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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Take a walk through history with this guide for lifelong learners The American Civil War is one of the most fascinating and impactful periods in American history. Besides bringing about the end of slavery, the war had many important economic and social effects that continue to shape the history and present-day realities of the American people. In American Civil War For Dummies, you'll get an accessible, bird's-eye view of one of history's greatest conflicts. All the must-know details of the war are covered here, from the Battle of Gettysburg to the Emancipation Proclamation. You'll also find: * Descriptions of the experiences of Black Americans, in both the North and the South, during the war * Explorations of how slavery and civil rights fit into the social, political, and economic context of the time * Profiles of some of the most famous generals in the war, including Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant Take a moment to get a hands-on education in this critical point in American history. Get American Civil War For Dummies now!
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American Civil War For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022930305
ISBN 978-1-119-86329-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-86330-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-86331-1 (ebk)
American Civil War For Dummies®
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
What Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in this Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: The War and Its Causes
Chapter 1: How Did the War Happen?
The Big Picture: War and Politics
The North and South: Two Different Worlds
The Opposing Sides
Playing a Part in the Controversy: The Constitution
Struggling for Power
California: The Compromise of 1850
Chapter 2: The Five Steps to War: 1850–1860
Setting the Stage: Five Events Leading to War
Struggling for Kansas
Rising from the Collapse: The Republican Party
The Republicans and the 1856 Presidential Election
The Dred Scott Decision
John Brown’s Raid
The Fighting South, the Angry North
The Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860
Chapter 3: Secession and War: 1860–1861
The First Secession: South Carolina and the Lower South
Building a New Nation: The Confederacy
Taking Office: Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Firing the First Shot
So, Who Started the War?
Part 2: Making War
Chapter 4: Civil War Armies: Structure and Organization
Understanding the Basics of War
Creating a Strategy: Three Basic Questions
Uncovering the Principles of War
Developing Campaigns: The Art of War
Putting It All Together: Strategy to Campaigns to Battles
Looking at the Civil War Army Organization
Building a Basic Civil War Army Structure: The Regiment
Comparing the Science versus the Art of War
Chapter 5: Union and Confederate Strategy
Comparing Northern and Southern Resources
Wartime Strategy: Union and Confederate
Geography and Strategy: Theaters of War
Civil War Strategy in Retrospect
Chapter 6: Organizing and Training the Armies
Making Civilians into Soldiers
Qualifications of Union and Confederate Officers
Chapter 7: Significant Weapons of the Civil War
The Weapons You Need to Fight
The Rifled Musket and Tactics
The Really Big Guns: Civil War Artillery
Cavalry Weapons
Part 3: Opening Moves, 1861–1862
Chapter 8: Starting the War: Bull Run (First Manassas), July 1861
The First Rumblings: “On to Richmond!”
Marching into Battle (Sort Of)
Organizing the Armies: Disposition of Forces on the Battlefield
Opening Moves: Key Decisions and Events
Advancing to Victory: The Outcome
Analyzing the Battle
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 9: Trouble West of the Mississippi and the Road to Shiloh, August 1861–April 1862
Focusing on the Early Battlegrounds of Missouri and Arkansas
Dictating a Strategy in the Western Theater
Struggling with Rank: Union Command
The Importance of Kentucky
Attacking the Forts: Grant Teams with the Navy
The Shiloh Campaign
The Fighting Begins: The Battle of Shiloh
Aftermath of the Battle
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 10: Union Navy Victories and Union Army Defeats, March–July 1862
Bringing in a New Commander: George B. McClellan
Taking a Gamble: The Blockade
Patrolling the Coast: Union Naval Victories
Discovering the Political Price of Failure and Inaction
The Peninsula: A New Campaign
Writing a New Chapter in Naval Warfare: The Ironclad
Getting Fooled at Yorktown
Battle of Wills: The Presidents versus the Generals
McClellan Makes a Mistake before Richmond
Chapter 11: Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign, March–June 1862
Creating a Hero: Stonewall Jackson
Stonewall’s Valley: The Shenandoah
The Valley Campaign: An Appreciation
Chapter 12: The Seven Days of Robert E. Lee, June–July 1862
The Confederacy in Crisis: Seven Pines
Results of the Battle: McClellan Falters
Taking Command: The “King of Spades”
The Significance of the Campaign
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 13: Second Bull Run (Manassas), August 1862
Reshuffling the Union Command Structure
Giving Lee an Opportunity: “Old Brains” Miscalculates
The Aftermath of the Battle
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 14: The Bloodiest Day: Antietam (Sharpsburg), September 1862
Winning the War Now: The Confederate Strategic Situation
Waiting for a Victory: The Union Strategic Situation
The Antietam Campaign
Jackson’s Coup at Harpers Ferry
Starting the Battle: McClellan Creeps In
