The Civil War
Overview:
The American Civil War was the largest military conflict in the Western world between the Napoleonic wars and World War I. It cost 600,000 American lives, more than in World War I and World War II combined. Its social consequences were especially far-reaching. The war resulted in the emancipation of four million enslaved African Americans. It also brought vast changes to the nation's financial system, fundamentally altered the relationship between the states and the federal government, and became modern history's first total war. It is truly the central event in American history.
This chapter describes the problems that contributed to the breakup of the Democratic party in 1860; why Abraham Lincoln's election as president prompted secession; compares and contrasts the strengths and weaknesses of the North and South as the Civil War started as well asthe military leaders and strategies of the North and the Confederacy. It also describes the circumstances that led President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation; the military history of the war; as well as the dramatic political, economic, and social changes that the war produced.
Summary
The election of a Republican president opposed to the expansion of slavery into the western territories led seven states in the lower South to secede from the Union and to establish the Confederate States of America. After Lincoln notified South Carolina 's governor that he intended to resupply Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, the Confederacy fired on the installation, leading the President to declare that an insurrection existed in the South.
Early in the war, the Union succeeded in blockading Confederate harbors, and by mid-July 1862 it had divided the Confederacy in two by wresting control of Kentucky , Missouri , and much of Tennessee , as well as Mississippi River. In the Eastern Theater in 1861 and 1862, the Confederacy stopped Union attempts to capture its capital in Richmond , Virginia . In September 1862 (at Antietam in Maryland ) and July 1863 (at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ), Robert E. Lee tried and failed to provoke European powers intervention in the war by winning a victory on Northern soil.
After futile pleas to the border states to free slaves voluntarily, Lincoln in the summer of 1862 decided that emancipation was a military and political necessity. The Emancipation Proclamation transformed the war from a conflict to save the Union to a war to abolish slavery. It also authorized the enlistment of African Americans. During the war Congress enacted the Homestead Act offered free public land to western settlers; and land grants supported construction of a transcontinental railroad. The government also raised the tariff, enacted the first income tax, and established a system of federally-chartered banks.
Consequences
1. During the war Congress adopted policies that altered American society. The Homestead Act offered free public land to western settlers. Huge land grants supported construction of a transcontinental railroad. The government raised the tariff, imposed new taxes, enacted the first income tax, and established a system of federally-chartered banks.
2. The Union lost about 360,000 troops during the Civil War and the Confederacy about 260,000. This is almost as many soldiers as have died in all other American wars combined.
3. The 13th Amendment, ratified in December 1865, ended slavery in the United States.
Our Online Textbook
Annotated Primary Source Documents
Music Clips
Civil War Songs
- Battle Hymn of the Republic , Performed by: Thomas Chalmers
- Battle Hymn of the Republic , Performed by: Richard Warrenrath
- Blue and the Grey , Performed by: Harry Macdonough
- Boys of the Old Brigade , Performed by: Chatauqua Preachers' Quartet
- Dixie Land , Performed by: Peerless Quartet
- Down Where the Swanee River Flows , Performed by: Hayden Quartet
- Goodbye Dolly Gray , Performed by: Hugh Donovan
- Just Before the Battle, Mother , Performed by: Harry Macdonough
- Just Before the Battle, Mother , Performed by: John Young
- Marching Through Georgia , Performed by: Harlan and Stanley
- Maryland, My Maryland , Performed by: Herbert Stuart
- My Maryland March :
- Tramp, Tramp, Tramp , Performed by: S.H. Dudley
- Tramp, Tramp, Tramp , Performed by: John Young
- Vacant Chair , Performed by: Harry Macdonough
- Vacant Chair , Performed by: Hayden Quartet
- War Songs , Performed by: Victor Male Chorus
- War Songs March , Performed by:
- When Johnny Comes Marching Home , Performed by: John Terrill
- When Johnny Comes Marching Home , Performed by: Farrar and Columbia Quartet
- Sleep Noble Hearts , Performed by: Lyric Quartette
Classroom Handouts
Sectional Conflict
Secession and the Civil War
The Civil War
Civil War Statistics
Casualties
| Union Total Union strength Deaths resulting from combat Deaths resulting from disease and other causes Deaths other than combat or disease Deaths in prison Drowing Accidental deaths Murdered Suicides Sunstroke 313 Military executions 267 Killed after capture 104 Executed by enemy 64 Unclassified 14,155 Total Confederacy Total Confederate strength: Deaths resulting from combat: Deaths resulting from disease: Total |
750,000 to 1,250,000 |
Estimates of proportion of soldiers wounded in battle:
Union : Of every 1000 Union soldiers , 112 were wounded.
