1. Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861

2. Confederate States of America (CSA)

3. The shaded states were the loyal border slave states
Union states
The shaded states were the loyal border slave states

4. Significance of the border states
Border states, allowed slavery, but remained in the Union.
They were necessary for the Union to hold at all costs because the North needed:
To keep their economic resources
To keep their manpower for the Union war effort
Missouri
Kentucky
Delaware
Maryland
Another major problem facing Lincoln was what to do regarding the four border states. All four of these states, Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland, allowed for slavery, and were split on the issue of secession.
Strategically, the states were of monumental importance. These states had a significant number of people, many factories, and surrounded the heartland of the Union. To lose them would be a devastating blow to Union hopes.
Lincoln decided that these states had to be held at all cost, and used political means as well as military occupation to keep the states in the Union. However, Lincoln’s strategy was successful. The states remained “loyal” throughout the war.

5. Strengths of the North and South
Union
Twice as many people
More manpower for fighting
More industry and railroads
Better economy and food production
Recognition as an independent nation
Better political leaders
Confederacy
Better military leaders and military tradition
“The Cause”
Importance of cotton to the world economy
Fighting on home territory
Fighting a defensive rather than offensive war
Both sides could claim some significant strengths going into the war. The Union was nearly double the size of the Confederacy in population. In addition, a sizable amount of the Confederate population was enslaved. Most of the nation’s industry was located in the North, as well as a majority of the nation’s railroads.
The Union also had a stronger economic system as well. Its currency was accepted nationwide and worldwide. On the other hand, Confederate paper money was considered weak in value. The Union was recognized as a legitimate government, and could negotiate with foreign governments. The Confederacy did not enjoy that luxury, and sought throughout the war to receive diplomatic recognition from foreign governments, especially Great Britain.
Abraham Lincoln, although frequently criticized by the press as well as members of his own political party and cabinet, was generally considered a stronger, more effective leader than Jefferson Davis, who frequently found that he was unable to wield much executive power, partly because the Confederate Constitution gave sovereignty to the individual states over the central government.
The Confederacy boasted better military leaders. While Lincoln went from general to general looking for a fighting commander, the Confederacy boasted such legendary commanders as Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Jeb Stuart, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
The Confederacy also had the advantage of a “cause”… a reason to fight. While Lincoln’s plea to arms to restore the union was questioned as to its significance, there was no doubt that fighting for the rights of southerners and independence was a major theme holding the Confederacy together.
Finally, the Confederacy had the “home field advantage”, fighting on their home ground, as well as fighting a defensive war rather than being constantly on the offensive. As long as the Confederate Army remained able to fight, it symbolized the resistance against what the Confederates considered Northern aggression.

6. Martial law declared in Maryland
Lincoln was faced with pro-Southern feelings in Maryland. A few weeks after Fort Sumter, riots erupted in Baltimore, MD when civilians attacked soldiers from the 6th Massachusetts Regiment. A mob threw bricks and stones at the soldiers who opened fire into the crowd. At the end, four soldiers and 12 civilians were killed. Martial law was declared in the city and federal troops arrested both government officials and private citizens who were held in jail. Federal troops occupied the city for the rest of the war.
Not only did Lincoln have to deal with the rising threat of secession and civil war, but there were instances of pro-Southern feeling and violence in the North as well. One of the most significant of these events occurred a few weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter, when soldiers in the 6th Massachusetts Regiment were attacked by pro-slavery civilians in Baltimore, Maryland.
The riot occurred when Union troops, on their way to Washington, D.C., were attacked while being taken through Baltimore on horse-drawn wagons. An angry mob attempted to keep the troops from leaving the city, blocking the wagons, and smashing the wagons’ windows.
Soon the mob began throwing bricks and stones at the soldiers, who opened fire into the crowd. When the riot ended, four Union soldiers and 12 civilians were killed.
After the riot, martial law was declared in the city, and federal troops arrested the police chief, several city commissioners, and several private citizens. They were held in jail without formal charges being filed. Federal troops occupied the city of Baltimore for the remainder of the war.

