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THE AMERICAN YAWP

14. The Civil War

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I. Introduction | II. The Election of 1860 and Secession | III. A War for Union 1861-1863 | IV. War for Emancipation 1863-1865 | V. Con-

clusion | VI. Primary Sources | VII. Reference Material

Collecting the Dead. Cold Harbor, Virginia. April, 1865. Library of Congress.

*The American Yawp is an evolving, collaborative text. Please click here to improve this chapter.*

I. Introduction

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The American Civil War, the bloodiest in the nation’s history, resulted in approximately 750,000 deaths. The war touched the life of

nearly every American as military mobilization reached levels never seen before or since. Most northern soldiers went to war to preserve

the Union, but the war ultimately transformed into a struggle to eradicate slavery. African Americans, both enslaved and free, pressed

the issue of emancipation and nurtured this transformation. Simultaneously, women thrust themselves into critical wartime roles while

navigating a world without many men of military age. The Civil War was a de�ning event in the history of the United States and, for the

Americans thrust into it, a wrenching one.

II. The Election of 1860 and Secession

The 1860 presidential election was chaotic. In April, the Democratic Party convened in Charleston, South Carolina, the bastion of se-

cessionist thought in the South. The goal was to nominate a candidate for the party ticket, but the party was deeply divided. Northern

Democrats pulled for Senator Stephen Douglas, a pro-slavery moderate championing popular sovereignty, while southern Democrats

were intent on endorsing someone other than Douglas. The parties leaders’ refusal to include a pro-slavery platform resulted in southern

delegates walking out of the convention, preventing Douglas from gaining the two-thirds majority required for a nomination. The De-

mocrats ended up with two presidential candidates. A subsequent convention in Baltimore nominated Douglas, while southerners

nominated the current vice president, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, as their presidential candidate. The nation’s oldest party had

split over di�erences in policy toward slavery.

Initially, the Republicans were hardly uni�ed around a single candidate themselves. Several leading Republican men vied for their par-

ty’s nomination. A consensus emerged at the May 1860 convention that the party’s nominee would need to carry all the free states—for

only in that situation could a Republican nominee potentially win. New York Senator William Seward, a leading contender, was passed

over. Seward’s pro-immigrant position posed a potential obstacle, particularly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Abraham Lincoln of Illi-

nois, as a relatively unknown but likable politician, rose from a pool of potential candidates and was selected by the delegates on the

third ballot. The electoral landscape was further complicated through the emergence of a fourth candidate, Tennessee’s John Bell, head-

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ing the Constitutional Union Party. The Constitutional Unionists, composed of former Whigs who teamed up with some southern De-

mocrats, made it their mission to avoid the specter of secession while doing little else to address the issues tearing the country apart.

Abraham Lincoln’s nomination proved a great windfall for the Republican Party. Lincoln carried all free states with the exception of

New Jersey (which he split with Douglas). Of the voting electorate, 81.2 percent came out to vote—at that point the highest ever for a

presidential election. Lincoln received less than 40 percent of the popular vote, but with the �eld so split, that percentage yielded 180

electoral votes. Lincoln was trailed by Breckinridge with his 72 electoral votes, carrying eleven of the �fteen slave states; Bell came in

third with 39 electoral votes; and Douglas came in last, only able to garner 12 electoral votes despite carrying almost 30 percent of the

popular vote. Since the Republican platform prohibited the expansion of slavery in future western states, all future Confederate states,

with the exception of Virginia, excluded Lincoln’s name from their ballots.3

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Abraham Lincoln, August 13, 1860. Library of Congress.

The election of Lincoln and the perceived threat to the institution of slavery proved too much for the deep southern states. South Car-

olina acted almost immediately, calling a convention to declare secession. On December 20, 1860, the South Carolina convention voted

unanimously 169–0 to dissolve their union with the United States. The other states across the Deep South quickly followed suit. Mis-

sissippi adopted their own resolution on January 9, 1861, Florida followed on January 10, Alabama on January 11, Georgia on January

19, Louisiana on January 26, and Texas on February 1. Texas was the only state to put the issue up for a popular vote, but secession was

widely popular throughout the South.

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Confederates quickly shed their American identity and adopted a new Confederate nationalism. Confederate nationalism was based on

several ideals, foremost among these being slavery. As Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens stated, the Confederacy’s “founda-

tions are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery . . . is his natural and

normal condition.” The election of Lincoln in 1860 demonstrated that the South was politically overwhelmed. Slavery was om-

nipresent in the prewar South, and it served as the most common frame of reference for unequal power. To a southern man, there was

no fate more terrifying than the thought of being reduced to the level of a slave. Religion likewise shaped Confederate nationalism, as

southerners believed that the Confederacy was ful�lling God’s will. The Confederacy even veered from the American constitution by

explicitly invoking Christianity in their founding document. Yet in every case, all rationale for secession could be thoroughly tied to slav-

ery. “Our position is thoroughly identi�ed with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world,” proclaimed the

Mississippi statement of secession. Thus for the original seven Confederate states (and the four that would subsequently join), slavery’s

existence was the essential core of the �edging Confederacy.

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The emblems of nationalism on this currency reveal much about the ideology underpinning the Confederacy: George Washington standing stately in a Roman toga indicates the belief in the South’s honorable and aristocratic past; John C. Calhoun’s portrait emphasizes the Confederate argument of the importance of states’ rights; and, most im- portantly, the image of African Americans working in �elds demonstrates slavery’s position as foundational to the Confederacy. A �ve and one hundred dollar Confederate States of America interest bearing banknote, c. 1861 and 1862. Wikimedia.

Not all southerners participated in Confederate nationalism. Unionist southerners, most common in the upcountry where slavery was

weakest, retained their loyalty to the Union. These southerners joined the Union army, that is, the army of the United States of America,

and worked to defeat the Confederacy. Black southerners, most of whom were enslaved, overwhelmingly supported the Union, often

running away from plantations and forcing the Union army to reckon with slavery.

