THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR OR THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES

This war has captivated the interests of many people and has been studied by many thousands of others throughout the world. Over the course of 4 years, this war evolved from unpredictable political turmoil into a massive total war that claimed the lives of more than 600,000 Americans, which was more than all U.S. personnel killed in the first and second World Wars, the Korean War and the Vietnam War put together. Arguably the Civil War did more to influence the course of American history than any other single event.

It was the first modern war of its kind where soldiers dug trenches rather than standing in straight lines, dictated of course by the use of more modern rifles and carbines; where cavalry was used principally for reconnaissance and deep penetration behind enemy lines; where artillery was used in counter battery fire as well as becoming the king of the battlefield in its own right; where balloons were used for reconnaissance and communications and where the network of railways or railroads were used for re-supply, reinforcement and manoeuvring large bodies of men and material over long distances. Finally on the naval side submarines were used for the first time.

Today an unprecedented number of people are interested in the American Civil War, fuelling the creation of films, documentaries, history books and novels. Films such as Gettysburg, Glory and recently Cold Mountain and novels such as The Killer Angels, and Gods and Generals immediately come to mind, which I am sure some of you will have seen or read. I sat next to someone in a café in Paris last month who, makes and sells board games on the Civil War and I am now the proud owner of one of these! Reminders of the war are provided by streets bearing the names that appear in period accounts of the war, by towns contested by the opposing armies and by cities and military establishments named after some of the generals who led the opposing forces.

I only have time to give you a brief overview of the events leading up to the war and the war itself. I will of course go through these as they unfold but I will not be able to go into any of the battles in the detail I would like. I have put handouts on your chairs, which cover the population of the US in 1860, the Division of the various States, Civil War Battle Names, the weapons used, Union and Confederate generals killed and Women in uniform during the War. I am going to stick rigidly to my script to ensure that I get my subject matter over to you within a decent time frame and do not wander from the point unnecessarily!

THE GEOGRAPHY

When the Civil War erupted in early 1861, people in the North and South had long regarded themselves as separate. Indeed, the customs, economy and philosophies of the two peoples were markedly different. Nonetheless, the two portions of the country had developed alongside each other and were bound in ways that did not become apparent until they were locked in total war against each other.

During the war, the combined population of the two opposing nations was slightly more than 31 million people (the population of the USA today is around 300 million). More than 21 million lived in those states, which were loyal to the Union while 9 million, of whom 3 million were slaves, lived in the South. The North ultimately put 2 million men into uniform, the South 1 million. The combined Union and Confederate armies and navies were proportionately about 20 times larger than the US armed forces of today.

By May 1861 the country was divided into 19 states, which had declared for the Union (the North), 11 Confederate States, 4 slave states, which were neutral until 1863 and a number of large, unorganised territories, mostly Indian country. Two more states were admitted into the Union after the war began, bringing the total number within the Union to 25.

The North was far more industrialised than the South having within its borders some 100,000 factories, most of the coal mines, the canals and 70% of the railways, together with 95% of its rolling stock and railway equipment. In addition the North was largely self sufficient in agriculture and produced more than the South in every agricultural category other than cotton. Financially the North controlled more than 80% of the total US bank deposits and about 60% of the total gold reserves.

Conversely the South only had about 20,000 factories, only 31% of the nation’s railways lay within the Confederacy along with only 5% of its rolling stock and equipment. While the South was not industrialised, it was not poor either and its major cash crop, cotton, afforded a high standard of living for many of its people. Lack of industrialisation and finance contributed greatly to the ruination of the South and its short-sighted policy early in the war of withholding cotton from the European markets, to try and make Britain and France support the Confederacy, backfired and deprived the South of much needed revenue.

CAUSES AND RUN UP TO THE WAR

Tensions between the North and South had been building and increasing for nearly 50 years leading to the outbreak of war. Ironically, when armed conflict did break out, it came as a surprise to many people. Often before the question had been raised over whether an individual state had the right to withdraw from the Union, or whether several could form a new Confederacy, it had never so dramatically demanded an answer.

