1. The Civil
War
Begins
Eureka Sakamoto, Alyssa Guerra, Nina
Conducto, Kalista Iswara, Jay Choi, Joshua
Olano, Joshua Tatel, Soheil Najafi

2. Confederates Fire on Fort
Sumter

3. Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter
• The seven southernmost states formed the
Confederate States of America on February
4, 1861
• Confederates immediately started taking
over federal installations in their state
• By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration, only
two Southern forts remained

4. Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter
• The day after his inauguration, he received
an urgent dispatch from the fort’s
commander
• The Confederacy was demanding that he
surrender or face an attack

5. Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter:
Lincoln’s Dilemma
• If he ordered the navy to shoot, he would be
responsible for starting hostilities
• If he ordered an evacuation, he would be
treating the Confederacy as a legitimate
nation
• Such actions would anger the Republican
Party, weaken his administration, and
endanger the Union

6. Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter:
First Shots
• Lincoln executed a clever political maneuver
• Instead of abandoning Fort Sumter, he
reinforced it
• He would send “food for hungry men”
• Now it was Jefferson Davis who faced a
dilemma

7. Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter:
First Shots
• If Jefferson didn’t do anything, he would
damage the image of the Confederacy
• If he ordered an attack on Fort Sumter, he
would turn peaceful secession into war.
• He obviously chose war.
• On April 12, they started firing away
• They were bombarded with more than 4,000
rounds before Anderson surrendered

8. Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter:
Virginia Secedes
• When Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to
serve for three months, the response was
overwhelming
• 20x the states quota rushed to enlist
• Virginia unwilling to fight seceded– A
terrible loss to the Union
• Was the most populated state and most
industrialized

9. Confederates Fire on Fort Sumter:
Virginia Secedes
• In May, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North
Carolina followed Virginia
• Confederates states raises to 11
• Western counties of Virginia were
Antislavery
• They were now separated and was called
West Virginia

10. Americans Expect a Short
War

11. Americans Expect a Short War
• Northerners and Confederates expected a
short, glorious war
• Both sides felt that right was on their side
• The two factions were unevenly matched

12. Americans Expect a Short War:
Union and Confederate Strategies
Union Confederate
• Enjoyed enormous • “King Cotton” (profits it
advantages in resources earned on the world market)
having more: • First-rate generals
- Fighting power • A strong military tradition
- More factories •Soldiers who were highly
- Greater food production motivated to defend their
- More extensive railroad homeland
system

13. Americans Expect a Short War:
Union and Confederate Strategies
• The South had a tradition of local and
limited government
• There was a resistance to the centralization
of government needed to run a war
• Several Southern governors refused to
cooperate with the Confederate government

14. Americans Expect a Short War:
Union and Confederate Strategies
Union Confederate
1. The Union navy would blockade 1. Mostly defense
Southern ports 2. If the opportunity arose, Generals
2. Union riverboats and armies would would signal the start of attack or
move down Mississippi river invasion of the North
3. Union armies would capture the
Confederate capital at Richmond,
Virginia

15. Americans Expect a Short War:
Bull Run
• July 21, first major bloodshed three months
after Fort Sumter fell
• An Army of 30,000 inexperienced Union
soldiers marched toward the Confederate
capital
• Came upon an equally inexperience
Confederate Army encamped near Bull Run
(a creek)

16. Americans Expect a Short War:
Bull Run
• Lincoln commanded
General Irvin
McDowell to attack
• The battle was a
seesaw affair

17. Americans Expect a Short War:
Bull Run
• Confederates won their first battle for the
south
• Fortunately for the Union, the Confederates
were too exhausted to attack Washington
• Bull Run “has secured our independence,” a
Georgia secessionist declared
• Many Southern soldiers were confident that
the war was over, left the army and went
home

18. Union Armies in the
West

19. Union Armies in the West
• Lincon appointed
George McCleallan
to lead the New
Union army

20. Union Armies in the West
• On February 1862; a Union Army led by
General Ulysses S. Grant invaded western
Tennessee.
• In 11 days, Grant’s forces captured two
Confederate Forts.
• Ulysses S. Grant attacked Fort Donelson
with 23,000 men.