7. Northern strategy to win the war: “Boa Constrictor” or “Anaconda”
Named for the snake which squeezes its prey to death, the strategy was designed to strangle the South.
Devised by General Winfield Scott, major elements include:
Capture the Confederate capital city of Richmond and the rest of Virginia
Invade Tennessee to move into the south
Strike along the Mississippi River to split the Confederacy
Blockade all southern ports to prevent imports
In the beginning of the Civil War, the Union sought a strategy that could effectively neutralize the Confederacy as a fighting force. General Winfield Scott, the first Union commander, came up with what eventually became known as the “Anaconda Plan”, which, like a giant snake, would strangle its prey.
In actuality, the plan involved several strategies. One arm of the Union Army would threaten Richmond, which had become the capital of the Confederacy with the addition of Virginia. Still another force would strike at the “heartland” of the Confederacy, Tennessee, in an attempt to move further southward. Another part of the strategy would be to strike along the Mississippi River. If the Union could capture the vital waterway, they could effectively split the Confederacy.
Perhaps the most effective part of the strategy was the blockade of southern ports by the Union Navy. By making it difficult for men and materiel to enter the south via water, the Union could greatly hinder the Confederates ability to make war, since a great majority of their supplies had to be imported from foreign ports.
This plan helped Grant at the end of the war.

8. Southern Strategy
The South desperately needed support from foreign governments to succeed in the war because they lacked the resources necessary to win. They believed Europe’s dependency on Southern cotton would gain their support. Their strategy was the fight a defensive war and only attack when victory seemed likely. The two major offensives by the south at Antietam and Gettysburg both ended in failures.
While the Union’s Anaconda strategy called for constant pressure on the Confederacy, the Southern strategy was based on maintaining an army in the field while diplomats sought to get foreign assistance in the Confederate struggle for independence. With that goal in mind, the southern strategy was primarily to fight a defensive war.
However, Confederate political leaders gave their military commanders the latitude to attack the North or invade Northern states when practical. Lee did this twice, at Antietam and Gettysburg. In both instances Northern forces repulsed the South.
General Robert E. Lee

9. Robert E. Lee’s dilemma Offered command of the Union Army
Waited to see if Virginia would secede
Virginia seceded the next day, and Lee resigned his commission
The issue of secession possibly affected no individual more than Robert E. Lee. Regarded as one of the major heroes of the Mexican War, Lee was so well regarded by Union leaders that General Winfield Scott remarked, “if the President of the United States would tell me that a great battle was to be fought for the liberty or slavery of the country, and asked my judgment as to the ability of the commander, I would say with my dying breath, ‘Let it be Robert E. Lee’”.
Lee, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure. Approached personally at the request of Lincoln to command all the Union armies, Lee asked for time to consider the request and determine what course Virginia, his home state, would take. When Virginia finally seceded, Lee tendered his resignation from the army.
In a note he wrote, he said, “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.”

10. The North mobilized the military
At the time of the war, the northern army had only 16,000 men. Lincoln called for the states to provide 75,000 militia troops. Many joined to collect bounties, a bonus for joining the military.
Not enough volunteers joined the military, forcing Congress to pass the Enrollment Act in March of 1863, the first draft in U.S. history.
As it became more and more apparent that military force would be needed to end the rebellion in the south, Lincoln appealed to the states to provide militia forces to bolster the army, which at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War had a total of only 16,000 men.
Many states exceeded the quotas set by the White House. Other states, particularly the border states which still allowed slavery, refused to allow any troops to fight.
Shortly after the Union defeat in the Battle of Bull Run, Congress authorized the raising of a volunteer army of 500,000. Many of these prospective soldiers were encouraged to join because of monetary bounties that state governments provided.
Even so, it became evident that more manpower would be needed to fight the South, and for the first time in US History, a draft was instituted with the passage of the “Enrollment Act”. An estimated 46,000 troops were eventually drafted under federal law.
Veterans were paid bounties of $400 to re-enlist, while new recruits were paid $300.
$300 in 2010=$5,000

