Fighting for the Union

In March 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President of the United States. In his inaugural address he refused to recognize the secession and called for restoration of the Union but his call was heard. On April 12, 1861, the first fighting started – the Confederate forces opened fire on the federal troops at Forts Sumter in the Charleston harbor (South Carolina). The fire marked the beginning of the bloodiest war in the nation's history.

In response to the events at Fort Sumter, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina joined the Confederacy between April and June, 1861. Now it consisted of eleven states inhabited by 9 million people.

Northern resources were much more impressive – there were twenty-three states with a population of 22 million, industrial abundance and wide network of railways. The superiority of the North was opposed by some advantages of the South – southerners were defending their own territory, and because of strong military tradition there were more experienced military leaders. Southern troops were commanded by General Robert E. Lee from Virginia.

For many confederates the Civil War became a second American Revolution – people believed that they had a right to secede from the Union, just as the colonists had a right to break away from Great Britain. It was also truly "a brothers' war", when families and friends were divided by their allegiances. Mary Lincoln, the President's wife, had three brothers who were killed fighting for the South. Robert Lee, a leading general of the South, had a nephew, who was an officer in the Union army, and there were thousands of the similar cases.

Though both sides entered the war with high hopes for an early victory, the first large battle at Bull Run, Virginia, broke any illusions of a quick and easy ending of the war. The battle was won by Confederate forces, making Union troops flee back to Washington. This first battle established a pattern of the Civil War – southerners got victories in bloody battles, but these victories did not bring them military advantages.

The North, though losing some battles, used other measures to undermine southern economy – in 1861, Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the southern coasts – by 1863, this blockade almost completely stopped cotton trade (the basis of southern economy) and presented the importation of clothing and medical supplies for Confederate forces.

While the Union forces commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant were winning victories in the west – in Tennessee, other Union troops were defeated in Virginia. The victories of the Confederates were based on strong defense positions and military genius of two Confederate generals – Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson.

In September 1862, the two armies met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in the bloodiest day of the war – more than 4,000 men died on both sides and 18,000 were wounded. Though the battle was inconclusive, it gave President Lincoln the opening for the Emancipation Proclamation, which he declared on January 1, 1863. It gave freedom to all slaves in the states whose people "shall be then in rebellion against the United States" and authorized the recruitment of blacks into the Union Army.

Actually, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves immediately, but it was the first step in the abolition of slavery – the process was continued in June 1864, when Lincoln and the Republican Party called for the thirteenth constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery. The proposed amendment went to the states for ratification or rejection, and was finally ratified after Lincoln's death in 1865.

In June 1863, the battle of Gettysburg changed the course of the war – a series of the Confederate victories was stopped in a titanic three-day battle, which was won by the Union troops. The price of the victory was high – there were more than 20,000 of the wounded and missing on each side.

Five months later, in November 1863, Lincoln dedicated a new national cemetery at Gettysburg with his famous Gettysburg Address concluded with such words: "...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

While the Union forces commanded by General Grant fought against General Lee's troops, another Union General William T. Sherman with his army invaded Georgia, and marched from the state capital Atlanta to the Atlantic Coast. His army marched northward destroying plantations, railroads, towns and farms – everything that could help the South. This way the Union army destroyed the will and morale of the South, which, perhaps, was even more important than defeating its armies.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, in April 5, 1865, General Grant captured Richmond – the Confederate capital. On April 9, 1865, surrounded by Union forces, General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. The Civil War was over.

Task 4. Fill in the table representing the events of the Civil War.

Date	Events	Consequences