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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. Conclusion | VI. Primary Sources | VII. Reference Material

THE AMERICAN YAWP

14. The Civil War

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

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I. Introduction

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 levels1

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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 secessionist thought in the South. The goal was to nominate a candi-

date for the party ticket, but the party was deeply divided. Northern Democrats pulled for Senator

Stephen Douglas, a champion of popular sovereignty, while southern Democrats were intent on en-

dorsing 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 Democrats ended up with two presidential can-

didates. 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 party’s nomination. A consensus emerged at the May 1860 conven-

tion 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 Illinois, as a relatively unknown but likable

politician, rose from a pool of potential candidates and was selected by the delegates on the third bal-

lot. The electoral landscape was further complicated through the emergence of a fourth candidate,

Tennessee’s John Bell, heading the Constitutional Union Party. The Constitutional Unionists, com-

posed of former Whigs who teamed up with some southern Democrats, made it their mission to

avoid the specter of secession while doing little else to address the issues tearing the country apart.

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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 re-

ceived 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.

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 Carolina acted almost immediately, calling a convention to declare

secession. On December 20, 1860, the South Carolina convention voted unanimously 169–0 to dis-

solve their union with the United States. The other states across the Deep South quickly followed

suit. Mississippi 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 “foundations 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 omnipresent 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 terrify-

ing 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 slavery. “Our posi-

tion 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 importantly, 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, William Seward,

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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 government 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 impossible.

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 temporary 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 fac-

ing Abraham Lincoln following 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 in-

vade 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 accepted 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

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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 preser-

vation 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 cut-

ting o� access to coastal ports and inland waterways via a naval blockade. Ground troops would en-

ter the interior. Like an anaconda snake, they planned to surround and squeeze the Confederacy.

Win�eld Scott’s Anaconda Plan meant to slowly squeeze the South dry of its resources, blocking all coastal ports and inland wa- terways 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 the year 1861, 1861. Library of Congress.

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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 warfare 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 followed events across the

Atlantic Ocean. If the democratic experiment within the United States failed, many democratic ac-

tivists in Europe 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 dis-

rupting 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 insurrec-

tion, 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 grow-

ing 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 govern-

ment 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 free-

dom-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 policy in the First Con�scation Act. The act left “contrabands,” as these runaways were

called, in a state of limbo. Once an enslaved person escaped to Union lines, her enslaver’s claim was

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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.

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 drawing, these were crude, disorganized, and dirty places. But they were still centers of freedom for those �eeing slavery. Contraband camp, Richmond, Va, 1865. The Camp of the Contrabands on the Banks of the Mississippi, Fort Pickering, Memphis, Tenn, 1862. Courtesy American Antiquarian Society.

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 slav-

ery 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 peo-

ple when Confederate commanders began forcing enslaved laborers to work on forti�cations. Every

enslaved person who escaped to Union lines was a loss to the Confederate war e�ort.

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Any hopes for a brief con�ict were eradicated when Union and Confederate forces met at the Battle

of Bull Run, near Manassas, Virginia. While not particularly deadly, the Confederate victory proved

that the Civil War would be long and costly. Furthermore, in response 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.

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 nationally controlled currency system (the greenback) and the creation of banks with national

characteristics. Such acts proved instrumental 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 fre-

quently 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 politi-

cal leverage or bargaining power. Had the Copperheads 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.

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While Washington buzzed with political activity, military life consisted of relative monotony punc-

tuated by brief periods of horror. Daily 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 fol-

lowed by policing the camp. Weapon inspection and cleaning followed, perhaps one �nal drill, din-

ner, and taps around nine or nine thirty in the evening. Soldiers in both armies grew weary of the

routine. Picketing or foraging a�orded welcome distractions to the monotony.

Soldiers devised clever ways of dealing with the boredom of camp life. The most common was writ-

ing. 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 soldiers 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.

While there were nurses, camp followers, and some women who disguised themselves as men, camp

life was overwhelmingly male. Soldiers 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 detri-

mental. 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, Virginia, then used by Confederates

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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 despair.

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 Junction, McClellan

attempted to swing around the rebel forces and enter the capital of Richmond before they knew

what hit them. McClellan, however, was an overly cautious man who consistently overestimated his

adversaries’ numbers. This cautious approach played 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 be-

came 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 di�ered from that in the East.

At the First Battle of Bull Run, for example, two large armies fought for control of the nations’ capi-

tals, 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 exceeded 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 con-

structing 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 “iron-

clad” warships fought a duel at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The age of the wooden sail was gone and

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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.

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 abol-

ished the institution of slavery in the District of Columbia. In July 1862, Congress passed the

Second Con�scation Act, e�ectively emancipating enslaved people in land that came under Union

control. Word traveled 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

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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.

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

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

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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 deci-

sive 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 Confederate 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 la-

bor force would not only debilitate the southern economy but also weaken Confederate morale.

