Cause of the Civil War:
Economic and social differences between the North and South was one cause of the Civil War. In the south the temperate climate made the growth of tobacco a suitable and very profitable business. Cultivation of this crop required a lot of land, so settlers lived far apart. Northern Colonies were much more dependent on small farms with closely knit communities. These differences were two of the causes of the nations seperation.
States versus Federal rights was another cause of the Civil War. The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states. When Abraham Lincoln won election in 1860 as the first Republican president on a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven slave states in the deep South seceded and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America.
The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents was a cause of the Civil War. During the Civil. Slavery was a political, economic, social and moral issue which strongly divided the citizens of the nation. Because of differences in history and economies, slavery was also a sectional issue between the North and South. The South was a strong believer in Slavery while the North was against Slavery.
Growth of the Abolition Movement was a cause of the Civil War. Northerners became more against slavery. Sympathies began to grow for abolitionists and against slavery and slaveholders. This occurred especially after some major events including: the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Dred Scott Case, John Brown's Raid, and the passage of the fugitive slave act that held individuals responsible for harboring fugitive slaves even if they were located in non-slave states.
The Election of 1860 was also a cause of the Civil War. When Lincoln was elected in 1860, South Carolina issued its "Declaration of the Causes of Secession." They believed that Lincoln was anti-slavery and in favor of Northern interests. Before Lincoln was even president, seven states had seceded from the union: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.
John Brown's Raid:
Sunday October 16, 1859 John Brown led a group of 21 men from Maryland to Virginia. Their objective was to capture of the cache of weapons stored at the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown's ultimate goal was to destroy the slave system of the South. Brown's raid attained initial success. Slashing the telegraph wires to cut off the town from the outside world, the raiders captured the local armory, arsenal and rifle manufacturing plant. They then rounded up 60 townspeople as hostages. John Brown led his men, along with nine hostages, to the small fire engine house adjacent to the armory. Federal forces arrived on Monday evening and successfully stormed the stronghold the following day, seriously wounding Brown. He was tried and convicted of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia. Just before his hanging on December 2, 1859, Brown said a forewarning of the coming Civil War: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood." John Brown's raid and trial add to the dispute between the country's abolitionist and pro-slavery beliefs, hardening the lines that separated the North and the South.
Important Batles:
First Battle of Bull Run:
date- July 16, 1861
Leaders:
Union- Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell
Confederate- Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard
Number of Troops:
Union- 35,000
Confederate- 20,000
Casualties:
Union- 3,000
Confederate- 1,750
Winner: Confederate
Facts:
-Confederates found themselves at an initial disadvantage.
- Virginia Military Institute and Thomas J. Jackson stood their ground and Jackson received his famous nickname, "Stonewall Jackson".
-Both armies were sobered by the fierce fighting and many casualties, and realized the war was going to be much longer and bloodier than either had anticipated.
-The Unions plan for a surprise flank attack on the Confederate left was poorly executed.
-Gen. P.G.T Beaurgard camped near Manassas Junction.
Shiloh:
date- April 6, 1862
Leaders:
Union- Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate- Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston
Number of Troops:
Union- 40,000
Confederate- 30,000
Casualties:
Union- 13,047
Confederate- 10,699
Winner: Union
Facts:
-The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fierce fighting.
-Gen. Johnston was killed during the first day of fighting.
-Beauregard,second in command, decided against assaulting the final Union position that night.
-On the first day of the battle, the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the river and into the swamps of Owl Creek to the west.
-The Confederates achieved considerable success on the first day, but were ultimately defeated on the second day.
Seven Days Battle:
date- June 25 to July 1, 1862
Leaders:
Union- Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan
Confederate- Gen. Robert E. Lee
Number of Troops:
Union- 103,000
Confederate- 92,000
Casualties:
Union-15,500
Confederate- 20,000
Winner: Confederate
Facts:
-The seven days battle was a series of six major battles over the seven days.
-The Seven Days ended with McClellan's army in relative safety next to the James River.
-Lee's army, which had been on the offensive during the Seven Days, lost over 20,000.
-The Seven Days began on June 25, 1862, with a Union attack in the minor Battle of Oak Grove.
-McClellan quickly lost the initiative as Lee began a series of attacks at Beaver Dam Creek.
Antietam Creek
date- September 17, 1862
Leaders:
Union- George McClellan
Confederate- Robert E. Lee
Number of Troops:
Union- 75,500
Confederate- 38,000
Casualties:
Union- 12,401
Confederate- 10,316
Winner: Union
Facts:
-was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Union soil.
-Union assaults against the Sunken Road eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not followed up.
-Ambrose Burnside's corps entered the action, capturing a stone bridge over Antietam Creek and advancing against the Confederate right.
-Confederate Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry and launched a surprise counterattack, driving back Burnside and ending the battle.
-Although outnumbered two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill.
Gettysburg
date- July 1–3, 1863
Leaders:
Union- Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade
Confederate- Robert E. Lee
Number of Troops:
Casualties:
Union- 23,055
Confederate- 23,231
Winner: Union
Facts:
-Lee's objective being to engage the Union army and destroy it.
-On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled.
