the first submarine, which carried a mine to sink a Union ship. (unfortunately, the submarine sunk as well)
● But the North always remained superior. Only in high seas, where wooden stream-driven raiders like the Alabama and Florida (built in UK) could raid the Union’s merchant marine were the Confederates successful. But because the North had its own industry and did not depend on foreign imports like the South did, commerce raiding failed to tip the balance of the war. The South would lose the naval war. Trent affair, Laird rams, and the two sides’ diplomatic war
● While armies and navies clashed, politicians also clashed on diplomacy.
● Background Info: At the beginning of the war, the Confederacy confidently set out to gain recognition of independence from European powers.
● The South believed that Napoleon III, who wished for a colonial empire in Mexico, had grounds to welcome the permanent division of the US.
● Also, aristocratic Europeans sympathized with southern planters.
● Furthermore, the South believed England, which imported 90% of its cotton from the South, would have to recognize independence amidst blockades and embargoes.
● In 1861, the South dispatched Mason and Slidell. A Union captain, acting without orders, boarded the Trent and brought the two diplomats to Boston as prisoners.
● Britain exploded. Considering one war to be enough, Lincoln released Mason and Slidell. But settling the Trent Affair did not end friction between US and UK.
● The construction of Confederate ships Alabama and Florida led to protests from Union diplomats. In 1863, the Union sent Charles Francis Adams, the son of John Quincy Adams, who threatened war if Britain turned over the so-called Laird rams to the South. Britain capitulated and purchased the rams for its navy.
● In the end, the South fell short of its diplomatic goals. Although France and Britain recognized the Confederacy as a belligerent, it never recognized it as independent.
● Basically, the South overestimated the “cotton diplomacy”. The South’s planters tried to continue exporting, but the South’s share of British cotton market slumped from 77% in 1860 to 10% in 1865. Some of this was due to Union blockades. Another reason was the growing availability of cotton from India and Egypt.
● The South also overestimated Britain’s stake in helping the Confederacy. From British POV, helping the South could easily boomerang.
● Finally, the time never seemed right for European powers. Although they wished to recognize the Confederacy, Union victory at Antietam and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation dampened Europe’s enthusiasm and stirred up pro-Union feelings amongst the working class.

First Confiscation Act
● Background Info: As soon as Union troops began invading the South, questions arose about the disposition of captured rebel property, including slaves.
● To establish an official policy, Congress in Aug 1861 passed the first Confiscation Act.
● The Act authorized the seizure of all property (incl. slaves) used in military aid of the rebellion. Under this act, slaves employed directly by the rebels and who later fled to freedom became “captives of war” but did not grant them freedom.
● Several factors underlay the Union’s cautious approach to rebel property. One reason was Lincoln’s belief that the South’s rebellion lacked any legal basis, and therefore was still subject to the Constitution’s protection of property.
● The President also did not want to push too far was because of proslavery Democrats and four slave states still loyal to the Union.

Second Confiscation Act
● Despite the First Confiscation Act, Lincoln had always faced pressure from the Radical Republicans to adopt a policy of emancipation, agreeing with Douglass that not fighting slavery is “but a half-hearted business.”
● With every setback, northerners were reminded that slave labor allowed the South to commit a higher proportion of white men to battle, and the Radicals’ stance grew.
● The idea of emancipation as a military measure grew increasingly popular.
● In July 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act, which authorized the seizure of all rebel property. It also stated that slaves who came within Union lines “shall be forever free.” Also, the president was allowed to employ blacks as soldiers.

