I. Major shifts, post 1863
- War became much more brutal in the last two years
- Scholars talk about the “hard war” policy
- Historians debate: Was the Civil War the first modern war?
- Technological advances; government centralization; targeting of civilian morale; different kind of frontline experience
- But: Others argue that a closer look shows the ways in which cultural beliefs limited the full embrace of war
II. Objectives of the War
- Northern objective shifted from restoring the Union as it was, to changing the nature of the Union
- Freeing slaves; imposing free labor on the South
- Overall goals impacts military strategy and tactics
- To restore the Union, the emphasis was on minimal bloodshed
- Kind of war envisioned by McClellan & Scott
- More defensive; attention to major victories in the realm of battlefield/diplomacy that will convince the South to lay down arms
- To restore the Union, the emphasis was on minimal bloodshed
- Once the goal shifts, war becomes much more relentless
- Not just seeking battlefield victories
- Seeking to occupy territories; destroy the will to fight; attack economy and infrastructure of the South
III. War in the West, 1862
- After Bull Run, fight concentrated in the West
- KY, TN, MO
- North sought control of rivers
- Battles of Fort Henry & Fort Donelson
- Led by U.S. Grant
- West Point grad who had failed in various business ventures
- Took Fort Henry fairly easily
- Fort Donelson more difficult, but it also fell to Grant
- Captured 15,000 Confederates; press treated as a major victory
- Led by U.S. Grant
- Upshot: KY lost; TN exposed; Nashville abandoned
IV. Grant’s Advance; Shiloh
- By April 1862, Grant had pushed all the way to the MS
- Supply lines vulnerable
- Shiloh: Confederates attacked in April 1862
- Confederate General is Sidney Johnston
- Most fiercest fighting thus far in the Western theater
- Men slaughtered in waves; nothing like it had been seen before
- Union victory (albeit with huge losses)
- Solidified Union dominance in the West
- Set a pattern: Union losses in East; victories in West
- Also in 1862, the Union Navy gained control of New Orleans
- Most important remaining Confederate port
- Most important remaining Confederate port
V. War in the East
- Remained stalemated; Peninsula Campaign (March – July 1863)
- McClellan came up with a new plan for attacking Richmond
- Naval battle had cleared the way for him
- Needed to head up the James River to get to Richmond
- Over 100,000 men amassed on the York Peninsula
- Only 15,000 Confederates stood between him and Richmond, but he though there were many more; wasted time preparing
- Robert E. Lee put in charge of Confederate forces
- Naval battle had cleared the way for him
- Seven Days Battle (June 25-July 1, 1862)
- Lee protected Richmond
- Lincoln sacked McClellan as general-in-chief (he remained in charge of the Army of the Potomac)
- Turning point for Lincoln; he began to look to the tough Western generals (like Grant) and to contemplate changing the war’s objectives
VI. Antietam (Sharpsburg), Sept. 17, 1862
- Lee had a series of victories that emboldened him
- He decided to take war into Union territory
- Raided Maryland
- Forces met at Antietam; single bloodiest day
- Battle essentially a draw, though the Union had significantly more manpower
- When Lee withdrew, McClellan did not pursue him
- Battle essentially a draw, though the Union had significantly more manpower
- Intense frustration in the North; Republican lose in the 1862 election
- Lincoln still claimed it as a victory
- Seized moment to announce the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, to go into effect January 1
- Seized moment to announce the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, to go into effect January 1
VII. Mark Grimsley, “Conciliation and Its Failures”
- Scholars differentiated between the Union’s early “conciliatory policy” and the subsequent turn to “hard war”
- Conciliation was based on the belief that elite slave owners had pushed through secession against the will of ordinary southerners
- Initially, the conciliatory policy appeared vindicated in coastal areas of the Carolinas that fell to the Union early
- Reflected in the thinking of leading generals
- Gen. Scott’s “Anaconda Plan”
- His desire to avoid a bloody series of battles that would destroy chances for reconciliation
- Idea that, by squeezing the South, its own population would eventually rise up and depose the Slave Power elite
- Gen. McClellan
- Believed that the Northern defeat at Bull Run had won over many southerners to the Confederate cause
- Now, only an overwhelming Union victory, coupled with scrupulous consideration toward civilians, would win back the South
- This had been his (rather successful) approach in West Virginia
- Gen. Scott’s “Anaconda Plan”
- Historian Mark Grimsley argues that conciliation failed mainly because Northern support for it collapsed; people lost patience
- Especially after the failure to seize Richmond (Peninsular Campaign, March-July 1862)
- Moreover, it had never been universally supported by commanders and was often rejected outright by troops
- Grimsely proposes that we consider a middle phase: “pragmatic policy”
- Permitted greater severity toward those engaged in guerilla warfare, but still did not explicitly target the civilian population
- Only in the spring of 1863 did Grant and Sherman begin large-scale attacks on southern infrastructure
- Key shift in the turn toward “hard war” was at the level of strategy
- Now the North sought to undermine support for the Confederacy through “demoralization and fear”
- Now the North sought to undermine support for the Confederacy through “demoralization and fear”
VIII. Eric Foner, “Lincoln and Colonization”
- Lincoln was a spokesman for colonization during the 1850s and “pursued it avidly” during his first two years in office. As late as Dec. ‘62, he averred “I strongly favor colonization.”
- Came from a part of the country where the idea of colonization was widely supported
- Saw colonization as a moderate position between the evils of slavery and radical abolitionism, which threatened the Union
- He never supported compulsory deportation, but he also seemed unable to imagine a multiracial society
- And he did not critique Illinois’s Black Laws
- Yet historians have tended to neglect or explain away his belief in colonization
Colonization prior to the 1850s
- Not a fringe idea; looks stranger now than it did then
- Age of mass migrations of peoples
- Many leading figures supported colonization
- Henry Clay—whom Lincoln idolized– was an early member and later pres. of the American Colonization Society (1817)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
- But the majority of African Americans opposed colonization
- Foner emphasizes the importance of the black anti-colonization movement, which influenced post-1830s abolitionism
- Argues we need to view it in the broader context of other schemes to determine the racial makeup of America
- Example: Forcible removal of Native Americans east of the MS
Colonization in the 1850s
- Discussions of colonization shift in the 1850s
- ACS declines, but support for other colonization schemes—primarily in Central America—gained support in the Republican Party
- Some viewed it as a way of countering expansionist desires of slaveowners
- An increasing number of African Americans, despairing of their future in the US and drawn to a black nationalism, begin supporting colonization
- Martin Delany; Henry Garnet
- Led to huge, divisive debates in black communities
- Once CW begins, Lincoln Administration looks for possible sites
- Guatemala and Honduras; presidents reject proposals
- Idea to turn freedmen into coalminers in Chiriquí (Panama)
- December 3, 1861: Lincoln urged Congress to provide funds for colonization efforts
- Meanwhile, black opposition to colonization increased with outbreak of the war
Lincoln’s “evolution” on colonization
- August 14, 1862: Lincoln for the first (and only) time discussed the idea of colonization directly with a group of African Americans at the White House
- His remarks to the assembled men were printed
- Seemed to be blaming blacks for the war and said it would be “extremely selfish” for them not to emigrate
- Strong backlash from African Americans and their supporters
- His remarks to the assembled men were printed
- Still Lincoln pressed forward
- The only actual scheme ever implemented (Île à Vache) was a disaster
- 1863-64: Lincoln finally abandoned the idea of colonization
- By February 1864, he expressed support for the notion of allowing educated freedmen and black soldiers to voted (in re. to Louisiana’s new state constitution)