Aftermath of the Battle
Assessing the Battle and Its Significance
The Emancipation Proclamation
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 15: Lost Opportunities for the Confederacy in the West: September–October 1862
The Western Theater: A Lesson in Geography
Confederate Cavalry Dominates Tennessee
Bragg Takes Command
Starting the Fight: The Battle of Perryville
Enduring Another Confederate Disaster: Iuka and Corinth
Assessing the Aftermath of the Campaign: Results and Recriminations
Significance of the Battles
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 16: War So Terrible: Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro, December 1862
Making a New Start in the East
Hurry Up and Wait at the Rappahannock
The Battle of Fredericksburg
The Aftermath of the Battle
The Battle of Murfreesboro
The Results of the Battle
Heroes and Goats
Part 4: War to the Hilt, 1863–1865
Chapter 17: The Battle of Chancellorsville, May 1863
Beginning a New Campaign in the Eastern Theater
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 18: The Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, July 1863
The Gettysburg Campaign
The Battle of Gettysburg: Day One
The Battle of Gettysburg: Day Two
The Battle of Gettysburg: Day Three
The Final Moves
The Battle’s Significance
Heroes and Goats
1863: The Western Theater
The Vicksburg Campaign
The Siege and Fall of Vicksburg
Success at Port Hudson
Grant’s Accomplishment
Heroes
Goats
Chapter 19: The Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga, August–November 1863
Rosecrans: Approaching and Taking Chattanooga
The Chickamauga Campaign
The Battle of Chickamauga: Day One
The Battle of Chickamauga: Day Two
The Battle Ends
Chickamauga: The Results
Heroes and Goats
Turned Tables at Chattanooga
The Battle’s Aftermath
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 20: Lee and Grant: Operations in Virginia, May–October 1864
Generals Get Their Orders from Grant
Day One in the Wilderness: “Bushwhacking on a Grand Scale”
Day Two in the Wilderness: Grant Doesn’t Quit
Lee Loses the Initiative at North Anna
Grant’s Disaster at Cold Harbor
The Jug-Handle Movement to Petersburg
The Second Valley Campaign
The Siege at Petersburg: July–October 1864
Chapter 21: The Atlanta Campaign and a Guarantee of Union Victory, May–December 1864
Taking Command: Johnston and the Army of Tennessee
Preparing to Move: Sherman in the Western Theater
The Campaign for Atlanta Begins
The Battle for Atlanta
Looking at the Navy’s Contributions in 1864
Checking on Presidential Politics of 1864
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Assessing Sherman’s Impact
Chapter 22: The Destruction of Hood’s Army in Tennessee, October 1864–January 1865
Hood Moves North
Triumphing at Nashville: Thomas’s Brilliant Plan
The Battle of Nashville
The Aftermath
Heroes and Goats
Chapter 23: A Matter of Time: Petersburg to Appomattox, January–April 1865
The Strategic Situation in 1865
Lee’s Fateful Dilemma: Petersburg
The Last Retreat
Symbolic Formalities: The Last Act
Closing Events: The War Ends, a President Dies
Victory and Uncertainty: The Reunited States
Winners and Losers: The Debate Lives On
Part 5: Behind the Lines
Chapter 24: The Confederacy: Creating a Nation at War
Examining Jefferson Davis as President and War Leader
Creating the New Confederate Government
Financing the War
Supplying Manpower for the War
Supplying Material for the War
Detailing the Confederate Naval War
Struggling with Diplomacy: European Recognition
Creating a Nation: Confederate Nationalism
Chapter 25: The Union at War: Creating a New Republican Future for America
Looking at Abraham Lincoln as President and War Leader
Financing the War
Running the War: Congress and the President
Fighting the War
Building an Economy: Northern Industrial Production
Chapter 26: Wartime in America: Its Effect on the People
Meeting the Common Soldier: Everyman
Changing Women’s Roles in the Civil War
Taking Note of the African American Contribution
Discovering the American Indians
Part 6: The Civil War Tourist
Chapter 27: Getting Ready to Travel
Planning Your Trip
Using Your Time Wisely
Taking Three Methods on a Battlefield
Chapter 28: Visiting a Civil War Battlefield
Fine-Tuning Your Trip
Getting Oriented: The Visitor Center
Appreciating the Terrain
Studying, Stories, and Reflection
Part 7: The Part of Tens
Chapter 29: The Ten Worst Generals of the Civil War
Braxton Bragg (1817–1876)
Nathaniel P. Banks (1816–1894)
Ambrose E. Burnside (1824–1881)
John B. Hood (1831–1879)
John B. Floyd (1806–1863)
Benjamin F. Butler (1818–1893)
Leonidas (Bishop) Polk (1806–1864)
Joseph Hooker (1814–1879)
John Pope (1822–1892)
P.G.T. Beauregard (1818–1893)
George B. McClellan (1826–1885): Honorable Mention
Chapter 30: The Ten Biggest “Firsts” of the Civil War
The Growing Dominance of the Defense
Minesweeping: Naval Mines
Starting Undersea Warfare: The Submarine
Changing Tactics and Moving Quickly: The Railroad
Battling without Bullets: Psychological Warfare
Using Air-to-Ground Communication
Dominating the Seas: The Ironclad Warship
Talking over Wires: The Telegraph
Increasing Firepower: The Repeating Rifle
Born in the Civil War: The Machine Gun
Chapter 31: The Ten Biggest “What Ifs” of the Civil War
What If the Confederates Had Pursued After Manassas (Bull Run)?
What If Grant Had Been Killed at Shiloh?
What If Fort Sumter Had Not Been Fired On?
What If McClellan Had Not Found Lee’s Lost Orders?
What If McClellan Had Won Decisively at Antietam?
What If Johnston Had Not Been Wounded at Seven Pines?
What If Davis Had Adopted a Different Strategy in the West?