Confederacy: Of every 1,000 Confederates, 150 were wounded.
Regimental casualities
Regiment |
Battle |
Strength |
Per Cent |
1st Texas (Confederacy) |
Antietam |
226 |
82.3 |
1st Minnesota ( Union ) |
Gettysburg |
262 |
82 |
21st Georgia (Confederacy) |
Manassas |
242 |
76 |
141st Pennsylvania ( Union ) |
Gettysburg |
198 |
75.7 |
101st New York ( Union ) |
Manassas |
168 |
73.8 |
6th Mississippi (Confederacy) |
Shiloh |
425 |
70.5 |
25th Massachusetts ( Union ) |
Cold Harbor |
310 |
70 |
36th Wisconsin ( Union ) |
Bethesda Church |
240 |
69 |
20th Massachusetts ( Union ) |
Fredericksburg |
238 |
68.4 |
8th Tennessee (Confederacy) |
Stone's River |
444 |
68.7 |
10th Tennessee (Confederacy) |
Chickamauga |
328 |
68 |
8th Vermont ( Union ) |
Cedar Creek |
156 |
67.9 |
Palmetto Sharpshooters (Confederacy) |
Frayser's Farm |
215 |
67.7 |
81st Pennsylvania ( Union ) |
Fredericksburg |
261 |
67.4 |
Casualties by Battle
Battle of Gettysburg , Pennsylvania
July 1-3, 1863
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: George G. Meade
Confederate forces: 75,000
Union forces: 82,289
Casualties: 51,112 (23,049 Union and 28,063 Confederate)
Battle of Chickamauga , Georgia
September 19-20, 1863
Confederate Commander: Braxton Bragg
Union Commander: William Rosecrans
Confederate forces: 66,326
Union forces: 58,222
Casualties: 34,624 (16,170 Union and 18,454 Confederate)
Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia
May 1-4, 1863
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: Joseph Hooker
Confederate forces: 60,892
Union forces: 133,868
Casualties: 30,099 (17,278 Union and 12,821 Confederate)
Battle of Spotsylvania , Virginia
May 8-19, 1864
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate forces: 50,000
Union forces: 83,000
Casualties: 27,399 (18,399 Union and 9)000 Confederate)
Battle of Antietam , Maryland
September 17, 1862
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: George B. McClellan
Confederate forces: 51,844
Union forces: 75,316
Casualties: 26,134 (12,410 Union and 13,724 Confederate)
Battle of The Wilderness, Virginia
May 5-7, 1864
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate forces: 61,025
Union forces: 101,895
Casualties: 25,416 (17,666 Union and 7,750 Confederate)
Battle of Second Manassas , Virginia
August 29-30, 1862
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: John Pope
Confederate forces: 48,527
Union forces: 75,696
Casualties: 25,251 (16,054 Union and 9,197 Confederate)
Battle of Stone's River, Tennessee
December 31, 1862
Confederate Commander: Braxton Bragg
Union Commander: William S. Rosecrans
Confederate forces: 37,739
Union forces: 41,400
Casualties: 24,645 (12,906 Union and 11,739 Confederate)
Battle of Shiloh , Tennessee
April 6-7, 1862
Confederate Commanders: Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate forces: 40,335
Union Forces Engaged: 62,682
Casualties: 23,741 (13,047 Union and 10,694 Confederate)
Battle of Fort Donelson , Tennessee
February 13-16, 1862
Confederate Commanders: John B. Floyd and Simon B. Buckner
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate forces: 21,000
Union forces: 27,000
Casualties: 19,455 (2,832 Union and 16,623 Confederate)
Estimates of Deaths for Indians and African Americans
Number of Indians who fought for the Union Army: 3,530
Number killed: 1,018
Number of African Americans who fought for the Union army: 178,975
Number killed: Over 36,000
Civil War Timeline
December 1860
On December 20, South Carolina secedes from the Union
January 1861
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana secede from the Union. Texas secedes at the beginning of February.
South Carolina repel the Star of the West, a supply ship trying to resupply federal forces at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor.
February 1861
On February 8, at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, seven seceded states adopt a Constitution creating the Confederate States of America. The convention names Jefferson Davis provisional president.
On February 9, Tennessee rejects a call for a secession convention by a vote of 68,000 to 59,500.