President James Buchanan would not directly address the issue of secession prior to his term’s end in early March. Any e�ort to try to

solve the issue therefore fell upon Congress, speci�cally a Committee of Thirteen including prominent men such as Stephen Douglas,

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William Seward, Robert Toombs, and John Crittenden. In what became known as “Crittenden’s Compromise,” Senator Crittenden

proposed a series of Constitutional amendments that guaranteed slavery in southern states and territories, denied the federal govern-

ment interstate slave trade regulatory power, and o�ered to compensate enslavers whose enslaved people had escaped. The Committee

of Thirteen ultimately voted down the measure, and it likewise failed in the full Senate vote (25–23). Reconciliation appeared impossi-

ble.

The seven seceding states met in Montgomery, Alabama on February 4 to organize a new nation. The delegates selected Je�erson Davis

of Mississippi as president and established a capital in Montgomery, Alabama (it would move to Richmond in May). Whether other

states of the Upper South would join the Confederacy remained uncertain. By the early spring of 1861, North Carolina and Tennessee

had not held secession conventions, while voters in Virginia, Missouri, and Arkansas initially voted down secession. Despite this tempo-

rary boost to the Union, it became abundantly clear that these acts of loyalty in the Upper South were highly conditional and relied on a

clear lack of intervention on the part of the federal government. This was the precarious political situation facing Abraham Lincoln fol-

lowing his inauguration on March 4, 1861.

III. A War for Union 1861-1863

In his inaugural address, Lincoln declared secession “legally void.” While he did not intend to invade southern states, he would use

force to maintain possession of federal property within seceded states. Attention quickly shifted to the federal installation of Fort

Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The fort was in need of supplies, and Lincoln intended to resupply it. South Carolina called for

U.S. soldiers to evacuate the fort. Commanding o�cer Major Robert Anderson refused. On April 12, 1861, Confederate Brigadier

General P. G. T. Beauregard �red on the fort. Anderson surrendered on April 13 and the Union troops evacuated. In response to the

attack, President Abraham Lincoln called for seventy-�ve thousand volunteers to serve three months to suppress the rebellion. The

American Civil War had begun.

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Sent to then Secretary of War Simon Cameron on April 13, 1861, this telegraph announced that after “thirty hours of defending Fort Sumter, Major Robert Anderson had ac- cepted the evacuation o�ered by Confederate General Beauregard. The Union had surrendered Fort Sumter, and the Civil War had o�cially begun. “Telegram from Maj. Robert Anderson to Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary, announcing his withdrawal from Fort Sumter,” April 18, 1861; Records of the Adjutant General’s O�ce, 1780’s-1917; Record Group 94. National Archives

The assault on Fort Sumter and subsequent call for troops provoked several Upper South states to join the Confederacy. In total, eleven

states renounced their allegiance to the United States. The new Confederate nation was predicated on the institution of slavery and the

promotion of any and all interests that reinforced that objective. Some southerners couched their defense of slavery as a preservation of

states’ rights. But in order to protect slavery, the Confederate constitution left even less power to the states than the U.S. Constitution,

an irony not lost on many.

Shortly after Lincoln’s call for troops, the Union adopted General-in-Chief Win�eld Scott’s Anaconda Plan to suppress the rebellion.

This strategy intended to strangle the Confederacy by cutting o� access to coastal ports and inland waterways via a naval blockade.

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Ground troops would enter the interior. Like an anaconda snake, they planned to surround and squeeze the Confederacy.

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Win�eld Scott’s Anaconda Plan meant to slowly squeeze the South dry of its resources, blocking all coastal ports and inland waterways to prevent the importation of goods or the export of cotton. This print, while poorly drawn, does a great job of making clear the Union’s plan. J.B. Elliott, Scott’s great snake. Entered according to Act of Congress in

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the year 1861, 1861. Library of Congress.

The border states of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky maintained geographic, social, political, and economic connections

to both the North and the South. All four were immediately critical to the outcome of the con�ict. Abraham Lincoln famously

quipped, “I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game.” Lincoln and his military advisors realized that the

loss of the border states could mean a signi�cant decrease in Union resources and threaten the capital in Washington. Consequently,

Lincoln hoped to foster loyalty among their citizens, so Union forces could minimize their occupation. In spite of terrible guerrilla war-

fare in Missouri and Kentucky, the four border states remained loyal to the Union throughout the war.

Foreign countries, primarily in Europe, also watched the unfolding war with deep interest. The United States represented the greatest

example of democratic thought at the time, and individuals from as far a�eld as Britain, France, Spain, Russia, and beyond closely fol-

lowed events across the Atlantic Ocean. If the democratic experiment within the United States failed, many democratic activists in Eu-

rope wondered what hope might exist for such experiments elsewhere. Conversely, those with close ties to the cotton industry watched

with other concerns. War meant the possibility of disrupting the cotton supply, and disruption could have catastrophic rami�cations in

commercial and �nancial markets abroad.

While Lincoln, his cabinet, and the War Department devised strategies to defeat the rebel insurrection, Black Americans quickly forced

the issue of slavery as a primary issue in the debate. As early as 1861, Black Americans implored the Lincoln administration to serve in

the army and navy. Lincoln initially waged a conservative, limited war. He believed that the presence of African American troops

would threaten the loyalty of slaveholding border states, and white volunteers might refuse to serve alongside Black men. However, army

commanders could not ignore the growing populations of formerly enslaved people who escaped to freedom behind Union army lines.

These former enslaved people took a proactive stance early in the war and forced the federal government to act. As the number of

refugees ballooned, Lincoln and Congress found it harder to avoid the issue.

In May 1861, General Benjamin F. Butler went over his superiors’ heads and began accepting freedom-seeking escapees who came to

Fort Monroe in Virginia. In order to avoid answering whether these people were free, Butler reasoned called them “contraband of war,”

and he had as much a right to seize them as he did to seize enemy horses or cannons. Later that summer Congress a�rmed Butler’s

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policy in the First Con�scation Act. The act left “contrabands,” as these runaways were called, in a state of limbo. Once an enslaved per-

son escaped to Union lines, her enslaver’s claim was nulli�ed. She was not, however, a free citizen of the United States. Runaways lived

in “contraband camps,” where disease and malnutrition were rampant. Women and men were required to perform the drudge work of

war: raising forti�cations, cooking meals, and laying railroad tracks. Still, life as a contraband o�ered a potential path to freedom, and

thousands of enslaved people seized the opportunity.

