Passages History 1301 Chapter 14 Outline
Chapter Outline
War Begins: April to July 1861: War came to the country before either the North or the South was ready.
A. Lincoln Calls for Troops: President Lincoln declared South Carolina in rebellion and issued a call for troops to quell the rebellion, and the South prepared for battle while moving its capital to Richmond.
B. The States Divide: Through the spring of 1861, the states decided either for or against secession, but sentiments within many of the states remained seriously divided over the issue.
C. The Numbers: The North appeared to hold most of the advantages in industrialization, population, food, and many other areas, while southerners believed they held the true advantage: they were “natural soldiers”; both sides agreed, however, that the war would be brief.
D. The Strategies: War strategies seemed simple: The South should fight a defensive campaign and force the Union army to come after them, and the North should capture the Mississippi River and divide the South into two parts while blockading the entire coastal region.
E. Leadership: Leadership was one area where neither side held a clear advantage, but the South did have Robert E. Lee.
F. The First Conflicts: The first conflicts were only skirmishes, with green troops illustrating how ill-prepared both sides were for this fight.
G. Mobilization: The two sides quickly set about gathering their armies, with early mobilization occurring through voluntary conscripts who came from all walks of life.
H. The First Battle: The first real battle of the war came at Manassas Junction, where Union general Irvin McDowell was outmaneuvered by P.G.T. Beauregard, and the South claimed its first victory.
I. Women and War: From the earliest days of the war, women showed their willingness to participate; countless women became battlefield nurses, while others worked in factories and ran plantations and farms.
War Takes Command: August 1861 to March 1862: As 1861 faded into 1862, war took command of the United States, and all the efforts of both sides became centered on finding a way to prevail.
A. McClellan Assumes Control: After the defeat at Bull Run (Manassas), George B. McClellan became the leader of the Union troops near Washington, but he, too, seemed reluctant to fight.
B. The War in the West begins: John C. Frémont took control of the Union forces in the West, but political discord with the president led to his removal; Lincoln continued to seek an able general.
C. Paying for War: The war was costly, and both sides used a variety of means to pay for it, including loans, taxes, bonds, and paper money; inflation resulted, especially in the South.
D. The Confederate Home Front: The Confederate homefront suffered dreadfully during the war, as armies confiscated or destroyed crops and livestock, food for soldiers became harder to grow, and the poor began to view the war as one they and not the wealthy were fighting.
E. Navies: Though the North had the stronger navy, their best use of the seas was in placing a blockade on all coastal areas of the South, from the Carolinas to Mexico.
F. Diplomacy and the Trent Affair: When southern diplomats sailed for Europe on the Trent, British officials seized and jailed them, but the hue and cry from abroad brought their release; still, they failed to get foreign support for the war.
G. The Rivers of the West: Union general Ulysses S. Grant was the most effective commander in the West, and his forces quickly seized Forts Henry and Donelson, and took the city of Nashville.
H. The Monitor and the Virginia: Along the eastern seaboard, the Union navy faced Confederate ships, with both sides experimenting with “iron-clads,” and here, too, the North prevailed.
The Union on the Offensive: March to September 1862: From March to September 1862, the Union increasingly went on the offensive from Virginia southward.
A. The Peninsular Campaign Begins: McClellan was charged with conducting the Peninsular Campaign in northern Virginia, but he continued to procrastinate.
B. Shiloh: Union troops on their way to attack Confederates at Corinth, Mississippi, were surprised by the enemy near Shiloh Church in southern Mississippi, but eventually came out ahead in the bloody battle after two intensive days of fighting.
C. New Orleans: The important port city of New Orleans on the Mississippi River fell to a Union naval force led by David Farragut, who then began a methodical move north up the Mississippi.
D. The Confederate Draft: By April 1862, the Confederate Congress instituted a compulsory draft to replace men being lost in the heavy fighting, but even then some wealthy southerners managed to evade military service.
E. The Seven Days: The Seven Days’ Battles, a series of conflicts near Richmond, cost many lives without achieving a clear victory for either side.
F. Slavery under Attack: As the war dragged on, slavery became a more central issue, and Lincoln found himself concerned about which moves he should make and when.
1. Union troops began to accept slaves who had fled to them for safety, labeling them “contrabands” but not yet allowing them to fight.
2. The war’s purposes did continue to expand, however, and Lincoln began to plan for the issuance of his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
G. Second Manassas and Antietam: A second battle at Manassas (Bull Run) gave the South another victory, but a shockingly bloody battle at Antietam gave Lincoln sufficient opportunity to make the Emancipation Proclamation public.
H. Stalemate: By late 1862, both sides had slaughtered each other in large numbers, and a virtual stalemate existed.
Conclusion: Disillusionment grew as the deadliness of the battles increased and neither side appeared to seize the upper hand. Much had been accomplished by the end of 1862. Several major battles had given some victories to each side. Both had stable governments in operation. An international crisis, the Trent affair, had failed to draw European countries into the conflict. Yet supporters on both sides began to believe that the cause they were fighting for needed a clearer articulation.