What If Lee Had Won at Gettysburg?
What If Davis Had Relieved Bragg Earlier in the War?
What If Jackson Had Not Been Lost to Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia?
Chapter 32: The Ten+ Best Battlefields of the Civil War and How to Visit Them
Best Battlefields by the Mounted Method
Best Battlefields by the Mounted/Dismounted Method
Best Battlefields by the Terrain Walk Method
Index
About the Author
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 Army Structure
TABLE 4-2 Army Hierarchy and Command
Chapter 5
TABLE 5-1: Distribution of Major War Resources
List of Illustrations
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2-1: Abraham Lincoln, Republican Party spokesman and future presidential...
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3-1: The firing on Fort Sumter.
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4-1: Interior and exterior lines.
FIGURE 4-2: 1st Virginia Cavalry.
FIGURE 4-3: The 12pd Napoleon — the standard artillery piece of both armies.
FIGURE 4-4: Infantrymen of the 6th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: Cavalry troops with carbines.
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8-1: Major General Irvin McDowell.
FIGURE 8-2: General P.G.T Beauregard.
FIGURE 8-3: Map of the battle of First Manassas (Bull Run).
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: Albert Sidney Johnston.
FIGURE 9-2: U.S. Grant.
FIGURE 9-3: Map showing the area around the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers.
FIGURE 9-4: Union transports on the Tennessee River.
FIGURE 9-5: Map of the battlefield of Shiloh.
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10-1: Union General George B. McClellan.
FIGURE 10-2: Admiral David G. Farragut.
FIGURE 10-3: Map of the Peninsula Campaign.
FIGURE 10-4: Franklin Buchanan, Commander of the CSS
Virginia.
FIGURE 10-5: USS Monitor (July 1862).
FIGURE 10-6: Joseph E. Johnston.
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11-1: Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson.
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: Robert E. Lee.
FIGURE 12-2: Jeb Stuart.
FIGURE 12-3: Scene from the Seven Days Battles.
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13-1: John Pope.
FIGURE 13-2: James Longstreet.
FIGURE 13-3: Battle of Second Manassas.
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: Map of the Battle of Antietam.
FIGURE 14-2: The Battle of Antietam — Burnside’s Bridge.
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: Map of Kentucky and Tennessee.
FIGURE 15-2: Don Carlos Buell.
FIGURE 15-3: Braxton Bragg.
Chapter 16
FIGURE 16-1: Ambrose E. Burnside.
FIGURE 16-2: Confederate soldiers at the stone wall at Fredericksburg.
FIGURE 16-3: Nathan Bedford Forrest.
FIGURE 16-4: General William S. Rosecrans.
Chapter 17
FIGURE 17-1: Joseph Hooker.
Chapter 18
FIGURE 18-1: A.P. Hill.
FIGURE 18-2: Richard Ewell.
FIGURE 18-3: George G. Meade.
FIGURE 18-4: Winfield Scott Hancock.
FIGURE 18-5: A scene from the battle of Gettysburg.
FIGURE 18-6: Map of the Battle of Gettysburg.
FIGURE 18-7: Map of the Battle of Vicksburg.
FIGURE 18-8: David Dixon Porter.
Chapter 19
FIGURE 19-1: Map of the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga.
FIGURE 19-2: George H. Thomas.
FIGURE 19-3: The Battle of Chickamauga.
Chapter 20
FIGURE 20-1: Battle of the Wilderness: Soldiers of the Union Army’s II Corps (n...
FIGURE 20-2: Battle of Spotsylvania.
FIGURE 20-3: Jubal Early.
FIGURE 20-4: Philip Sheridan.
FIGURE 20-5: Map showing Union and Confederate forts established during the sie...
FIGURE 20-6: Bombproofs at Petersburg 1864.
FIGURE 20-7: Battle of the Crater.
Chapter 21
FIGURE 21-1: William T. Sherman.
FIGURE 21-2: Map of the Atlanta campaign.
FIGURE 21-3: John B. Hood.
FIGURE 21-4: Confederate fortifications outside of Atlanta.
FIGURE 21-5: USS Hartford.
FIGURE 21-6: The Battle of Mobile Bay.
FIGURE 21-7: Sherman’s March to the Sea.
Chapter 23
FIGURE 23-1: Fort Stedman.
FIGURE 23-2: The Battle of Five Forks.
FIGURE 23-3: Richmond after its capture.
FIGURE 23-4: Lee's retreat from Petersburg to Appomattox.
FIGURE 23-5: Lee at Appomattox.
FIGURE 23-6: Abraham Lincoln in 1865, his face clearly showing the strains of w...
FIGURE 23-7: Army of the Potomac II Corps Grand Review 1865.
FIGURE 23-8: Regiment waiting to march.
FIGURE 23-9: Unknown Union soldier.
FIGURE 23-10: Unknown Union sailor.
FIGURE 23-11: Unknown Confederate sailor.
FIGURE 23-12: Unknown Confederate soldier.
Chapter 24
FIGURE 24-1: Alexander Stephens.
Chapter 25
FIGURE 25-1: Union sailors abord the USS New Hampshire.
Chapter 26
FIGURE 26-1: Two soldiers show how they carried their supplies.
FIGURE 26-2: Typical officer’s uniform.
FIGURE 26-3: Confederate hospital in Richmond.
