Historians are less sure about the results of the postwar Reconstruction, especially regarding the second-class citizenship of the Freedmen and their poverty. 50,000 survivors return home as amputees. At 8:30 A.M. that morning, Lee requested a meeting with Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grantto discuss surrendering the Army of Northern Virginia. Only the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, prevented Union control of the entire river. In contrast to the industrializing North, the South remained rural and dependent on the North for capital and manufactured goods. The European aristocracy was "absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed. Grant understood the concept of total war and believed, along with Lincoln and Sherman, that only the utter defeat of Confederate forces and their economic base would end the war. Civil War Battlefields: Discovering America's Hallowed Ground Ballantine Books 2006, Edwards, F Laura. [146], Women also served on the Union hospital ship Red Rover and nursed Union and Confederate troops at field hospitals. An attempt to outflank Lee from the south failed under Butler, who was trapped inside the Bermuda Hundred river bend. These included the Morrill Tariff, land grant colleges (the Morrill Act), a Homestead Act, a transcontinental railroad (the Pacific Railroad Acts),[108] the National Bank Act, the authorization of United States Notes by the Legal Tender Act of 1862, and the ending of slavery in the District of Columbia. Much of the war along the South Carolina coast concentrated on capturing Charleston. [249], Based on 1860 census figures, 8 percent of all white men aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6 percent in the North and 18 percent in the South. Anderson gave a conditional reply that the Confederate government rejected, and Davis ordered General P. G. T. Beauregard to attack the fort before a relief expedition could arrive. One of the most famous of the land attacks was the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, in which the 54th Massachusetts Infantry took part. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. While in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the conflict was inconclusive during 1861–1862. [258] The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known as Reconstruction. Robert E. Lee. In 1874, Democrats, primarily Southern, took control of Congress and opposed any more reconstruction. The war destroyed much of the wealth that had existed in the South. [155] Meanwhile, the main riverine war was fought in the West, where a series of major rivers gave access to the Confederate heartland. In 1933, these five parks and other national monuments were transferred to the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. General Lee and top subordinates James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson defeated McClellan in the Seven Days Battles and forced his retreat.[185]. Professor James Downs. By defeating the Democrats and McClellan, he also defeated the Copperheads and their peace platform. Washington repeatedly protested France's violation of the Monroe Doctrine. One-by-one, southern states would secede from the Union prompting the North to finally declare war. More capable Veteran units and unreliable raw units. The Civil War: 1861-1865 . It began when the Confederacy, knowing they had to meet or match the Union's naval superiority, responded to the Union blockade by building or converting more than 130 vessels, including twenty-six ironclads and floating batteries. [226], The causes of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of lingering contention today. American Civil War: Infantry (1861-1865) plastic boxed set A perfect way to get your American Civil War army off the ground or add more firepower to your existing force. Federal troops imprisoned a prominent Baltimore newspaper editor, Frank Key Howard, Francis Scott Key's grandson, after he criticized Lincoln in an editorial for ignoring the Supreme Court Chief Justice's ruling. One of the early Puritan writings on this subject was "The Selling of Joseph," by Samuel Sewall in 1700. One reason for the high number of battle deaths during the war was the continued use of tactics similar to those of the Napoleonic Wars at the turn of the century, such as charging. The American Civil War (also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865, fought between northern states loyal to the Union and southern states that had seceded to form the Confederate States of America. Over the next several months, 11 southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. [241] James M. McPherson, after reading thousands of letters written by Confederate soldiers, found strong patriotism that continued to the end; they truly believed they were fighting for freedom and liberty. [6] Losses among African Americans were high, in the last year and a half and from all reported casualties, approximately 20 percent of all African Americans enrolled in the military lost their lives during the Civil War. Slavery was illegal in much of the North, having been outlawed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The American Civil