American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War produced an estimated 1,030,000 casualties (3% of the U.S. population, which today would equate to nearly 9,000,000 souls), including approximately 620,000* deaths—two-thirds by disease.

Date: April 12, 1861 – June 1865 (Order of Surrendering Confederate Forces and Last Battle and Final Surrender of the Civil War)
 

Location: Principally in the Southern United States

Result(s): Union victory; Secession defeated; Restoration of the Union; Reconstruction; Slavery abolished
 

Combatants: United States of America (Union); Confederate States of America (Confederacy)
 

Theaters of the American Civil War: Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast
 

American Civil War (1861–1865) was a major war between the United States ("Union") and eleven Southern states ("Confederacy"), which declared that they had a right to secession and formed the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis. The Union included free states and Border States and was led by President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. Although the Border States were under Union control, they supplied the South with tens-of-thousands of troops.

 

The South strongly believed in States' Rights (Bill of Rights and the 10th Amendment) according to the United States Constitution and believed that it entitled them to a right of secession. While the Republicans rejected any right of Southern secession, they also opposed the expansion of slavery into territories owned by the United States (see causes and origins of the American Civil War). Soldiers' motives for fighting in the conflict also varied.

 

Fighting commenced on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a United States (Federal) military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, the first state to secede. South Carolina, however, claimed that Fort Sumter was legally within its (territorial) waters.

 

During the American Civil War, the North generally named a battle after the closest river, stream or creek, and the South tended to name battles after towns or railroad junctions. Hence the Confederate name Manassas after Manassas Junction, and the Union name Bull Run for the stream Bull Run.

During the first year of the Civil War, the Union assumed control of the Border States and established a naval blockade as both sides raised large armies. In 1862, major bloody battles, such as Shiloh and Antietam, were fought causing massive casualties unprecedented in U.S. military history. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made the freeing of slaves in the South a war goal, despite opposition from Northern Copperheads who tolerated secession and slavery.

Emancipation reduced the likelihood of intervention from Britain and France on behalf of the Confederacy. In addition, the goal also allowed the Union to recruit African Americans for reinforcements, a resource that the Confederacy did not exploit until it was too late. The Border States and War Democrats initially opposed emancipation, but gradually accepted it as part of total war needed to save the Union.

European immigrants joined the Union Army in large numbers too. 23.4% of all Union soldiers were German-Americans; about 216,000 were born in Germany. In the East, Confederate General Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia and experienced a series of victories against the Army of the Potomac. However, Lee's best general, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.

Lee's invasion of the North was repulsed at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania in July 1863; Lee, however, managed an orderly retreat to Virginia. The Union Navy captured the port of New Orleans in 1862, and Ulysses S. Grant seized control of the Mississippi River by capturing Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July 1863, thus splitting the Confederacy. See also: Anaconda Plan: The United States Naval Plan of Divide and Conquer and Turning Points of the American Civil War.

By 1864, long-term Union advantages in geography, manpower, industry, finance, political organization and transportation were overwhelming the Confederacy. Grant fought a number of bloody battles with Lee in Virginia during the summer of 1864. Lee's defensive tactics resulted in extremely high casualties for Grant's army, but Lee lost strategically overall as he could not replace his casualties and was forced to retreat into trenches around the Confederacy's capital, Richmond, Virginia. Meanwhile, General William Sherman, the leader of the Union Military Division of the Mississippi, captured Atlanta, Georgia, during his March to the Sea. Sherman also destroyed a hundred-mile-wide swath of Georgia. In 1865 the Confederacy collapsed after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

 

All slaves in the Confederacy were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, which stipulated that slaves in Confederate-held areas, but not in Border States or in Washington, D.C., were free. Slaves in the Border States and Union-controlled areas in the South were freed by state action or by the Thirteenth Amendment, although slavery effectively ended in the United States in the spring of 1865. The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar and aftermath era known as Reconstruction.

Diseases and Napoleonic Tactics, consequently, were the contributing factors for the high casualties during the American Civil War.

 

More than 10,500 battles and skirmishes occurred during the Civil War; 384 engagements (3.7 percent) were identified as the principal battles and classified according to their historical significance.

 

The war produced an estimated 1,030,000 casualties (3% of the U.S. population, which today would equate to nearly 9,000,000 souls), including approximately 620,000* deaths—two-thirds by disease. Let's take a moment and think about it on today's terms. To put it into perspective, 3% of the U.S. population equates to the combined population of the present-day states of New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. See also American Civil War History, Facts, and Statistics.

The war accounted for more casualties than all other U.S. wars combined. Presently, the causes of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of lingering controversy. The main result of the war was the restoration of the Union. Also, approximately 4 million slaves were freed in 1865. Based on 1860 United States census figures, 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6% in the North and an extraordinary 18% in the South. See also: American Civil War Battles, Casualties, & Statistics and Organization of Union and Confederate Armies.

 

*Best estimates. Depending on the source, numbers vary.

Border State Civil War History

Border State Civil War History

During the American Civil War (1861-1865) the Border States were geographically vital to the conflict, as both the Union and Confederacy recognized the strategic value of the region. To march on Southern soil, consequently, meant marching through hostile Border States. The Border State Civil War History portrays divided loyalties, the Brother against Brother War, bushwhackers, and an environment well-known for its guerrilla warfare.