Emancipation Proclamation
● Background Info: Despite the Second Confiscation Act, Lincoln continued to stall. He claimed he wished to save the Union any way possible, “by freeing all slaves”, “some slaves”, or “without freeing any slaves”.
● Yet Lincoln had always hated slavery, but hesitated because he did not want to be pushed into northern disunity by Congress. He also feared that stating his stance in the summer of 1862, after the collapse of the Peninsula Plan and defeat in the Second Battle of Bull Run would make his declaration seem like desperation.
● After failing to get the four loyal slave states to emancipate their slaves, Lincoln drafted an emancipation proclamation, circulated it within his cabinet, and waited for the right time to issue it. That moment came at Antietam.
● Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves under rebel control free as of Jan 1, 1863. Announcing the plan in advance softened the surprise and gave the Confederacy a chance to rejoin the Union and save slavery.
● The final Proclamation declared “forever free” all slaves in areas of rebellion.
● The proclamation had limited practical effect as it only applied to areas in rebellion.
● But the Proclamation provided a brilliant political stroke. Because Lincoln announced it himself as commander-in-chief, Lincoln pacified northern conservatives and at the same time seized the initiative from the Radicals. Because the president issued it, it also had wide-reaching European effect.
● Finally, it gave slaves incentive to escape as northern troops approached. Also, by allowing slaves to join the army, the Confederates’ worst fears were confirmed.
● The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery everywhere, but changed the war’s complexion. From 1863, the war also became a war for slavery. Contrabands and the Freedmen's Bureau
● Background Info: The attacks and counterattacks saw slaves become pawns of war. As Union troops approached, some slaves escaped to behind Union lines. Others became free when the Union troops overran their area.
● In the first year of war, masters were able to retrieve contrabands (fugitive slaves). But from 1862 onwards, slaves who crossed to Union territory became free.
● Some worked for pay on abandoned plantations, and others were loaned out to planters who swore allegiance to the Union.
● Many freedmen became served in army camps as cooks and laborers. But freedmen found paying for clothing, rations, and medicine left them near nothing. Labor contracts often tied freedmen for prolonged periods. Moreover, these men encountered fierce prejudice among Yankee soldiers.
● But this was not the whole truth. Before the war ended, northern missionary groups and freedmen’s aid societies sent agents into the South to work among freed slaves.
● In Mar 1865, just before hostilities ended, Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau which had responsibility for the relief, education, and employment of former slaves.
● The Freedmen’s Bureau law also stated 40 acres of abandoned or confiscated land be leased to each freedman or southern Unionist, with an option to buy after 3 years.
● This was the first and last time Congress provided for the redistribution of confiscated Confederate property.

Black Soldiers in the Union Army, Fort Pillow massacre (1864), and a symbol of citizenship
● Background Info: During the first year of war, black applicants were sent home.
● After the Second Confiscation Act, Union generals formed black regiments in LA and the Sea Islands (SC). After the Emancipation Proclamation, large scale enlistment began. Leading African Americans such as Frederick Douglass linked black military service to claims as citizens and worked as recruiting agents in the North.
● By the end of the war, 186k had served in the Union army (10% of all Union soldiers). Half of these blacks came from the Confederate states.
● White Union soldiers objected to new recruits on racial grounds, but some welcomed their support. Gradually, all Union soldiers approved of “anything that will kill a rebel.”
● Black soldiers suffered a higher mortality rate as they were assigned to disease-ridden garrisons and labor detachments. Also, the Confederacy refused to treat blacks as prisoners of war, and sent them back to their states to be re-enslaved or executed.
● In an especially gruesome incident, Confederate troops under General Nathan Bedford Forrest captured Fort Pillow (TN) and massacred many blacks.
● Black soldiers also faced inequities in their pay. White soldiers earned a total of $16.50, compared to blacks who received $10. Finally, in June 1864, Congress equalized the pay of black and white soldiers.
● Although full of hardships and inequities, military service became a symbol of citizenship for blacks. Grant wrote to Lincoln that “taking [slaves] from the enemy weakens [the Confederacy] in the same proportion they strengthen us.”

