-
Anaconda Plan
Proposed by Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, the plan consisted of 2 parts
1) A Union blockade of the Southern ports- Southern exports of cotton fell by 95% from pre-war levels, devaluing its currency, and wrecking its economy. Additionally, the blockade disrupted coastal trade, overloading the marginal Southern railroads.
2) An advance down the Mississippi River to cut the South in two -
Congress allows Treasury Secretary Christopher Memminger to raise $15 million in bonds and stock certificates
These were guaranteed with cotton and there were initially many buyers but as the tide of the war shifted in 1863 so did confidence in the ability of the confederacy to pay these. Memminger had little option but to print vast amounts of Treasury paper money as they had only raised 1/3 of the money needed for war: the result was serious inflation. -
Creation of the Confederate Government: 50 delegates of the seceded states meet at Montgomery to launch the confederate government
Of the 50, 49 were slave owners and 21 owned at least 20 slaves Almost all had extensive political experience. 60% had been Democrats 40% were ex-Whigs The convention, desperate to win the support of the upper South, tried to project a moderate, united and self-confident image
On 8 February it adopted a provisional constitution. The next day, it set up a committee to draft a permanent constitution. This was approved in March and quickly ratified by all seven Confederate states -
Jefferson Davis is unanimously elected as provisional President
-
Battle of Fort Sumter
Forces from the Confederate States of America attacked the United States military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Less than two days later, the fort surrendered. No one was killed. Starts the Civil War. -
Lincoln Issues a Call to Arms
Lincoln asks for 75,000 men. Davis for 100,000 men -
Virginia joins the Confederacy
Crucial as Virginia's industrial capacity alone was greater than the combined of the other 7 states that had seceded.
Referendum in May were virginians vote to secede 130,000 to 30,000. Richmond now becomes the Confederate Capital West Virginia choses to secede and stay in the union -
Licoln orders blockade of the Confederacy
-
Arkansas Secedes
-
North Carolina secedes
-
Tennessee Secedes
-
First Battle of Manassas (1st Bull Run) (Eastern Theatre)
First major battle, fought close to Washington D.C. The battle was a Confederate victory and was followed by a disorganized post-battle retreat of the Union forces. Northern populace wanted to end the war quickly and urged for a run at the capital of the Confederacy in Richmond Virginia. -
Battle of Fort Henry (Western Theater)
It was the first important victory for the Union and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater.
The surrender of Fort Henry opened the Tennessee River to Union traffic south of the Alabama border
Union raids used ironclad boats to destroy Confederate shipping and railroad bridges along the river -
Battle of Fort Donelson (Western Theatre)
The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opened the Cumberland River, an important avenue for the invasion of the South. The Union's success also elevated Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant from an obscure and largely unproven leader to the rank of major general, and earned him the nickname of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant The battle resulted in virtually all of Kentucky as well as much of Tennessee, including Nashville, falling under Union control -
Jackson's Valley Campaign (Eastern Theatre) was Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's spring 1862 campaign through the Shenandoah Valley
Employing audacity and rapid, unpredictable movements on interior lines, with superior topographical knowledge thank's to cartographer Jedediah Hotchkiss, Jackson's 17,000 men won several minor battles as they successfully engaged three Union armies (52,000 men) preventing them from reinforcing the Union offensive against Richmond Jackson followed up his successful campaign by forced marches to join Gen. Robert E. Lee for the Seven Days Battles outside Richmond Ended on June 8th -
Battle of Shiloh (Western Theatre)
The Confederate army hoped to defeat Grant's Army of the Tennessee before it could be reinforced and resupplied
After their suprise attack the Union army was reinforced in during the night and the next morning counter-attacked killing the Confederate general
Though victorious, the Union army had more casualties than the Confederates
The battle was the costliest engagement of the Civil War up to that point, and its nearly 24,000 casualties made it one of the bloodiest battles in the entire war. -
The Seven Days (Eastern Theatre)
series of American Civil War battles in which a Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee drove back General George B. McClellan’s Union forces and thwarted the Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Northern casualties were estimated at 16,000 men and Southern at 20,000. Ended on the 1st of July -
Taxation-in-kind Act
authorising government agents to collect 10 per cent of produce from all farmers. -
Impressment Act
Allowing the seizure of goods to support the
armies at the front line -
Emancipation Proclamation: issued on the 22nd of Sept 1862 after Antietam. Slavery was to be left untouched in states that returned to the Union before 1 Jan 1863. Thereafter all slaves in enemy territory conquered by Union armies would be ‘forever free’
The Proclamation had the effect of changing the legal status of more than 3.5 million slaves in the secessionist Confederate states (no effect whatsoever in the Union slave states) As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free. In addition, the Proclamation allowed for former slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States" -
National Currency Act: The first attempt to establish a federal banking system after the failures of the First and Second Banks of the United States, and served as the predecessor to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.
