Notes Chapter 20Part 1 pp. 434 – 443 “dethroning”
GIRDING FOR WAR: THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH 1861- 1865
Opening Quote: “I consider the central idea pervading this struggle is the necessity that is upon us, of proving that popular government is not an absurdity. We must settle this question now,whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose. If we fail it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves.” – Abraham Lincoln May 7th, 1861
Intro
As Lincoln enters Washington DC, he comes in disguise to thwart assassins…The United States & Constitution he is about to swear an oath to protect…has 7 less states…8 more are considering secession (only 4 of these actually secede later)***
The future holds much difficulty for Lincoln… before the slaves are freed (13th amendment) and the Nation restored to complete…He and the Nation will endure 4 years of anguish and bloodshed never seen before or since in America…he will also face tortuous trials of leadership, the loss of family, and ultimately HIS OWN LIFE… without question more than any President before him or since…Thank God.
The Menace of Secession***great questions about the practicability of secession
Lincoln’s 1st Inaugural…made clear THERE WOULD BE NO CONFLICT UNLESS THE SOUTH PROVOKED IT… he continues… THERE CANNOT BE ANY SECESSION OR SEPARATION….PHYSICALLY WE CANNOT SEPARATE…the north and south were bound inseparably together…and create controversies [secession]
What share of the National Debt should the South be forced to take with it? What portion of jointly held territory in the west should the CSA get? How would the Fugitive Slave Law now be dealt with? How would the European Powers react- do they now ignore the Monroe Doctrine? HOW DO YOU RESOLVE THESE FEW QUESTIONS AND MANY OTHERS THAT WOULD SURELY RISE?
South Carolina Assails Fort Sumter – WAR BEGINS**
The key question which begins war? Who, USA or CSA, would control the national Forts in the South?
-As seceding states left the Union (The Confederate States of America- CSA)…they had ****SEIZED US PROPERTY; ARSENALS, MINTS, AND OTHER PUBLIC PROPERTY WITHIN THEIR BORDERS….
-Two forts remained in Union possession, one in Florida and FT SUMTER in Charleston harbor, South Carolina…
Question: what was Lincoln to do? He had to re-supply the fort or they would starve…options: send reinforcements, just resupply, do nothing and surrender when supplies run out…
Decision: Lincoln notifies SC that an expedition would be sent to just provision (supply) the fort… NOT reinforce or re-arm….
Consequences:The South considered this act to be threatening and on April 12, 1861 began a 34 hour bombardment of the Fort…(only 1 horse died) … thus the Fort surrendered…****THIS AGGRESSIVE ACTION OF THE SOUTH….BEGINS THE WAR…THE SOUTH BEGAN HOSTILITIES- A MISTAKE* This ATTACK provoked the North to fight…****the fort was lost, but the Union was saved…Lincoln turns a tactical defeat into a calculated victory… he forced the South to fire first and begin the war…
The Union was now seen as protecting itself against an aggressor-the south…huge perception across the world.
Lincoln now in response the attack…. CALLS TO THE STATES FOR 75000 SOLDIERS AND BEGAN A BLOCKADE OF SOUTHERN PORTS (THE ANACONDA PLAN BEGINS TO TAKE SHAPE – UNION STRATEGY)
****Response to Lincoln’s call for troops: This call for troops arouses the South…and forces the remaining states that had not seceded that had slavery to question their position… ****4 moredecide to secede and join the CSA – North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas….and the Capital of the CSA is moved to Richmond, Virginia. This occurs 6months after the 7th state had seceded…a period where many attempts to reconcile were attempted but fail.
Brother’s Blood and Border Blood -THE BORDER STATES SIGIFICANCE – LINCOLN-“I HOPE TO HAVE GOD ON MY SIDE, BUT I MUST HAVE KENTUCKY.”
Note: West Virginia secedes from Virginia after they secede and joins the Union.