Slavery in Wartime and the Disintegration of Slavery
● White southerners at home felt anxious and ”helpless” should the 3 million slaves rise.
● To control them, they tightened slave patrols, moved entire plantations to safety in TX, and spread stories that the Union would use blacks in place of horses.
● Wartime developments had a significant effect on the slaves. Some remained faithful, but most, given the chance, fled to Union lines and freedom.
● The Sea Islands (SC) saw the liberation of the first large group of (10k) slaves. Northern teachers arrived to run schools, northern managers to run plantations. A small number of former slaves received land, and others worked for wages on the plantations. Still, others served as members of a black regiment.
● By 1865, the Sea Islands gained a reputation as a haven for black refugees.
● However, the majority of slaves had no escape, and no uprising of slaves occurred. But even slaves with no chance of escape tested the limits of enforced labor.
● Wartime conditions lowered slaves’ productivity as women and boys complained and commonly refused to work. Some destroyed property and performed inefficiently.
● Whether actually fleeing to freedom or merely stop working, slaves acted to defy slavery and undermine the plantation system. Thus, even as southerners fought to keep slavery, slavery began to disintegrate.
● The Confederate Congress considered arming slaves into its army in 1864. Davis changed his mind in 1865, and narrowly passed a bill to arm 300,000 slaves in March.
● However, as the war ended, the plan was never put into effect.

Lee’s 1863 Offensive
● Background Info: The slide that had started with Burnside’s defeat at Fredericksburg continued into the spring of 1863.
● Burnside was replaced with General Joseph Hooker, who planned to dislodge the Confederates by crossing the Rappahannock River and descending from behind.
● But Lee and Jackson routed Hooker’s twice as large army at Chancellorsville (VA) in May. However, Jackson was accidentally shot and died a few days later.
● Then, Lee, in need of supplies, decided to invade into northern territory. He envisioned a victory in northern soil that would tip the balance in their favor.
● Lee crossed into Maryland, then into southern PA.
● Meanwhile, Lincoln ignored Hooker’s advice to avert Lee and directly attack Richmond, instead replacing him with the more reliable George G. Meade.
● Lee’s offensive came to a halt when he met Union cavalry at Gettysburg.
● Both sides called for reinforcements, and the war’s greatest battle commenced.
● (continued below)

Gettysburg (Jul 1863)
● On Jul 1, Meade’s troops installed themselves in a fish-hook shape. Then, on July 2, rejecting advice to position defensively, Lee instead attacked Union flanks.
● Believing the Union flanks had been weakened, Lee attacked with a massive infantry force in Pickett’s Charge. But Union troops had received reinforcements and Confederate bodies littered the field at the end of the day. Lee chose to withdraw.
● Meade failed to destroy retreating rebels, but had halted Lee’s offensive, and the Union rejoiced.

Vicksburg and Union control of the Mississippi (May-Jul 1863)
● Background Info: Grant, despite repeated efforts, could not take Vicksburg, and the 200 mi. stretch remained in Confederate hands.
● Vicksburg was guarded from all directions except for a thin strip of dry land to its east and south. Grant, positioned in the North, decided to move troops far to the west and down to a point on the Mississippi south of Vicksburg.
● Meanwhile, gunboats and supply ships ran past Confederate batteries (sustaining some damage) to meet with Grant’s army and transport them across to the east bank.
● Grant then swung in a large semicircle, first northeastward to capture Jackson, the capital of MS. Then, after a six-week siege, Vicksburg Gen. John C. Pemberton surrendered on Jul 4, one day after Pickett’s Charge. Port Hudson soon surrendered to another Union army, and the Union controlled all of the Mississippi.

Union victory in Tennessee (Sept-Nov 1863)
● Background Info: The Confederates still had a powerful army in central TN.
● Before 1863 ended, General Rosecrans won another crucial victory in the West.
● Rosecrans forced Bragg’s Confederate army out of central TN and into Chattanooga, the southeastern tip of TN. Rosecrans then pushed Bragg back to Chickamauga.
● Braggs drove back the Union army to Chattanooga in the Battle of Chickamauga (Sept 19-20), but arrival of Grant and reinforcements enabled the North to break Bragg for good in November. This opened way for a Union strike into GA.
● Conclusion: Although 1863 stiffened Union will, the Confederates were far from done, with Richmond remaining intact along with much of the South.

