Chapter 17 The Civil War (1861-1865)

Lesson 2 Early Years of the War

The Civil War

• Fought on sea and land
• The Union navy began a blockade of all Confederate ports
• The Southerners hoped to break the blockade with a secret weapon
• An abandoned Union warship, the Merrimack
• The Confederates covered the wooden ship with iron and renamed it the Virginia
• The Virginia could withstand Union cannon fire

Summer of 1861

• July 21, about 30,000 inexperienced Union troops under General Irvin McDowell attacked
• The Confederates had a smaller, but also inexperienced force under P.G.T. Beauregard
• Fighting took place in northern Virginia
• 5 miles from Manassas Junction near a small river called Bull Run
• Hundreds of residents from Washington D.C. went to the battle site to watch and have a picnic

First Battle of Bull Run

• The Yankees drove the Confederates back… at first
• The Rebels rallied, inspired by reinforcements under General Thomas Jackson
• Jackson was seen holding out heroically, “like a stone wall”
• Jackson got the nickname “Stonewall Jackson”
• The Confederates counterattacked and forced the Union lines to break
• The retreating Union troops ran into the picnickers
• Civilians fled back to Washington D.C. in panic

Results of 1^st Bull Run

• The outcome shocked Northerners
• They began to understand the war could be long, difficult, and costly
• President Lincoln appointed a new general, George B. McClellan, to head and organize the Union army of the East
• Called the Army of the Potomac
• Lincoln called for more troops
• Lincoln signed two bills requesting a total of 1 million soldiers to serve for three years
• Victories in the West raised Northern spirits and also increased enlistment

Lesson 2

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D

What was Lincoln’s goal in appointing George B. McClellan?

A. To have a brilliant � mastermind plan battles.

B. To sail the ironclad ships � against the Confederate navy.

C. To secure the Mississippi � and its tributaries.

D. To better train the young and inexperienced� Union troops.

The War in the West

• The main goal in the West for the Union was to control the Mississippi and its tributaries
• Controlling the Mississippi would keep Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas from supplying the rest of the Confederacy
• Union gunboats and troops could also move into the heart of the South
• The battles for the rivers began in February 1862 when the Union captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River
• Led by naval commander Andrew Foote and army general Ulysses S. Grant
• Foote and Grant moved to take Fort Donelson and told the Confederates…
• “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted”
• “Unconditional Surrender” Grant became the North’s new hero

War on the Ironclads

• March 8, 1862- The Merrimack (Virginia), attacked Union ships of the coast of Virginia
• The wooden Union ship’s shells bounced off its iron sides
• The Union had its own ironclad warship, the Monitor
• March 9^th, the two ironclads met in battle
• Neither could sink the other

In the West

• General Grant and 40,000 troops headed south toward Corinth, Mississippi
• There was an important railroad junction there
• The Union army camped at a church named Shiloh (about 20 miles away)
• More Union troops came from Nashville to join Grant
• Confederate leaders attacked first, before the reinforcements arrived

The Battle of Shiloh

• Early morning of April 6^th, Confederate forces led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack
• The Battle of Shiloh lasted two days,
• Narrow victory for the Union
• The losses were enormous- Together the two armies suffered 23,000 casualties
• The Union gained control of Corinth on May 30^th
• Memphis fell to the Union on June 6^th

New Orleans Falls

• April 25, 1862- New Orleans falls to the Union under David Farragut
• Controlling New Orleans (Mouth of Mississippi) meant the Confederacy could no longer use the river to carry goods to sea
• The Union now controlled most of the Mississippi
• Only the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi blocked Union control of the river and the success of the Union’s strategy

War in the East

• Another campaign was being fought in the East to capture Richmond (Capital of the Confederacy)
• The Confederacy was able to win victories because of General Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson
• Knowledge of the terrain, speed of movement, and ability to inspire their troops
• Confederate forces turned back General George B. McClellan at the Seven Days’ Battle
• Then defeated General John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run