FIGURE 26-4: Nurse Ann Burtis Hampton, Virginia 1864.
FIGURE 26-5: Teamsters, Army of the James, 1864.
FIGURE 26-6: A unit of U.S. Colored Troops.
FIGURE 26-7: Ely Parker (shown on the left).
Guide
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Index
About the Author
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Introduction
It is interesting that for over 150 years, in times of controversy, public discourse has always turned to the Civil War. Everyone, it seems, is compelled to return to the war to highlight some aspect of an argument. This should not be surprising because the Civil War created the modern United States and defined the people who called themselves Americans. The war was a fundamental watershed in our history — marked by a staggering cost of 620,000 Union and Confederate casualties and 50,000 civilian deaths — defining both who we are as a nation and who we are as Americans. It is therefore natural that we continue to return to the war as a starting point for any discussion today about what America is and what America means.
The Civil War is still very much with us for a number of reasons. America’s Civil War has epic dimensions, equal to Homer’s Iliad or Virgil’s Aeneid. Like any great epic, it has all the elements of tragedy and pathos; it has immortal heroes who control the destinies of nations. There are great battles on land and sea that stir deep emotions. The experiences of Army of the Potomac, the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of the Cumberland, and the Army of the Tennessee marching across a vast landscape, each composed of free and self-reliant Americans joined together to strive in a common cause, surpasses Xenophon’s account of the Greek army in Anabasis.
This was a war that consumed the vital energies of an entire continent. We are still very much aware of the human dimension of the war: The passions, the sorrows, the hopes, joys, and despair are ingrained in the American collective memory and are still relived as we venture back in time. The political dimension drove every aspect of the war and served as the ultimate arbiter of victory or defeat. It was highly complex, forcing political leaders to make exceptionally difficult decisions and to take extraordinary risks. Like all political enterprises, it had its knaves and fools as well as its more noble proponents. The military dimension included supplying the armies, providing the manpower to fill the ranks, and identifying a strategy that would ensure victory. The economic dimension involved retooling existing industries to support war production, inventing new methods, and applying innovative solutions. The diplomatic dimension was a critical battleground in itself as both the Union and the Confederacy sought to engage the European powers, with the Confederacy seeking recognition and military intervention that would assure independence, while the Union sought to deter and dissuade the temptations of any European power to intervene.
Many books have been written about each of these dimensions, but it is the whole story that continues to attract us and continues to fascinate us. Once you enter into the subject, you are suddenly surrounded with all of its various aspects, all of its emotional power, and all of its often opaque meaning. Trying to sort the story out — to make it meaningful and worthwhile in answering important questions in our own time — is the purpose of this book. By telling the story as completely and succinctly as possible, while keeping everything in perspective, will help you, the reader, to gain a fuller understanding of this critical event in our history and attain a more complete perspective on the larger meaning of past events that continue to shape our destinies as Americans.
About This Book
The average person with more than a passing interest in the war has no place to go to gain a broad, general understanding of this crucial period in our history.
This book is intended to meet the needs of the average reader who wants to be informed without being overwhelmed with details. This book is directed toward several types of readers:
First,
the person who desires accurate, easily accessible information about the major events and issues of the Civil War without encountering intimidating historical narrative or ponderous military interpretation
Second,
the person who may want a refresher on the major events of the war, but who does not want to struggle through the tomes of scholars or arcane minutiae of Civil War fanatics
Third,
those who are looking for a fun, how-to approach to exploring Civil War battlefields to learn more about the events directly by visiting these sites in order to enhance their appreciation and understanding of the events that took place there
The past appears remote and inaccessible to most people. The main message of this book is that history is most emphatically neither remote nor inaccessible! Politics, passions, and conflict (both armed and ideological) have always marked U.S. history. You will find similarities to the current day in the events of the past. In this way, history in the proper context can connect you to the past.
History doesn’t have to be boring or intimidating. Everyone who hates history books will say that they are nothing more than dry lists of names and places and dates and jargon. That’s true enough, in most cases, if you only look that far. Although this is a different kind of history book, it does follow certain conventions found in most history books. This one, like most, is arranged chronologically. Like most history books, too, it tells a story, which has a beginning, a middle, and an end. What is different about this book is that you can start wherever you like. You don’t need to slog through the whole thing from beginning to end to understand what is going on. It is organized so that you, the reader, have maximum flexibility to pick and choose what you want to know. You can jump in at any point and still keep up with the story or select a topic to read in a chapter that interests you. Wherever necessary, terms will be defined for you, or referenced elsewhere for a detailed explanation. Obviously, names, dates, and places are here too, but they are located where you can refer to them if you need to or find them easily if you want.
What Not to Read
Throughout the book you will find text in shaded boxes. These are the nice-to-know, gee whiz!, how about that? bits of information that many Civil War enthusiasts know. These offerings will help make you knowledgeable in conversation and mark you as someone who is not a complete novice.
Foolish Assumptions
What is assumed about this book is that it is easy to read and will hold your interest enough to generate some thinking on your own.
Icons Used in this Book
You will find five icons scattered throughout the chapters. These little pictures next to the text get your attention and point you to useful information:
Key Players: Seems obvious, but to help you along, some individuals will be highlighted for their actions or decisions. It will work both ways: Some individuals will be singled out for good reasons, others for not so good reasons.
