Chapter 14 - The Civil War

Question 0

What was the Crittenden Compromise?

Answer 0

On December 18, 1860, Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky proposed a compromise between the North and South that would settle the issue of slavery and prevent civil war.

He proposed for constitutional amendments which would guarantee the permanent existence of slavery in the slave states and would satisfy Southern demands on the issues of fugitive slaves and slavery in D.C. Crittenden also wanted to reestablish the Missouri Compromise line.

His compromise was ultimately rejected because it was not satisfying to the Republican Party, who did not want the expansion of slavery

Question 1

What were the eleven Confederate States that seceded from the Union? (in order)

Answer 1

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Question 2

What happened at Fort Sumter?

Answer 2

In order to maintain Fort Sumter (a Union fort on an island in the harbor of Charleston, SC), Lincoln had to send fresh provisions. So he alerted the Confederate government that he would send the provisions with a defenseless ship, thus putting the blame for starting the war in their hands. The Confederates attacked the fort for two days so as not to appear weak in submitting to the Union government. Thus the Civil War began.

Question 3

List all of the advantages that the Union possessed over the Confederacy:

Answer 3

Population, Railroad Mileage, Farms, Wealth Produced, Industry

Question 4

How did the North finance the Civil War?

Answer 4

1. Levying taxes: For the first time in America’s history an income tax was introduced that took 10% of people’s income if they made more than $5000 a year. But this raised only a small portion of the funds necessary.
2. Printing currency: the printed paper currency, known as “greenbacks”, was not backed by either gold or silver, but the good faith and credit of the government. But the value of greenbacks fluctuated greatly, so they were used sparingly.
3. Borrowing: this was the most effective way to finance the war; the government (specifically, the Treasury) persuaded ordinary citizens to buy over $400 million worth of bonds - the first example of mass financing a war in American history. Most of the loans came from banks and large financial interests.

Question 5

What resulted from the Union passing the National Draft Law in 1863?

Answer 5

The increased power of the government to force its citizens to fight in war was a dangerous concept to certain groups in the North. Opposition was widespread, mostly among laborers, immigrants, and Democrats opposed to the war (Copperheads/Peace Democrats).

A riot broke out for four days in New York City in July 1863 after the first names were selected for conscription. More than 100 people died.

Question 6

What was Lincoln’s “greatest political problem” in his first term as President?

Answer 6

Widespread political opposition to the war.

Question 7

How did the Northern government strengthen support for the war? Either through force or persuasion.

Answer 7

Force: Lincoln explicitly removed the political power for individuals to outwardly oppose the war. He ordered military arrests of civilian dissenters and suspended the writ of habeas corpus. He also ignored any decisions made by the Supreme Court (Taney) which opposed his plans.

Persuasion: The government issued pro-war pamphlets, posters, speeches, songs, and they used photographers to capture the sacrifice that Union soldiers were making to keep the country together.

Question 8

What solidified Lincoln’s reelection in 1864?

Answer 8

The Northern victory and capture of Atlanta, Georgia. This victory rejuvenated Northern morale and boosted Republican prospects.

Question 9

What was the 1861 Confiscation Act?

Answer 9

An act passed by Congress in the North which declared that all slaves used for “insurrectionary” purposes (in Confederate military) would be considered freed.

Question 10

What was the 1862 Confiscation Act?

Answer 10

Congress built upon the previous Confiscation Act to again declare free the slaves of people aiding and supporting the insurrection. The Act also authorized the President to employ African Americans, including freed slaves, as soldiers in the Union army.

Question 11

What was the Emancipation Proclamation?

Answer 11

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared forever free slaves in all areas of the Confederacy except those already under Union control. The Proclamation did not free Union slaves.

Question 12

What was and who led the U.S. Sanitary Commission?

Answer 12

The U.S. Sanitary Commission was an organization led by Dorothea Dix. The organization mobilized civilian volunteers (primarily women) to serve in field hospitals. Because of this organization, nurses became primarily female, and they argued that nursing and caring for soldiers fell into the domestic sphere of women.