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Enslaved African Americans who took freedom into their own hands and ran to Union lines congregated in what were called contraband camps, which existed alongside Union army camps. As is evident in the photograph, these were crude, disorganized, and dirty places. But they were still centers of freedom for those �eeing slavery. Contra- band camp, Richmond, Va, 1865. The Camp of the Contrabands on the Banks of the Mississippi, Fort Pickering, Memphis, Tenn, 1862. Courtesy American Antiquarian So- ciety.

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Fugitives posed a dilemma for the Union military. Soldiers were forbidden to interfere with slavery or assist runaways, but many soldiers

found such a policy unchristian. Even those indi�erent to slavery were reluctant to turn away potential laborers or help the enemy by

returning his property. Also, enslaved people could provide useful information on the local terrain and the movements of Confederate

troops. Union o�cers became particularly reluctant to turn away freedom-seeking people when Confederate commanders began forc-

ing enslaved laborers to work on forti�cations. Every enslaved person who escaped to Union lines was a loss to the Confederate war

e�ort.

Any hopes for a brief con�ict were eradicated when Union and Confederate forces met at the Battle of Bull Run, near Manassas, Vir-

ginia. While not particularly deadly, the Confederate victory proved that the Civil War would be long and costly. Furthermore, in re-

sponse to the embarrassing Union rout, Lincoln removed Brigadier General Irvin McDowell and promoted Major General George B.

McClellan to commander of the newly formed Army of the Potomac. For nearly a year after the First Battle of Bull Run, the Eastern

Theater remained relatively silent. Smaller engagements only resulted in a bloody stalemate.

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Photography captured the horrors of war as never before. Some Civil War photographers arranged the actors in their frames to capture the best picture, even repositioning bodies of dead soldiers for battle�eld photos. Alexander Gardner, [Antietam, Md. Confederate dead by a fence on the Hagerstown road], September 1862. Library of Congress.

But while the military remained quiet, the same could not be said of Republicans in Washington. The absence of fractious, stalling

southerners in Congress allowed Republicans to �nally pass the Whig economic package, including the Homestead Act, the Land-

Grant College Act (aka the Morrill Act), and the Paci�c Railroad Act. The federal government also began moving toward a more na-15

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tionally controlled currency system (the greenback) and the creation of banks with national characteristics. Such acts proved instrumen-

tal in the expansion of the federal government and industry.

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New and more destructive warfare technology emerged during this time that utilized discoveries and innovations in other areas of life, like transportation. This photograph shows Robert E. Lee’s railroad gun and crew used in the main eastern theater of war at the siege of Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865. “Petersburg, Va. Railroad gun and crew,” between 1864 and 1865. Library of Congress.

The Democratic Party, absent its southern leaders, divided into two camps. War Democrats largely stood behind President Lincoln.

Peace Democrats—also known as Copperheads—clashed frequently with both War Democrats and Republicans. Copperheads were

sympathetic to the Confederacy; they exploited public antiwar sentiment (often the result of a lost battle or mounting casualties) and

tried to push President Lincoln to negotiate an immediate peace, regardless of political leverage or bargaining power. Had the Copper-

heads succeeded in bringing about immediate peace, the Union would have been forced to recognize the Confederacy as a separate and

legitimate government and the institution of slavery would have remained intact.

While Washington buzzed with political activity, military life consisted of relative monotony punctuated by brief periods of horror. Dai-

ly life for a Civil War soldier was one of routine. A typical day began around six in the morning and involved drill, marching, lunch

break, and more drilling followed by policing the camp. Weapon inspection and cleaning followed, perhaps one �nal drill, dinner, and

taps around nine or nine thirty in the evening. Soldiers in both armies grew weary of the routine. Picketing or foraging a�orded wel-

come distractions to the monotony.

Soldiers devised clever ways of dealing with the boredom of camp life. The most common was writing. These were highly literate armies;

nine out of every ten Federals and eight out of every ten Confederates could read and write. Letters home served as a tether linking sol-

diers to their loved ones. Soldiers also read; newspapers were in high demand. News of battles, events in Europe, politics in Washington

and Richmond, and local concerns were voraciously sought and traded.

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While there were nurses, camp followers, and some women who disguised themselves as men, camp life was overwhelmingly male. Sol-

diers drank liquor, smoked tobacco, gambled, and swore. Social commentators feared that when these men returned home, with their

hard-drinking and irreligious ways, all decency, faith, and temperance would depart. But not all methods of distraction were detrimen-

tal. Soldiers also organized debate societies, composed music, sang songs, wrestled, raced horses, boxed, and played sports.

Neither side could consistently provide supplies for their soldiers, so it was not uncommon, though o�cially forbidden, for common

soldiers to trade with the enemy. Confederate soldiers prized northern newspapers and co�ee. Northerners were glad to exchange these

for southern tobacco. Supply shortages and poor sanitation were synonymous with Civil War armies. The close proximity of thousands

of men bred disease. Lice were soldiers’ daily companions.

Music was popular among the soldiers of both armies, creating a diversion from the boredom and horror of the war. As a result, soldiers

often sang on fatigue duty and while in camp. Favorite songs often reminded the soldiers of home, including “Lorena,” “Home, Sweet

Home,” and “Just Before the Battle, Mother.” Dances held in camp o�ered another way to enjoy music. Since there were often few

women nearby, soldiers would dance with one another.

When the Civil War broke out, one of the most popular songs among soldiers and civilians was “John Brown’s Body,” which began

“John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave.” Started as a Union anthem praising John Brown’s actions at Harper’s Ferry, Vir-

ginia, then used by Confederates to vilify Brown, both sides’ version of the song stressed that they were on the right side. Eventually the

words to Julia Ward Howe’s poem “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” were set to the melody, further implying Union success. The

themes of popular songs changed over the course of the war, as feelings of inevitable success alternated with feelings of terror and de-

spair.

