United States: history 1861–77

For the history of the American colonies and the American Revolution see America: colonial history to 1783. For the period from independence to events leading up to the Civil War see United States: history 1783–1861. For further coverage of the era of the Civil War, see Civil War, American. For subsequent history see United States: history 1877–1918 and United States: history 1918–45, and for events after 1945 see United States of America.

The outbreak of the Civil War
As state after state in the South seceded to form the Confederacy, their senators and congressmen withdrew from Congress. In many of the Southern states, forts, arsenals, and munition supplies belonging to the national government were taken over by the Southerners. Before President James Buchanan left office this was the case everywhere with a few striking exceptions, the chief of which were the forts guarding the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina, where secession began. Here Maj Robert Anderson left Fort Moultrie and took its guns to the stronger Fort Sumter, where he prepared to hold out with the regular (Union or Federal) soldiers.

In March 1861 the Republican Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president. In his speech he affirmed that he did not propose to interfere with slavery where it already existed. But he also asserted that no state could withdraw from the Union, and that it would be his duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Union. A little more than a month later, Lincoln, against the advice of a majority of his cabinet, decided that Fort Sumter must be relieved, and in accordance with a promise made to the governor of South Carolina, notified him, on 8 April 1861, of this intention.

The Confederate cabinet was also divided, but militant counsels finally prevailed, and Gen Pierre Beauregard, who was now in charge of the Charleston forces, was ordered to take the fort. The bombardment began on 12 April, and 34 hours later the fort was surrendered. Two days later Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 troops. Northern Democratic leaders rallied to the cause.

In the South, Virginia, which had at first been against secession, now joined the Confederacy together with Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, and soon all the 11 Southern states were united. The states of the Confederacy were North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas. There were four border states that were also slave states: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. Special efforts were made by the South to win Missouri and Kentucky. The governors of these states favoured secession, but their legislatures defeated them.

The North's advantages over the South
In the conflict that was now beginning the North had certain advantages that were ultimately to weigh decisively in the balance. Its population were more educated, and it had greater wealth. It was immeasurably more advanced industrially, the South being mainly agricultural and dependent for most other things on purchases from the North and from Europe. The North also had better railways. It was completely self‐contained, and could meet all its own needs and those of its armies. If there was to be a lengthy war, the Northern numbers would tell. The North, too, had the stronger navy and soon had command of the sea, enabling the Union government to blockade the ports of the South. As Lincoln called for 75,000 troops, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, asked for 100,000, and at the same time moved the capital of the Confederacy from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, in July 1861.

International reactions
The first real clash of arms came on 21 July 1861 between the Northern army under Irvin McDowell and the Southerners under Beauregard and Albert Johnston, at the First Battle of Bull Run. The Union forces were routed, retreating as far as Washington, DC.

While the fighting was going on in Virginia and Missouri, relations with Britain assumed great importance. There was dismay in the North when on 13 May 1861 a proclamation of neutrality was issued by Britain that accorded to the Confederacy belligerent rights such as are granted to a sovereign nation. Most of the European nations soon followed. Nor was the situation improved when the so‐called ‘Trent Affair’ occurred, in which a Union warship seized two Confederate commissioners from a neutral British ship.

The war in 1862: Fort Donelson to Fair Oaks
The North was beginning to gather strength. Nearly half a million men had come to the colours, when only about half that number had responded so far in the South. In 1862 Federal strength first began to show. In the West Ulysses S Grant captured Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River; the Confederate Simon Bolivar Buckner was forced to accept Grant's stipulation of unconditional surrender, and gave up an army of 15,000 men.

The opposing forces next met in the Battle of Shiloh on 6–7 April 1862. The first day's fighting favoured the Confederates, but Albert S Johnston, one of the best of the Confederate commanders, was killed. In the second day's fighting the Union forces won and the Confederates retreated to Corinth. Another blow was struck at the Confederates when a fleet under David G Farragut ran past the forts protecting New Orleans and captured it.

In March 1862 George McClellan and the Army of the Potomac began the principal Federal advance against Richmond up the Virginia Peninsula, first coming upon the Confederates at Yorktown. His army had been weakened by the sudden withdrawal of 25,000 men to defend Washington, DC, and he settled down for a siege, only to find that the enemy had retreated. He met them in battle at Williamsburg, where once more the enemy retreated towards Richmond.