Remember: A key fact that is worth paying attention to for better understanding or some additional interesting details.
Technical Stuff: These are military terms you may not be familiar with.
Tip: This relates to battlefield visits and points out a good idea or the best way to do something to make your visit more enjoyable and useful.
Turning Point: A turning point is a particularly important action that creates significant changes in the outcome of an event. Watch how the cumulative effects of these turning points shape the outcome of the Civil War.
Beyond the Book
You will have free access to the Cheat Sheet by going to the website Dummies.com and typing in “American Civil War Cheat Sheet” in the search box. It will have loads of facts and general information to help you prepare for travel to a battlefield or, because everyone has an opinion or point of view about the Civil War, it will give you a quick checklist to engage in a discussion about various aspects of the war.
Where to Go from Here
The book itself covers a span of about 15 years, from 1850 to 1865. That time span may seem short, especially for a history book, but these 15 years were as important as any in American history. To help you understand why, the book is organized into seven parts, each dealing with a major theme of the war. The chapters within the parts are organized to take you through the major events of the Civil War, highlighting important facts and points of interest. Each chapter will acquaint you with words and ideas that are important to the entire story. At the end of each section, you’ll find a summary of major points (just to make sure you didn’t miss anything important, or if you skipped through a few chapters) to help you along. There is so much to learn — enjoy the journey!
Part 1
The War and Its Causes
IN THIS PART …
Get a handle on the conditions that were shaping the United States and causing trouble.
Figure out what a civil war is.
War! War! War! So much goes into starting one.
Chapter 1
How Did the War Happen?
IN THIS CHAPTER
Taking a look at the big picture
Defining a “civil war”
Understanding the distinction between North and South
Exploring the issues
Since the founding of the United States, different sections of the country had interests and priorities that competed with the interests and priorities of other sections. These conflicts had always been resolved through politics (usually some form of congressional dealmaking).
However, beginning in the 1850s, the political process for resolving these disputes became less and less effective. The differences between sections of the country were so great at that time that the survival of the union of states was in danger. Peace depended upon compromise and conciliation between congressional leaders representing each section. This chapter examines the sectional differences between the North and South that led to such a dangerous situation and provides some background to the controversies that led to the Civil War.
The Big Picture: War and Politics
Wars have many causes. No one should ever forget that wars are fought for political reasons and objectives. Essentially, people or nations go to war to protect a vital interest, to defend territory from an aggressor, or to achieve a moral purpose (such as defending the innocent and punishing an evil). The Civil War included all of these rationales. Each side used all three justifications for fighting the other during the four years of war. And, interestingly enough, each side had a strong, valid, substantial reason for doing so.
What’s a civil war?
You hear the word civil in such terms as civil rights, civilian, and civil liberty. All are related to the concept of a common citizen, a member of society, and a state. So, a civil war is a war between citizens representing different groups or sections of the same country. Civil wars are unique in the history of war and usually are quite difficult to start. People have to be pretty angry and threatened to take this kind of drastic step. But when issues of survival are at stake between the opposing groups, violence can escalate quickly. After it does start, though, a civil war is quite bloody, often extreme, and very hard to end.
The setting: 1850–1860
To understand the causes of the Civil War, you must be aware of some important events in American history — from roughly 1850 (the Missouri Compromise) to 1860 (the election of Abraham Lincoln) — that culminated in the secession of seven Southern states. These are milestones that will illustrate how specific events during this decade raised fears and created perceptions that made Americans so angry at their countrymen that they were willing to kill each other as a result.
WHAT DO I MEAN BY NORTH AND SOUTH?
To keep things clear, here is what this book means when speaking of North and South in regional or sectional terms:
The North consists of the Midwest states of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. The Middle States were Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. The New England states were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In 1860 the population of the North was a little over 18 million people.The South consists of the six states of the upper South: North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware, and the eight states of the lower South (Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, and Arkansas). In 1860 the total white population was slightly over 8 million, with over 3.9 million slaves.The North and South: Two Different Worlds
Until the expansion of the population into the rich lands of the lower South, in the first decade of the 19th century, slavery had been a dying institution. The North had slaves but freed most of them (except New Jersey) because the institution was too expensive and too inefficient to maintain. In the South, too, slavery was viewed as an institution that had no future. But this all changed with the industrial revolution that swept Europe and the states of the North. Textiles were the dominant product of new factories, which depended on enormous quantities of a raw material — cotton. As the demand for cotton rose on the world market, Americans began to look for opportunities to profit by getting in at the entry level. This meant putting as much land into cotton production as possible. The expansion of the frontier into the lower South and across the Mississippi River where the soil was rich and the weather ideal for growing cotton led many Americans to settle in this vast open region to stake their fortunes and achieve the American dream of independence and wealth. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas rapidly became states between 1812 and 1836, even as the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan in the Midwest were added to the Union. Great fortunes were made and the U.S. economy thrived with the export of cotton to European (and Northern) factories between 1820 and 1860.