After an extensive delay on the part of Union commander George McClellan, his 120,000-man Army of the Potomac moved via ship to

the peninsula between the York and James Rivers in Virginia. Rather than crossing overland via the former battle�eld at Manassas Junc-

tion, McClellan attempted to swing around the rebel forces and enter the capital of Richmond before they knew what hit them. Mc-

Clellan, however, was an overly cautious man who consistently overestimated his adversaries’ numbers. This cautious approach played

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into the Confederates’ favor on the outskirts of Richmond. Confederate General Robert E. Lee, recently appointed commander of the

Army of Northern Virginia, forced McClellan to retreat from Richmond, and his Peninsular Campaign became a tremendous failure.

Union forces met with little success in the East, but the Western Theater provided hope for the United States. In February 1862, men

under Union general Ulysses S. Grant captured Forts Henry and Donelson along the Tennessee River. Fighting in the West greatly dif-

fered from that in the East. At the First Battle of Bull Run, for example, two large armies fought for control of the nations’ capitals,

while in the West, Union and Confederate forces fought for control of the rivers, since the Mississippi River and its tributaries were key

components of the Union’s Anaconda Plan. One of the deadliest of these clashes occurred along the Tennessee River at the Battle of

Shiloh on April 6–7, 1862. This battle, lasting only two days, was the costliest single battle in American history up to that time. The

Union victory shocked both the Union and the Confederacy with approximately twenty-three thousand casualties, a number that ex-

ceeded casualties from all of the United States’ previous wars combined. The subsequent capture of New Orleans by Union forces

proved a heavy blow to the Confederacy and capped an 1862 spring of success in the Western Theater.

The Union and Confederate navies helped or hindered army movements around the many marine environments of the southern United

States. Each navy employed the latest technology to outmatch the other. The Confederate navy, led by Stephen Russell Mallory, had the

unenviable task of constructing a �eet from scratch and trying to fend o� a vastly better equipped Union navy. Led by Gideon Welles of

Connecticut, the Union navy successfully implemented General-in-Chief Win�eld Scott’s Anaconda Plan. The future of naval warfare

also emerged in the spring of 1862 as two “ironclad” warships fought a duel at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The age of the wooden sail

was gone and naval warfare would be fundamentally altered. While advances in naval technology ruled the seas, African Americans on

the ground were complicating Union war aims to an even greater degree.

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The creation of Black regiments was another kind of innovation during the Civil War. Northern free Black men and newly freed men joined together under the leadership of white o�cers to �ght for the Union cause. This novelty was not only bene�cial for the Union war e�ort; it also showed the Confederacy that the Union sought to destroy the foundational institution (slavery) upon which their nation was built. William Morris Smith, [District of Columbia. Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, at Fort Lincoln], between 1863 and 1866. Library of Congress.

By the summer of 1862, the actions of Black Americans were pushing the Union toward a full-blown war of emancipation. Following

the First Con�scation Act, in April 1862, Congress abolished the institution of slavery in the District of Columbia. In July 1862, Con-

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gress passed the Second Con�scation Act, e�ectively emancipating enslaved people in land that came under Union control. Word trav-

eled fast among enslaved people, and this legislation led to even more runaways making their way into Union lines. Abraham Lincoln’s

thinking began to evolve. By the summer of 1862, Lincoln �rst �oated the idea of an Emancipation Proclamation to members of his

cabinet. By August 1862, he proposed the �rst iteration of the Emancipation Proclamation. While his cabinet supported such an idea,

secretary of state William Seward insisted that Lincoln wait for a “decisive” Union victory so the proclamation would not appear too

desperate a measure on the part of a failing government.

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This African American family dressed in their �nest clothes (including a USCT uniform) for this photograph, projecting respectability and dignity that was at odds with the southern perception of Black Americans. [Unidenti�ed African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters], between 1863 and 1865. Library of Con- gress.

This decisive moment that prompted the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation occurred in the fall of 1862 along Antietam Creek

in Maryland. Emboldened by their success in the previous spring and summer, Lee and Confederate president Je�erson Davis planned

to win a decisive victory in Union territory and end the war. On September 17, 1862, McClellan’s and Lee’s forces collided at the Battle

of Antietam near the town of Sharpsburg. This battle was the �rst major battle of the Civil War to occur on Union soil. It remains the

bloodiest single day in American history: over twenty thousand soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing.

Despite the Confederate withdrawal and the high death toll, the Battle of Antietam was not a decisive Union victory. It did, however,

result in enough of a victory for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved people in areas under Confeder-

ate control. There were signi�cant exemptions to the Emancipation Proclamation, including the border states and parts of other states

in the Confederacy. A far cry from a universal end to slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation nevertheless proved vital, shifting the war’s

aims from simple union to emancipation. Framing it as a war measure, Lincoln and his cabinet hoped that stripping the Confederacy of

its labor force would not only debilitate the southern economy but also weaken Confederate morale. Furthermore, the Battle of Anti-

etam and the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation all but ensured that the Confederacy would not be recognized by European

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powers. Nevertheless, Confederates continued �ghting. Union and Confederate forces clashed again at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in De-

cember 1862. This Confederate victory resulted in staggering Union casualties.

IV. War for Emancipation 1863-1865

As Union armies penetrated deeper into the Confederacy, politicians and generals came to understand the necessity and bene�t of en-

listing Black men in the army and navy. Although a few commanders began forming Black units in 1862, such as Massachusetts aboli-

tionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s First South Carolina Volunteers (the �rst regiment of Black soldiers), widespread enlistment

did not occur until the Emancipation Proclamation went into e�ect on January 1, 1863. “And I further declare and make known,” Lin-

coln’s proclamation read, “that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garri-

son forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.”

The language describing Black enlistment indicated Lincoln’s implicit desire to segregate African American troops from the main cam-

paigning armies of white soldiers. “I believe it is a resource which, if vigorously applied now, will soon close the contest. It works doubly,

weakening the enemy and strengthening us,” Lincoln remarked in August 1863 about Black soldiering. Although more than 180,000

Black men (10 percent of the Union army) served during the war, the majority of United States Colored Troops (USCT) remained sta-

tioned behind the lines as garrison forces, often laboring and performing noncombat roles.

