Essay/Term paper: Civil war

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Humanities Essays

Civil War

Jim Chen

Civil war was the greatest war in American history. It was waged in 10,000
places-from Valverde, New Mexico, and Fernandina on the Florida coast. More
than three million Americans fought in it and more than 600,00 men died in it.
It was not only the immensity of the fight but the new weapons, the new
standards of generalship, and the strategies of destruction which made the Civil
War an event present ever since in the American consciousness.

Here are some of the crucial events of the war: the firing of the first shots at
Fort Sumter; the battles of Shiloh, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg; Sherman's
dramatic march to the sea; the surrender at Appomattox. In fact, Civil War
wasn't simply the story of great battles and great generals, it was also an
elaborate portrait of ourselves, American people- individuals and families,
northerners and southerners, soldiers and civilians, slaves and slaveowners,
rich and poor, urban and rural.

Twenty years before Civil War started, South and North didn't have a good
relationship already and there were many issues that they didn't agree on each
other such as Clay's compromise, Fugitive slave act, Pottawatomie massacre, etc.
The Southern states supported slavery because the slave population held more
than 40 percent of the entire population and also they needed slavery for their
industrialization. Therefore, if they freed all the slaves, someone would
predict, many whites would have no jobs and many things would be up-side-down.
As the result, controlling over slaves was very important for the Southern. But
the Northern were opponent of slavery since the slavery population took less
than 10 percent of the entire population and Southern states were already free.
Then something really happened when Abraham Lincoln, a known opponent of slavery,
was elected president. The Southern states then decided to secede, which meant
that they were leaving the nation because they thought how could Lincoln be the
president of the United States if most of the Southern didn't vote for him.
Now, as we could see, our nation started to divide into two, the south and the
north.

During the year of 1861 to 1865, there were thousands of war between south and
north and there were countless people died in it. The war immediately began
when south and north fought for Fort Sumter. At Lincoln's inauguration in March
4, 186`, the new president said that he had no plans to tend slavery in those
states where it already existed, but he also said that he would not accept
secession. Lincoln hoped to resolve the national crisis without warfare. When
president Lincoln planned to send supplies to Fort Sumter, where North only had
in the South at the time, he alerted the state in advance, in an attempt to
avoid hostilities. South Carolina, however, feared a trick; the commander of
the fort, Robert Anderson, was asked to surrender immediately. Anderson offered
to surrender, but only after he had exhausted his supplies. His offer was
rejected, and in April 12, the Civil War began with shots fired on the fort.
Fort Sumter eventually was surrendered to South Carolina.

Attack on Fort Sumter prompted four more states ,Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee,
and North Carolina, to join the Confederacy (South). Eventually, the residents
of the western counties of Virginia didn't wish to secede along with the rest of
the state. This section of Virginia was admitted into the Union as the states
of West Virginia in June 20, 1863. On June 1861, public demand pushed General-
in-Chief Winfield Scott to advance on the South before adequately training his
untried troops. Scott ordered General Irvin McDowell to advance on Confederate
troops stationed at Manassas Junction, Virginia, where near the Capital of South,
Richmond. Then McDowell attacked in July 21, and was initially successful, but
the introduction of Confederate reinforcements resulted in a Southern victory
and a retreat toward Washington by the strong federal troops. From this battle,
First Battle of Bull Run, everyone finally realized that the war would last much
longer than what they thought. After the Battle of Bull Run, each side began to
train its troops and to plan strategy for the war. There were differences
between both side's strategies. Much of the North's strategy depended on
geography and they wanted to control over Mississippi River because it would
enable the North to penetrate deep into the South and keep the Confederacy from
resupplying its western forces. The South planned to capture Washington, D.C.,
capital of the North and won the European aid.