The Border States--Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia--comprised the Civil War's middle ground, a region of moderation lying between the warring North and South. It was the region in which no states supported Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election.

Yet, any hope that this pursuit of the middle ground would bring peace to border state residents was quickly dashed in wartime. Angry confrontations, including some of the most violent guerrilla warfare in American history, became an everyday fact of life in this region, as the two sides lived side-by-side and confronted one another on a daily basis. The border states were both compromising in peacetime and antagonistic in war, two seemingly contradictory positions that in fact sprung from the same source: each state encompassed deep and enduring internal divisions.

 

In the Border States, civilian loyalties were divided, with some favoring secession and others remaining loyal to the Union. These divided populations had a profound impact on Union and Confederate strategy, both political and military. Each side undertook measures, including brutal guerrilla warfare, intended to persuade or sometimes conquer areas of divided loyalty. Each side suffered setbacks in the face of hostile moral and political views held by local civilians.

In the Border States, the war pitted neighbor against neighbor. The wrong word at the wrong time could land a civilian in jail. In some areas, bitter resentments and divisions remained long after the war was over. See also Border State Civil War History and Civil War Border States: A History.

What Caused the Civil War, aka Causes of the Civil War

What Caused the Civil War?

The most controversial question regarding the conflict that claimed more than 620,000 Americans is: what caused the Civil War?

The Civil War caused more than 620,000 deaths, which was 2% of the U.S. population. The conflict produced more deaths than all previous U.S. wars combined. Even a brief introduction to the U.S. Civil War will prompt the student to ask, why was the Civil War fought? There are, however, two dominant positions: 1) slavery caused the Civil War, or 2) states' rights caused the Civil War.

In law, in debate, and in history we should view every subject in context and strive to examine as many facts as possible before arriving at any conclusion. When there are numerous facts available, it is prudent to avoid one or two documents or statements to support one's bias. Speculation and conjecture should be avoided, while the witnesses and their respective testimonies should be admitted and examined.
 

A quick overview is to reference the question to its era and participants. On one hand, we have the position that slavery was the only cause of the Civil War. On the other hand, we have the position that states' rights caused the Civil War. The argument for states' rights, as derived from the Tenth Amendment, includes the right for the state to secede from the Union. Secession was a direct challenge of state government verses national government. The Tenth Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, was ratified on December 15, 1791, and it states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
 

The major participants during the Civil War were the state governments, the national government, and the president, so we will begin by discussing and defining the roles and responsibilities of each participant.
 

Who is the final arbiter when there are differences, disagreements, and conflicts between state governments and federal government?
 

The United States Supreme Court is the final arbiter in interpreting the U.S. Constitution and which law or government action violated it.
 

The Constitution established the Supreme Court as the highest court in the United States. The authority of the Court originates from Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

One of the Supreme Court’s most important responsibilities is to decide cases that raise questions of constitutional interpretation. The Court decides if a law or government action violates the Constitution. This is known as judicial review and enables the Court to invalidate both federal and state laws when they conflict with the Constitution. Since the Supreme Court stands as the ultimate authority in constitutional interpretation, its decisions can be changed only by another Supreme Court decision or by a constitutional amendment.

Judicial review puts the Supreme Court in a pivotal role in the American political system, making it the referee in disputes among various branches of the Federal, as well as state governments, and as the ultimate authority for many of the most important issues in the country.
 

The Supreme Court exercises complete authority over the federal courts, but it has only limited power over state courts. The Court has the final word on cases heard by federal courts, and it writes procedures that these courts must follow. All federal courts must abide by the Supreme Court’s interpretation of federal laws and the Constitution of the United States. The Supreme Court’s interpretations of federal law and the Constitution also apply to the state courts, but the Court cannot interpret state law or issues arising under state constitutions, and it does not supervise state court operations. See also What Caused the Civil War?

New York Civil War History: HOMEPAGE

New York Civil War History

New York contributed more soldiers to the Union than any other Northern state. With the exception of cotton, its manufacturing, alone, dwarfed all the Southern states combined.

According to the 1860 U.S. census, New York had a total population of 3,880,735, including 49,005 free colored persons. The state's population had been transformed by extensive immigration from the 1840s, particularly from Ireland and Germany. Shortly before the Civil War, 25 percent of New York City's population was born in Germany.

During the Civil War, nearly 400,000 New Yorkers joined the Union Army, and, according to Phisterer (1890), more than 53,000 New York soldiers died in service, or roughly 1 of every 7 who served. Of the total enlistment, more than 120,000 were foreign-born, but it is impossible to arrive at very accurate figures as to the nativity of the individual soldiers from the state, but Phisterer has arrived at the "conclusion that of the 400,000 individuals, 279,040 were natives of the United States, and 120,960 or 30.24 percent, of foreign birth. The latter were divided according to nationality as follows: 42,095 Irish, 41,179 German, 12,756 English, 11,525 British-American, 3,693 French, 3,333 Scotch, 2,014 Welsh, 2,015 Swiss, and 2,350 of all other nationalities." The average age of the New York soldier was 25 years, 7 months, and New Yorkers fought in every major battle and campaign of the conflict. See also New York and the Civil War (1861-1865).