Black soldiers in the Union army endured rampant discrimination and earned less pay than white soldiers, while also facing the possibili-

ty of being murdered or sold into slavery if captured. James Henry Gooding, a Black corporal in the famed 54th Massachusetts Volun-

teers, wrote to Abraham Lincoln in September 1863, questioning why he and his fellow volunteers were paid less than white men.

Gooding argued that because he and his brethren were born in the United States and sel�essly left their private lives to enter the army,

they should be treated “as American SOLDIERS, not as menial hirelings.”

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African American soldiers de�ed the inequality of military service and used their positions in the army to reshape society, North and

South. The majority of the USCT had once been enslaved, and their presence as armed, blue-clad soldiers sent shock waves throughout

the Confederacy. To their friends and families, African American soldiers symbolized the embodiment of liberation and the destruction

of slavery. To white southerners, they represented the utter disruption of the Old South’s racial and social hierarchy. As members of

armies of occupation, Black soldiers wielded martial authority in towns and plantations. At the end of the war, as a Black soldier

marched by a cluster of Confederate prisoners, he noticed his former enslaver among the group. “Hello, massa,” the soldier exclaimed,

“bottom rail on top dis time!”

“Two Brothers in Arms.” The Library of Congress.

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The majority of the USCT occupied the South by performing garrison duty; other Black soldiers performed admirably on the battle-

�eld, shattering white myths that docile, cowardly Black men would fold in the maelstrom of war. Black troops fought in more than

four hundred battles and skirmishes, including Milliken’s Bend and Port Hudson, Louisiana; Fort Wagner, South Carolina; Nashville;

and the �nal campaigns to capture Richmond, Virginia. Fifteen Black soldiers received the Medal of Honor, the highest honor bestowed

for military heroism. Through their voluntarism, service, battle�eld contributions, and even death, Black soldiers laid their claims for

citizenship. “Once let a Black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S.” Frederick Douglass, the great Black abolitionist, pro-

claimed, “and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”

Many enslaved laborers accompanied their enslavers in the Confederate army. They served their enslavers as “camp servants,” cooking

their meals, raising their tents, and carrying their supplies. The Confederacy also impressed enslaved laborers to perform manual labor.

There are three important points to make about these enslaved “Confederates.” First, their labor was almost always coerced. Second,

people are complicated and have varying, often contradictory loyalties. An enslaved person could hope in general that the Confederacy

would lose but at the same time be concerned for the safety of his enslaver and the Confederate soldiers he saw on a daily basis.

Finally, white Confederates did not see African Americans as their equals, much less as soldiers. There was never any doubt that Black

laborers and camp servants were property. Though historians disagree on the matter, it is a stretch to claim that not a single African

American ever �red a gun for the Confederacy; a camp servant whose enslaver died in battle might well pick up his dead enslaver’s gun

and continue �ring, if for no other reason than to protect himself. But this was always on an informal basis. The Confederate govern-

ment did, in an act of desperation, pass a law in March 1865 allowing for the enlistment of Black soldiers, but only a few dozen African

Americans (mostly Richmond hospital workers) had enlisted by the war’s end.

As 1863 dawned, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia continued its o�ensive strategy in the East. One of the war’s major battles occurred

near the village of Chancellorsville, Virginia, between April 30 and May 6, 1863. While the Battle of Chancellorsville was an outstand-

ing Confederate victory, it also resulted in heavy casualties and the mortal wounding of Confederate major general “Stonewall” Jackson,

who was killed by friendly �re.

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In spite of Jackson’s death, Lee continued his o�ensive against federal forces and invaded Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863. During

the three-day battle (July 1–3) at Gettysburg, heavy casualties crippled both sides. Yet the devastating July 3 infantry assault on the

Union center, also known as Pickett’s Charge, caused Lee to retreat from Pennsylvania. The Gettysburg Campaign was Lee’s �nal

northern incursion and the Battle of Gettysburg remains the bloodiest battle of the war, and in American history, with �fty-one thou-

sand casualties.

Concurrently in the West, Union forces continued their movement along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Grant launched his

campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the winter of 1862. Known as the “Gibraltar of the West,” Vicksburg was the last holdout in

the West, and its seizure would enable uninhibited travel for Union forces along the Mississippi River. Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign,

which lasted until July 4, 1863, ended with the city’s surrender. The fall of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two.

Despite Union success in the summer of 1863, discontent over the war simmered across the North. This was particularly true in the

wake of the Enrollment Act—the �rst e�ort at a draft among the northern populace during the Civil War. Working-class northerners

were especially angry that the wealthy could pay $300 for substitutes, sparing themselves from the carnage of war. “A rich man’s war, but

a poor man’s �ght,” was a popular refrain. The Emancipation Proclamation convinced many immigrants in northern cities that freed

people would soon take their jobs. These economic and racial anxieties culminated in the New York City Draft Riots in July 1863. Over

the span of four days, white rioters killed some 120 citizens, including the lynching of at least eleven Black New Yorkers. Property dam-

age was in the millions, including the complete destruction of more than �fty properties—most notably that of the Colored Orphan

Asylum. It was the largest civil disturbance to date in the United States (aside from the war itself) and was only stopped by the deploy-

ment of Union soldiers, some of whom came directly from the battle�eld at Gettysburg.

Elsewhere, the North produced widespread displays of unity. Sanitary fairs originated in the Old Northwest and raised millions of dol-

lars for Union soldiers. Indeed, many women rose to take pivotal leadership roles in the sanitary fairs—a clear contribution to the north-

ern war e�ort. The fairs also encouraged national unity within the North—something that became more important as the war dragged

on and casualties continued to mount. The northern homefront was complicated: overt displays of loyalty contrasted with violent

dissent.