In April, 1862, General McClellan's troops left northern Virginia to begin the
Peninsular Campaign. By May 4, they occupied Yorktown, Virginia. At
Williamsburg, Confederate forces prevented McClellan from meeting the main part
of the Confederated army, and McClellan halted his troops, awaiting
reinforcement. Then on may 31, the Confederate army attacked federal forces in
the Seven Days' Campaign, almost defeating them; last-minute reinforcements
saved the Union from a serious defeat. Confederate commander Joseph E.
Johnston was severely wounded, and command of the Army of Northern Virginia fell
to Robert E. Lee. Next battle came on September 17, Confederate forces under
General Lee were caught by General McClellan near Sharpsburg, Maryland. This
battle, Battle of Antietam, proved to be the bloodiest day of the war because
more than 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union soldiers were killed in this
battle. The battle had no clear winner, but because General Lee withdrew to
Virginia, McClellan was considered the victor. As the result, North build up
its confidence toward the South and dashed Confederate hopes of winning European
support.

General McClellan's slow movements and hesitation, combined with General Lee's
escape, and continued raiding by Confederate cavalry, dismayed many in the North.
On November 7, 1862, Lincoln replaced McClellan with General Ambrose E.
Burnside. In the Battle of Fredericksbury, Burnside's forces were defeated
somehow in a series of attacks against entrenched Confederate forces at
Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Burnside was replaced with General Joseph Hooker.
Still, president Lincoln didn't find his right general yet at this time. On
April 27, came to the Battle of Chancellorsville with new Northern general,
Hooker, but somehow, the luck didn't come to North side. He crossed the
Rappahannock River to attack General Lee's forces. Lee split his army,
attacking a surprised Union army in three places and almost completely defeating
them. Hooker then withdrew across the Rappahannock River for escape, giving the
South a victory, but it was the Confederates' most costly victory in terms of
casualties.

After a few months the next battle began again when General Lee decided to take
the war to the enemy. Lee defeated Union forces at Winchester, Virginia, and
continued north to Pennsylvania. General Hooker, who had been planning to
attack Richmond, was instead forced to follow Lee. Hooker, never comfortable
with his commander, General Halleck, resigned on June 28, and General George
Meade replaced him as commander of the North army. On July 1, a chance
encounter between Union and Confederate forces began the Battle of Gettysburb.
in the fighting that followed, General Meade had greater numbers and better
defensive positions. Eventually he won the battle, but failed to follow and
kill Lee as he retreated back to Virginia.

Everything changed when Lincoln found a general named, Ulysses S. Grant. He was
smart and knew how to use strategy over the enemy. He understood that the North
had advantages over the South in terms of soldiers and supplies. Therefore, he
was suggesting a war of attrition which meant to continue fighting until the
South ran out of men, supplies, and will. Union didn't only have General Grant
but they also had, General William Tecumseh Sherman, who was moody, ambitious,
and brilliant. He believed in what was called the Total War, defeating the
enemy both militarily and economically. The Civil War was over when General Lee
surrendered to Grant, Johnston surrendered to Sherman, and North took Richmond
over. Transportation problems and successful blockades caused severe shortages
of food and supplies in the South. Starving soldiers began to desert Lee's
forces. Lee surrendered to Grant on April, 1865 and they met in a house in the
tiny village of Appomattox Courthouse. Before the real business, bothof them
were talking about other things rather than the Civil War and they seemed like
good friends. Lee signed the paper at that house. Johnston surrendered to
Sherman under similar terms at Durham, North Carolina.

The great war was over, but that didn't mean any good because millions of free
slaves and white people found themselves without any money or homes, and much of
the South lay in ruins due to the war. Therefore, reconstruction was definitely
needed for the whole nation. Vice President Andrew Johnson became president
after Lincoln's assassination. Johnson was ill-suited to the challenges of
Reconstruction and of defining African Americans' rights. Therefore, many
Moderate Republican, who made up the majority of the Republican party, angry
because his failure to protect African American's rights. After congress took
over the reconstruction from Johnson, they quickly passed the Civil Rights Act
of 1866, which declared that everyone who was born in the land of United States
was a citizen with full civil right, (not guarantee for voting rights). Then
Fourteenth Amendment was also passed in June 1866. It required states to extend
equal citizenship to African Americans and all people were born naturalized in
the United States.) Then Fifteenth Amendment was passed at the following year,
it pointed out that everyone should have rights of vote no matter what color the
people were.

Many African American children started to go to school and being educated just
like everyone else. Many African Americans involves politics and protect their
own rights. As we knew, countless people didn't have jobs and started die from
hunger, therefore, Industrialization was needed so that those people could have
jobs. Many Southern landowners turned into factory owners.