When the Civil War began in early 1861, it was thus technically not over the right of people in some states to own slaves. People in the South fought for their state and we must realize that Americans remain today loyal to their states first and foremost, in a much stronger way than we are to whatever part of the British Isles we come from. That having been said all the arguments and difficulties of the preceding years were principally due to the immense differences between abolitionists and radical Republicans in the North and pro-slavery Democrats in the South. In addition three historic events in the years immediately preceding the war that set the stage for Southern secession were all concerned with the issue of slavery.

In early 1857, the U S Supreme Court declared that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the various U S Territories, but Republicans and even many Northern Democrats refused to accept this opinion. Soon after this, the newly elected Democratic President, James Buchanan, asked Congress to admit Kansas to the Union as a slave state, an act that enraged many Northerners and contributed to the election of abolitionist Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Tensions continued to smoulder throughout Buchanan’s unpopular presidency, and in 1859, the fanatical abolitionist John Brown (you all know the song John Brown’s body lies a moulding in the grave sung to that lovely tune “For my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”, later the Battle Hymn of the Union), attacked the Federal arsenal at Harpers ferry in Virginia with a group of equally fanatical followers, hoping to ignite a slave uprising. Interestingly, this revolt was clinically and efficiently put down by U S Marines, under the command of one Colonel Robert E Lee, later to become one of the war’s most successful Generals as Commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, special adviser to President Jefferson Davis and ultimately C-in-C of the Confederate armies.

After Lincoln was elected in November 1860, the Southern states began to secede. 7 left the Union before he was even inaugurated. Despite a conciliatory inaugural speech, the seceding states remained hostile, seizing Federal forts and arsenals in the South, raising troops and granting commissions in their own forces to Southern officers, who resigned from the U S Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the Revenue Cutter Service.

On April 12^th 1861, Confederate forces under the command of General Beauregard, “Old Bory” to his men, opened fire on the Federal Garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay, South Carolina. The war had begun.

THE WAR

1861

In April Virginia seceded from the Union, followed within 5 weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. Richmond in Virginia became the capital of the Confederate States of America and Jefferson Davies became their President.

On April 19^th President Lincoln issued a Proclamation of a Blockade against Southern ports, which proved an increasing problem for the South in its ability to remain well supplied against the industrial north.

In July the US Congress authorised a call up of 500,000 men and on July 21^st the first major battle took place at Manassas or Bull Run. The Federal Army under General McDowell was defeated and driven back in panic to the gates of Washington. Their flight was greatly impaired by hundreds of spectators in their carriages, who had flocked out from Washington to see the fun! Confederate General Thomas Jackson earned his famous nickname of “Stonewall” as his brigade stood firm and encouraged other Confederates to rally round him. At this stage both armies were poorly trained and consisted mainly of untried volunteers. McDowell was relieved of his command and General George McClellan, the “Young Napoleon” took over the Federal Army of the Potomac.

Thereafter both sides watched, skirmished and trained and generally prepared themselves. It was now obvious that the war would not be over quickly. Here it is particularly pertinent to remind you that the two capitals, Washington and Richmond, were only some 70 miles apart. The South wanted independence from the Union and therefore their overall strategy was of defence. It was up to the Federal armies to defeat the rebels and the only way to do this was to invade the Confederacy.

1862

President Lincoln issued General War Order No 1, which called for all US naval and land forces to begin a general advance by February 22^nd, George Washington’s birthday. However General Ulysses Grant had already secured the first victory for Federal forces by capturing Forts Henry and Donelson on the Tennessee River. Point on Slide 2.

In March the Confederate General “Stonewall Jackson” fought his famous Shenandoah Valley Campaign, much studied by many Army Staff Colleges throughout the world still to this day. By a series of energetic forced marching and counter marching he roundly defeated all Federal forces thrown against him in a number of engagements. His infantry became widely known from that moment onwards as “Stonewall’s Foot Cavalry”. Federal troops facing Jackson in the Valley retreated back across the Potomac River, which resulted in more of them being rushed to protect Washington from possible Confederate attack. Slide 3

While all this had been going on the Peninsular Campaign began as McClellan’s Federal Army of the Potomac advanced from Washington on ships down the Potomac River and Chesepeake Bay to the Peninsular south of the Confederate capital of Richmond. He then began a very slow and ponderous advance towards Richmond.

