who won the american civil war

Because the Confederacy was so much larger geographically than the Union, the war was fought on the Southern side largely on defense. Who Won The Civil War? Following his surrender, he wrote a letter to his troops stating that, due to overwhelming resources and numbers, the war could not be won, notes History Today. After 1863, the Polish revolt against Russia further distracted the European powers, and ensured that they would remain neutral. The Confederacy passed a draft law in April 1862 for young men aged 18 to 35; overseers of slaves, government officials, and clergymen were exempt. By May, Jefferson Davis was pushing for 100,000 men under arms for one year or the duration, and that was answered in kind by the U.S. Grant used river transport and Andrew Foote's gunboats of the Western Flotilla to threaten the Confederacy's "Gibraltar of the West" at Columbus, Kentucky. Her name was deleted from the Army Medal of Honor Roll in 1917 (along with over 900 other, male MOH recipients); however, it was restored in 1977.[148][149]. James C. Bradford wrote that the issue has been further complicated by historical revisionists, who have tried to offer a variety of reasons for the war. Generals George Meade and Benjamin Butler were ordered to move against Lee near Richmond, General Franz Sigel (and later Philip Sheridan) were to attack the Shenandoah Valley, General Sherman was to capture Atlanta and march to the sea (the Atlantic Ocean), Generals George Crook and William W. Averell were to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia, and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks was to capture Mobile, Alabama.[213]. Confederate actions, they argue, only delayed defeat. This page was last edited on 29 January 2021, at 17:27. [260] However, as the war dragged on it became clear that slavery was the central factor of the conflict. 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. Of the 34 U.S. states in February 1861, seven Southern slave states were declared by their state governments to have seceded from the country, and the Confederate States of America was organized in rebellion against the U.S. constitutional government. Professor James Downs. Perman and Taylor (2010) write that historians are of two minds on why millions of men seemed so eager to fight, suffer and die over four years: Some historians emphasize that Civil War soldiers were driven by political ideology, holding firm beliefs about the importance of liberty, Union, or state rights, or about the need to protect or to destroy slavery. "Union population 1864" aggregates 1860 population, average annual immigration 1855–1864, and population governed formerly by CSA per Kenneth Martis source. In his book The American Civil War, John Keegan writes that "The American Civil War was to prove one of the most ferocious wars ever fought". The following year, the Union Army of the Gulf commanded by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks laid siege to Port Hudson for nearly eight weeks, the longest siege in US military history. Union Naval activities were dictated by the Anaconda Plan. The north had many advantageson the south, which created a large difference in the outcome of the Civil War.The North had a bigger population, better leadership, and Abraham Lincoln.Lincoln was a leader of the union, and led them to many great victories with his decision making on generals to lead the … Worse, Europe developed other cotton suppliers, which they found superior, hindering the South's recovery after the war. Pickett's Charge on July 3 is often considered the high-water mark of the Confederacy because it signaled the collapse of serious Confederate threats of victory. Lee's escape attempt ended with his surrender at Appomattox Court House, on April 9, 1865. The rest make no mention of the slavery issue and are often brief announcements of the dissolution of ties by the legislatures. [288] The Lost Cause myth was formalized by Charles A. [96] The South ignored the warnings; Southerners did not realize how ardently the North would fight to hold the Union together.[97]. Civil War Nos. The scale of the rebellion appeared to be small, so he called for only 75,000 volunteers for 90 days. [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. Professor James Downs. [279] With the withdrawal of federal troops, however, whites retook control of every Southern legislature; the Jim Crow period of disenfranchisement and legal segregation was ushered in. Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac and put Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in command of most of the western armies. [40][41], The American Revolution and the cause of liberty added tremendous impetus to the abolitionist cause. Eight remaining slave-holding states continued to reject calls for secession. The Union army occupied the fort for the rest of the war after repairing. Sentiment among. Meade defeated Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 to 3, 1863). S. Griswold Flagg collection (MS 216). After Lincoln won, many Southern leaders felt that disunion was their only option, fearing that the loss of representation would hamper their ability to promote pro-slavery acts and policies. The three pro-Union candidates together received an overwhelming 82% majority of the votes cast nationally: Republican Lincoln's votes centered in the north, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas' votes were distributed nationally and Constitutional Unionist John Bell's votes centered in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. President Johnson took a lenient approach and saw the achievement of the main war goals as realized in 1865, when each ex-rebel state repudiated secession and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. The final surrender of Confederate troops on the western periphery came in Galveston, Texas, on June 2. News of Lee's April 9 surrender reached this southern newspaper (Savannah, Georgia) on April 15—after the April 14 shooting of President Lincoln. Also in the spring of 1862, in the Shenandoah Valley, Stonewall Jackson led his Valley Campaign. Meanwhile, the war created employment for arms makers, ironworkers, and ships to transport weapons. The Southern states viewed this as a violation of their constitutional rights, and as the first step in a grander Republican plan to eventually abolish slavery. [60][61] Although the United Kingdom and France granted it. Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, Monday, March 4, 1861. Sheridan then proceeded to destroy the agricultural base of the Shenandoah Valley, a strategy similar to the tactics Sherman later employed in Georgia. Well, we decided to take the entire Civil War … Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote are among the best-known writers. One of the early Puritan writings on this subject was "The Selling of Joseph," by Samuel Sewall in 1700. [298] This meant that the Union now controlled the entire perimeter surrounding Richmond-Petersburg, completely cutting it off from the Confederacy. Buchanan said that the Dred Scott decision was proof that the South had no reason for secession, and that the Union "was intended to be perpetual", but that "The power by force of arms to compel a State to remain in the Union" was not among the "enumerated powers granted to Congress". The Confederates, lacking their gunboats, were forced to retreat and the Union took control of western Kentucky and opened Tennessee in March 1862. [285], Memory of the war in the white South crystallized in the myth of the "Lost Cause": that the Confederate cause was a just and heroic one. Although the two non-profit organizations joined forces on several battlefield acquisitions, ongoing conflicts prompted the boards of both organizations to facilitate a merger, which happened in 1999 with the creation of the Civil War Preservation Trust. [156] Only half of these saw active service. The Republicans again rejected the idea, although a majority of both Northerners and Southerners would likely have voted in favor of it. While part of the fleet bombarded the forts, other vessels forced a break in the obstructions in the river and enabled the rest of the fleet to steam upriver to the city. It was said that "King Corn was more powerful than King Cotton", as U.S. grain went from a quarter of the British import trade to almost half. [268] Lincoln laid the groundwork for public support in an open letter published in abolitionist Horace Greeley's newspaper. American History 101: Who Won the Civil War. With the advent of more accurate rifled barrels, Minié balls, and (near the end of the war for the Union army) repeating firearms such as the Spencer Repeating Rifle and the Henry Repeating Rifle, soldiers were mowed down when standing in lines in the open. The Confederacy grew to control at least a majority of territory in eleven states, and it claimed the additional states of Kentucky and Missouri by assertions from native secessionists fleeing Union authority. Union Advantages The Union had a larger population and larger stocks of war gear than the Confederacy. Several small skirmishes were fought in Florida, but no major battles. [258] The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known as Reconstruction. In his inaugural address, he argued that the Constitution was a more perfect union than the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, that it was a binding contract, and called any secession "legally void". In addition to many Confederate records being missing, partly as a result of Confederate widows not reporting deaths due to being ineligible for benefits, both armies only counted troops who died during their service and not the tens of thousands who died of wounds or diseases after being discharged. The myth shaped regional identity and race relations for generations. Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast was an early target for the Union navy. The Southern states believed slaveholding was a constitutional right because of the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution. Countless alternative history scenarios have revolved around the Confederates having won at Gettysburg and thus achieving independence.While the defeat at Gettysburg is cited as the reason why the South lost the war, many arguments are provided as to why the Confederates lost that battle.Some have blamed Ro… [248], The war resulted in at least 1,030,000 casualties (3 percent of the population), including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease, and 50,000 civilians. Many naval innovations emerged during this time, most notably the advent of the ironclad warship. Gen. Stonewall Jackson was shot in the arm by accidental friendly fire during the battle and subsequently died of complications. European immigrants joined the Union Army in large numbers, including 177,000 born in Germany and 144,000 born in Ireland. White north won It became crystal clear it was impossible to secede from the 'Union' at any price 'States Rights" were changed forever Lincoln's The Union or Northern States won the war against the South or the Confederacy. [254]:16 Notably, their mortality rate was significantly higher than white soldiers: [We] find, according to the revised official data, that of the slightly over two million troops in the United States Volunteers, over 316,000 died (from all causes), or 15.2 percent. To reward Virginia, the Confederate capital was moved to Richmond.