War (1861-1865) Home About Us Loss Modern Civil War: Compare & Contrast Quiz Resources Death and Casualties The American Civil War was the most bloodiest war in our history. While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation it would be. Entries are listed below in alphanumeric order (1-to-Z). Abolishing slavery was not a Union war goal from the outset, but it quickly became one. The U.S. Navy eventually gained control of the Red, Tennessee, Cumberland, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers. However, Northern governors had begun to mobilize their militias. In 1862, the British government considered mediating between the Union and Confederacy, though even such an offer would have risked war with the United States. [118], Four states in the middle and upper South had repeatedly rejected Confederate overtures, but now Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina refused to send forces against their neighbors, declared their secession, and joined the Confederacy. Oxford University Press, April 13, 2012. It caused much unrest in the Western states, where racist sentiments led to great fear of abolition. [37] In particular, Southerners feared a repeat of "the horrors of Santo Domingo",[citation needed] in which nearly all white people – including men, women, children, and even many sympathetic to abolition – were killed after the successful slave revolt in Haiti. West Virginia then joined them as an additional border state after it separated from Virginia and became a state of the Union in 1863. [96] The South ignored the warnings; Southerners did not realize how ardently the North would fight to hold the Union together.[97]. Northern "free soil" interests vigorously sought to curtail any further expansion of slave territory. Confederate forms Army Apr 12, 1861. "[78][79] These four doctrines comprised the dominant ideologies presented to the American public on the matters of slavery, the territories, and the U.S. Constitution before the 1860 presidential election.[80]. [62] Both the South and the North drew the same conclusion: "The power to decide the question of slavery for the territories was the power to determine the future of slavery itself. Britain acquiesced to their demand, paying the U.S. $15 million in 1871. [92], Nationalism was a powerful force in the early 19th century, with famous spokesmen such as Andrew Jackson and Daniel Webster. In May - Remaining Confederate forces surrender. [115][better source needed], Lincoln called on all the states to send forces to recapture the fort and other federal properties. West Virginia provided about 20,000–22,000 soldiers to both the Confederacy and the Union. Early in the morning of April 9, Gordon attacked, aiming to break through Federal lines at the Battle of Appomattox Court House, but failed, and the Confederate Army was then surrounded. [69] The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 legislated this doctrine. Gerald F. Teaster and Linda and James Treaster Ambrose, Mark E. Neely, Jr. "The Perils of Running the Blockade: The Influence of International Law in an Era of Total War,", Ronald Scott Mangum, "The Vicksburg Campaign: A Study In Joint Operations,", Mark E. Neely Jr.; "Was the Civil War a Total War? [222] In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation of peacefully restoring Confederate states to the Union, Lee was permitted to keep his sword and his horse, Traveller. "King Cotton" was dead, as the South could export less than 10 percent of its cotton. On May 4, all remaining Confederate forces in Alabama and Mississippi surrendered. Historian Allan Nevins underscored the significance of the event: "The thunderclap of Sumter produced a startling crystallization of Northern sentiment. [190] Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force resulted in a significant Confederate victory. The Revenue Act of 1861 introduced the income tax to help finance the war. [181] However, Freeman does admit that Lee corresponded with Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston, his predecessor in army command, before that date and referred to Johnston's command as the Army of Northern Virginia. [55][56], Abolitionist sentiment was not strictly religious or moral in origin. [86][87], Owners of slaves preferred low-cost manual labor with no mechanization. [276], The war had utterly devastated the South, and posed serious questions of how the South would be re-integrated to the Union. The Civil War is one of the most studied events in American history, and the collection of cultural works around it is enormous. At the Battle of Yellow Tavern, the Confederates lost Jeb Stuart. There are innumerable statues, commemorations, books and archival collections. Civil War Medicine. Critical imports were scarce and the coastal trade was largely ended as well. [230], Many scholars argue that the Union held an insurmountable long-term advantage over the Confederacy in industrial strength and population. 110,070 killed in action (67,000) or died of wounds (43,000). [112] He had no intent to invade Southern states, nor did he intend to end slavery where it existed, but said that he would use force to maintain possession of Federal property.