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The American Civil War
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Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln ran against John C. Beckenredge to decide the next president of the United States. The South's growing fear that the north was becoming entirely abolotionist was growing by the day. When they heard of Lincoln's nomination the threatened to secede if he won. The South fufilled their promise when Lincoln won thanks to a decisive command in the north. Lincoln would go on to lead the North to victory in the Civil War. -
Jefferson Davis
A very tempermental person since birth he had many social defects such as never being able to work with those he did not like. After the South seceded he left his office and was named the leader of the Confederacy. With no political parties backing and very little political appeal he was a very ineffective leader. He was not as savvy as his northern counterpart but his resistance and will would make him a hero in the South during reconstruction. -
Fort Sumter
Lincoln did not attack the COnfederacy as he saw that they were not a seperate nation and thus did not wish to attack his own nation but would fight to reclaim federal property. The South tried to negotiate peace with the United States as two countries who could be allies but Lincoln refused on the ground that they were again not a country. In the end both did not want to be the aggressor in order to gain the undecided states support but Davis attacked first and thus began the seige on April 12. -
Winfield Scott and the Anaconda Plan
This was General Winfield's Scott's 3 point plan to insure that the North would win a long war. The first step was to create a naval blockade and cut off supplies. Next they would take control of the Mississppi river and cut the south in two. Finally they would raise an army 500,000 strong and take Richmond. -
Battle of Bull Run
The first major battle of the Civil War was fought in a pass near Washington D.C in an attempt to end the war quickly. 30,000 Union troops sought to end the conflict but were attacked by General "Stonewall" Jackson from the Confederacy. The disoriented Union troops were forced to flee all the way back to Washington D.C giving the South the first major victory in the war. -
George McClellan
McClellan was named the general in chief after Winfield Scott had retired and thus took comman of the Eastern Union forces. He was always a very cautious person who overestimated his oppenents abilities and was not aggressive. His meticulous methods drove Lincoln mad several times eventually leading to his dismissal after the battle of Antietam for not going after a badly injured Confederate army led by Lee. -
Monitor and Merrimack
In order for the Anaconda Plan to be a success the Union needed the naval bloackade to be absolute. That's why the Confederacy's ironclad Merrimac was so destructive to their plans. The Union's answer was their own ironclad Monitor who was sent to fight it. They battled and while neither was able to win they proved the vast superiority or the new ships to the old ones. -
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee was one of the greatest tacticians of the Civil War where shile almost alwasy outnumbered he managed to come out victorous or find a way to retreat back to Virginia. At the outset of the war both Lincoln and Davis wanted him to join their side but the deciding factor was Virginia's secession and Lee's decision to follow it. Lee first became the leader of the army of North Virginia which he then commanded to a large string of victories. -
Battle of Antietam
After a victory at Bull Run General Robert E. Lee led his confederate forces north to Maryland with hopes of ending the war sooner. However, McClellan had gotten hold of Lee's plan and had already prepared a counter to it. When Lee found out he ordered General Jackson to fall back but it was too late. What then happened was the bloodiest battle of the civil war where 22,000 men were killed. The Emancipation Proclomation then followed and the South lost all hope of foreign aid. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln had sought ways to free the slaves in the South but was unable to use them without angering the border states. It was not until the major victory at Antietam that he was able to give his proclamation freeing all slaves in the rebel states. While this act techincally did not free a single slave it was a symbolic cause given to the Union that they were now fighting against slavery not just secession in this war. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
After replacing McClellan with the much more aggressive General Burnside, Lincoln would soon find out the other side of the extreme general. His tactics of going into full out assaults cost him dearly as he lost 12,000 men to the Confeds. 5,000. This battle proved how improved modern warfare would destroy previous eras ways of fighting. -
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was a West Point graduate who was the commander of the Union's western forces. While the Monitor and Merrimac did battle in the east Grant assaulted the Mississppi River using gunboats and army maneuvers to take several forts. In total he took 14,000 Confederates prisoner in the bloody encounters. Even though, he was ambushed at Shioh he managed to hold his ground in a horrible battle which claimed 23,000 lives. -
Battle of Vicksburg
Now with most of the Mississppi river in the control of the Union general Grant the Union's plan was almsot complete. It was then that General Grant began the seige of Vicksburg which would last for seven weeks before the South's surrender. On July 4th the Confederates surrendered the city along with 29,000 troops and the Union had now cut the South into two fractured sections. -
Battle of Gettysburg
General Lee in the east needed to take the offensive as the South's economy was in disaaray and his army was becoming more unruly. He sought to attack the Union garrison stationed at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. What followed was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War where 50,000 soldiers lost their lives. All of Lee's attacks proved futile and his surviving men retreated never to go on the offensive again. -
Gettysburg address
A few months after the horrific battle at Gettysburg Lincoln sought out to go to the battlefield to commemorate it as a national cemetary. It is here that he gave his most famous speech in which he outline his stance on the what the war was truly about. Even though, it was only a few minutes long it was the symbolic meaning that made it one of the greatest in history. -
Sherman's March
General Grant now leader of all Union forces needed to fight a war of attrition by slowly destroying all of the Confederates forces. For this he commisioned the veteran general Sherman to lead a force of 100,000 men on a path of sheer destruction across Georgia and South Carolina. They marched and destroyed the city of Atlanta adn then destroyed the city of Columbia the heart of secession breaking the South's will to fight on. -
Appomatox Court House
With hunger and destruction throughout the South everyone knew that the war was now nearing its end. Lee who had been outflanked now tried to escape with his 30,000 men through the mountains only to be cut off by Grant's forces. He was finally forced to surrender at Appomatox Court House effectively ending the war. Grant treated Lee with respect and allowed them to return home with their horses. -
Lincoln's Assassination
Shortly before Lee's surrender at Appomatox Court House Lincoln had given his second innaugural address saying that the South should be treated benevolently and without malice. However an embittered actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth shot and killed Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. This was a devestating blow as without their leader the issues of how to treat the South became devestatingly complicated.