[119]. "The Sentimental Novel: The Example of Harriet Beecher Stowe" by Gail K. Smith, sfn error: no target: CITEREFDonald1995 (. Who won the American Civil War? He also argues that if the Confederacy had fought using unconventional tactics, they would have more easily been able to hold out long enough to exhaust the Union. Confederate independence, on the other hand, would have established an American model for reactionary politics and race-based repression that would likely have cast an international shadow into the twentieth century and perhaps beyond. Nathan Bedford Forrest rallied nearly 4,000 Confederate troops and led them to escape across the Cumberland. He attributes the major Confederate defeats in 1863 at Vicksburg and Missionary Ridge to this class conflict. "[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]. If these had been slave states, and their electoral votes gone to Abraham Lincoln’s main opponent, Lincoln would not have been elected president. [121][123] All were held without trial, ignoring a ruling by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Roger Taney, a Maryland native, that only Congress (and not the president) could suspend habeas corpus (Ex parte Merryman). He argues that the non-owner soldiers grew embittered about fighting to preserve slavery and fought less enthusiastically. Articles related to the American Civil War. While socially different, the sections economically benefited each other. In 1872 the "Liberal Republicans" argued that the war goals had been achieved and that Reconstruction should end. A Legal History of the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Nation of Rights Cambridge University Press 2015, McPherson, M James. Public opinion, however, demanded an immediate attack by the army to capture Richmond. The war destroyed much of the wealth that had existed in the South. Lincoln warned the border states that a more radical type of emancipation would happen if his gradual plan based on compensated emancipation and voluntary colonization was rejected. As provocation it works fine; as history not so much. There was some concern that the proclamation would lead to succession of Western states, and prompted the stationing of Union troops in Illinois in case of rebellion. The resulting three hour Battle of Hampton Roads was a draw, but it proved that ironclads were effective warships. At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln made Grant commander of all Union armies. [98] Efforts at compromise, including the Corwin Amendment and the Crittenden Compromise, failed. After this, President Lincoln decided that Grant was his best general. The causes of secession were complex and have been controversial since the war began, but most academic scholars identify slavery as the central cause of the war. The Civil War is one of the most studied and written about episodes in U.S. history, and remains the subject of cultural and historiographical debate. Parker, in urging New England Congressmen to support the abolition of slavery, wrote that "The son of the Puritan ... is sent to Congress to stand up for Truth and Right..."[50][51] Literature served as a means to spread the message to common folks. Realizing that Washington could not intervene in Mexico as long as the Confederacy controlled Texas, France invaded Mexico in 1861. "Colorblindness in the demographic death toll of the Civil War". [256], The wealth amassed in slaves and slavery for the Confederacy's 3.5 million blacks effectively ended when Union armies arrived; they were nearly all freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Nonetheless, the remaining eight slave states rejected pleas to join the Confederacy following a two-to-one no-vote in Virginia's First Secessionist Convention on April 4, 1861. More soldiers died at Gettysburg than in any other Civil War battle. [216] Hood left the Atlanta area to swing around and menace Sherman's supply lines and invade Tennessee in the Franklin–Nashville Campaign. Of all these interpretations, the states'-rights argument is perhaps the weakest. These battles resulted in heavy losses on both sides and forced Lee's Confederates to fall back repeatedly. The South sent delegations to Washington and offered to pay for the federal properties[which?] [143] In the North, "bounty jumpers" enlisted to get the generous bonus, deserted, then went back to a second recruiting station under a different name to sign up again for a second bonus; 141 were caught and executed. Grant was tenacious and kept pressing Lee's Army of Northern Virginia back to Richmond. [277] It comprised multiple complex methods to resolve the outstanding issues of the war's aftermath, the most important of which were the three "Reconstruction Amendments" to the Constitution: the 13th outlawing slavery (1865), the 14th guaranteeing citizenship to slaves (1868) and the 15th ensuring voting rights to slaves (1870). Lee's army suffered 28,000 casualties (versus Meade's 23,000). [138] The U.S. Congress followed in July, authorizing a militia draft within a state when it could not meet its quota with volunteers. The Emancipation Proclamation was an effective use of the President's war powers. It’s important to remember that many rural farm states and mining states are both historically Democratic and have high rates of gun ownership. A Brief Background The Confederate States of America, known as the Confederacy, consisted of 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union to protect the institution of slavery. The Trans-Mississippi theater refers to military operations west of the Mississippi River, not including the areas bordering the Pacific Ocean. Maryland's territory surrounded