On April 6/7^th Some 40,000 Confederate troops under General Albert Sydney Johnston launched an attack against the Federal forces under General Ulysses Grant at Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. This was the first great bloodbath of the war. Nearly defeated, the Federal forces received reinforcements during the night, bringing their total strength up to about 63,000. By morning, Grant regained control of the battlefield but the Federal forces were too exhausted to pursue the withdrawal of the Confederates now under command of General Beauregard, as General Albert Sydney Johnston had been killed. Over 23,700 were killed, wounded or missing during the battle, the larger portion from the Federal side. General Nathanial Bedford Forrest, then a Colonel in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, conducted a brilliant rear guard action covering the Army’s withdrawal towards Corinth and proved to be one of the Confederacy’s outstanding leaders of cavalry. He later became the first leader of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret organisation founded in the South after the end of the war, initially designed to protect Southern Whites from marauding freed slaves.

On May 31^st Confederate troops under General Joe Johnston attacked McClellan’s Federal Army of the Potomac at Seven Pines, only 5 miles from Richmond. It was a drawn engagement but Jo Johnston was badly wounded. On June 1^st General Robert E Lee took over command from him and renamed this force the Army of Northern Virginia, which, under his outstanding leadership, became the best fighting force at its zenith during the war on either side.

Between June 25^th and July 1^st the Seven Days Battles took place when Lee drove the Federal Army of the Potomac away from Richmond in a series of especially savage battles at Mechanicsville (26-27 June), Gaines’s Mill (“27^th June), Savage’s Station (29^th June), Frayser’s Farm (30^th June) and finally Malvern Hill (1^st July).

Leaving McClellan bottled up at Harrison’s Landing Lee withdrew to Richmond, thus successfully ending the Peninsular Campaign. During the course of the battles there were more than 36,000 casualties overall, second only to Gettysburg (fought in 1863) in terms of total bloodshed. Interestingly Stonewall Jackson, mounted on his famous horse Little Sorrel, did not perform well during the Seven Days Battles, probably largely because he was utterly exhausted after his famous Valley Campaign the preceding month. Lee had not yet forged that invincible partnership with him, which was to lead the Army of Northern Virginia to later greater heights.

On July 11^th Lincoln, annoyed by McClellan’s failure in Virginia, relieved him of overall command of all the Federal armies and appointed General John Pope in his place. McClellan was to command the Army of the Potomac solely.

Lee and Jackson together had decided on a strategy to invade the north and on August 29-30^th the second battle of Bull Run or Manassas took place. SLIDE 6 Lee with 50,000 men defeated Pope with 75,000 men under command, who was forced to retreat to Washington. The Federal General, Fitz-John Porter, was made the scapegoat for this defeat for allegedly failing to send his troops into battle quick enough and was sacked accordingly later.

On September 15^th Stonewall Jackson captured Harper’s Ferry, an important Federal arsenal. He took thousands of prisoners and a great quantity of supplies. Despite his proximity to Harper’s Ferry, McClellan failed to move quickly enough to prevent this.

Due to a mix up and a copy of Lee’s strategic plan falling into Union hands, McClellan with his Army of the Potomac of 90,000 men, managed to intercept Lee’s army at Sharpsburg or Antietam creek in Maryland. This was the bloodiest single day of the war and by nightfall more than 26,000 men had been killed. In the nick of time from the Confederate point of view, Jackson had reinforced Lee and the battle ended in stalemate. Both sides stood off from each other the day following the battle until Lee extricated his army unmolested back to safety in Virginia that night.

Strategically however the battle was a blow to the Confederacy, as Lee had no alternative but to withdraw his numerically inferior army back into Virginia. On the political front however, England and France, who both had been contemplating official recognition of the Confederacy, now decided against it.

On November 7^th Lincoln, frustrated that Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had escaped and that Confederate cavalry was continually raiding Federal territory, relieved McClellan of all command responsibility for the last time. He appointed General Ambrose Burnside as Commander of the Army of the Potomac in his place. He is however immortalised in history interestingly, as “sideburns” on a man’s face are named after him!

On December 13^th The Federal Army of the Potomac under Burnside, trying to invade Virginia once again, suffered a costly defeat at Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River losing some 12,653 men after 14 frontal assaults on Marye’s Heights behind the town. Lee was heard to remark during this battle “It is well that war is so terrible – we should grow too fond of it”. President Lincoln promptly sacked Burnside from his command of the Army of the Potomac and replaced him with General “Fighting Joe” Hooker. It is at this time that the Southern song “the Road to Richmond” was composed, to make the point that every Federal General, who had tried to invade the Confederacy, had failed and had been replaced by yet another one!

