The American Civil War
Posted on 17. Dec, 2008 by admin in American Civil War
War Between The States
The American Civil War started on April 12 1861 and ended on April 9, 1865. Because of the division between Southern and Northern US states, it was also known as the War Between The States.
The slavery of African Americans was still legal in some US states and was one of the reasons that the American Civil War started. The 15 slave states at that time were Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
The Secession Of The Southern States
In the presidential election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln, leader of the Republican party campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. Although he mentioned nothing of abolishing slavery where it already existed, nevertheless the Southern states felt threatened.
Before Lincoln took office, seven states had declared their secession from the Union. They established a Southern government, the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) on February 9, 1861. Their seccession was regarded as rebellion, however. They took control of federal forts and other properties within their boundaries with little resistance from outgoing President James Buchanan, whose term was due to end on March 4, 1861.
Shortly, a further four southern slave states also declared their seccession from the United States and joined the Confederacy to fight the federal government (the Union).
The Confederacy
The following seven Deep South states seceded by February 1861 and formed the Confederate States of America:
- South Carolina
- Mississippi
- Florida
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Texas
Jefferson Davis became president of the Confederacy.
Following the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for a volunteer army from each state.
The folllowing four Southern slave states also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy:
- Virginia
- Arkansas
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
The Union
Twenty-three states remained loyal to the Union: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
How The American Civil War Started
Abraham Lincoln's victory in the presidential election of 1860 was the final catalyst in South Carolina's declaration of secession from the Union. When six more Southern states also seceded the seven formed the Confederate States of America and established their temporary capital at Montgomery, Alabama. The capital later moved to Richmond, Virginia. The peace conference held in 1861 in Washington failed to resolve the crisis and when the remaining eight slave states rejected pleas to join the Confederacy, Confederate forces seized most of the federal forts within their boundaries.
On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President. Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, Fort Monroe, Fort Pickens and Fort Taylor were the remaining Union-held forts in the Confederacy, and Lincoln was determined to hold Fort Sumter. On April 12, the Confederate army bombarded the fort with artillery, forcing the fort's surrender. Lincoln called for all states to send troops to recapture the fort.
Lincoln stated in his Emancipation Proclamation that the ending of slavery in the South was a goal of the war.
Blockading The Ports - The Anaconda Plan
In May 1861, Lincoln started blockading all Southern ports, ending regular international shipments to the Confederacy. His plan was to weaken the Confederacy and then capture the Mississippi River. However, British investors built small, fast "blockade runners" that traded arms and luxuries brought in from Bermuda, Cuba and the Bahamas in return for high-priced cotton and tobacco.
On March 8, 1862 the Confederate Navy met the Union Navy head on when it attacked the bloackade. Although the battle ended in a draw, this was a strategic victory for the Union as the bloackade remained intact.
Between the years of 1861 and 1865 there were a number of American Civil War Battles. Over 10,000 military engagements took place during the war, 40% of them in Virginia and Tennessee.
The End Of The American Civil War
In 1864, the Union's key strategist and tactician in the West, Ulysses S. Grant, fought battles of attrition against the Confederate commander, Robert E. Lee. As the Union had greater numbers of men and more materials, they eventually won.
After much intense fighting, Robert E. Lee's army, thinned by desertion and casualties, was now much smaller than Grant's. Union forces won a decisive victory at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, forcing Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond. The Confederate capital fell to the Union XXV Corps, composed of black troops.
Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House and Confederate resistance subsequently collapsed.
Slavery was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution in 1865.
Over its course, the American Civil War caused 620,000 soldier deaths but also a number of civilian casualties too.