Economic Impact on the Union
● The war affected the Union’s economy unevenly. Some markets, such as the shoe and cotton industry, were damaged with the loss of southern markets, while others, such as clothing and arms industry, benefited from huge govt. contracts.
● Military activity also saw increase in railroad business. Also, in 1862, the federal govt. itself went into the rail business by establishing the United States Military Railroads (USMRR). By 1865, the USMRR became the larges railroad in the world.
● Republicans, with a firm grip in both houses, actively promoted business. The Republicans sponsored the Pacific Railroad Act (1862), which provided for a northern transcontinental railroad from Ohama to San Francisco.
● Two railroad companies were given generous land grants and loans. The issuance of greenbacks and a new national bank brought uniformity to the financial system.
● The Homestead Act (1862) embodied the Republicans’ ideal of “free soil, free labor, free men” and granted 160 acres of land to settlers after five years. By 1865, 20k occupied new land in the West under the act.
● The Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) gave proceeds of public land to states for new universities. This led to large state universities in the Midwest and West.
● In general, the war benefited the wealthy. Corrupt contractors grew wealthy by selling the govt. substandard merchandise. Speculators made millions whenever the Union suffered a setback, as they had converted their greenbacks (which depended on confidence) to gold. Businessmen with scarce commodities also profited.
● On the other hand, most ordinary citizens saw excise taxes, inflation, and tariffs that all combined to make standards difficult. Wages lagged behind cost increases as women and boys (paid less) undercut male workers’ demand for higher wages.
● Labor Unions formed, but these seldom helped, as employers often denounced worker complaints as unpatriotic. In one instance in 1864, army troops had to divert from combat to put down protests in industries.

Economic Impact on the Confederacy
● Background Info: The war shattered the South’s economy. American economy, which had increases of over 50% in the 1840s and 1850s, only increased 22% in the 1860s. The South alone actually declined 39% in the 1860s.
● Union troops’ wrecking of railroads and occupation of food-growing regions combined with drain of manpower into the army to lower cotton productivity.
● Food shortages also abounded late in the war, as planters continued to raise cotton. This not only required slave labor (which could have been used in camps), but also led to impressment of food from civilians to feed its army.
● This set off a reaction by farm wives, who begged their husbands to return home and “fix us all up some” before returning to war. By the end of 1864, half of the Confederacy’s soldiers were absent from their units.
● On the other hand, cotton growing did aid the South as cotton became the basis for the Confederacy’s trade with the Union. The Union had legalized trade in July 1861 with southerners loyal to the Union, but it was impossible to tell who was loyal and who was not. Trading with the enemy alleviated the South’s food shortages, but intensified its morale problems.
● The manpower drain also re-shaped the lives of southern women, who had to take charge of farms and plantations, as well as revive home production as factory-made goods became scarce. The proximity of war sometimes forced women into lives as refugees. Some sought to flee with their slave property before Union troops arrived.

Dissent during the War
● In the Confederacy, dissent took two basic forms. First, a vocal group of states’ rights activists, notably VP Stephens, spent much of the war attacking Davis.
● Second, loyalty to the Union flourished among people living in the Appalachian Mtn. region. Resentful of measures like the 20-Negro exemption, the non-slaveholding small farmers here saw the Confederate rebellion as a slaveowner’s conspiracy.
● Overall, the Confederate govt. responded mildly to popular disaffection. Although Congress granted Davis the right to suspend the writ of habeus corpus, Davis used his power only sparingly and briefly. This was in part due to the suspension of party politics, which could easily bring him charges of despotism.
● Lincoln faced similar challenges in the North, where “peace democrats” or Copperheads, demanded a truce and a peace conference. These Democrats mobilized support of farmers in the border states and of members of the working class (esp. immigrants), who feared losing their jobs to free blacks.
● In 1863, anti-draft sentiments rose up in several cities. In the violent NYC Draft Riot, Irish immigrants killed and massacred hundreds of blacks and burned draft offices and homes of wealthy Republicans. Lincoln dispatched troops to quash the riots.
● As typified above, Lincoln frequently came out strongly, even suspending the writ of habeas corpus nationwide in 1863. Unlike Davis, Lincoln and the Republicans used party politics to rally patriotic fervor against the Democrats.
● Although forceful, Lincoln did not unleash a reign of terror, preserving the freedom of press, speech, and assembly. Civilians arrested were usually quickly released.
● In 1864, a military commission sentenced a man plotting to free Confederate soldiers to be hanged. In Ex parte Milligan (1866), the Supreme Court ruled that military courts could not try civilians when civil courts were open.
● Of more concern were the arrests of politicians. Charles L. Vallandigham (OH; Dem) was sent to jail for the rest of the war after denouncing the suspension of habeas corpus and proposing an armistice. When OH Democrats elected him governor, Lincoln reconciled to banishment. Bewildered in TN, Vallandigham eventually escaped to Canada. The Supreme Court refused to review his case.