In theory, making a profit from cotton was easy to do, and the more land you put into production, the more profit you made. The invention of the cotton gin, a ridiculously simple machine that easily separated seeds from the cotton boll, allowed raw cotton to be processed in unlimited quantities. The growing and harvesting of cotton, however, required the labor of many people. From the time the seed is put into the ground until the time the cotton boll is picked, run through a gin, and baled, the crop required almost constant attention. To produce any sizable cotton crop, a large pool of labor available year-round was essential. Slaves, once seen as an unnecessary burden, now became the essential source of labor in the rapidly expanding cotton economy. Slaves, who had largely populated the coastal states of the South, were now imported into the interior to work in the cotton fields. Competition for acquiring labor made slaves more and more valuable. As prices rose, fewer and fewer people could afford to own them.
By the 1850s, cotton was the raw material that powered the world economy and slavery was the engine. Whoever could put the most land into production, plowing the profits into more land and more slaves, would reap enormous profits. Slave owning became the road to status and success for all ambitious Southerners, including free Blacks and Indians. A small farmer, if he was so inclined (and many were not), could make enough money from a small cotton farm to buy one or two slaves. With this extra manpower, he could put more land into production, make more profit in the booming cotton market, and buy more slaves. With 20 slaves, he could become a planter, and rise to social and political influence. The father of Jefferson Davis, the future president of the Confederacy, began this way and became one of the richest and most powerful men in Mississippi.
Of the 1.4 million white families in the South in 1860, there were only 383,000 slaveholders. Only 46,000 planters owned 20 slaves, fewer than 3,000 owned 100 or more slaves, and only 12 Southerners owned 500 or more slaves. One individual owned 1,000 slaves. He was the richest man on the planet. Thus, only a tiny minority of people owned slaves in the South.
The rarified air of highly sophisticated historical minds harbors many intricate pet theories to account for the South’s connection with slavery, but let’s keep it simple. Wealthy slave owners were men of high social status and held political power. They were the ones who ran the state legislatures and elected men of their kind to Congress. Not surprisingly, they enjoyed great influence over Southern society and their attachment to, and defense of, slavery represented a broad consensus. Although Southern society was highly stratified, there was — in the often rough and violent Southern frontier, regardless of social position or wealth — a sense of rough equality where a white man demanded equal treatment and respect from other white men. Because it was an integral part of the landscape of the South, the institution of slavery bound slaveholders and non-slaveholders together politically, culturally, and economically. When questions arose about the future direction of the country after the Mexican-American War, slaveholders and non-slaveholders, sharing the same outlook and interests, united to defend the institution to prevent any limitation.
The North, during this same time period, was setting the stage for the industrial revolution that would transform the nation in the next hundred years. Technology harnessed to both agriculture and industry, plus a huge influx of immigrants to serve as a ready labor force, created a new dynamic economy. Textile mills (run on Southern cotton), steam engines, railroads and canals, and iron and steel factories came to dominate the landscape of New England, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. In 1860, the North held about 140,000 factories, which employed nearly a million and a half workers, who produced almost $2 billion worth of goods. New cities in the northwest such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee became the engines of change in the national economy. St. Louis and New Orleans became the centers of a dynamic interregional trade. Within this atmosphere of economic change and readjustment between 1850 and 1860, the North and South were becoming more disparate, confidently moving, it seemed, in two different directions.
The Opposing Sides
The North and the South agreed on one thing: that the future of America lay in the vast open territory of the West. The troubling question was which section of the country would determine the nation’s destiny? Most of this territory had been won from Mexico after the Mexican-American War in 1846, and Northerners and Southerners disagreed over the future organization of this territory into states. The road to war began with a political struggle between the North and the South over how the western territories would be organized into states and enter the Union. This political struggle had its origins in the extensive social changes influencing the North after 1830. A religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening swept from New England into the new states of the Midwest with a message of moral revival and striving for individual perfection. Adherents believed that not only should men and women seek spiritual and personal purity through hard work and personal rectitude, but the whole of society must also be purged of unwholesome elements. Two of the most prominent threats to achieving this perfection in society were the moral evils of liquor and of slavery. Prohibition movements sprang up throughout the North, as did a movement to abolish slavery. Although these movements were not entirely popular in the North, they gained wider and deeper influence in the realm of politics.
Another powerful idea that shaped attitudes of Northerners was the notion of free labor. The future of America was a land of free white men who would move west and build happy and prosperous lives from their own efforts. This powerful vision also gained influence within Northern political circles, even to the extent of creating a new sectional political party, the Free Soil Party. Increasingly, the South was perceived as being a barrier to the limitless potential that a morally perfect country of free individuals could enjoy. Many in the North perceived Southerners as morally unfit, tainted by slavery, an institution that degraded small farmer and planter alike, making them listless, dull-witted, cruel, and violent. For Southerners, the writing was on the wall. In their vision of the future of America, the prosperity of the cotton economy would naturally expand westward. Cotton depleted the soil, requiring expansion westward to put more land into production. Without this expansion, the Southern economy would be condemned to a slow death. Of course, the westward expansion of the cotton economy meant that Southerners expected to bring slaves into the new territories.
Free labor became the catchphrase that heightened political divisions in the country. Only free (not slave) men could ensure a golden future for America. By extension, this meant that slave labor was neither legitimate nor welcome in the great West. Slavery, therefore, had to be limited and eventually destroyed if America was to fulfill its destiny. This concept had nothing to do with the status of Black men — free or otherwise — they had no place in this vision of the future. Southerners, hearing this message, and sensing that it was gaining political momentum, quickly recognized the threat to their own future in America, a place where the free labor advocates said they had no part to play.