March 1861
On March 2, U.S. Congress adopts and sends to the states a constitutional amendment which would have prohibited any subsequent amendment to "abolish or interfere . . . with the domestic institutions" of the states
Lincoln inaugurated on March 4.
On March 18, the Arkansas secession convention votes 39 to 35 against secession, but then votes unanimously to put the secession question before the people of the state in an August referendum.
April 1861
On April 4, the Virginia secession convention votes 89-45 against an ordinance of secession.
At 4:30 a.m., April 12, Confederate batteries open fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor
On April 15, President Abraham Lincoln issues proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion.
On April 17, Virginia convention votes to secedes from the Union
May 1861
Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina secede from the Union. Four slaveholding states--Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri--do not leave the Union.
Union General Benjamin F. Butler declares fugitive slaves at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, to be "contraband of war."
July 1861
First Battle of Bull Run: On July 21, Union forces under General Irvin McDowell are repelled by Confederate troops stationed at Manassas Junction, Virginia, dashing Union hopes for a quick end to the war.
July 1861
President Lincoln replaced General Irvin McDowell with General George B. McClellan.
President Lincoln imposes a naval blockade on the Confederacy.
August 1861
Congress enacts the First Confiscation Act, which nullifies owners' claims to fugitive slaves who had been employed in the Confederate war effort.
General John C. Frémont declares that slaves of disloyal Missouri slave owners to be free. In September, President Lincoln orders Frémont to free only those slaves owned by Missourians actively working for the South. When Fremont refused, he was dismissed.
November 1861
Union forces occupy Port Royal, South Carolina, and subsequently gain control of South Carolina's other sea islands.
March 1862
Congress forbids members of the army and navy from returning fugitive slaves to their owners
The first combat battle between ironclad ships, pitting the USS Monitor against the Confederate Merrimac (Virginia) ends inconclusively.
April 1862
General David Hunter, Union commander in the South Carolina Sea Islands, requests permission to enlist African Americans for military service. When he received no response, he began to enlist black soldiers in early May. When the War Department refuses to pay or equip the soldiers, Hunter dissolved the regiment.
At Lincoln's request, Congress pledges financial aid to any state that would adopt a gradual emancipation scheme with compensation to slave owners
Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia, with compensation to loyal owners, and appropriates money for the voluntary colonization of former slaves to Haiti, Liberia, or other countries.
At the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, the first major battle in the Civil War's Western theater, a Union victory allows Union forces to gain control of the Confederate railway system at Corinth, Mississippi.
Union Flag Officer David Farragut and his naval squadron force New Orleans to surrender.
April-August 1862
In its first major offensive in the Eastern theater, Union forces under General George B. McClellan fail to capture Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital.
May 1862
General David Hunter declares that all slaves in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida are free. President Lincoln subsequently nullifies General Hunter's decree.
June 1862
Congress abolishes slavery in the federal territories.
July 1862
On July 11, President Lincoln names Henry Halleck general-in-chief of the Union army.
On July 12, President Lincoln asks members of Congress from the border states to support gradual, compensated emancipation, with colonization of freed slaves outside the United States, warning that if they do not act soon, slavery in their states "will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion—by the mere incidents of the war." Two days later, a majority of the congressmen reject Lincoln's appeal.
Congress passes the Second Confiscation Act, which declared that Confederate slave owners who did not surrender within 60 days of the acts passage were to be punished by having their slaves freed. The act also declared that all slaves who took refuge behind Union lines were to be set free.
Congress adopts the Militia Act, which permits blacks to serve in the military. It also grants freedom to any blacks who serve in the military and to their families if they belong to disloyal owners.
On July 22 President Lincoln announces to his cabinet his intention to issue a proclamation freeing slaves in the rebel states. He agrees to postpone the proclamation until after a suitable military victory
September 1862
In a failed attempt to prompt Britain and France to recognize the Confederacy and to bring the war to an early end, Robert E. Lee launches his first invasion of the North. At the battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, more than 23,000 men killed, wounded, and missing in a single day, September 17,1862. In the bloodiest battle of the war, 2,108 Union soldiers were killed and 9,549 wounded and 2,700 Confederates were killed and 9,029 wounded.
Lee's withdrawal to Virginia allows President Lincoln the opportunity to announce the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The prelimary Emancipation Proclamation states that all slaves in those states or portions of states still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, will be declared free. It also pledges financial support for those slave states that are not in rebellion if they adopt an emancipation plan, and expresses support for the colonization of freed slaves outside the United States.
