APUSH-14 - The Civil War, 1861-1865

Trent Affair Britain came close to siding with the Confederacy in late 1861 over an incident at sea. Confederate diplomats James Mason and John Slidell were traveling to England on a British steamer, the Trent, on a mission to gain recognition for their government.

A Union warship stopped the British ship, removed Mason and Slidell, and brought them to the United States as prisoners of war. Britain threatened war over the incident unless the two diplomats were released. Although he faced severe public criticism for doing so, Lincoln gave in to British demands. Mason and Slidell were duly set free, but after again sailing for Europe, they failed to obtain full recognition of the Confederacy from either Britain or France.

Union strategy. General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, veteran of the 1812 and Mexican wars, devised a three-part strategy for winning a long war: Use the U.S. navy to blockade southern ports (the Anaconda Plan, as it was called) and thereby cut off essential supplies from reaching the South Divide the Confederacy in two by taking control of the Mississippi River Raise and train an army 500,000 strong to take Richmond

As it happened, the first two parts of the strategy were easier to achieve than the third, but ultimately all three aspects of Scott's plan were important in achieving northern victory. After the Union's defeat at Bull Run, federal armies experienced a succes- sion of crushing defeats as they attempted various campaigns in Virginia, each less successful than the one before.

Thirteenth Amendment Standing in the way of full emancipation were phrases in the U.S. Constitu- tion that seemed to legitimize slavery. To free the slaves in the border states, a constitutional amendment was needed. Even the abolitionists gave Lincoln credit for playing an active role in the political struggle to secure enough votes in Congress to pass the Thirteenth Amendment.

By December 1865 (months after Lincoln's death), this amendment abolishing slavery was ratified by the required number of states. The language of the amendment could not be simpler or clearer: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Grant in Command Lincoln finally found a general who could fight and win. In early 1864 he brought Grant east to Virginia and made him commander of all the Union armies. Grant's approach to ending the war was simply to outlast Lee by fighting a war of attrition. Recognizing that the South's resources were dwindling, he aimed to wear down the southern armies and systematically destroy their vital lines of supply.

Fighting doggedly for months, Grant's Army of the Potomac suffered heavier casualties than Lee's forces in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. But by never letting up, Grant succeeded in reducing Lee's army in each battle and forcing it into a defensive line around Richmond. In this final stage of the Civil War, the fighting foreshadowed the trench warfare that would later characterize World War I. No longer was this a war "between gentlemen" but a modern "total" war against civilians as well as soldiers.

Civil liberties. In wartime, governments tend to be more concerned with prosecuting the war than with protecting citizens' constitutional rights. Lincoln's government was no exception. Early in the war, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland and other states where there was much pro- Confederate sentiment. Suspension of this constitutional right meant that per- sons could be arrested without being informed of the charges against them. During the war, an estimated 13,000 people were arrested on suspicion of aiding the enemy; without a right to habeas corpus, many of them were held without trial.

How flagrant was Lincoln's abuse of civil liberties? At the time, Democrats said that Lincoln acted no better than a tyrant, but few historians today would go that far in their judgment of the habeas corpus issue. Especially in the border states, it was often hard to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants. Moreover, the Constitution does state that the writ of habeas corpus "shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." After the war, in the case of Ex Parte Milligan (1866), the Supreme Court ruled that the government had acted improperly in Indiana where, during the war, certain civilians had been subject to a military trial. The Court declared that such procedures could be used only when regular civilian courts were unavailable.

Use of executive power. More than any previous president, Lincoln acted in unprecedented ways, drawing upon his powers as both chief executive and commander in chief, often without the authorization or approval of Congress. He did so for the first time in the Fort Sumter crisis by (1) calling for 75,000 volunteers to put down the "insurrection" in the South, (2) authorizing spending for the war, and (3) suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Since Congress was not in session, the president acted completely on his own authority.

Lincoln later explained that he had to take strong measures without congressional approval "as indispensable to the public safety."

Political Change The electoral process continued during the war with surprisingly few restrictions. Secession of the southern states had created Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. Within Republican ranks, however, there were sharp differences between the radical faction (those who championed the cause of immediate abolition of slavery) and the moderate faction (Free-Soilers who were chiefly concerned about economic opportunities for whites).

