Civil War Turning Point Analysis

The War for Southern Independence is a major turning point in American History. Sparked by political unrest and economic struggles in the South, its four years of fighting were the bloodiest of which America had ever seen. Its tumultuous years saw numerous battles, as well as the ruthless assassination of the nation’s president. The American Civil War brought the United States into a new era, one of both tension and freedom. In the years leading up to the war, a large economic rift began to form between the northern and southern states. The North relied heavily on manufacturing and industry, while the South relied on agriculture and cultivation. Because of this, the South depended greatly on slave labor, as it was cheap, efficient, and filled
positions easily. The North, on the other hand, did not require such labor, as its larger populations provided a vast workforce to fill factory positions. Utilizing slave labor, Southern cotton planters and farmers could reduce costs as they produced cotton for export to Europe. In exchange, Southern farmers purchased manufactured goods from the North and imported luxuries from England. The growth of the Southern cotton industry served as an engine of growth for the entire nation's economy (History). Tariffs also served as a critical economic issue prior to the war. Tariffs were taxes placed on imported goods; the money collected would go towards funding government projects. Throughout the pre-war years, Southern Congressmen generally opposed raising tariffs while Northern Congressmen generally supported it. Southerners favored low tariffs because this kept the cost of imported goods low, which was important in the South's import-oriented economy. Southern farmers were concerned that high tariffs might make their European trading partners raise prices on manufactured goods that the South imported in order to maintain a profit on trade. The North, by dominating national economic policy, was able to pass legislation which taxed the South, leaving the South enraged and fueled their cause for secession (Schulman). The South was not only economically dominated, but also politically emasculated by the North. The most prevalent example of this is President Lincoln’s election in 1860. The 1860 campaign was mainly between two candidates: Lincoln and Breckinridge. Lincoln had a strong electoral presence in the North by campaigning for expanded federal power and higher tariffs, while Breckinridge held the South by campaigning for the preservation of slavery. Lincoln won the election with 180 electoral votes, while barely getting 40% of the popular vote. The vote for Abraham Lincoln was almost exclusively sectional, as lost every Southern State. However, the South felt it no longer had any political power in the federal government, as a majority of southern states supported Breckinridge. They deemed the Presidential results to be intolerable, yet were politically emasculated and thus could not alter them in future elections. This, in essence, was the last straw for the South, and the war officially began on April 12, 1861 (Schulman).
Two years after the war began, General Robert E.
Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in its second invasion of the North. With high morale, Lee intended to march through Pennsylvania farmland to collect supplies and divert the fighting away from war-torn Virginia. He wanted to fight and win a major battle on northern soil and strengthen the Northerners’ calls for peace. General Joseph Hooker soon moved his Union Army in pursuit of Lee, but he was relieved of duty just three days before the battle. Hooker's successor, General George Gordon Meade, moved northward, keeping his army between Lee and Washington, D.C. When Lee learned that Meade was in Pennsylvania, Lee focused his army around Gettysburg (History).
Elements of the two armies collided west and north of the town on July 1, 1863. Union cavalry slowed the Confederate advance until Union infantry arrived. More Confederate reinforcements reached the scene, however, and 30,000 Confederates ultimately defeated 20,000 Northerners, who fell back through Gettysburg to the hills south of town--Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill
(History).
On the second day of battle, the Union defended a hook-shaped range of hills and ridges south of Gettysburg with around 90,000 soldiers. Confederates wrapped around the Union position with 70,000 soldiers. On the afternoon of July 2, Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union’s left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard, and Cemetery Ridge. On the Union’s right, full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and East Cemetery Hill raged. Although the Confederates gained ground, the Union defenders still held strong positions by the end of the day (History).
Fighting resumed on Culp's Hill on July 3, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,000 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge known as Pickett's Charge. The charge was repelled by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. As many as 51,000 soldiers from both armies were killed, wounded, captured, or declared missing in the three-day battle. Four months after the battle, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for Gettysburg's Soldiers National Cemetery to honor the fallen Union soldiers and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address (History). The savage fighting continued for two more years as the number of casualties on both sides rose exponentially. The war ended with General Lee’s surrender to General Grant on April 9, 1865 (History). On April 8, Hoping to reach food and supplies at Appomattox Station, Lee headed west along the Appomattox River. Union cavalry under General Custer reached the supplies first, capturing and destroying three supply trains. Lee anticipated more supplies further west at Lynchburg, so he refused written requests by Grant to surrender his army. On the morning of April 9, General Gordon's forces attacked Union cavalry under General Sheridan not far from the county court house. Realizing the cavalry was supported by two Union army outfits, and unable to link up with General Longstreet's forces, Gordon stopped. Lee’s army was trapped. Lee and Grant agreed to meet at the Wilmer McLean home at the Appomattox Courthouse later that afternoon. There, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia was signed. Three days later, a formal ceremony marked the disbanding of Lee's army and the parole of his men, ending the war in Virginia. The events here prompted similar surrenders all across the South, thus ending the fighting of the Civil War (Civil War Trust). At the peak of the Union’s post-victory joy— a mere five days after General Lee’s Surrender—President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
Lincoln was shot and killed at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., by John Wilkes Booth. News of the president’s death traveled rapidly, and flags across the nation flew at half-mast. On April 18, Lincoln’s body was carried to the Capitol and, three days later, his remains were boarded onto a train that conveyed him to Springfield, Illinois, where he had lived before taking office. Thousands of Americans lined the railroad route and paid their respects to their fallen leader during the train’s solemn progression through the North. Lincoln was interred on May 4, 1865, at Oak Ridge Cemetery near Springfield. Lincoln’s sudden and tragic murder left the nation in need a leader, as Andrew Johnson took his place
(History).
Slavery ended with the war, leaving the Southern economy needing restructuring and reconstruction. Lincoln's plans for reconstruction had been fairly moderate, with limited suffrage for African Americans. Johnson, however, did not follow this course; he believed that the Southern states should decide what was best for themselves. He was also very lenient towards Confederate leaders, only prosecuting a small number. Blacks were still oppressed and violence against them was rampant. Congress soon passed the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibiting states from abridging equality before the law. The Fifteenth Amendment, which gave black men the right to vote, soon followed. Emboldened by this legislation, Republicans went on to introduce the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which kept the rebellious and violent Southerners out of office, allowing Southern Unionists to take power. Johnson opposed all of these movements and was later impeached by Congress for his lack of cooperation, but was found not guilty (US History).
Although African Americans had been granted unprecedented political rights, they still suffered economically. Many had little to no education and only had enough skills to tend crops, and found themselves working on the same plantations they had found themselves on before the war. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and violence kept African Americans from voting, sidestepping the Fifteenth Amendment (US History). The War for Southern Independence was a tumultuous time in American History. Strife between the North and South both politically and economically led to secession and battle. This tension and conflict eventually led to the abolition of slavery and increase in rights for African Americans. Although slavery was over, the struggle for equality had just begun.