the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and could cut it off from the North. Though this interpretation was abandoned by the Beards in the 1940s, and by historians generally by the 1950s, Beardian themes still echo among Lost Cause writers. A Union army force commanded by Major General Benjamin Butler landed near the forts and forced their surrender. [229] Lincoln was not a military dictator and could continue to fight the war only as long as the American public supported a continuation of the war. "Sick from Freedom: African-American Illness and Suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction". [261] By warning that free blacks would flood the North, Democrats made gains in the 1862 elections, but they did not gain control of Congress. Beard and Mary R. Beard, whose The Rise of American Civilization (1927) spawned "Beardian historiography". Analyzing the number of dead by using census data to calculate the deviation of the death rate of men of fighting age from the norm suggests that at least 627,000 and at most 888,000, but most likely 761,000 soldiers, died in the war. The Republican Party was determined to prevent any spread of slavery to newly formed states, and many Southern leaders had threatened secession if the Republican candidate, Lincoln, won the 1860 election. However, this failed as Great Britain had no interest in selling warships to a nation that was at war with a far stronger enemy, and it meant it could sour relations with the US. [193] However, Lincoln was angry that Meade failed to intercept Lee's retreat. [100] However, at least four states—South Carolina,[101] Mississippi,[102] Georgia,[103] and Texas[104]—also passed lengthy and detailed explanations of their causes for secession, all of which laid the blame squarely on the movement to abolish slavery and that movement's influence over the politics of the Northern states. [218], Lee's army, thinned by desertion and casualties, was now much smaller than Grant's. [65] The first of these "conservative" theories, represented by the Constitutional Union Party, argued that the Missouri Compromise apportionment of territory north for free soil and south for slavery should become a Constitutional mandate. In 1863, Robert E. Lee's Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg. [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. Lacking the technology and infrastructure to build effective warships, the Confederacy attempted to obtain warships from Great Britain. Its garrison had recently moved there to avoid incidents with local militias in the streets of the city. In December, Burnside was beaten at Fredericksburg and replaced by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker. Confederate records compiled by historian William F. Fox list 74,524 killed and died of wounds and 59,292 died of disease. This strategy led to massive losses on the battlefield in the early years and decreased the South's morale. These partisans could not be entirely driven out of the state of Missouri until an entire regular Union infantry division was engaged. [75] Rejecting the arguments for federal authority or self-government, state sovereignty would empower states to promote the expansion of slavery as part of the federal union under the U.S. [117] On May 3, 1861, Lincoln called for an additional 42,000 volunteers for a period of three years. Lincoln then restored Pope's troops to McClellan. Meanwhile, Confederate forces across the South surrendered as news of Lee's surrender reached them. [68], Senator Stephen A. Douglas proclaimed the doctrine of territorial or "popular" sovereignty—which asserted that the settlers in a territory had the same rights as states in the Union to establish or disestablish slavery as a purely local matter. In school, children are taught that the Civil War was fought by an abolitionist North attempting to right the wrongs of slavery in the South, led … The U.S. Navy eventually gained control of the Red, Tennessee, Cumberland, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers. [28] While not all Southerners saw themselves as fighting for slavery, most of the officers and over a third of the rank and file in Lee's army had close family ties to slavery. [145], The number of women who served as soldiers during the war is estimated at between 400 and 750, although an accurate count is impossible because the women had to disguise themselves as men. Union Maj. Gen. John Schofield defeated Hood at the Battle of Franklin, and George H. Thomas dealt Hood a massive defeat at the Battle of Nashville, effectively destroying Hood's army. Among the ordinances of secession passed by the individual states, those of three—Texas, Alabama, and Virginia—specifically mentioned the plight of the "slaveholding states" at the hands of Northern abolitionists. After the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863, General Kirby Smith in Texas was informed by Jefferson Davis that he could expect no further help from east of the Mississippi River. [55][56], Abolitionist sentiment was not strictly religious or moral in origin. As Southerners resigned their seats in the Senate and the House, Republicans were able to pass projects that had been blocked by Southern senators before the war. It took place between 1861 and 1865, making 617.000… [115][better source needed], Lincoln called on all the states to send forces to recapture the fort and other federal properties. [76] "States' rights" was an ideology formulated and applied as a means of advancing slave state interests through federal authority. Reconstruction began during the war, with the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, and it continued until 1877.

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