Most Demo- crats supported the war but criticized Lincoln's conduct of it. Peace Democrats and Copperheads opposed the war and wanted a negotiated peace. The most notorious Copperhead, Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, was briefly banished from the United States to Canada for his "treasonable," pro- Confederacy speeches against the war.

Consequences. Since the president's proclamation applied only to slaves residing in Confederate states outside Union control, it did not immediately free a single slave. Slavery in the border states was allowed to continue. Even so, the proclamation was of major importance. Not only did it commit the U.S. government to a policy of abolition in the South, but it also enlarged the purpose of the war.

Now, for the first time, Union armies were fighting against slavery, not merely against secession and rebellion. The proclamation gave added weight to the Confiscation acts, increasing the number of slaves who sought freedom by fleeing to Union lines. Thus, with each advance of northern troops into the South, more slaves were liberated. As an added blow to the South, the proclama- tion also authorized the recruitment of freed slaves as Union soldiers.

Fort Sumter Despite the president's message of both conciliation and warning, the danger of a war breaking out was acute. Most critical was the status of two forts in the South that were held by federal troops but claimed by a seceded state. One of these, Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, was cut off from vital supplies and reinforcements by southern control of the harbor.

Rather than either giving up Fort Sumter or attempting to defend it, Lincoln announced that he was sending provisions of food to the small federal garrison. He thus gave South Carolina the choice of either permitting the fort to hold out or opening fire with its shore batteries. Southern guns thundered their reply and thus, on April 12, 1861, the war began. The attack on Fort Sumter and its capture after two days of incessant pounding united most north- erners behind a patriotic fight to save the Union.

Confiscation Acts Early in the war (May 1861), Union General Benjamin Butler refused to return captured slaves to their Confederate owners, arguing that they were "contraband of war." The power to seize enemy property used to wage war against the United States was the legal basis for the first Confiscation Act passed by Congress in August 1861.

Soon after the passage of this act, thousands of "contrabands" were using their feet to escape slavery by finding their way into Union camps. In July 1862 a second Confiscation Act was passed that freed the slaves of persons engaged in rebellion against the United States. The law also empowered the president to use freed slaves in the Union army in any capacity, including battle.

The draft. At first, those who fought in the Civil War were volunteers, but as the need for replacements became acute, both the North and the South resorted to laws for conscripting, or drafting, men into service.

The Congress' first Conscription Act, adopted in March 1863, made all men between the ages of 20 and 45 liable for military service but allowed a draftee to avoid service by either finding a substitute to serve or paying a $300 exemption fee. The law provoked fierce opposition among poorer laborers, who feared that—if and when they returned to civilian life—their jobs would be taken by freed African Americans. In July 1863, riots against the draft erupted in New York City, in which a mostly Irish American mob attacked blacks and wealthy whites. Some 117 people were killed before federal troops and a temporary suspension of the draft restored order.

Republican politics also played a major role in stimulating the economic growth of the North and the West. Taking advantage of their wartime majority in Congress, the Republicans passed an ambitious economic program that included not only a national banking system, but also the following:

The Morrill Tariff Act (1861) raised tariff rates to increase revenue and protect American manufacturers. Its passage initiated a Republican program of high protective tariffs to help industrialists. The Homestead Act (1862) promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to whatever person or family would farm that land for at least five years. The Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants to maintain agricultural and technical colleges. The Pacific Railway Act (1862) authorized the building of a transconti- nental railroad over a northern route in order to link the economies of California and the western territories with the eastern states.

Confederate Raiders The South was able to gain enough recognition as a belligerent to purchase warships from British shipyards. Confederate commerce-raiders did serious harm to U.S. merchant ships. One of them, the Alabama, captured over 60 vessels before being sunk off the coast of France by a Union warship. After the war, Great Britain eventually agreed to pay the United States $15.5 million for damages caused by the South's commerce-raiders.