21. Union Armies in the West
• Fort Donelson was the first major Federal
victory of the Civil War
• 12,500 Confederates surrendered
• Confederates abandoned Nashville without a
fight
• With disproportionate surprise, the
Confederates attacked out of the woods on
the morning of April 6

22. Fort Donelson

23. Confederates
surrendering

24. Union Armies in the West
• In spite of the reinforcements, many of
Grant’s officers thought it was wise to
retreat
• Grant’s persistence and confidence made the
difference at The Battle of Shiloh
• At sunset, the Confederates started
retreating back to Corinth

25. Union Armies in the West
• Losses at The Battle of Shiloh were
horrific, exceeding those of any previous
battle in American History Union Armies in
the West
• The Confederacy had lost much western and
middle of Tennessee and The Battle of
Shiloh ensure it would stay that way

26. A Revolution in Warfare

27. A Revolution In Warfare
• Success of Grant and Farragut in the west
was a new type of war machine: Ironclad
ship
• Advanced technology changed military
strategy and contributed to the war casualty
rate

28. A Revolution In Warfare:
Iron clads
• Ship could splinter wooden ships, withstand
cannon fire, resist burning

29. A Revolution In Warfare:
Iron clads
• Grants used 4 ships when he captured Forts
Henry and Donelson
• March 9, 1862, two iron clads, North’ss
“Monitor” and South’s “Merrimack” fought a
historic deal

30. A Revolution In Warfare:
New Weapons
• Invention of rifles and minie ball
• Rifles were more accurate and could be easily
loaded by soldiers quickly
• Minie ball was a soft lead bullet was more
destructive
• Also used hand grenades and land mines

31. A Revolution In Warfare:
New Weapons
• New technology gradually changed military
strategy
• Soldiers fighting from inside trenches or
behind barricades had a great advantage in
mass infantry attacks because of the rifle and
minie.

32. The War for the
Capitals

33. The War for the Capitals
• The third part of the three part plan to
capture the Confederate capitol at Richmond
failed
• Partly because of General McClellan, who
was too cautious.
• During the spring of 1962, McClellan’s army
fought Confederate Joseph E. Johnston’s
Army

34. The War for the Capitals
• Johnston got wounded, and command of the
army went to Robert E. Lee.
• Lee’s and McClellan’s armies fought during
“The 7 Days Battle”
• Lee was determined to win for his beloved
Virginia.
• On August 29 and 30, Lee’s army won the
second battle at Bull run

35. Lee and McClellan

36. “The 7 Day Battle”

37. The War for the Capitals
• McClellan found Lee’s army commands
wrapped around some cigars.
• It said Lee’s and Stonewall Jackson’s troops
were separated at the moment
• McClellan and Lee’s armies fought on Sept.
17 beside the Antietam creek.
• The casualties totaled more than 26,000

38. The War for the Capitals
• Lee lost a quarter of his men, McClellan
didn’t pursue them. He could’ve ended the
war.
• Lincoln fired McClellan.

39. The
Politics
of War

40. Britain Remains Neutral

41. Britain Remains Neutral
• A number of economic factors were bade.
• Britain was no longer dependent on southern
cotton.
• Britain accumulated a huge cotton inventory
right before the outbreak
• Also found new sources for cotton in India
and Egypt.

42. Britain Remains Neutral
• When wheat crop of Europe failed, the
Northern wheat crop places cotton as an
essential import
• Britain decided to be neutral for it was the
best policy to do.

43. Britain Remains Neutral:
The Trent Affair
• Fall of 1861, an incident occurred to test the
neutrality.
• The Confederate government sent two
diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell.
• They sent them for a second attempt to gain
support from France and Britain.
• They were aboard a British merchant ship
named Trent.

44. Britain Remains Neutral:
The Trent Affair
• Capt. Charles Wilkes of the American
warship San Jacinto stopped the ship and
arrested the two men.
• The British threatened the Union and
dispatched 8,000 troops to Canada.
• Lincoln freed both of the prisoners and
claiming that Wilkes acted without orders

45. Proclaiming
Emancipation

46. Proclaiming Emancipation:
Lincoln’s view on Slavery
• Lincoln disliked slavery
• He did not believe that the federal
government had the power to abolish where
it already exists

47. Proclaiming Emancipation:
Proclamation of Emancipation

48. Proclaiming Emancipation:
Reactions to the Proclamation
• It did not have much practical
effect, although it had immense symbolic
importance.
• Free blacks welcomed the section of the
Proclamation that allowed them to enlist in
the Union Army
• Not everyone in the North approved of it.

49. Proclaiming Emancipation:
Reactions to the Proclamation
• Democrats claimed that it would only
prolong the war by antagonizing the south
• Confederates reacted to it with outrage
• Compromising was no longer an option

50. Both Sides Face Political
Problems

51. Both Sides Face Political Problems
• Lincoln dealt forcefully with disloyalty
while dealing with dissent
• Both armies originally relied on volunteers,
it didn’t take long before heavy casualties led
to conscription
• White men between ages of 18 to 35 must
join the army

52. Both Sides Face Political Problems
• In 1864, the confederacy suffered more losses
• Changed the rule into white man from age 17
to 50
• People with enough money could pay $300 to
avoid conscription
• It was a rich man’s war but a poor man’s
fight