*****The Border States are crucial and play a huge part in Lincoln’s strategy and actions throughout the War…Lincoln’s strategy of forcing the South to be the aggressor allows him to keep most (below) of the states in the Union, which is huge…
*** (you must now these)Border States/territory that remain in the Union: (all have slaves) Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, and Indian Territory. THESE ARE CRUCIAL TO UNION VICTORY [see Lincoln in brown box…” to lose Kentucky is to lose the war.”] [ see map –border states in orange]
The Border States key ideas:
- They alone possessed a white population that was 50% of the pop of whole confederacy
- MY, KY, Mi –alone would have doubled the manufacturing capacity of the CSA and be a key supplier of horses and mules (key to logistics in the south due to their fewer railroads)
- They control the key rivers in the west [Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee & their navigable tributaries] and were daggers into the heart of the CSA flowing south directly…these rivers also were where most of the grain is grown, Salt is mined, gunpowder is mined and manufactured, and iron was produced.
How Lincoln deals with the border state issue:
-methods of dubious legality; declared martial law [what is this?XC] and sent in troops that closed the Maryland legislature [remember if this state would have seceded they would have surrounded Washington DC]
- sends in Union soldiers to all Border States… with orders to tread carefully with the residents due to the fear that the farther west they were the harder it would be to control them…
**** (HUGE) LINCOLN ANNOUNCES HIS GOAL (paramount purpose) AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR: “to save the Union at all costs.” *****NOT TO FREE THE SLAVES…(LATER THIS CHANGES AFTER ANTIETAM IN SEPTEMBER 1862, WHEN HE ANNOUNCES THE PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION]***
***********“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save the Union by freeing all of the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” – Lincoln to Horace Greeley, August, 1862
Why? The statement(s) above are heavily influenced by Lincoln’s concerns for the Border States… any initial statement about the war being waged to free slaves would certainly have driven ALL of the Border States into the CSA….AND would be extremely unpopular in the BUTTERNUT areas in Southern Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois…[it was a hotbed of COPPERHEADS during the war] THE WAR INITIALLY WAS NOT ONE OF FREE STATES V. SLAVE STATES BUT…ONE FOR THE PRESEERVATION OF THE UNION ONLY.
**Indian Territory – populated mostly by the 5 civilized tribes that had been moved by the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and later the Trail of Tears…. [Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles] Some of these Indians still owned slaves and most notably fought with the Confederacy, although control over the territory was solidly in Union hands…The CSA agreed to take over payments to the tribes and invited the tribes to send delegates to the Confederate Congress… In return the tribes supplied troops to the CSA Army…Some Cherokee and most of the Plains Indians sided with the Union…(no help later )
**This was a Brothers War- “Billy Yank” and “Johnny Reb” – There were Southerners who fought in the North, especially “Mountain Men” (50, 000) and a total of 300,000 men from the South fought for the North. EX: Sen. Crittenden’s family- a son who was a CSA general and a son who was a UNION general. Or Lincoln’s Wife’s family…she had 4 brothers who fought for the CSA. THIS WAS REPEATED ALL OVER THE COUNTRY BOTH NORTH AN SOUTH…MANY “BUTTERNUTS” FROM SOUTHERN OHIO, INDIANA, AND ILLINOIS ALSO FOUGHT FOR THE SOUTH.
The Balance of Forces – advantages and disadvantages – North and South
South Advantages: & Northern Disadvantages:
-couldfight defensively behind interior lines…North had to invade the vast South-conquer it- and drag it back into the Union…THE SOUTH DID NOT HAVE TO WIN THE WAR IN ORDER TO WIN ITS INDEPENDENCE…IF IT FOUGHT TO A DRAW…
- fighting on its own soil for self-determination and preservation of their way of life…THE SOUTH INIITIALLY HELD AN ADVANTAGE IN THEIR MORAL CAUSE…{UNTIL EP CHANGES PURPOSE OF WAR}
- Militarily- The CSA had the most talented officers…by far, especially fighting in the EAST (not West) *****Robert E. Lee- was one of at least 12 superior officers, so much so that LEE is offered command of ALL Union forces at the outset of the War by Lincoln (“I cannot fight against my HOME COUNTRY of Virginia”)
Thomas J. Jackson, Lee’s best fighting General (Stonewall) and many others to be named later.