Question 13

Who was Clara Barton?

Answer 13

Barton was a collector and distributor of medical supplies during the war and became one of the founders of the American Red Cross.

Question 14

How was the Confederate Constitution different from the U.S. Constitution?

Answer 14

The Confederate Constitution explicitly acknowledged the sovereignty of the states (but not the right of secession), and it sanctioned slavery and made its abolition (even by a state) almost impossible.

Question 15

Who was the Confederate president?

Answer 15

Jefferson Davis. His V.P. was Alexander H. Stephens.

Question 16

How did the Confederacy fund the war?

Answer 16

The Confederacy had the same three options for funding the war as the Union government: taxes, paper currency, and borrowing

Taxes were an ineffective method because the states often were unwilling to pay taxes and those income taxes that were placed on planters could be paid “in kind” and were thus not very effective.

Borrowing was also a bust because the government issued bonds in such vast quantities that the public lost faith in them and stopped buying them.

the most effective way that the Confederate government funded the war was by issuing paper currency: the least stable, most destructive form of financing. Not only did the Confederacy issue $1.5 billion in paper money, but the currency system across banks was not uniform, and so the South experienced extreme inflation.

Question 17

How did the Confederacy get men to fight in the war?

Answer 17

As voluntary enlistments declined in the early part of the war, the Confederate congress passed the Conscription Act in 1862. This act subjected all white males between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five to military service for three years. But because of widespread opposition by poorer white farmers, the law was repealed in 1863.

Another controversial aspect of conscription was that one white man on each plantation of 20 or more slaves was exempt from fighting in the war. (“It’s a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight.)

Question 18

Describe some of the social and economic problems in the South during the Civil War.

Answer 18

1. The region did not produce enough food to feed itself, because it relied so heavily upon cotton. Food riots broke out and people starved.
2. Farms could not function as well without the white men to work on them. As a result, what little food production was present decreased. Also, women had to move into the role of planters while their husbands were in the war.
3. Large numbers of doctors were conscripted to serve the needs of the military, leaving many communities without medical care.

Question 19

What was the Union’s main disadvantage in the war?

Answer 19

They had a hard time finding adequate military commanders for the troops in the field in the first three years of the war.

First they had General Winfield Scott, who was unprepared for the magnitude of the war. Then they had George B. McClellan, who had an inadequate grasp of strategy. Then Henry W. Halleck was an ineffectual strategist who left all decisions to Lincoln. Not until March 1864 did Lincoln find his first adequate general whom he trusted to command the war effort: Ulysses S. Grant.

Question 20

Why was Ulysses S. Grant the Union’s best general?

Answer 20

Grant shared Lincoln’s belief that the enemy armies and resources should be the target of military efforts, not enemy territory. The North had to take advantage of its own material advantages and remove any and all possible advantages from the South.

Question 21

Describe the quality of generals and the chain of command of the Confederacy.

Answer 21

President Davis was a trained professional soldier, but he failed to create an effective command system. Though he named Robert E. Lee as the principal military adviser in 1862, Davis had no intention of sharing the military strategy with anyone. In 1864, he named General Braxton Bragg, who did no more than offer technical advice.

Overall, the Confederacy had better generals than the North for the greater part of the war.

Question 22

What was the Anaconda Plan?

Answer 22

The North had an overwhelming advantage in naval power over the Confederacy. General-in-Chief Winfield Scott proposed this plan to blockade the Southern coast and sail up the Mississippi to cut the South in two. Lincoln ordered this plan on April 19, 1861.

This naval warfare introduced the production of ironclad warships in both the North and the South.

Question 23

Describe the Confederacy’s foreign relations during the course of the Civil War.

Answer 23

At the beginning of the war, England and France were generally sympathetic to the Confederacy. The two nations imported much of Southern textiles and they were eager to weaken the commercial rival of the United States. But the majority of people in England supported the Union, and after the Emancipation Proclamation, groups of Union supporters worked for the Union. France was not willing to act unless England acted, so no European nation offered diplomatic recognition to the Confederacy or intervened in the war.