War in the East Continued

• Then General Ambrose Burnside was defeated at Fredericksburg
• May 1863, Lee’s army defeated a Union army twice its size
• All Confederate victories took place in the Confederacy
• Lee’s two attempts to invade the North failed
• September 1862- Lee’s army was turned back at the Battle of Antietam
• A year later, the Confederate army would get defeated at Gettysburg

Invasion of the North

• Washington D.C. was too well guarded for Lee to attack
• Jefferson Davis instead moved onto western Maryland- Union Territory
• Davis wanted to move into Pennsylvania and move the war to the Northern states
• In Maryland, Lee split his army in four parts and moved them in different directions
• Lee hoped to confuse McClellan about the size and destination of his army
• A Confederate officer lost his copy of the orders and Union soldiers found them

Battle of Antietam

• McClellan did not attack immediately, and Lee reassembled his troops
• September 17, 1862- The two sides met in the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland
• About 6,000 were killed and 17,000 wounded
• Deadliest single day of fighting
• Important victory for the Union
• Lee retreated to Virginia

Lesson 2

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D

Which battle resulted in the most casualties?

A. The Battle of Antietam

B. The Battle of Chancellorsville

C. The Battle New Orleans

D. The Battle of Gettysburg

Reason for the Civil War

• Lincoln wanted to save the Union
• As the war went on, Lincoln changed the way he thought about slavery and its role in the war
• Lincoln hated slavery, but didn’t move on it because of the border states
• At the start of the war, abolitionists (Including Frederick Douglass) urged Lincoln to make the war a fight to end slavery
• Some argued that 1. slavery was morally wrong and
• 2. slavery was the root of the division between North and South
• Therefore the nation could never be fully restored if slavery continued

Make It A War To End Slavery?

• Frederick Douglass and others brought up foreign policy
• Southern leaders were trying to get Britain and France to recognize the Confederacy’s independence
• Public opinion in Britain and France were antislavery
• Douglass pointed out, by making it war for freedom, Britain and France would be less likely to support the South
• This would help the Union

Lincoln Decides

• Lincoln knew the Constitution did not give him the power to end slavery
• The Constitution did allow him to take property from an enemy in wartime
• By law, enslaved people were property
• September 22, 1862- Lincoln announced he would issue the Emancipation Proclamation
• This freed all enslaved people in rebel territory on January 1, 1863

Effects of the Proclamation

• The Proclamation did not actually free a single enslaved person
• It was only for enslaved people in the Confederacy
• There, Lincoln had no power to enforce the policy
• It had an important impact on America
• By issuing the Proclamation, the government declared slavery to be wrong
• If the Union won the war, slavery would be banned forever

Lesson 2

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D

Why would Britain or France side with the Confederacy if Lincoln did not make slavery an issue in the Civil War?

A. Britain hoped to reclaim the � United States, and saw a � divided country as easier to attack.

B. France disliked Lincoln because � of his foreign policies.

C. Many British and French immigrants � lived in the South.

D. Both countries depended on cotton from the South,� even though they were strongly antislavery.

Chapter 17 Lesson 2 Quiz

The first major battle of the Civil War was at

1. Shiloh.
2. Antietam Creek.
3. Bull Run (Manassas).
4. Richmond.

Who said “No terms except and unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted”

1. Ulysses S. Grant
2. David Farragut
3. Robert E. Lee
4. George B. McClellan

In the West, the Union goal was to control

1. Texas.
2. the Tennessee River.
3. the Mississippi River.
4. Missouri.

The single bloodiest day of the entire Civil War took place at

1. Shiloh.
2. Antietam.
3. Bull Run (Manassas).
4. Richmond.

Together the Union and Confederate armies suffered more than 23,000 casualties at

1. the Battle of Bull Run.
2. New Orleans.
3. Richmond.
4. the Battle of Shiloh.