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Introduction to the American Civil War
This page is designed to give you a better insight on what went on during the American Civil War, and just what each side was thinking on their attacks.
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Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposittion tat all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation; or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who have gave their lives that that nation might live. It is all together fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hollow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it never can forget what we did here. it is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall ave a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, fro the people shall not perish from the earth.
The address above was revised by Abraham Lincoln from his own notes.
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Battles and People of the American Civil War
FORT SUMTER
The Civil War broke out here (Fort Sumter) on April 12,1861 When shots were fired at 4:30 am. The Confederates (South) goal was to get Fort Sumter out of the Unions (North) hands so they could extend their border. This caused border states such as Missouri, Kentucky, and West Virginia choose whether they would join the Union or the Confederacy.
ADVANTAGES OF THE UNION
The Union was known to have enjoyed economic advantages, having 85 percent of the nations industires. The Union was more of a stronger economy and more towns than the Confederacy. They also had a higer population to go along with this bombing economy, which played a big impact on this war.
ADVANTAGES OF THE CONFEDERACY
The Confederacy really had two huge advantages. First of all the Union had to fight a defensive war, maening that the war would be fought in the northern states, rather than the Union coming in with all of their men and invading the southern states. Another slight advantage that the south had was that they had excellent military leadership, which served as a huge purpose to this war.
ROBERT E. LEE
Lee was born in 1807. Robert was an excelling student at West Point, and he graduated in 1829. He was more of a quiet guy, he wasn't one who go around chasing women or do alot of gambling. He was a guy who believed that reading weakens the mind so he didn't do alot of that either. He was best known for his extreme military skills in the Mexican War, and the American Civil War. He served in the Mexican War under General Winfield Scott when he was captured in Veracruz. In 1859 he led federal troops in to capture John Brown at Harpers Ferry. When Lincoln asked him to commend the Union Forces he declined, because he refused to fight against his home state Virginia, which belonged to the Confederacy. Lee died five years after the American Civil war ended in 1870.
WOMEN IN THE WAR
Women back in this time wanted to involved in the war, but the men refused to let them join the services. There were some women who wanted to join the war so badly, so they went to dress themselves like men to enter services. There were other women who served in the war but they served in medical roles. The first group of women to serve in medical roles were catholic nuns, and they transfered from hospitals that were located in the North and in the South.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Lincoln was Americas 16th President from 1861 to 1865. Lincoln beat Stephen Douglas in the Presidential election, and was inaguarated on March 4th 1861. Even before he was elected there were several states suceeding from the Union and this was just the beginning of the stuff Lincoln was left to take care of. Almost a month after Lincolns election the country began to split up because of the shots fired at Fort Sumter. This is when Lincoln found out that being the President was going to be a very difficult task. He as well as fellow Americans could see that he was beginning to become very stressed over the situation, just by his apperance. More wirnkles came in his face and his hair became grayer. When the war ended on April 9, 1865 Lincoln was just starting to get the stress off his shoulders until one night, when Lincoln was at Fords Theatre watching "My American Cousin" in a booth with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, a guy by the name of John Wilkes Booth poped in and shot Lincoln behind his head. While Booth was trying to get away he jumped off the booth and broke his leg, and he escaped with a broken leg. Lincoln was rushed to the hosptal across the street from the theatre, and he died there on April 15 1865 at 7:22 am. The War Department had a 50,000 dollar reward out for John Wilkes Booth, and a 100,000 dollar reward out for him and his partners. The Confederate sympathizer was caught in a barn outside of town on April 26, 1865 with his partners and Booth refused to give up so the officer shot him. Lincolns body was upt in a train and sent off to Illinois where he would be buried.
THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN
This one one of the first biggest battles in the American Civil War. It all started out when General Joseph E. Johnston dug for high grounds around "Bull Run Creek". Johnston was with around 35,000 Confederate soldiers, when the North was moving in. This battle was a big victory for the Confederacy because with them having one this it made the north relize that they were in for a longer war than they had planned for.
STRATEGIES FOR THE UNION
The Union had three different strategies to win this war. First of all they wanted to capture Richmond, which is the Confederate capital, they wanted to gain control over the Mississippi River, where the Confederacys supplies would come flowing in, and they also wanted to set up a naval blockade in the south making it difficult for the Confederacy to communicate with other nations.
STRATEGIES FOR THE CONFEDERACY
The South had two main goals, unlike the North who had three main goals to succed the others territory.
The Confederacy basically had the same goal in mind and that was to gain control of the Unions capital, which we know as Washington D.C. Their other intention was to get control of the Shenandoah Valley which would be a big success for taking control of the North.
A SOLDIERS LIFE IN THE WAR
Soldiers in the South were poor, many of the soldiers wnet home and picked out their own uniforms to wear during the war. There was a much different case in the North, when they were suppose to wear unifroms that were given to them. The soldiers life was tough back then because you had to almost supply everything you used from home, such as sleeping bags, tents, and sometimes even guns and ammunition. There were also many camps that were infested with diseases, and little children at ages of 9 through 12 would so times be among the many that die from the diseases.
GEORGE McCLELLAN
He was a Union General, who was very well trained through the miltary world. He was known for both his pride and his discipline. He was very cautious throughout the war, because he didn't want to have very many casualties to his men. He figured that they were all very brave, and had families to go home to and he didn't want them to lose all of that. One of his biggest adventures was when he transported 100,000 men, 300 canons, and 25,000 animals across the sea to the Battle of Seven Pines.
BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES
This battle began on May 31st of 1862 on the East side of Richmond, Virginia. This was another one of those battles where the South failed to live up to it's priorities as far as casualties go. General Johnston (Battle of Bull Run) was one of the bigger people in the war that were injured. Soon afterward Robert E. Lee began to think that he was in charge, and he led the Confederates into the Battle.
SEVEN DAYS CAMPAIGN
This famous campaign lasted from June 25 to July 1. This campaign was so famous because it's where Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson became known to the public. Duirng this campaign there were 16,000 casualties to the Union, whereas to the Confederates had over 20,000 men killed or wounded.
BATTLE OF ANTIETAM
This battle occured in 1862, when Robert E. Lee took his offensive position. Lee and his men crossed the Potomatic River into Maryland on September 4, 1862, when suddenly a Battle broke out between Lee and his men against McClean and his men at Antietam Creek. During this battle Lee sent 55,000 troops to go and fight, and McClean sent 75,000 troops to fight.This battle was known as the bloodiest battle in American History.
BATTLE OF FREDRICKBURG
This was another grusome battle that took place between the Union and the Confederacy. This was an odd battle, because the Confederacy came out with more men than the Union. The Union lost more than 12,000 men, and the Confederacy lost about 5,000 men.
BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILE
This was a battle the the Confederacy regretted. They regretted this battle so much because of the fact that Stonewall Jackson (Lee's Right Hand Man) was wounded during this battle. It was around midnight when Stonewall was coming back to his Confederate camp on his horse, and one of his men mistaked him for a Union soldier, and he shot him.
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG
This was a three day battle, which lasted from July 1st to July 3rd 1863. On the first day the Confederates pushed back the Union all the way back to Cemetary ridge, and it seemed as though they were going to win the battle. On July 2nd General Lee and the Confederacy attacked the Union trying to gain control of the Global Shaped Hill. To do such a thing he ordered General Pickett to take 15,000 men on Cemetary Ridge to get ready to attack the Union. They finally attacked them and they lost the battle to the Union. This battle was basically the turning point for the American Civil War.
BATTLE OF SHILOH
This battle broke out on the morning of April 7, 1863. By mid afternoon Grant and his men were outnumbering the Confederates, and the Confederate General Beauregard told his men to retreat. Both sides to the Battle had horrible losses. The Union casualties came around 13,000 men, and the Confederate casualties including General Johnston was around 10,000.
UNION WAR AIMS
For the most part the Union people, were trying to make the Confederacy weaker, by enlarging its "War Aims," which included the freeing of slaves. At the beginning of this time period, the people of the North were wondering whether saving the Union would bring an end to slavery. Through out this time period, the Union was trying to aim at ending slavery, and that was the goal they wanted to accomplish.
EMANCIPATION PROCLAIMATION
This was something that Abraham Lincoln noted would quiet the constitional concearns, and he stated that it would only affect the states of the confederacy. This was basically his constitional authority to abolish slavery, and it became effective in July of 1862.
AFRICAN AMERICANS INVOLVED IN THE WAR
The Emancipation encouraged the enlistment of Afriacn Americans in the war. The first official "Black" regiment to get involved in the war was in 1862 in the state of South Carolina. A guy by the name of Frederick Douglass (Black) was trying to get the black community involved in this black soldier movement, because he felt that it was an important movement toward the citizenship of African Americans through out the nation.
WILLIAM T. SHERMAN
Sherman was a real moody type of person, with a lot of ambition. The thing that helped him out the most was his brilliancy in the military field. He's known best for many Civil War battles, but his most famous one was the Battle of Vicksburg. Sherman was also noted to have been rewarded by Ulysses S. Grant to be the commander of the Tennessee Army.
WAR OF ATTRITION
This whole situation occured when Grant told Lincoln he would take his losses into Richmond and move onward with the war. The name of this stratgie was called the "War of Attrition", meaning that Grant and his men would go on out and fight until the confederacy ran out of men and supplies.
SHERMANS MARCH TO THE SEA
William T. Sherman was known to work his way toward Richmond. He moved around 100,000 troops out of Tennessee toward Atlanta, Georgia on September 2, 1864. When they entered the Confederates fell back and Sherman and his men captured Atlanta. With having captured Atlanta, General Sherman had only one Confederate Railroad across the mountains to knock out.
ULYSSES S. GRANT
President Lincoln called upon Ulysses S. Grant to fight in the war, because Linclon could trust him, and he knew the advantages to the Union better than alot of people. Robert E. Lee was originally his first choice, but Lee didn't want to fight for the Union because he would be fighting against his home state of Virgina, and he didn't want to do that. Grant became the commander of all of the Union forces as of May of 1864. It's been said that Grant would refuse to sit down and relax, and that he would attend days mile by mile.
APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE
This is where Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee meet on April 9, 1865. This was basically a peaceful meeting in a small house inside of a little village. The two happened to talk about the Mexican War (1846-1848) and when they fought in it. Grant remembered Lee very well back then, but Lee had a faint memory of Grnat during these times. On April 26, 1865 General Joseph Johnston surrendered to General William T. Sherman and the war was offically over.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR
This was known as one of the most tragic wars on American soil. Around 360,000 Union Soldiers died, whereas 258,000 men for the Confederacy died during the course of the war. More than one third of all young men who served during the war were killed, wounded, captured, or died of disease. The North (Union) ended up with very positive economic consequences. The South (Confederacy) needed to basically be repaired to have positive economic consequences in the future.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments on the Civil War.
General_Doyle
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