The act allowed the creation of national banks, set out a plan for establishing a national currency backed by government securities held by other banks, and gave the federal government the ability to sell war bonds and securities (to help the war effort) National banks were subject to stricter regulation: not allowed to loan more than 10% of their holdings A high tax on state banks was levied to discourage competition, by 1865 most state banks had either received national charters or collapsed -
Battle of Chancellorsville (Eastern Theatre)
Chancellorsville is known as Confederate general Robert E. 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. Stonewall Jackson was hit by friendly fire, requiring his left arm to be amputated. He died of pneumonia eight days later, a loss that Lee likened to losing his right arm. -
Siege of Vicksburg (Western Theatre)
In a series of maneuvers, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi, led by Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, leading to the successful siege and Confederate surrender on July 4th after more than 40 days of siege Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River and key to winning -
Battle of Gettysburg 1st-3rd: The battle, which was won by the Union, is widely considered the Civil War's turning point, ending the Confederacy's aspirations to establish an independent nation.
It was the Civil War's bloodiest battle, claiming over 50,000 combined casualties over three days The union defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, halting Lee's invasion of the north and forcing his retreat The main event was an infantry assault by around 12,000 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett's Charge. The charge was repelled by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great loss to the Confederate arm -
New York City Draft Riot 13th-16th: People didn't want to get conscripted for "War of the Blacks"
Irish immigrant workers (who couldn't afford to pay off conscription (if you payed 300$ you could avoid going to war)) didn't understand why they were being conscripted and blacks weren't even though they had just been emancipated and it was 'their war'
Colored Orphan Asylum at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue, was burned to the ground
Irish workers attack after the first few names in draft are called
Lincoln sends in 20,000 troops to restore order
120 people – mainly rioters – died in the process -
-
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction: offers his conciliatory plan for reunification of the United States
-It allowed for a full pardon for and restoration of property to all engaged in the rebellion with the exception of the highest Confederate officials and military leaders
-It allowed for a new state government to be formed when 10 percent of the eligible voters had taken an oath of allegiance to the United States
- If they are accepted slavery must be abolished -
National Banking Act
The 1864 act, based on a New York State law, brought the federal government into active supervision of all banks. It established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency with the responsibility of chartering, examining and supervising all national banks -
Battle of Cold Harbor (Eastern Theatre)
On May 31, as Grant's army once again swung around the right flank of Lee's army, Union cavalry seized the crossroads of Old Cold Harbor, about 10 miles northeast of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia The Union army suffered huge casualties around 12,000, double that of the Confederates.
Grant said of the battle in his Personal Memoirs, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made" Battle huge Union loss -
Battle of Atlanta (Western Theatre): Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply hub of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman overwhelmed and defeated Confederate forces defending the city under John Bell Hood
The city fell on September 2nd, 1864, after a Union siege and various attempts to seize railroads and supply lines leading to Atlanta This victory was hugely important in the upcoming elections as northern morale and confidence in their president was boosted. George B.Mclellan was lost the presidency to Lincoln who was re-elected -
Sherman's March to the Sea (Western Theatre)
was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by William Tecumseh Sherman. The campaign ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. His forces followed a "scorched earth" policy, destroying military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property, disrupting the Confederacy's economy and transportation networks -
National Banking Act of 1865 & 1866
Further acts passed in 1865 and 1866 imposed a tax to speed the adoption of the system. All banks (national or otherwise) had to pay a 10 percent tax on payments that they made in currency notes other than national bank notes. The tax rate was intentionally set so high as to effectively prohibit further circulation of state bank and private notes. By this time the conversion from state banks to national banks was well underway -
Robert E.Lee Surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse
Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after the nine-and-a-half-month Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, retreated west. He was cutoff by Sheridan at Appomattox and eventually surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant Effectively ends the war in the Eastern Theatre and leads to the eventual surrender of the whole of the Confederate forces in the west -
General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders at Bennett Place
-
13th Amendment
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 Passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865, and proclaimed on December 18