Women and Medicine
● Background Info: Despite the disloyalty of some citizens, many civilians, especially women, worked tirelessly to alleviate soldiers’ suffering.
● The US Sanitary Commission, organized to help the medical bureau, depended on women volunteers. 3,200 women also reached out to aid the battlefront as nurses.
● Dorothea Dix became the head of the Union’s nursing corps. Another, Clara Barton, caught wind of Union movements before Antietam and found ingenious methods of channeling medicine to the sick and wounded.
● The Confederacy also had extraordinary nurses. Sally Tompkins was commissioned a captain for her hospital work. Belle Boyd served as both a nurse and spy!
● Nurses, even away from the battlefield, were subject to danger from diseases, and had to face unforgettably haunting sights.
● Nursing, a new vocation for women, seemed a brazen departure from women’s sphere to some people. Some doctors disliked, while others found helpful, women nurses.
● Thanks to the miasm theory of disease’s valuable sanitary measures, the disease to battle deaths ratio decreased from that of the Mexican War. But the germ theory was only beginning in the 1860s, and 2 out of 3 died with disease.
● Background Info: The North gradually concluded that exchanges benefited the Confederacy, and prisoner exchanges collapsed by mid-war.
● Prisoners on both sides suffered from prison camps’ conditions. Andersonville, GA, was known for being a virtual death camp, with 3k deaths a month.

Women’s Roles and Rights
● Other than serving as nurses, women also filled vacant positions in government offices and mills. In rural areas, women often did the plowing, planting, and harvesting.
● Home industry was revived at all levels of society.
● Anna E. Dickinson (PA) threw herself into volunteer work and public lecturing. Her lecture “Hospital Life” won the attention of Republican politicians, and became a crucial campaigner for Republicans in NH and Connecticut.
● Northern women’s rights advocates hoped for women’s rights along with black rights.
● In 1863, women’s rights advocates Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony organized the Woman’s National Loyal League with the aim of getting 400k signatures calling for a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.
● Despite high expectations, the war did not bring women closer to equality.
● This was because Northern politicians could see little value in women suffrage. They supported the attack on slavery, but denounced calls for women suffrage.

The Final Virginia Campaign: Part 1 - Advance to Petersburg (1864)
● Background Info: Early in 1864, Lincoln made Grant commander of Union armies and promoted him to lieutenant general, a position only previously held by Washington. Grant’s only distinguishing characteristics was his ever present cigars, but Grant’s successes in the West had made him the most popular general in the Union.
● Like Lincoln, Grant believed that the Union had to exploit its numerical advantage by attacking on all fronts and prevent the South from shifting its troops from one battlefront to the next. Accordingly, Grant moved his headquarters to the East and planned a sustained offensive against Lee while ordering Sherman to attack in GA.
● In early May, Grant led 118k men against Lee’s 64k. Despite a series of bloody engagements at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, Grant pressed on.
● Eventually, he forced Lee to pull back to defensive fortifications guarding Petersburg and Richmond. Grant had accomplished a major objective, because an entrenched Lee could no longer swing around the Union rear and lanuch surprise attacks.
● Meanwhile, General Sheridan defeated General Early and took control of the Shenandoah Valley, giving Union a clear advantage in Virginia.

Sherman’s Capture of Atlanta (1864)
● Background Info: Believing in coordinated attacks, Grant ordered Sherman to “get into the interior of the enemy’s country inflicting all the damage you can.”
● Sherman advanced into GA with 98k men. General Johnston’s 65k retreated toward Atlanta, planning to conserve strength for a final defense of Atlanta.
● Dismayed with his defensive strategy, Davis replaced Johnston with Hood, who gave a series of attacks on Sherman’s army. The forays failed and depleted Hood’s army.
● No longer able to defend Atlanta’s supply lines, Hood evacuated the city, which Sherman took on Sept/2/1864.