In the West, Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg clashed with a Federal army under General William Rosecrans at Murfreeboro on December 31^st. POINT ON MAP Both sides were struggling for control of Tennessee; the battle resulted in over 25,000 killed, wounded or missing, evenly distributed on both sides. After 3 days of bitter fighting Bragg inexplicably withdrew his troops to the West.

1863

On April 27^th Hooker crossed the Rappahannock River in Virginia intending to attack Lee’s Army. Lee responded in a feat of daring and brilliance by splitting his army and attacking the Federal Army in three places. His decisive victory at Chancellorsville between May 1^st and the 4^th forced Hooker back across the Rappahannock. This really was the zenith of the war from a Confederate point of view; however the downside was the death of Stonewall Jackson, killed by friendly fire, which proved a great handicap to future operations of the Army of Northern Virginia. Casualties were around 29,000 killed, wounded or missing, again split pretty evenly between both sides.

In May, General Ulysses Grant’s Federal Army of the West won a series of victories in Mississippi and laid siege to Vicksburg, a key city held by the Confederates under General John Pemberton. Grant’s assault on the city on May 22^nd failed.

On June 20^th Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia defeated Federal forces at Winchester in the northern part of the Shenandoah Valley and continued north into Pennsylvania with 75,000 men; as a result Hooker abandoned his plans to attack Richmond and set off in pursuit of Lee. However unhappy with his performance President Lincoln replaced him with General George Meade as Commander of the Army of the Potomac. You will note that this Army had had no less than 5 new commanders in the space of 22 months!

On July 1^st Federal and Confederate forces literally bumped unexpectedly into each other at Gettysburg. The bloodiest battle of the war took place here, which lasted for 3 days and there were over 51,000 killed, wounded or missing from both sides. Although this was a Federal victory, the Army of the Potomac was so exhausted that it failed to pursue Lee; as a result of which he was able to withdraw his army more or less unmolested back to the safety of Virginia.

On July the 4^th Vicksburg fell to General Grant, which brought the entire Mississippi River under Federal control. The South never recovered from these two heavy blows and the end of the war was now simply a matter of time.

From August until November General Meade moved cautiously towards Virginia watched by Lee’s cavalry under General Jeb Stewart. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia licked its wounds and prepared for the next inevitable Federal thrust towards Richmond.

In the West on September the 19^th Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg defeated The Federal Army of Tennessee under General William Rosecrans at Chickamauga forcing it to retreat to Chattanooga. The total casualties at this battle and the subsequent siege were 34,654 killed, wounded and missing.

Between November 23^rd and 25^th Federal troops under General Grant relieved Rosecrans at Chatanooga and broke the Confederate siege. Confederate forces under General Longstreet, detached from the Army of Northern Virginia, laid siege to Federal troops in Knoxville, Tennessee under General Burnside. Unable to penetrate Federal defences Longstreet withdrew on December 3^rd.

1864

General Ulysses Grant, now the C-in-C of all Federal armies, planned to fight Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia until it was destroyed. Unlike all the previous Federal commanders in their advances on Richmond, he simply drove on taking the most appalling casualties, which no commander today would have got away with. Lee, by brilliant tactics and manoeuvre, parried every blow against his army, inflicting untold damage and casualties on the opposition. Unlike Grant however his casualties and equipment losses were never replaced and Grant’s vast superiority in numbers was sooner or later bound to tell. It became a savage war of attrition.

May 5^th – 6^th.The Battle of the Wilderness. 17,666 Federal casualties.

May 8^th – 12^th.The Battle of Spotsylvania.The Bloody Angle.11,000 casualties on both sides. However the Federal direct thrust on Richmond was now thwarted and Grant had to turn SE away from the Confederate capital. It was soon after this particularly bloody battle that Jeb Stewart, the colourful cavalry commander of Lee’s army, was killed at Yellow Tavern while deflecting a Federal cavalry raid on Richmond.

May 12^th – 16^th The Battle of Drewry’s Bluff on the James River where Grant had been parried to the south of Richmond. 4,600 Federal casualties, Confederate casualties now unknown.