October 1862
Confederate Congress exempts from the military draft one white man on each plantation with twenty or more slaves
December 1862
Confederate President Davis issues proclamation ordering that black Union soldiers and their officers captured by Confederate troops are not to be treated as prisoners of war.
January 1863
On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in areas still in rebellion (except Tennessee, southern Louisiana, and parts of Virginia) to be “forever free.” It also declares his intention of enlisting blacks in the military.
March 1863 -- The First Conscription Act.
This act made all Northern men between 20 and 45 liable to be called for military service. Of the 249,259 18-to-35-year-old men whose names were drawn in the draft, only about 6 percent served; the rest paid a fee or hired a substitute.
.
May 1863 -- The Battle of Chancellorsville.
A confederate victory at Virginia's Rappahannock River proved very costly in terms of casualties, including the loss of General Stonewall Jackson.
May 1863
Ulysses S. Grant begins a six-week siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which ultimately forces the Confederacy to surrender 30,000 soldiers.
June 1863
General George Meade replaced Halleck as commander of the Army of the Potomac.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee launches another invasion of the North.
July 1864
Lee's defeat at the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ends Confederate hopes of recognition by European governments.
The surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4 and Fort Hudson, Louisiana, on July 8 give the Union control of the Mississippi River and splits the Confederacy in two.
President Lincoln threatens Union retaliation for Confederate execution or enslavement of black prisoners of war
November 1863
Union forces force Confederate troops away from Chattanooga, a vital railroad center. Chattanooga provided the base for General William Tecumseh Sherman's campaign against Atlanta.
.On November 19, President Lincoln dedicated a portion of the Gettysburg battlefield as a national cemetery, and delivered his "Gettysburg Address."
December 1863
President Lincoln offers to pardon and restore the property (except slaves) of Confederates who take an oath of allegiance to the Union and agree to accept emancipation.
April 1864
Senate approves the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery
Confederate troops under General Nathan B. Forrest massacre black soldiers captured at Fort Pillow, Tennessee
May-June 1864
In the Wilderness campaign, which took place in a forested area south of Virginia's Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers, the armies of Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee met in battle for the first time. Grant tried to use his larger army of about 118,000 soldiers to defeat the smaller Confederate army of about 60,000. Grant lost about 60,000 men and Lee 20,000 during the campaign.
Congress equalizes the pay of black and white soldiers equal. The measure is retroactive to January 1, 1864, or, for men who were free before the war, to the time of enlistment
June 1864
Union General Ulysses S. Grant attempts to take Petersburg, south of Richmond, and then approach the Confederate capital from the south. The plan fails and a tenth month siege of Petersburg begin.
July 1864
Confederate General Jubal Early led his forces into Maryland to relieve the pressure on Lee's army. Early got within five miles of Washington, D.C., but was driven back to Virginia.
August 1864
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman captures Atlanta September 1, boosting Northern morale and greatly contributing to Abraham Lincoln's re-election as president.
November 1864
Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president.
December 1864
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's army concludes its march through Georgia by capturing Savannah.
January 1865
Confederate President Jefferson Davis approves the arming of slaves to augment the Confederate army, but the measure was never put into effect.
February 1865 -- Sherman Marches through North and South Carolina.
Union General Sherman moved from Georgia through South Carolina, destroying almost everything in his path.
February 1865
Confederate President Jefferson Davis agrees to send delegates to a peace conference, but demands that President Lincoln recognize Confederate independence. The conference never occurred.
March 1865
Congress establishes the Freedmen's Bureau
April, 1865
Robert E. Lee evacuates Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, April 2.
Robert E. Lee surrenders his army on April 9 at Appomattox Court House, Virginia
President Lincoln assassinated on April 14; Vice-President Andrew Johnson succeeds to the presidency. Four individuals were hanged for their participation in the assassination; four were imprisoned, and one was acquitted.
May 1865
The final Confederate troops surrender.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis is captured in Georgia on May 10.
November, 1865
Captain Henry Wirz, the superintendent of the Confederate prison at Anderson Ville Georgia, is executed.
December 1865
The 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery.
Visual History
A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln
With text by Eric Foner and images from the Chicago Historical Society and other archives, A House Divided explores the institution of slavery, the fierce sectionalism of free and slave economies in the rapidly expanding country, and the destructive power of the Civil War.
Quiz
Test your knowledge by taking our Civil War quiz