Yet the Confederacy was able to purchase six ships from British shipyards to use against the Union navy.

Question 24

What was the Trent Affair?

Answer 24

In late 1861, two Confederate diplomats boarded an English steamer, the Trent, for England, after they evaded the Union blockade and made it to Havana, Cuba. The American frigate, San Jacinto was waiting in Cuban waters and stopped the British vessel, arresting the diplomats and carrying them to Boston. Charles Wilkes, who was in command of the ship, outraged the British government. After some time, he released the prisoners and gave a roundabout apology.

Question 25

What were the effects of the Civil War upon the Indian Tribes in what is now Oklahoma?

Answer 25

The Confederate army tried to negotiate alliances with the Five Civilized Tribes living in Indian Territory. The Indians were divided; some supported the South out of resentment about the way that the United States treated them, but others were in support of the Union because they were against slavery. As a result, civil war emerged within the Indian Territory, and Indian regiments fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. The tribes never formally allied themselves with either side.

Question 26

What weapon changed the course of warfare during the Civil War?

Answer 26

In the 1835 Samuel Colt had introduced the first repeating pistol (revolver). The repeating rifle was introduced in 1860 by Oliver Winchester (Winchester rifles ring a bell?) Cannons and artillery also evolved during the war.

The effect of the repeating rifle was devastating. No longer could lines of infantrymen stand erect in the field and shoot each other until one side withdrew. Now soldiers stayed low to the ground and behind cover, and the armies built elaborate fortifications and trenches to prevent unnecessary deaths.

Interestingly, hot air balloons were also used in the war to survey the enemy formations in the field. During one battle, a Union balloonist took a telegraph line aloft with him in his balloon and tapped out messages about troop movements to commanders below.

Question 27

What were the benefits of the railroad and telegraph in the war?

Answer 27

The railroad allowed for transport of enormous numbers of soldiers and supplied necessary to sustain them. This allowed armies to be assembled and moved from place to place. But this also limited the mobility available since railroads are fixed. Commanders were forced to organize their campaigns around the locations of railroads nearby.

The telegraph had limited use in the war because of the scarcity of qualified operators and because of the difficulty of bringing telegraph wires to the fields where battles were being fought. Yet they were still useful, and both the North and the South sent spies behind enemy lines who tried to tap the telegraph lines of their opponents and send important information back about troop movements and formations.

Question 28

Describe the First Battle of Bull Run.

Answer 28

This battle was on July 21, 1861, and was the first major battle of the Civil War. A Union army of over 30,000 men was led by General Irvin McDowell. A slightly smaller Confederate army was led by P.G.T. Beauregard. McDowell marched his inexperienced troops toward the Confederates and attempted to disperse their forces. But the Southerners managed to stop the Union assault and begin a savage counterattack. The Confederates thus won the battle, hurting Union morale and showing that the war would not be quick.

Question 29

How was West Virginia formed?

Answer 29

During August of 1861, a Union force under George B. McClellan moved east from Ohio into western Virginia. By the end of 1861 it had “liberated” the anti-secession mountain people of the region. They created their own state government loyal to the Union and were admitted to the Union as West Virginia in 1863.

Question 30

How was New Orleans captured?

Answer 30

In April 1862, a Union squadron of ironclads and wooden vessels commanded by David G. Farragut gathered on the Gulf of Mexico, then moved past weak Confederate forces to the mouth of the Mississippi. From there, the squadron sailed up to New Orleans, which was defenseless because the Confederate high command had expected the attack to come from the North. The city surrendered on April 25. From that point on, the mouth of the Mississippi was closed to Confederate trade, and the South’s largest city and most important banking center was in Union hands.