-was a three day battle.
-On the third day of battle fighting resumed on Culp's Hill.
-The main event was a dramatic infantry assault by12,500 Confederates.
Leaders of the Civil War:
U.S. Grant-
In February 1862, U.S. Grant took Fort Donelson in Tennessee. This was the first Union victory of strategic importance. When the Confederate commander asked for terms, Grant replied, "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted." The Confederates surrendered, and Grant was promoted to major general of volunteers in 1863. Grant captured Vicksburg, the key city on the Mississippi River, which cut the Confederacy in two. Grant then broke the Confederate hold on Chattanooga, Tennessee. Lincoln appointed Grant General-in-Chief of the Union Army in March 1864.
General Grant defeated General Lee at Petersburg. Finally, on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House. Grant wrote generous terms of surrender that helped to begin the process of uniting the nation again. After the Civil War, Grant served as the Secretary of War from August 12, 1867 to January 14, 1868.
1) Some called for Grant to be replaced.
2) President Lincoln fended off demands that Grant be removed by saying, "I can't spare this man — he fights."
3) U.S. Grant was the 13th president of the United States.
4) As president he led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate all vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery.
5) Upset over uncontrolled violence in the South, President Grant effectively destroyed the Ku Klux Klan in 1871.
William Sherman-
William Tecumseh Sherman was not a career military commander before the war. His early military career proved to be anything but spectacular. As a result, he resigned his commission in 1853. He took work in the fields of banking and law briefly before becoming the superintendent of the Louisiana Military Academy in 1859. At the outbreak of the Civil War, however, Sherman resigned from the academy and headed north, where he was made a colonel of the 13th United States Infantry. Sherman first saw combat at the Battle of First Manassas, where he commanded a brigade of Tyler’s Division. Although the Union army was defeated during the battle, President Abraham Lincon was impressed by Sherman’s performance and he was promoted to brigadier general on August 7, 1861, ranking seventh among other officers at that grade.
Sherman turned his attentions northward and began marching through the Carolinas, chasing the Confederates under the command of Joseph E. Johnston. He continued his campaign of destruction, in particular targeting South Carolina for their role in seceding from the Union first. He captured Columbia, South Carolina, on February 17, 1865, setting many fires which would consume large portions of the city. After the war, Sherman remained in the military and eventually rose to the rank of full general, serving as general-in-chief of the army from 1869 to 1883. Praised for his revolutionary ideas William T. Sherman died in 1891.
1) He went on to defeat the forces of Johnston in North Carolina and accepted the surrender of Johnston and all troops in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas on April 26, 1865, becoming the largest surrender of Confederate troops during the war.
2) His Nick Name was Uncle Billy.
3) He is famous for his quote "war is hell".
4) Sherman believed that war should be taken on all of society
5) As hated as a military man as he was, especially by the South, he was loved by his men that served under him.
Jefferson Davis-
Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was a Mexican War hero, U.S. senator from Mississippi, U.S. secretary of war and president of the Confederate States of America for the duration of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Prior to the start of the war, Davis had argued against secession, but when Mississippi seceded he resigned from the U.S. Senate. In February 1861 he was elected president of the Confederacy.
Davis faced difficulties throughout the war as he struggled to manage the Southern war effort, maintain control the Confederate economy and keep a new nation united. Davis' often contentious personality led to conflicts with other politicians as well as his own military officers. In May 1865, several weeks after the Confederate surrender, Davis was captured, imprisoned and charged with treason, but never tried.
1) Jefferson Davis became a staunch states' rights Democrat.
2) Davis worked very hard at his presidential duties, concentrating on military strategy but neglecting domestic politics.
3) Davis was a poor judge of people.
4) In prison his physical and emotional health deteriorated, and he was never the same after he was released in May 1867.
5) He lived off the charity of friends and relatives until his death in New Orleans in 1889.
Robert E. Lee-
Robert E. Lee distinguished himself as an exceptional officer and combat engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican- American War, served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, and married Mary Custis. When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the Union to stay intact and despite the fact that President Abraham Lincon had offered Lee command of a Union Army.
He soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning numerous battles against larger Union armies. His abilities as a tactician have been praised by many military historians. His strategic vision was more doubtful, and both of his invasions of the North ended in defeat. Union General Ulysses S. Grant's campaigns bore down on Lee in 1864 and 1865, and despite inflicting heavy casualties, Lee was unable to force back Grant. Lee would ultimately surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. By this time, Lee had been promoted to the commanding officer of all Confederate forces. After the war, as President of what is now Washington and Lee University, Lee supported President Andrew Johnson's program of Reconstruction and intersectional friendship, while opposing the Radical Republican proposals to give freed slaves the vote and take the vote away from ex-Confederates. But his popularity grew even in the North, especially after his death in 1870. He remains an iconic figure of American military leadership
1) Born in Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia 1807
2) Died in Lexington, Virginia, 12 Oct., 1870
3) In early 1861, President Abraham Lincoln invited Lee to take command of the entire Union Army but he didn't because since he was born in Virgina he was on that side of the war.
4) After the war Lee became a college President
5) He is buried in West Point