The U.S. minister to Britain, Charles Francis Adams, prevented a poten- tially much more serious threat. Learning that the Confederacy had arranged to purchase Laird rams (ships with iron rams) from Britain for use against the North's naval blockade, Adams persuaded the British government to cancel the sale rather than risk war with the United States.

As a result of the Civil War, 4 million people were freed from slavery, which gave the nation, as President Lincoln said at Gettysburg, a "new birth of freedom." The war also transformed Ameri- can society by accelerating industrialization and modernization in the North and largely destroying the plantation system in the South.

These changes were so fundamental and profound that some historians refer to the Civil War as the Second American Revolution. While this chapter summarizes the major military aspects of the Civil War, students should also place at least equal emphasis on understanding the social, economic, and political changes that took place during the war.

Failure of Cotton Diplomacy In the end, the South's hopes for European intervention were disappointed. "King Cotton" did not have the power to dictate another nation's foreign policy, since Europe quickly found ways of obtaining cotton from other sources. By the time shortages of southern cotton hit the British textile industry, adequate shipments of cotton began arriving from Egypt and India. Also, materials other than cotton could be used for textiles, and the woolen and linen industries were not slow to take advantage of their opportunity.

Two other factors went into Britain's decision not to recognize the Confed- eracy. First, as mentioned, General Lee's setback at Antietam played a role; without a decisive Confederate military victory, the British government would not risk recognition. Second, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (January 1863) made the end of slavery an objective of the North, a fact that appealed strongly to Britain's working class. While conservative leaders of Britain were sympathetic to the South, they could not defy the pronorthern, antislavery feelings of the British majority.

Turning Point The decisive turning point in the war came in the first week of July when the Confederacy suffered two crushing defeats in the West and the East.

Vicksburg. In the West, by the spring of 1863, Union forces controlled New Orleans and most of the Mississippi River and surrounding valley. Thus, the Union objective of securing complete control of the Mississippi River was close to an accomplished fact when General Grant began his siege of the heavily fortified city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Union artillery bombarded Vicksburg for seven weeks before the Confederates finally surrendered the city (and nearly 29,000 soldiers) on July 4. Federal warships now controlled the full length of the Mississippi and cut off Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas from the rest of the Confederacy.

Gettysburg. Meanwhile, in the East, Lee again took the offensive by leading an army into enemy territory: the Union states of Maryland and Pennsyl- vania. If he could either destroy the Union army or capture a major northern city, Lee hoped to force the North to call for peace—or at least to gain foreign intervention for the South. On July 1, 1863, the invading southern army surprised Union units at Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania.

What followed was the most crucial battle of the war and the bloodiest, with over 50,000 casualties. Lee's assault on Union lines on the second and third days, including Pickett's charge, proved futile, and destroyed a good part of the Confederate army. What was left of Lee's forces retreated to Virginia, never to regain the offensive.

The War Begins

When Lincoln was inaugurated as the first Republican president in March 1861, it was not at all clear that he would employ military means to challenge the secession of South Carolina and other states. In his inaugural address, Lincoln assured southerners that he had no intention of interfering with slavery or any other southern institution. At the same time, he warned, no state had the right to break up the Union. Lincoln concluded by appealing for restraint: In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the ag- gressors.

End of slavery. Both in the short run and the long run, the group in American society whose lives were most profoundly changed by the Civil War were those African Americans who had been born into slavery. After the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, 4 million people (3.5 million in the Confederate states, 500,000 in the border states) were "freed men" and "freed women." For these people and their descendants, economic hardship and political oppression would continue for generations, but even so, the end of slavery represented a momentous step. Suddenly, slaves with no rights were protected by the U.S. Constitution, with open-ended possibilities of freedom.

While four years of nearly total war, the tragic human loss of 620,000 men, and an estimated $15 billion in war costs and property losses had enormous effects on the nation, far greater changes were set in motion. The Civil War destroyed slavery and devastated the southern economy, and it also acted as a catalyst to transform America into a complex modern industrial society of capital, technology, national organizations, and large corporations. During the war, the Republicans were able to enact the probusiness Whig program that was designed to stimulate the industrial and commercial growth of the United States. The characteristics of American democracy and its capitalist economy were strengthened by this second American Revolution.