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Lincoln is reelected
Any chance of negotiating a settlement with the South was gone after Lincoln was reelected. Lincoln ran against George B. McClellan, and won 212 electoral votes to 21.
People were surprised there even was an election, since they were rarely held during military emergencies. , "We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us." -
The Thirteenth Amendement
The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31st, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. This amendment outlawed slavery except as punishment for a crime. -
Fall of the Confederacy
Problems with transportation and blockades brought a severe food shortage to the South. Many of Lee’s soldiers began to desert him, shrinking the army. President Jefferson Davis approved adding slaves to the army, but it was never put into effect. -
Sherman Marches Through North and South Carolina
Sherman planned to march to Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, to join forces with Union general Ulysses S. Grant in order to insure victory for the Union. On February 17, his forces captured Columbia, South Carolina, and the South’s defense was ineffective. -
A Chance for Reconciliation is Lost
Confederate President Davis agreed to send delegates to meet with Union President Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward, if they agreed to recognize the south as an independent state. Lincoln and Seward refused, and the meeting never took place. -
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox after he abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond and headed west, hoping to join other Confederate soldiers in North Carolina. Union forces followed and cut off the retreat. Lee’s last stand was at Appomattox where he launched an attack thinking the Union’s army was made up mostly of cavalry. He was wrong, and was forced to surrender. -
Assassination of President Lincoln
President Lincoln was shot in the head and killed by actor John Wilkes Booth, as a part of a larger conspiracy to help the Confederacy. Lincoln was in Ford’s theatre with his wife, Mary Todd, when he was shot. He died the next morning. -
Capture of Jefferson Davis
Davis fled from Richmond after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. His plan was to escape by sea to Texas and establish a new Confederacy. He disguised himself as a woman, but was captured at Irwinville, Georgia. -
Consequneces of the War
Davis fled from Richmond after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. His plan was to escape by sea to Texas and establish a new Confederacy. He disguised himself as a woman, but was captured at Irwinville, Georgia. -
The Cost of the War
The death toll for the Civil War was an estimated 1,094,453 people. The Union lost 444,780 to battle and disease, and the Confederacy lost 258,000 in battle or disease, and 471,427 were wounded. The Union was spending 42.5 million dollars a day, which added up to $6,190,000,000. The Confederacy spent maybe $2,099,808,707.
The value of money dropped, $2.59 in paper money equaled $1 in gold in the North. The value of money in the South dropped so much that $1 in gold was $60-70 in paper money.
