2. As the war began in April, 1861, what was the Confederacy fighting for?

3. As the war began in April, 1861, what was the Union fighting for?

4. The primary cause of the conflict was slavery. Why then was the Union not actively trying to destroy slavery in 1861?

5. If it became a war about slavery in 1861, the border states would have surely seceded.

6. Lincoln also understood that the American public was not unified on the issue. Any move towards emancipation early in the war would have further divided popular opinion about the war.

7. The Union blockade of the South increased slowly over time, especially as the U.S. navy focused its attention on specific major southern ports.

8. To equip itself with a navy to combat the blockade, the Confederacy turned to British shipbuilders.

9. Ships like the Alabama and the “Laird rams” upset the Union and tensions between the U.S. and Great Britain began to grow.

10. The only real Confederate threat to the Union blockade appeared in 1862 when the Confederate navy turned this… U.S.S. Merrimack

11. Into this… C.S.S. Virginia

12. Richmond Norfolk On March 8, 1862, the Virginia approached U.S. navy ships blockading the port of Norfolk. The ironclad Virginia sunk the wooden hulled U.S.S. Congress and the U.S.S. Cumberland. It also heavily damaged the U.S.S. Minnesota. Darkness prevented it from finishing the job.

13. That night a very odd looking ship pulled along side the wounded Minnesota. U.S.S. Monitor

15. On March 9, 1862 the Virginia and the Monitor shelled each other for four hours in the Battle of Hampton Roads. The Virginia withdrew and the Union blockade held.

16. The Union approached the Mississippi River from two directions.

17. On April 7, 1862 Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederate forces in Tennessee after two days of fighting at the Battle of Shiloh.

18. Union casualties were 13,047 (1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing); Confederate casualties were 10,694 (1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing or captured).

19. This total of 23,741 men represented more than the total U.S. casualties in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican-American War combined.

20. The Battle of Shiloh is important for two reasons: 1. Grant began to attract the attention of Lincoln and other politicians in Washington. 2. It largely secured the state of Tennessee for the Union and allowed Grant to move toward capturing the upper Mississippi River.

21. Throughout early April the Union navy gathered ships in the Gulf of Mexico for an assault on New Orleans in an attempt to sail up the Mississippi from the South. By April 24, 1862 40 ships were ready for the attack.

22. Two Confederate forts, Ft. Jackson and Ft. St. Phillip guarded the mouth of the river. Union ships had to fight their way past those forts to capture the city.

23. The Union navy was led by Adm. David Farragut who successfully led his ships past the forts and on to capture New Orleans on April 29, 1862.

24. By the end of 1862 only two cities stood in the way of the Union accomplishing the second part of the Anaconda Plan. Vicksburg, MS and Port Hudson, LA refused to surrender. Grant settled his army in for a siege of Vicksburg to force a surrender.

25. Washington Richmond The third part of the plan called for the Union army to capture Richmond, the Confederate Capital.

26. To that end Lincoln ordered Gen. Irvin McDowell to lead the army from Washington for an attack on a small Confederate force at Manassas, VA. McDowell and the Union were defeated at the Battle of Bull Run, July 21 1861.

27. The Confederate victory was largely due to the leadership of Thomas J. Jackson whose soldiers from Virginia stood like a “stonewall” against the Union onslaught.

28. Union casualties were 460 killed, 1,124 wounded, and 1,312 missing or captured; Confederate casualties were 387 killed, 1,582 wounded, and 13 missing.

29. Following the disaster of Bull Run, Lincoln turned to a new commander to more thoroughly prepare Union forces for what was now sure to be a long, bloody war. Gen. George B. McClellan

30. McClellan was a thorough commander who excelled at training and preparing an army to fight. Unfortunately for Lincoln and the Union, McClellan wasn’t so good at leading that army into battle.

31. By late spring in 1862, Lincoln finally convinced McClellan to get on with the task of capturing Richmond. The General led the Army of the Potomac south into the disastrous Peninsula Campaign.

32. Between June 26, 1862 and July 2, 1862 Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, attacked McClellan during the Seven Day’s Battle. The Confederate victory during these battles forced the Army of the Potomac to retreat back down the peninsula and sail home to Washington.

33. Following McClellan’s failure on the peninsula, Abraham Lincoln gave command of the Army of the Potomac to Gen. John Pope. Pope did no better losing to Lee at the 2 nd Battle of Bull Run in late August, 1862. Lincoln quickly allowed McClellan to return to his command.

34. As Union losses mounted, abolitionists increasingly called for Lincoln to strike a blow for slavery, to turn the war into a moral crusade, to rally the American public around a higher calling.

35. By mid 1862 Lincoln was moving in that direction. Not only did he hope to strengthen the Union cause, but emancipation made sense from a military standpoint as well.

36. Slaves were crucial in allowing the Confederate Army to function. They served as cooks, nurses, scouts, and most importantly hauled necessary supplies and built camps for the soldiers.

37. But in contemplating a blow against slavery, Lincoln had his eye on even bigger issues.

38. Due to the unprecedented success of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia throughout 1861 and early 1862, France and Great Britain had begun to consider the possibility of a Confederate victory.

39. Given this reality, Lincoln informed his cabinet that he had decided to turn the war into a contest over slavery by emancipating the slaves. How would this help?

40. His cabinet argued that Lincoln needed to wait. Anyone tell us why?

41. The Confederate government knew that one more victory might bring Europe into the conflict. Embolden by his previous successes, Lee decided the time was ripe for an invasion of the North.

42. Little did Lee know that he was heading for the bloodiest day in all of American history, and an event that would change the course of the War.