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Thomas Nast, “Our Heroines, United States Sanitary Commission,” in Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1864. Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

A similar situation played out in the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress passed its �rst conscription act in the spring of 1862, a full

year before its northern counterpart. Military service was required from all able-bodied males between ages eighteen and thirty-�ve

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(eventually extended to forty-�ve). Notable class exemptions likewise existed in the Confederacy: those who owned twenty or more en-

slaved laborers could escape the draft. Popular discontent reached a boiling point in 1863. Through the spring of 1863 consistent food

shortages led to “bread riots” in several Confederate cities, most notably Richmond, Virginia, and the Georgia cities of Augusta, Macon,

and Columbus. Confederate women led these mobs to protest food shortages and rampant in�ation within the Confederate South. Ex-

erting their own political control, women dramatically impacted the war through violent actions in these cases, as well as constant peti-

tions to governors for aid and the release of husbands from military service. One of these women wrote a letter to North Carolina gover-

nor Zebulon Vance, saying, “Especially for the sake of su�ering women and children, do try and stop this cruel war.” Confederates

waged a multifront struggle against Union incursion and internal dissent.

For some women, the best way to support their cause was spying on the enemy. When the war broke out, Rose O’Neal Greenhow was

living in Washington, D.C., where she traveled in high social circles, gathering information for her Confederate contact. Suspecting

Greenhow of espionage, Allan Pinkerton placed her under surveillance, instigated a raid on her house to gather evidence, and then

placed her under house arrest, after which she was incarcerated in Old Capitol Prison. Upon her release, she was sent, under guard, to

Baltimore, Maryland. From there Greenhow went to Europe to attempt to bring support to the Confederacy. Failing in her e�orts,

Greenhow decided to return to America, boarding the blockade runner Condor, which ran aground near Wilmington, North Carolina.

Subsequently, she drowned after her lifeboat capsized in a storm. Greenhow gave her life for the Confederate cause, while Elizabeth

“Crazy Bet” Van Lew sacri�ced her social standing for the Union. Van Lew was from a prominent Richmond, Virginia, family and spied

on the Confederacy, leading to her being “held in contempt & scorn by the narrow minded men and women of my city for my

loyalty.” Indeed, when General Ulysses Grant took control of Richmond, he placed a special guard on Van Lew. In addition to her es-

pionage activities, Van Lew also acted as a nurse to Union prisoners in Libby Prison. For pro-Confederate southern women, there were

more opportunities to show their scorn for the enemy. Some women in New Orleans took these demonstrations to the level of dumping

their chamber pots onto the heads of unsuspecting federal soldiers who stood underneath their balconies, leading to Benjamin Butler’s

infamous General Order Number 28, which arrested all rebellious women as prostitutes.

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Pauline Cushman was an American actress and a wartime spy. Using her guile to fraternize with Confederate o�cers, Cushman snuck military plans and drawings to Union o�cials in her shoes. She was caught, tried, and sentenced to death, but was apparently saved days before her execution by the occupation of her native New Orleans by Union forces. Whether as spies, nurses, or textile workers, women were essential to the Union war e�ort. “Pauline Cushman,” between 1855 and 1865. Library of Congress.

Military strategy shifted in 1864. The new tactics of “hard war” evolved slowly, as restraint toward southern civilians and property ulti-

mately gave way to a concerted e�ort to demoralize southern civilians and destroy the southern economy. Grant’s successes at Vicksburg

and Chattanooga, Tennessee (November 1863), and Meade’s cautious pursuit of Lee after Gettysburg prompted Lincoln to promote

Grant to general-in-chief of the Union army in early 1864. This change in command resulted in some of the bloodiest battles of the

Eastern Theater. Grant’s Overland Campaign, including the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the siege of Peters-

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burg, demonstrated Grant’s willingness to tirelessly attack the ever-dwindling Army of Northern Virginia. By June 1864, Grant’s army

surrounded the Confederate city of Petersburg, Virginia. Siege operations cut o� Confederate forces and supplies from the capital of

Richmond. Meanwhile out west, Union armies under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman implemented hard war strategies

and slowly made their way through central Tennessee and northern Georgia, capturing the vital rail hub of Atlanta in September 1864.

Action in both theaters during 1864 caused even more casualties and furthered the devastation of disease. Disease haunted both armies,

and accounted for over half of all Civil War casualties. Sometimes as many as half of the men in a company could be sick. The over-

whelming majority of Civil War soldiers came from rural areas, where less exposure to diseases meant soldiers lacked immunities. Vac-

cines for diseases such as smallpox were largely unavailable to those outside cities or towns. Despite the common nineteenth-century

tendency to see city men as weak or soft, soldiers from urban environments tended to succumb to fewer diseases than their rural coun-

terparts. Tuberculosis, measles, rheumatism, typhoid, malaria, and smallpox spread almost unchecked among the armies.

Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery B, Petersburg, Virginia. Photograph by Timothy H. O’Sullivan, 1864. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Civil War medicine focused almost exclusively on curing the patient rather than preventing disease. Many soldiers attempted to cure

themselves by concocting elixirs and medicines themselves. These ine�ective home remedies were often made from various plants the

men found in woods or �elds. There was no understanding of germ theory, so many soldiers did things that we would consider unsani-

tary today. They ate food that was improperly cooked and handled, and they practiced what we would consider poor personal hygiene.

They did not take appropriate steps to ensure that drinking water was free from bacteria. Diarrhea and dysentery were common. These

diseases were especially dangerous, as Civil War soldiers did not understand the value of replacing �uids as they were lost. As such, men

a�ected by these conditions would weaken and become unable to �ght or march, and as they became dehydrated their immune system

became less e�ective, inviting other infections to attack the body. Through trial and error soldiers began to protect themselves from

some of the more preventable sources of infection. Around 1862 both armies began to dig latrines rather than rely on the local water-

ways. Burying human and animal waste also cut down on exposure to diseases considerably.

Medical surgery was limited and brutal. If a soldier was wounded in the torso, throat, or head, there was little surgeons could do. Inva-

sive procedures to repair damaged organs or stem blood loss invariably resulted in death. Luckily for soldiers, only approximately one in

six combat wounds were to one of those parts. The remaining were to limbs, which was treatable by amputation. Soldiers had the high-

est chance of survival if the limb was removed within forty-eight hours of injury. A skilled surgeon could amputate a limb in three to �ve

minutes from start to �nish. While the lack of germ theory again caused several unsafe practices, such as using the same tools on multi-

ple patients, wiping hands on �lthy gowns, or placing hands in communal buckets of water, there is evidence that amputation o�ered

the best chance of survival.