WILMOT’S PROVISO
The Wilmot Proviso was a resolution made by an obscure Pennsylvania Congressman, David Wilmot, who, in 1846, attached the proviso (a conditional clause inserted into legislation or a contract) to an appropriations bill. Wilmot’s proviso stated that any territory acquired in the war with Mexico would not be open to slavery. The bill passed the House of Representatives, where the North had a majority, but it died in the Senate, where the South held the balance of power. The controversy over the Wilmot Proviso illustrated to both sections how important political control in Congress was to furthering their interests. The proviso became the basis of the increasingly bitter political struggle throughout the 1850s.
The political battle lines were drawn in 1846 with the Wilmot Proviso, which reflected the increasingly dominant opinions of Northerners who desired to bring about their vision of the future. It declared that any territory obtained from Mexico would be closed to slavery. The voices of an increasingly vocal and influential group of New England and Midwest abolitionists demanded a final reckoning with the South. The abolitionists felt that containing slavery only to where it currently existed (so that it would eventually die out) was a step in the right direction, but the only solution was destroying the institution altogether. As long as slavery existed, they believed, the future health of the republic was in danger. Allowing slavery to expand into the new territories would only lengthen the life of the institution, and in the end it would destroy the democratic base upon which the nation had been founded. Abolitionists and their supporters spoke darkly of the “slave power,” a tyrannical, satanic entity in the South that sought to undermine and overwhelm the North. Southerners responded by loudly defending slavery as a positive good, benefitting both masters and slaves alike.
Playing a Part in the Controversy: The Constitution
Since the founding of the United States, the South had maintained a strong hold on political power of the country. This situation often insulated the South and kept the slavery question out of the national dialogue, while also allowing Southern leaders to shape the national agenda. Over time, however, the growing population (nearly half of which lived across the Appalachian Mountains in 1860) gave Northern states proportionately more representatives in the House of Representatives. In addition, between 1846 and 1855, three million immigrants came to America; nearly 90 percent of them settled in states that did not have slaves. By this time, the balance of power had slipped away permanently from the South in the House of Representatives.
As stated in the Constitution, seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned by population. Prior to the Civil War, slaves were considered three-fifths of a person in determining total population of a state. Why three-fifths of a person? In the 1780s, the total white and Black population of the South outnumbered Northern whites, which meant that the South would essentially always have a permanent majority in the House of Representatives. To prevent this, Northerners claimed that Blacks should not be counted. Southerners would not accept this idea because, without the Black population being counted in some way, they would become the permanent minority in the House of Representatives. Eventually, the North and South compromised by deciding to count Blacks as three-fifths of a person for determining representation in the House (Article I, Section 2, of the Constitution — later amended after the war). This early effort at balancing power only highlighted the essential and fatal dichotomy of the institution of slavery. Slaves were considered both property and people in this section of the Constitution, but in reality, they could only be one or the other.
Struggling for Power
Southerners sought to preserve the political status quo. By the 1850s the Senate became the only legislative body on which the South could rely to maintain a balance of power. Because every state had two senators, regardless of population (so says Article II, Section 3, of the Constitution), Southern senators could block anti-slavery legislation coming from the Northern majority in the House of Representatives. Increasingly, bills were introduced into the House proposing all sorts of measures to end slavery or limit its expansion any further. So, for the ten years between 1850 and 1860, the North and the South waged a political struggle to gain an advantage or maintain the current balance of power by bringing in new states allied with one region or the other.
Amassing states: The political stakes involved
The political stakes were high for both sides (something like the end of a Monopoly game): Whoever had the most states at the end of the contest would have a majority of representatives in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Whichever side could do this could dictate the agenda for the country and determine the nation’s future. For the South, political power meant ironclad protection for slavery and the agrarian way of life. For the North, gaining control of the country meant securing progress and prosperity through an urban-industrial-agricultural alliance based on free labor. As the differences between the sections sharpened, neither side believed it could afford to give up power or control.
As long as the number of states in the Union remained the same, there would always be a relative balance between slave and non-slave (free) states. As the population of the United States moved westward and unsettled territories filled with people, however, new states were being created and admitted into the Union. The existence of these new states raised the political stakes. The focus of sectional conflict soon rested on determining which new states would be admitted as either a slave or a free state, while also maintaining the equal balance between slave and free states. It was a daunting political problem.
Entering the Union: The politics of compromise, 1850
As new settlers poured into California seeking gold in 1849, the debate began in Congress over how the new state should enter the Union. At this time, Congress was equally balanced in representation between slave and non-slave states. Thirty years earlier, Congress had avoided a crisis by admitting two states, one allowing slavery (Missouri) and one without slavery (Maine). However, in this instance, California’s admission as a new state would tip the balance of power in favor of one region or another, most likely for the North, adding more members in the House and further building the Northern majority there, while also adding two senators, which would likely give the North control of the Senate.
California: The Compromise of 1850
The original outline of the compromise surrounding California’s admission was the product of three political giants of their time — Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, Henry Clay of Kentucky, and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
Under the compromise, California entered the Union as a free state (no slavery allowed). This pleased Northerners, but they were shocked to find that California’s elected representatives supported the South. The compromise also allowed the territories of Utah and New Mexico to be organized as states in the future with or without slavery, depending on what the state constitution said. The South, initially pleased, soon discovered that very few people, let alone slaves, were entering into these territories, certainly not enough to organize either one as a state for some time. Eventually, both territories did allow slavery to exist, but did so on the brink of war in 1860.
