Unit 5.1

5.1 Vocabulary

Why did the southern states secede from the United States?

The South Secedes: Seven southern states seceded as Lincoln took office.

November 1860: Lincoln is elected president
December 20, 1860: South Carolina voted to secede from the Union.
January 26, 1861: Louisiana seceded from the Union
February 1861: Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia
February 4th, 1861: Confederate States of America was formed
Lincoln declared the South was in rebellion and asked state governors for 75,000 militiamen; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and states north of them rallied.
- Border states (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri) were slave states that did not join the Confederacy, but people were divided on the war.
- Western Virginia supported the Union and set up its own state government as West Virginia in 1863.

Jefferson Davis: Elected to a 6 year term as President of the Confederate States of America. (CSA)

Louisianans hoped the Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850 would preserve slavery and the Union
Many Louisianans believed if slavery was ended, then their way of life would end.
Leaving the Union would cause hardship in Louisiana:
- sugar plantations depended on sugar tariff
- ports in Louisiana depended on trade with the north
Governor Moore was the governor of Louisiana when they seceded.
- Moore ordered the seizure of the federal arsenal and barracks at Baton Rouge and the capture of Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip.
- The forts were key positions in the defense of the Mississippi River.

Union navy controlled the sea and blockaded southern ports
The southern economy was hurt because the South was prevented from selling and receiving goods
Some small, fast ships got through blockade, but the number of ships entering southern ports was reduced from 6000 to 800 a year.

The Tiger Battalion from Louisiana fought during the first Battle of Bull Run
Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat was their leader
The Louisiana Volunteers Battalion was praised for the bravery and gallant actions of various individuals
After the battle, the Tigers gained a bad reputation due to their unruly behavior.

Remember: The Anaconda Plan…
Capturing New Orleans was a key part of General Scott’s Anaconda Plan. New Orleans was the center for trade and commerce for the Confederacy. Union General Farragut was in charge of capturing New Orleans. Once Farragut got his ships past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, he was able to capture New Orleans easily.

The military leaders were so confident that Baton Rouge and New Orleans would be safe, military men and supplies seized in Louisiana were sent to where fighting was already taking place.
April 1862: Union soldier capture New Orleans and put General Benjamin Butler in charge
Citizens in New Orleans destroyed supplies in the city

People in Baton Rouge were shocked when they learned that Admiral Farragut had passed the only two forts on the Mississippi River below New Orleans and took New Orleans without any resistance.
May 7, 1862: All 7,000 Baton Rouge citizens and very little military personnel were shocked when the Yankee gunboat Iroquois dropped anchor
All military personnel and most of the civilian population evacuated the city, turning it over to the Yankees without a single shot being fired.
Louisiana’s Old State Capitol: Union troops quickly took over the capitol building and used it as a command post, prison and garrison.
- Union troops occupying the building allowed a fire in the northwest turret to rage ultimately causing a catastrophic fire that gutted the building.
- The exterior walls were the only things that remained.

Lincoln gave a speech at the battlefield cemetery.
He praised the bravery of Union soldiers and renewed commitment to winning the war.

Millions of enslaved African Americans were at the heart of the nation’s bloody struggle.
Abolitionists wanted Lincoln to free the slaves.
Lincoln found emancipation, or freeing of slaves, a difficult issue.
- Did not believe he had constitutional power
- Worried about the effects

Democratic Party opposed (South)
Abolitionists said war was pointless without freedom for African Americans.
Some predicted it would anger voters.
On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves only in areas controlled by Confederacy, effective January 1, 1863.

African Americans gave thanks; Abolitionists rejoiced.
Some noted that system of slavery still existed.
Encouraged many enslaved African Americans to escape when Union troops came near.
Loss of slaves crippled the South’s ability to wage war

Women on both sides worked during the war. Many became nurses. The most famous nurse from the Union was Clara Barton.
She also helped organize the American Red Cross.
Mary Walker: a surgeon, women’s rights advocate, abolitionist, and spy, Walker became the first female U.S. Army surgeon during the Civil War.

Union troops forced the South to surrender in 1865, ending the Civil War.

Grant broke through Confederate defenses at Petersburg, Virginia, and Lee retreated to Richmond on April 2, 1865.
Grant surrounds Lee’s army.
Lee surrendered to Grant at the small town of Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, on April 9, 1865.
THE WAR IS OVER!

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