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Amputations were a common form of treatment during the war. While it saved the lives of some soldiers, it was extremely painful and resulted in death in many cases. It also produced the �rst community of war veterans without limbs in American history. “Amputation being performed in a hospital tent, Gettysburg,” July 1863. National Archives and Records Administration.

It is a common misconception that amputation was done without anesthesia and against a patient’s wishes. Since the 1830s, Americans

understood the bene�ts of nitrous oxide and ether in easing pain. Chloroform and opium were also used to either render patients un-

conscious or dull pain during the procedure. Also, surgeons would not amputate without the patient’s consent.

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In the Union army alone, 2.8 million ounces of opium and over 5.2 million opium pills were administered. In 1862, William Alexander

Hammon was appointed Surgeon General for the United States. He sought to regulate dosages and manage supplies of available medi-

cines, both to prevent overdosing and to ensure that an ample supply remained for the next engagement. However, his guidelines tended

to apply only to the regular federal army. Most Union soldiers were in volunteer units and organized at the state level. Their surgeons of-

ten ignored posted limits on medicines, or worse, experimented with their own concoctions made from local �ora.

In the North, the conditions in hospitals were somewhat superior. This was partly due to the organizational skills of women like

Dorothea Dix, who was the Union’s Superintendent for Army Nurses. Additionally, many women were members of the United States

Sanitary Commission and helped to sta� and supply hospitals in the North.

Women took on key roles within hospitals both North and South. The publisher’s notice for Nurse and Spy in the Union Army states,

“In the opinion of many, it is the privilege of woman to minister to the sick and soothe the sorrowing—and in the present crisis of our

country’s history, to aid our brothers to the extent of her capacity.” Mary Chesnut wrote, “Every woman in the house is ready to rush

into the Florence Nightingale business.” However, she indicated that after she visited the hospital, “I can never again shut out of view

the sights that I saw there of human misery. I sit thinking, shut my eyes, and see it all.” Hospital conditions were often so bad that

many volunteer nurses quit soon after beginning. Kate Cumming volunteered as a nurse shortly after the war began. She, and other vol-

unteers, traveled with the Army of Tennessee. However, all but one of the women who volunteered with Cumming quit within a week.

Death came in many forms; disease, prisons, bullets, even lightning and bee stings took men slowly or suddenly. Their deaths, however,

a�ected more than their regiments. Before the war, a wife expected to sit at her husband’s bed, holding his hand, and ministering to him

after a long, ful�lling life. This type of death, “the Good Death,” changed during the Civil War as men died often far from home among

strangers. Casualty reporting was inconsistent, so a woman was often at the mercy of the men who fought alongside her husband to

learn not only the details of his death but even that the death had occurred.

“Now I’m a widow. Ah! That mournful word. Little the world think of the agony it contains!” wrote Sally Randle Perry in her diary.

After her husband’s death at Sharpsburg, Sally received the label she would share with more than two hundred thousand other women.

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The death of a husband and loss of �nancial, physical, and emotional support could shatter lives. It also had the perverse power to free

women from bad marriages and open doors to �nancial and psychological independence.

Widows had an important role to play in the con�ict. The ideal widow wore black, mourned for a minimum of two and a half years, re-

signed herself to God’s will, focused on her children, devoted herself to her husband’s memory, and brought his body home for burial.

Many tried, but not all widows were able to live up to the ideal. Many were unable to purchase proper mourning garb. Black silk dresses,

heavy veils, and other features of antebellum mourning were expensive and in short supply. Because most of these women were in their

childbearing years, the war created an unprecedented number of widows who were pregnant or still nursing infants. In a time when the

average woman gave birth to eight to ten children in her lifetime, it is perhaps not surprising that the Civil War created so many widows

who were also young mothers with little free time for formal mourning. Widowhood permeated American society. But in the end, it was

up to each widow to navigate her own mourning. She joined the ranks of sisters, mothers, cousins, girlfriends, and communities in

mourning men.

By the fall of 1864, military and social events played against the backdrop of the presidential election of 1864. While the war raged on,

the presidential contest featured a transformed electorate. Three new states (West Virginia, Nevada, and Kansas) had been added since

1860, while the eleven states of the Confederacy did not participate. Lincoln and his vice presidential nominee, Andrew Johnson (Ten-

nessee), ran on the National Union Party ticket. The main competition came from his former commander, General George B. McClel-

lan. Though McClellan himself was a “War Democrat,” the o�cial platform of the Democratic Party in 1864 revolved around negotiat-

ing an immediate end to the Civil War. McClellan’s vice presidential nominee was George H. Pendleton of Ohio—a well-known Peace

Democrat.”

On Election Day—November 8, 1864—Lincoln and McClellan each needed 117 electoral votes (out of a possible 233) to win the presi-

dency. For much of the 1864 campaign season, Lincoln downplayed his chances of reelection and McClellan assumed that large num-

bers of Union soldiers would grant him support. However, thanks in great part to William Sherman’s capture of Atlanta on September

2, 1864, and overwhelming support from Union troops, Lincoln won the election easily. Additionally, Lincoln received support from

more radical Republican factions and members of the Radical Democracy Party that demanded the end of slavery.

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In the popular vote, Lincoln defeated McClellan, 55.1 percent to 44.9 percent. In the Electoral College, Lincoln’s victory was even more

pronounced: 212 to 21. Lincoln won twenty-two states, and McClellan only carried three: New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky.36

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With crowds of people �lling every inch of ground around the U.S. Capitol, President Lincoln delivered his inaugural address on March 4, 1865. Alexander Gardner, “Lin- coln’s Second Inaugural,” between 1910 and 1920 from a photograph taken in 1865. Wikimedia.

In the wake of his reelection, Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, in which he concluded:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with �rmness in the right, as God

gives us to see the right, let us strive on to �nish the work we are in; to bind up the

nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow,

and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace,

among ourselves, and with all nations.