The Fugitive Slave Law
For Southerners to accept California as a free state with its potential shift of power to the North, the Congress took action to involve more Americans in sustaining the institution of slavery. The Fugitive Slave Law mandated that states return fugitive slaves to their owners. The law gave federal officers the power to capture suspected fugitive slaves and provided severe penalties for those who harbored or protected a fugitive slave. At the time, the Fugitive Slave Law was seen as a throwaway concession to the South, but it was extremely unpopular in the North because many citizens viewed the arbitrary seizure of an individual by federal law enforcement as a violation of basic individual rights and a threatening symbol of the slave power’s evil influence on freedom in America. Federal officers attempting to arrest or transfer suspected fugitive slaves (this meant virtually any Black person — there was no way to determine who was legally free and who was not) were often met with violent resistance from citizens. The law simply could not be enforced, leading Southerners to decry the lawlessness of mob rule in the North.
D.C. is free
The last part of the compromise was largely symbolic, a throwaway concession to Northerners who were offended that slavery existed within the District of Columbia, an area under federal control. A new law mandated that slaves could not be brought into the District of Columbia to be bought or sold. On the surface, this appeared to be a clear moral victory for antislavery activists. The fine print, however, revealed that slaves already within the District of Columbia could continue to be bought and sold.
What did the compromise do?
The compromise gave each section what appeared to be a temporary advantage, and provided the nation with a politically acceptable, if temporary, solution to the dangerously divisive issue of slavery in the new territories of the West. In the long run, however, the Compromise of 1850 really accomplished very little, except to frustrate everyone and whet appetites for another confrontation — with the intention to settle old political scores and win a decisive victory to settle the question of the future of the United States once and for all.
Chapter 2
The Five Steps to War: 1850–1860
IN THIS CHAPTER
Facing constitutional issues again
Noting the collapse of national political parties
Looking at the 1860 election as a turning point
Asking, “How did things get so bad?”
Throughout the 1850s, the North and South continued to diverge along economic, political, and social lines. They knew less and less about each other, and each came to believe the worst about the other side. In fact, by this time, many Northerners and Southerners viewed each other as a separate people. National consensus and compromise became impossible to achieve.
The differences between the North and South became more pronounced in this decade because neither the Congress, nor the Supreme Court, nor the president could deal effectively with the divisive issue of slavery. Events pulled both the sections, the North and South, closer to the belief that only drastic action would resolve the nation’s problems.
Setting the Stage: Five Events Leading to War
When you examine the nature of the political struggle between 1850 and 1860, you can identify five separate events, each having a distinct effect on the nation. When viewed separately, they don’t seem to amount to much, but in the climate of the times, each event had a cumulative effect on the other, building a sense of nearly unbearable crisis and tension within the population that could not find release. The threat of open conflict, unthinkable in the country in 1850, became almost a predetermined conclusion by 1860.
One of the good and useful things about history is that it grants people the ability to look at events in the past, separated by time from the passions and confusion of the day-to-day events, and see how events connect in the long term. In doing this, certain events serve as guideposts to understanding how such a dramatic event as a civil war occurred. For your enjoyment and edification, the decade from 1850 to 1860 can be evaluated in terms of five steps that led to war:
The struggle for Kansas
The rise of the Republican Party
The Dred Scott decision
John Brown’s raid
The election of Abraham Lincoln
This chapter examines each one of these points in detail, then puts them all together to provide a backdrop for the growing sense of crisis that finally led to war.
Struggling for Kansas
As settlers continued to move into new territory, Congress was forced to deal with maintaining a balance of power between the Northern and Southern states. One approach had worked fairly well since 1820 — drawing a geographical boundary line (no slaves north of 36 degrees, 30 minutes latitude — basically the border between Missouri and Arkansas) that extended to the Pacific. This was known as the Missouri Compromise line. It worked because states could enter the Union in pairs: one above and one below the line (Maine-Missouri; Arkansas-Michigan; Florida and Texas-Iowa and Wisconsin). Most of these new Northern states (except Iowa) came from territory that had outlawed slavery in 1787. Because the rich lands of the new Southern states were ideal for growing cotton and other profitable crops, slavery followed the opening of these new states, allowing for an acceptable balance of power in the Congress.
Slavery, as an issue, did not move to the forefront of the national consciousness until after the Mexican-American War. By 1850, everything had changed (see Chapter 1). Faced now with a major crisis over the balance of power, Congress made an exception to the 1820 geographical boundary by admitting California as a free state, but remained faithful to the boundary line with the disposition of New Mexico territory as a way to mollify Southern fears. Yet shortly thereafter, the future of the Kansas-Nebraska territory posed another threat. All of that territory was above the 1820 geographical boundary, and therefore, technically, non-slave territory. The South couldn’t allow that to happen unless two new slave states could also be added to balance power, which didn’t look likely to happen in the near future. The territory north of the Missouri Compromise line was attractive farmland; in contrast, the arid high desert territory south and west of Texas below the compromise line reserved for slavery had little attraction for farmers, whether they owned slaves or not. Another crisis over the political control of the future of America, far more serious than the one in 1850, was brewing.