Election of 1864
● Background Info: Lincoln faced pressure from Radicals - who endorsed Secretary of the Treasury Chase - and the Democrats - who never forgave Lincoln for making emancipation a war goal. Copperheads demanded an immediate armistice.
● Facing formidable challenges, Lincoln managed to gain control of the Republican convention in July after Chase’s challenge failed.
● Then, to isolate the Peace Democrats and attract pro-war Democrats, the Republicans formed a temporary National Union party and nominated a pro-war southern Unionist, Andrew Johnson (TN; Dem) as Lincoln’s running-mate.
● The Democrats nominated McClellan, who spent much of the campaign distancing himself from his party’s platform!
● Despite the split and Democrats’ disarray, Lincoln seriously doubted his chances. He arranged for furloughs so soldiers could vote in states lacking absentee ballots. More important was the timely fall of Atlanta punctured the anti-war movement.
● Lincoln swept to reelection with 212 out of the 233 EV and 55% of the popular votes.

Sherman’s March Through the South (1864-1865)
● Background Info: After evacuating Atlanta, Hood led his army north to TN in the hope of luring Sherman out of GA.
● Instead, Sherman gave the South a new lesson in total war, destroying everything as he moved along. Sherman began by burning much of Atlanta before moving down to capture port-city Savannah (GA), then north into Columbia (SC), Bentonville (NC) and Raleigh (NC), where he forced Johnston’s surrender on Apr 18, 1865.
● Sherman liberated slaves and captives while destroying the South's will to fight, terrify its people, and make war terrible. Sherman wrote, “War is cruelty and you cannot refine it.”

The Final Virginia Campaign: Part 2 - Richmond, Appomattox, and Lee’s surrender (1865)
● While Sherman ran rampage through the South, Grant renewed his assault on Petersburg. Sherman had taken its toll on Confederate morale, and rebel desertions reached epidemic proportions. Reinforced by Sheridan’s army from the Shenandoah, Grant swung around to the western flank of Petersburg.
● Lee could do nothing, and alerted Davis on Apr 2 to evacuate Richmond.
● On Apr 3, Union troops entered Richmond and pulled down the Confederate flag.
● Lee made a last-ditch effort to escape west and reach Lynchburg 60 miles west, where he could use railroads to join up with Johnston’s army in NC.
● But Grant swiftly choked off Lee’s escape route, and on Apr 9, Lee agreed to terms of surrender and met Grant in Appomattox Courthouse.
● The final surrender occurred on Apr 13, where Lee’s troops laid down their arms. Grant sent home Lee’s 26k men and put a stop to Union celebrations. “On our part, not a sound of trumpet.”

Union Victory and John Wilkes Booth
● Background Info: Grant returned to a jubilant Washington DC. On Apr 14, he turned down a theater date with the Lincolns.
● At the theater, John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate actor, entered Lincoln’s box and shot him in the head. An accomplice stabbed Secretary of State, Seward, who later recovered, while a third failed to attack VP Johnson.
● Andrew Johnson became president on Apr 15. On Apr 21, Lincoln’s funeral train departed with crowds of thousands gathering at stations to weep as it passed.
● Booth was tracked down and killed/suicide within 2 weeks.
● Meanwhile, Johnston surrendered to Sherman on Apr 18, and Davis was captured in GA on May 10, sealing off a Union victory.

The Impact of War
● The 620k lost lives in the Civil War nearly equalled US deaths in all other wars combined (up to today). 360k Union and 260k Confederate deaths saw most families in the nation suffer losses.
● The economic costs were staggering, but did not ruin the national economy. Only the South suffered heavily. In fact, the NATIONAL economy flourished in the North, with a new national currency in the greenbacks.
● The war also created “a more perfect Union”. States’ rights were severely weakened, and talk of secession ended. The new banking system and the giant railroad corporation pointed out the industrial road the nation would take.
● Finally, the war liberated 3.5m slaves, and ended slavery in the US.