Civil War Overview
History M07A - Dr. Krister Swanson - Moorpark College

Election of 1860 Splits a Nation

• Lincoln’s election: 7 states secede, 4 more when he calls for troops, (CSA, confederacy, south)
• Question of secession difficult for “upper south”
• 4/61- SC fires on Ft. Sumter (belongs to them now)
• Northern advantages (population, manufacturing, wealth, RRs, navy)
• Southern advantages (leadership, cause, defensive war over large area)

Mobilizing for War

• Both sides sell bonds & tax
• South has trouble regulating currency (prints $$$ to fund war effort)
• South must build factories
• Sheer number of troops becomes an issue (conscription on both sides)

The Fighting Begins

• Union believes they’ll win easily
• South stirred to action by “Yankee aggression”
• 7/61 - South wins first battle at Bull Run
• War goes well for South early, defensive war, fighting for a cause, good leadership

Two Wars of 1862:

• West: Grant gains control of KY & TN, rallies at Shiloh, and navy wins at New Orleans (goal is control of the Mississippi)
• East: McClellan moves on Richmond, gets shut down by Johnston & Lee, wusses out, retreats, and then...
• 9/62- Antietam: Lee invades MD, bloodiest single day, Lee turned back but McClellan does not chase

Lincoln looks for leadership

• 12/62- Burnside attacks Lee at Fredricksburg, “slaughterpen”
• 1/1/63- Emancipation Proclamation: Slaves in rebellious states are now “forever free” - makes CW a moral crusade
• 4/63- Hooker launches 3 pronged attack at Chancellorsville, gets outflanked and retreats

South at War

• Union blockade forces total makeover of economy
• Conscription & later impressment into service
• Poor bear hardships “rich man’s war & a poor man’s fight”
• Slavery ultimately disintegrates in the face of war

North at War

• Republicans push economic programs (currency, bank, etc.)
• Lincoln suspends Habeas Corpus to arrest those criticizing the war & avoiding draft
• Women take over farms and jobs
• Dems charge Draft & Emancipation are unconstitutional
• 1863: Draft Riots – stirred up by poverty & racism

Turning Point: 7/4/1863

• Gettysburg - Lee heads north, Huge losses for South, turned away from DC
• Vicksburg - Union gains control of Mississippi after long siege, Grant then heads east

The War Drags to an End

• March, 1864: Grant in charge - war of attrition starts
• Sherman’s March: 60 mi. wide path of destruction through Georgia, then he heads north, meanwhile...
• Grant starts bloody campaign towards Richmond
• Election of 1864: Dems thought dissatisfaction might bring victory
• They divide between “War” and “Peace” factions, then war turns in Reps favor and Dems are done
• Battered into submission, South quickly collapses
• April 9, 1865: Lee surrenders, South left w/ major problems