June 1^st – 3^rd.The Battle of Coldharbor. Grant’s forces were savagely repelled. More than 7,000 men were killed on both sides in 20 minutes during the worst part of the fighting. Federal overall casualties were over 12,000. This was Lee’s last clear victory during the war, however his army never recovered from the unrelenting attacks of Grant’s forces.

June 15^th – 2^nd April 1865. The Siege of Petersburg took place. Grant tried desperately to capture this vital rail centre south of Richmond and then advance on the Confederate capital from the south. The attempt failed costing him 16,569 casualties and bogged down into a siege of 10 months duration in which thousands more soldiers on each side were killed and wounded.

In July the Confederate General, Jubal Early, made a successful raid into Maryland to relieve pressure on Lee; he got to within 5 miles of Washington causing much fear and consternation before being driven back by the Federal forces under General Philip Sheridan into Virginia on July 13^th. Sheridan laid the Shenandoah Valley to waste declaring that not even a crow could find anything to eat there.

Meanwhile in the West, General Sherman, who was now in command of all Federal forces in that theatre, suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia on June 27^th and was repulsed by Confederates under General Joe Johnston. In August Sherman began his advance on Atlanta, Georgia; however General Jo Johnston, who conducted a most successful fighting withdrawal with vastly inferior numbers managed to delay him for some considerable time. For some political reason Johnston was then replaced by General John Hood, whose impulsiveness led him to attack rather than to defend; as a result his inferior numbers proved no match for the overwhelming relentless Federal drive onwards.

On September 1^st Sherman captured Atlanta, where he tarried for 2&1/2 months before starting his famous drive to the sea. You will of course know that well-known song “While we were marching through Georgia”. He burnt a swathe of country over 60 miles wide until he reached Savannah on the coast on December the 21^st.

On December 15^th the Confederate forces under General John Hood, true to his policy of taking the offensive wherever possible, launched a fateful frontal assault on Federal entrenchments at Nashville, Tennessee. He was repulsed with great loss by General George Thomas.

1865

By this time the South was on its knees and there were acute shortages of food and supplies, caused by severe disruption of rail traffic and supply lines and the tightening Federal blockade to its ports. Starving soldiers began to desert the Confederate armies in large numbers. Sherman’s army marched north through Georgia into South and then North Carolina burning and destroying everything in its path.

In February the Confederate President, Jefferson Davies, agreed to send delegates to a peace conference in Washington but insisted upon recognition of the South’s independence. Lincoln refused.

On March 25^th Lee launched the last offensive of the Army of Northern Virginia on to the centre of Grant’s position at Petersburg, but after 4 hours of savage fighting his attack was broken.

On April 1^st the Federal forces under General Philip Sheridan, broke through the Confederate sector commanded by General Pickett, well known for his famous charge on the last day at Gettysburg, at Five Forks. This necessitated Lee evacuating the whole of the Richmond/Petersburg Line. Thereafter his aim was to try and link up with General Jo Johnston in North Carolina, but lack of supplies culminated in the surrender of his Army at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9^th.

Finally on April 26^th General Jo Johnston surrendered what was left of his army to General Sherman at the Bennett House near Durham Station, North Carolina, bringing the war to an end.

FINALE

On April the 14^th 1865 an actor, John Wilkes Booth, who was obsessed with avenging the defeat of the Confederacy, assassinated President Lincoln while he was at the opera in Washington. Lincoln always wanted to heal the wounds of Secession as soon as humanly possible, as portrayed in the words of his famous speech the day after the Battle of Gettysburg. Sadly this was not to be and the South had to go through many unpleasant years of Reconstruction and military occupation before individual States were re-admitted to the Union once again.

Those of you who have been to the South will see that in some places great bitterness still exists to this day and the Confederate flag flies freely throughout many areas in the old Confederacy. In some States this flag exists within the design of the official State flag itself and therefore flies legally over many State Government offices and official buildings. I have put a recent cutting on your chairs from the Times dated 2^nd June 2004, which records the last Confederate widow to die; this article gives backing to what I have just mentioned about the depth of feeling in the South, which still remains. It is interesting that she was still in receipt of a Confederate War Widows’ Pension.

This ends my gallop through the American Civil War. I will try and answer any questions you may have.