Topic 13

The Civil War and Reconstruction

1861-1877

 

 

A. Lincoln: his inauguration and the Ft. Sumter crisis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B. First, the great question: why Civil War?

 

  1. Lincoln’s view: the war was fought to preserve the Union and, secondarily, to end slavery.

 

 

 

  1. The South: Why was the South trying to leave the Union? To me the answer is in order to protect and preserve slavery.

 

 

  1. Therefore, in my opinion, had there been no slavery, there would have been no secession and no need to fight a war to preserve the Union. Hence, slavery, as I see it, was THE cause of the Civil War.

 

 

C. The Opposing Sides

 

  1. Northern Advantages

 

–         A balanced economy

 

 

 

–         A much better railroad system

 

–         Population

 

–         The loyalty of most of the U.S. Navy

 

–         Presidential leadership

 

 

  1. Southern Advantages

 

–         Fighting a defensive war

 

–         The size of the South – Europe, not including Italy

 

–         Military leadership

 

 

D. The First Battle – Bull Run, July 21, 1861: the clash of the amateur armies

 

  1. Irvin McDowell attacks at Manassas Junction

 

 

 

 

  1. Confederates falter but then stand like a stonewall

 

 

 

 

  1. The aftermath, North and South

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Continued Union failures in the East

 

 

 

 

 

E. The war in the West and U.S. Grant: The most unlikely military hero

 

  1. Failed at everything he ever tried, except being a soldier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, February 1862

 

 

 

  1. Confederate counterattack at Shiloh – bloodiest two days in American history up to that point. April 6-7, 1862.

 

 

 

 

 

F. Back in the East: Antietam

 

 

  1. Lee invades Maryland and fights at Antietam: why?

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Bloody losses on both sides but a technical Union victory.

 

 

 

 

  1. The Emancipation Proclamation: the timing had to be right!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

G. 1863: The Year of Decision

 

  1. Grant and the Vicksburg campaign – The Confederacy is divided

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Lee and Gettysburg – July 1, 2, and 3, 1863 – Perhaps the most important battle ever fought on American soil!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The fall of Chattanooga

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The final defeat of the Confederacy was now just a matter of time – and blood!

 

 

 

 

 

 

H. The Final Campaigns against the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Northern Virginia

 

 

  1. Grant takes command and knew what he had to do

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Sherman in Georgia

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Grant in Virginia – refuses to give up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Confederate lines crack west of Petersburg and the last days of General Lee’s Army

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Surrender – April 9, 1865

 

 

 

I. Reconstruction

 

  1. Lincoln’s conclusions and the Ten Percent Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Congressional opposition and the Wade-Davis Bill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The President assassinated

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Congressional Reconstruction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Johnson impeached – but not convicted and removed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The election of 1868: again, Grant in command

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

J. The Southern Scene and the Redemption Movement

 

  1. The great myth: nothing good came out of reconstruction

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. And another myth: blacks controlled the southern Republican governments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. On the other hand, there was a great deal of corruption in many states, though not in all

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The white southern response: terror and the Ku Klux Klan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Grant’s response: not much as public opinion was shifting the North

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

K. The Disputed Election of 1876

 

 

  1. The candidates and the outcome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. What do we do now? No guidelines in the Constitution!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Trouble avoided through the  Compromise of 1877

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L. The Legacy of Reconstruction: The Solid South

 

 

Topic 13 Review

 

 

  • What was the importance of Ft. Sumter?
  • What advantages did the North have at the beginning of the war? What were the advantages of the South?
  • What effect did the Battle of Bull Run have on public opinion in the North and in the South?
  • At what battle was Grant surprised by the Confederates and almost driven into the Tennessee River? What was significant about the casualties suffered at this battle?
  • What was important about the Battle of Antietam?
  • What was the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg?
  • What did the Civil War accomplish?
  • What were Lincoln’s views on reconstruction and what did he say in his Ten Percent Plan?
  • How did Congress respond to the Ten Percent Plan?
  • Who was John Wilkes Booth?
  • How did Andrew Johnson try to handle reconstruction?
  • What were the general terms of the congressional plan of reconstruction?
  • What are some of the myths commonly associated with Republican rule in the South during reconstruction?
  • What kind of president was Ulysses S. Grant?
  • Who were the candidates in the election of 1876 and how was the election finally settled?
  • What do we mean by the term “the Solid South?”