Furthermore, the Battle of Antietam and the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation all but en-

sured that the Confederacy would not be recognized by European powers. Nevertheless,

Confederates continued �ghting. Union and Confederate forces clashed again at Fredericksburg,

Virginia, in December 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 under-

stand the necessity and bene�t of enlisting Black men in the army and navy. Although a few com-

manders began forming Black units in 1862, such as Massachusetts abolitionist Thomas Wentworth

Higginson’s First South Carolina Volunteers (the �rst regiment of Black soldiers), widespread enlist-

ment did not occur until the Emancipation Proclamation went into e�ect on January 1, 1863. “And

I further declare and make known,” Lincoln’s proclamation read, “that such persons of suitable con-

dition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, sta-

tions, 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 campaigning 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

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United States Colored Troops (USCT) remained stationed 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 possibility of being murdered or sold into slavery if captured. James

Henry Gooding, a Black corporal in the famed 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, 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 me-

nial hirelings.”

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 mar-

tial 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 sol-

dier 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 skir-

mishes, 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, ser-

vice, 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 aboli-

tionist, proclaimed, “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 en-

slavers 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 in-

formal basis. The Confederate government 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 outstanding 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 thousand 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 damage 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 deployment 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 dollars for Union soldiers. Indeed, many women rose to take piv-

otal leadership roles in the sanitary fairs—a clear contribution to the northern 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 con-

scription 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 (eventually extended to

forty-�ve). Notable class exemptions likewise existed in the Confederacy: those who owned twenty

or more enslaved 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. Exerting their own political control, women dramatically impacted the war

through violent actions in these cases, as well as constant petitions to governors for aid and the re-

lease 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.

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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 cir-

cles, 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 re-

lease, 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 spe-

cial guard on Van Lew. In addition to her espionage activities, Van Lew also acted as a nurse to

Union prisoners in Libby Prison. For pro-Confederate southern women, there were more opportu-

nities 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 appar- ently 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 ultimately 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 com-

mand 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 Petersburg,

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 opera-

tions 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 overwhelming majority of

Civil War soldiers came from rural areas, where less exposure to diseases meant soldiers lacked immu-

nities. Vaccines 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 ur-

ban environments tended to succumb to fewer diseases than their rural counterparts. Tuberculosis,

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

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

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 un-

sanitary 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 drink-

ing water was free from bacteria. Diarrhea and dysentery were common. These diseases were espe-

cially 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 waterways. 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. Invasive procedures to repair damaged organs or stem blood loss invari-

ably 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 highest 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 multiple patients, wip-

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ing hands on �lthy gowns, or placing hands in communal buckets of water, there is evidence that

amputation o�ered the best chance of survival.

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 unconscious or dull pain dur-

ing the procedure. Also, surgeons would not amputate without the patient’s consent.

In the Union army alone, 2.8 million ounces of opium and over 5.2 million opium pills were admin-

istered. In 1862, William Alexander Hammon was appointed Surgeon General for the United States.

He sought to regulate dosages and manage supplies of available medicines, both to prevent overdos-

ing and to ensure that an ample supply remained for the next engagement. However, his guidelines

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tended to apply only to the regular federal army. Most Union soldiers were in volunteer units and

organized at the state level. Their surgeons often ignored posted limits on medicines, or worse, exper-

imented with their own concoctions made from local �ora.

In the North, the conditions in hospitals were somewhat superior. This was partly due to the organi-

zational 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 think-

ing, 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 volunteers, 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 ex-

pected 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. 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.

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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, resigned 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 sup-

ply. 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 cre-

ated 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

(Tennessee), ran on the National Union Party ticket. The main competition came from his former

commander, General George B. McClellan. Though McClellan himself was a “War Democrat,” the

o�cial platform of the Democratic Party in 1864 revolved around negotiating 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 presidency. For much of the 1864 campaign season, Lincoln

downplayed his chances of reelection and McClellan assumed that large numbers 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.

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.

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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, “Lincoln’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 �n-

ish 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

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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 demon-

strated 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 destruc-

tion 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 pur-

suit of the Army of Northern 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.

To ensure the permanent legal end of slavery, Republicans drafted the Thirteenth Amendment dur-

ing the war. Yet the end of legal slavery did not mean the end of racial injustice. During the war, for-

merly enslaved people were often segregated into disease-ridden contraband camps. After the war,

the Republican Reconstruction program of guaranteeing the rights of Black Americans succumbed

to persistent racism and southern white violence. Long after 1865, most Black southerners contin-

ued to labor on plantations, albeit as nominally 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 erad-

icated, 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 become 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 re-

unions, employment, and fresh starts—but also a racist world of bitterness, violence, and limited op-

portunity. 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

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 se-

cession but also the “cornerstone” of the Confederate nation.

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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 runaways, 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 “con-

traband of war,” and he had as much a right to seize them as he did to seize enemy horses or can-

nons. 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 sev-

eral times throughout his life. When the war broke out, he escaped to Union lines and volun-

teered 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 expe-

rience. She included a poem, written by an unknown author about nursing in the war.

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, captures 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,

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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 example 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 partic-

ipation. 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 contribu-

tions on the battle�eld, in the hospital, in the parlor, and at the fair.

9. Burying the dead photograph, 1865

Death pervaded every aspect of life during the years of the Civil War. This gruesome photo-

graph, taken after the battle of Cold Harbor, shows the hasty burial procedures used to reckon

with unprecedented death. Dirty jobs like this were often left to Black soldiers 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.

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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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).