The years 1864 and 1865 were the very de�nition of hard war. Incredibly deadly for both sides, the Union campaigns in both the West

and the East destroyed Confederate infrastructure and demonstrated the e�cacy of the Union’s strategy. Following up on the successful

capture of Atlanta, William Sherman conducted his March to the Sea in the fall of 1864, arriving in Savannah with time to capture it

and deliver it as a Christmas present for Abraham Lincoln. Sherman’s path of destruction took on an even more destructive tone as he

moved into the heart of the Confederacy in South Carolina in early 1865. The burning of Columbia, South Carolina, and subsequent

capture of Charleston brought the hard hand of war to the birthplace of secession. With Grant’s dogged pursuit of the Army of North-

ern Virginia, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, e�ectively ending major Confederate military

operations.

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Unions soldiers pose in front of the Appomattox Court House after Lee’s surrender in April 1865. Wikimedia.

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To ensure the permanent legal end of slavery, Republicans drafted the Thirteenth Amendment during the war. Yet the end of legal slav-

ery did not mean the end of racial injustice. During the war, formerly enslaved people were often segregated into disease-ridden contra-

band camps. After the war, the Republican Reconstruction program of guaranteeing the rights of Black Americans succumbed to per-

sistent racism and southern white violence. Long after 1865, most Black southerners continued to labor on plantations, albeit as nomi-

nally free tenants or sharecroppers, while facing public segregation and voting discrimination. The e�ects of slavery endured long after

emancipation.

V. Conclusion

As battle�elds fell silent in 1865, the question of secession had been answered, slavery had been eradicated, and America was once again

territorially united. But in many ways, the conclusion of the Civil War created more questions than answers. How would the nation be-

come one again? Who was responsible for rebuilding the South? What role would African Americans occupy in this society? Northern

and southern soldiers returned home with broken bodies, broken spirits, and broken minds. Plantation owners had land but not labor.

Recently freed African Americans had their labor but no land. Formerly enslaved people faced a world of possibilities—legal marriage,

family reunions, employment, and fresh starts—but also a racist world of bitterness, violence, and limited opportunity. The war may

have been over, but the battles for the peace were just beginning.

VI. Primary Sources

1. Alexander Stephens on slavery and the Confederate constitution, 1861

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Confederates had to quickly create not only a government but also a nation, including all of the cultural values required to foster

patriotism. In this speech, Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy, proclaims that slavery and white supremacy were

not only the cause for secession but also the “cornerstone” of the Confederate nation.

2. General Benjamin F. Butler reacts to self-emancipation, 1861

Self-emancipating people posed a dilemma for the Union military. Soldiers were forbidden to interfere with slavery or assist run-

aways, but many soldiers disobeyed the policy. In May 1861, General Benjamin F. Butler went over his superiors’ heads and began

accepting freedom-seeking people who came to Fortress Monroe in Virginia. Butler reasoned that these people were “contraband of

war,” and he had as much a right to seize them as he did to seize enemy horses or cannons. Later that summer Congress a�rmed

Butler’s policy in the First Con�scation Act.

3. William Henry Singleton, a formerly enslaved man, recalls �ghting for the Union, 1922

William Henry Singleton was born to his enslaved mother, Lettice, and her enslaver’s brother, William Singleton. At the age of four,

he was sold away from his mother but ran back to her several times throughout his life. When the war broke out, he escaped to

Union lines and volunteered for service. After being dismissed, he rallied one thousand Black soldiers and received a promotion as a

sergeant.

4. Poem about Civil War nurses, 1866

The massive casualty rates of the Civil War meant that nurses were always needed. Women, North and South, left the comforts of

home to care for the wounded. Hospital conditions were often so bad that many volunteer nurses quit soon after beginning. After

the war, Kate Cumming, a nurse who traveled with the Army of Tennessee, published an account of her experience. She included a

poem, written by an unknown author about nursing in the war.

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5. Ambrose Bierce recalls his experience at the Battle of Shiloh, 1881

Civil War soldiers described the experience of combat as both terrifying and confusing. The American writer, Ambrose Bierce, cap-

tures both the confusion and terror of the Battle of Shiloh in the below excerpt of his 1881 recollections of the battle.

6. Civil War songs, 1862

Music played an important role in the Civil War. Songs celebrated the cause, mourned the loss of life, and bound sings together in

shared commitments to mutual sacri�ce. These two songs, both written by women, one in the North and the other in the South,

show the �exibility of Civil War music. The �rst is an example of the somber, sacralizing function of music, while the latter is an ex-

ample of a lighthearted attempt at humor.

7. Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, 1865

Abraham Lincoln o�ered a �rst draft of history in his second inaugural address, casting the Civil War as a war for union that later

became a spiritual process of national penance for two hundred and �fty years of slaveholding. Lincoln also looked to the future,

envisioning a harmonious and speedy Reconstruction that would take place “with malice toward none” and “with charity for all.”

8. Civil War nurses illustration, 1864

The Civil War ultimately opened a variety of arenas for Union and Confederate women’s participation. In the North, the United

States Sanitary Commission in particular centralized women’s opportunities to volunteer as nurses, donate supplies, and to raise

funds at Sanitary Fairs. This 1864 image from popular periodical Harper’s Weekly celebrates women’s contributions on the battle-

�eld, in the hospital, in the parlor, and at the fair.

9. Burying the dead photograph, 1865

http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-civil-war/ambrose-bierce-recalls-his-experience-at-the-battle-of-shiloh-1881/

http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-civil-war/civil-war-songs-1862/

http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-civil-war/abraham-lincolns-second-inaugural-address-1865/

http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/civil-war-nurses/

http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/burying-the-dead/

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Death pervaded every aspect of life during the years of the Civil War. This gruesome photograph, taken after the battle of Cold Har-

bor, shows the hasty burial procedures used to reckon with unprecedented death. Dirty jobs like this were often left to Black sol-

diers or freedpeople in Contraband Camps.

VII. Reference Material

This chapter was edited by Angela Esco Elder and David Thomson, with content contributions by Thomas Balcerski, William Black,

Frank Cirillo, Matthew C. Hulbert, Andrew F. Lang, John Patrick Riley, Angela Riotto, Gregory N. Stern, David Thomson, Ann

Tucker, and Rebecca Zimmer.

Recommended citation: Thomas Balcerski et al., “The Civil War,” Angela Esco Elder and David Thomson, eds., in The American

Yawp, eds. Joseph Locke and Ben Wright (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018).