The North had a struggle finding successful Generals (especially in the East- The West was much, much more fortunate and had the best Union commanders by far) Lincoln uses a Trial and Error Method to find successful Generals (US Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman are the best examples)
-Southerners were bred to fight – accustomed to manage horses and bearing arms from boyhood, they made excellent soldiers [the militia system is set-up in the South in the 1830’s after Nat Turner’s revolt, this was a huge initial advantage, as well] their “Rebel Yell” bred fear into Union Soldiers…”The peculiar corkscrew sensation that it sends down your backbone can never be told. You have to feel it.”Northern Soldiers eventually catch-up in their fighting skills ( South’s advantage here is somewhat overrated)
Southern Problems: & Northern Advantages:
- a scarcity of factories (overcame some of this with ingenuity- some very interesting stories)
-ashortage of shoes, uniforms, and blankets- SUPPLY PROBLEMS – many starved due to TRANSPORTATION ISSUES… RR tracks cut and destroyed by Union as war progressed.
-**********THE ECONOMY WAS THE SOUTH’S GREATEST WEAKNESS AND THE NORTH’S GREATEST STRENGTH.Both the North and South were a large majority of farmers…the North, however, did have burgeoning urban settlements BUT THEY WERE BOTH MOSTLY FARMERS.
- North had 3/4ths of the NATIONS WEALTH…. The south only produced about 8% of the Nations Manufacturing output by 1860…
- North had 3/4ths of the Nations Railroad track…
***** Huge-North controlled the Sea (huge*** allows for a constriction (anaconda plan-union strategy) of southern resources coming in or out {this chokes off southern supplies from Europe-trade w/ Europe-or anywhere else….and leads to deprivation and starvation…as well as the Union’s most success militarily along the coasts where they move in from slowly to meet their forces coming down…again squeezing the south} and eventually to inflation of their currency 1000% and ruining the Southern Morale.
This also allows the North to Trade captured Cotton and other goods with Europe which helps to prevent any European Country from wanting to recognize the CSA…
- The North had a significant MANPOWER ADVANTAGE… pop in North 22 million v. pop in South 9 million (4 million slaves) ALSO IMMIGRANTS TO THE NORTH ADD TO THEIR ADVANTAGE…OVER 800,000 IMMIGRANTS COME IN THE 4 YEARS ****1861-1865 OF THE WAR. (about 1/5th of the Union Army was foreign-born and in some units commands were given in foreign languages)
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR.. THE CHANCES THAT THE SOUTH WOULD GAIN INDEPENDENCE WAS FAVORABLE…. CERTAINLY BETTER THAN THAT OF THE 13 COLONIES IN 1776, BY FAR… A TURN OF A FEW EVENTS COULD EASILY HAVE PRODUCED A DIFFERENT OUTCOME –“ CONTINGENCY”
WHAT IF’S- “CONTINGENCY”:
1 if the Border States had seceded…
2 if the North had become “tired” by war and accepted an armistice…
3 if the results of the election of 1864 had ben different….
4 if any # of battles had turned out differently…
5 ******most significant*****if Britain or France had broken the Union blockade or recognized the CSA officially and demanded a treaty to end the war or if they would have come in on the side of the Confederacy***** “Most Revolutions are not successful without foreign intervention…the South expected it…did not get it…. AND LOST….a huge reason…of many but easily ONE OF the NORTH’S GREATES SUCCESSES OF THE WAR WAS TO KEEP BRITAIN AND FRANCE OUT OF THE WAR !!!!