Question 31

Describe the Battle of Shiloh

Answer 31

The battle took place April 6-7 1862. Ulysses S. Grant advanced south along the Tennessee River with 40,000 men and he was ambushed by a force almost equal to his own led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard. In the first day, the South were winning and drove Grant back to the river, but on the second day Grant was reinforced by 25,000 troops and forced Beauregard to withdraw. (Johnston had been killed the first day.)

Question 32

Describe the Battle of Seven Pines.

Answer 32

Confederate troops under Joseph E. Johnston were attacking McClellan’s advancing army outside Richmond. In the two-day battle of Seven Pines (May 31-June 1, 1862) they could not repel Union forces. Johnston, badly wounded, was replaced by Robert E. Lee, who recalled Stonewall Jackson from the Shenandoah Valley. This led to the Battle of the Seven Days.

Question 33

Describe the Battle of the Seven Days.

Answer 33

With a combined force of 85,000 men to face McClellan’s 100,000 Lee tried from June 25, 1862 to July 1 to cut McClellan off from his base on the York River and then destroy the isolated Union army. But McClellan fought his way across the peninsula and set up a new base on the James.

Question 34

Describe the Battle of Antietam.

Answer 34

Lee attacked McClellan and pulled his forces together behind Antietam Creek, near the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. There, on September 17, the bloodiest single-day battle occurred. As the Confederate troops seemed ready to break, the last of Jackson’s troops arrived from Harpers Ferry to reinforce it. Because McClellan let them get away, Lincoln removed him from command permanently.

Question 35

Describe the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Answer 35

Lee attacked General Joseph Hooker in the Wilderness. In May 1-5 1863, Stonewall Jackson attacked the Union right and Lee charged the front. Hooker managed to escape.

Question 36

Describe the Battle of Vicksburg.

Answer 36

In the spring of 1863, Ulysses S. Grant was driving at Vicksburg, Mississippi, one of the Confederacy’s two remaining strongholds on the southern Mississippi River. Grant moved his men to an area south of the city, then attacked Vicksburg from the rear. On July 4, after 6 weeks, they surrendered. At the same time, the other Confederate strong point on the river, Port Hudson, Louisiana, also surrendered to a Union force that had moved north from New Orleans. The Union now had control of the whole Mississippi.

Question 37

Describe the Battle of Gettysburg.

Answer 37

In June 1863, Lee moved into Maryland and entered Pennsylvania. In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Lee’s army met the Union army that followed him there. George C. Meade, commanding the army, established a strong, well-protected position on the hills south of the town. Lee attacked twice, sending his soldiers up the ridge as they were mowed down by the Union troops. When only 5,000 of Lee’s men made it up the ridge, they retreated. Lee withdrew from Gettysburg with the remainder of his men.

Question 38

Describe the Battle of Chattanooga.

Answer 38

This battle secured the Union control of the Tennessee River. Bragg, the Confederate, began a siege of Chattanooga, but Grant drove the Confederates back into Georgia. Northern troops then occupied most of Tennessee.

Question 39

What were Grant’s two great offensives in 1864?

Answer 39

In Virginia, the Army of the Potomac, under Grant’s control, would advance toward Richmond and force Lee into a decisive battle. In Georgia, the western army, under William T. Sherman, would advance east toward Atlanta and destroy the remaining Confederate force farther south, which was now under the command of Joseph E. Johnston.

Grant engaged with Lee in a nine-month battle, but Sherman experienced greater victory. He took Atlanta on September 2, 1864.

Question 40

What was Sherman’s March to the Sea?

Answer 40

After Sherman captured Atlanta, he and his army cut a sixty-mile wide swath of desolation across Georgia. He sought not only to deprive the Confederate army of war materials and railroad communications but also to break the will of the Southern people, by burning towns and plantations along his route. After capturing Savannah on December 20, Sherman continued up into South Carolina and into North Carolina.

Question 41

What happened at the Appomattox Court House?

Answer 41

After the nine-month battle with Grant, Lee recognized that further bloodshed was futile and arranged to meet Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. On April 9, he surrendered what was left of his forces. Nine days later, Johnston surrendered to Sherman.