11. The “substitute” system
“A rich man’s war…but a poor man’s fight”
Northern men could hire someone to take their place in military service for $300.
Substitutions were legal under the Enrollment Act of 1863.
Substitution rate eventually raised to $400.
Confederate law also allowed for substitutes and exemptions for planters with more than 20 slaves.
Draft riots in New York targeted those thought to be able to afford substitutes as well as blacks.
While the Union and Confederacy struggled to find sufficient manpower to fight the Civil War, thousands of men on both sides avoided military service by hiring a “substitute”. The practice was wide-spread, and even included as part of federal law in the passage of the Enrollment Act of 1863, which allowed for a military draft.
The process was actually quite simple, a man of draft age could simply contract someone to take their place in the army. In the Confederacy, men with 20 or more slaves were automatically exempt from the draft.
However, the substitution rule angered many poorer men, who couldn’t afford the $300 fee and therefore might be sent to the front lines, and possibly to their deaths. Cries of “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight” became common. In addition, the substitution policy caused many poorer whites to attack those they believed could afford the substitution fee as well as African-Americans they believed took the jobs of whites being sent to fight.
By some estimates, 25% of the men eligible for the military draft from hired substitutes to take their place. Still another 45% were considered unfit for duty because of health reasons, and 25% simply “dodged the draft”. In conclusion, a very small percentage of men eligible for the draft actually saw military service.

12. Civil War soldiers in the North and South
Civil War soldiers in the North and South. Chart depicts how they joined the military.

13. Lincoln took the following steps to deal with dissenters:
A dissenter is someone who disagrees. Every wartime President has dealt with dissenters. Although Lincoln respected civil liberties, he had to deal with sedition (speech that advocates revolution against government).
Lincoln took the following steps to deal with dissenters:
Sent troops to stop protests or riots
Suspended habeas corpus (a citizen’s constitutional right to having formal charges brought up against him in a court of law)
Seized telegraph offices
The Supreme Court ruled that Lincoln went beyond his Constitutional authority. He ignored the ruling.
During the war years, Lincoln faced a problem encountered by every wartime President. While recognizing the public’s First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and the press, Lincoln also realized that he could not allow sedition (speech that advocates overthrow of the government) to grow in the North.
To that end, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. Habeas Corpus (Latin for “You have the body”) refers to a Constitutional guarantee which ensures a court order requiring authorities to bring a person before a court to determine why they are being held. In essence, a person cannot be held without formal charges being filed against them.
Lincoln used this tactic in several instances. At one point, nearly 13,000 suspected Confederate sympathizers were held in jail without formal charges being filed against them.
In the case ex parte Merryman, Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled that Lincoln had overstepped his bounds as President by suspending habeas corpus; that suspension could only be approved by Congress. Taney ordered John Merryman, a Maryland resident and avowed secessionist, released from jail. Lincoln simply ignored the order.

14. Lincoln and the Copperheads
Lincoln’s major political opposition came from the Copperheads or Peace Democrats. They were Northern Democrats who sympathized with the South.
The most famous Copperhead was Congressman Clement Vallandigham of Ohio who encouraged soldiers to desert and supported an armistice. He was eventually banished to the South after a military trial.
Jefferson Davis in the south also dealt severe penalties to northern sympathizers.
Perhaps the most difficult “domestic” problem Lincoln had to deal with involved the “Copperheads”, also known as the “Peace Democrats”. These were Northern Democrats who were in favor of secession and supported a peace settlement with the Confederate states.
The most well-known Copperhead was Congressman Clement Vallandigham of Ohio. He was arrested in tried in a military court for encouraging soldiers to desert and supporting an armistice. Both Democrats and Republicans protested Vallandigham’s conviction and imprisonment. Lincoln eventually commuted Vallandigham’s sentence from prison time to banishment to the South.
In the South, Jefferson Davis had similar problems. He also supported severe penalties for those who sympathized with the other side, and suspended habeas corpus.
Vallandigham

15. Lincoln appointed McDowell
Lincoln’s quest for competent military leadership plagued him through most of the war. He appointed Irwin McDowell as the first General of the Union army. McDowell’s troops were unprepared for battle at the First Bull Run, but he was pressured to fight. The battle was lost and Lincoln replaced him.