McClellan was again ready to move, when the officials at Washington conceived the idea of crushing ‘Stonewall’Jackson, who was in the Shenandoah Valley. Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, sent reinforcements to Jackson, who defeated Gen Nathaniel P Banks at Winchester, evaded the other two Union armies that were seeking him, and triumphantly led his men back to join the forces in line near Richmond.

In the meantime, on 31 May and 1 June, McClellan's army fought a great battle at Fair Oaks. At first it seemed as if the Union force had lost the day but the timely arrival of a new corps resulted in the Confederates being put to flight.

The war in 1862: the Seven Days' Battle to Antietam
McClellan was now only 10 km/6 mi from Richmond, but Davis now appointed Robert E Lee as commander‐in‐chief of the Southern armies. Lee was quick to take advantage of the pause in McClellan's movement. He rushed up reinforcements from all over the South until he had an effective fighting force of 90,000 men against his enemy's 100,000.

Then ensued the Seven Days' Battle. Two severe engagements were fought in the last days of June at Mechanicsville and Gaines Mill, and on 1 July was fought the Battle of Malvern Hill. The Union forces settled down at last on the bank of the James River, while Lee withdrew to the defences of Richmond. Once more McClellan was ready to attempt the capture of Richmond. But all his plans came to nothing, because the government ordered him to return with his army to defend Washington. The administration made Henry Halleck commander‐in‐chief and gave Gen John Pope the best part of McClellan's army.

The Second Battle of Bull Run was fought on 29 August 1862, and the Union armies were beaten. Another defeat at Chantilly completely destroyed Pope's reputation as a general. Lincoln called on McClellan to resume command of the Army of the Potomac once more.

Lee had moved into Maryland, thinking to win that state to the Confederacy, to capture Baltimore, and then advance into Pennsylvania, thus carrying the war into Union territory. The stage was now set for the bloody struggle at Antietam (17 September 1862). The battle was a stalemate, 23,000 dead being left on the field. Lee retreated across the Potomac and McClellan delayed in following his enemy. He was now relieved of his command for good.

The Emancipation Proclamation and the last battles of 1862
Lincoln then took one of his most important steps. Hitherto he had merely struggled to preserve the Union intact. The slavery question had been held in abeyance for fear of alienating the Democrats in the North and the people in the border states. But now, on 22 September 1862, he issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that the slaves in all states in rebellion against the government should be free on and after 1 January 1863.

The reaction in Europe was immediate, most nations being in sympathy with the abolition of slavery. But there was a reaction in the North itself. The Democrats made big gains in the November elections, and it was only New England and the border states that kept the House of Representatives Republican.

In the autumn of 1862 the Union general William Rosecrans won victories at Corinth (see Corinth, Battle of) and Murfreesboro, and most of Tennessee was in his possession. In the East, on 13 December 1862, Lee severely defeated Ambrose Burnside in the Battle of Fredericksburg.

The war in 1863: Chancellorsville to Chattanooga
In the first days of May 1863 the Confederates won a great battle at Chancellorsville, but it cost them the life of ‘Stonewall’ Jackson. In the West Grant besieged Vicksburg with his army and a fleet of ironclads. The siege lasted six weeks and on 4 July 1863 the town was surrendered.

While the siege was still in progress the greatest battle of the war was fought at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (1–3 July), after which Lee retreated to Virginia. This ended Lee's invasion of the North, and was the turning point of the war. In September 1863 Braxton Bragg beat the Union forces under Rosecrans at Chickamauga in Tennessee, but the Confederates suffered heavily at Chattanooga in November (see Chattanooga, Battle of), forcing them to retreat into Georgia. This was one of the most important actions in the war, ensuring ultimate Federal success in the West.

The war in 1864: the Wilderness to Nashville
These last battles had been fought with Grant as commander‐in‐chief. In February 1864 Lincoln made him lieutenant general in charge of all the armies. Grant now planned to end the war. He himself would face Lee in Virginia, seek to destroy his army, and take Richmond. At the same time he would send William Sherman to face Gen J E Johnston in Georgia.

In May 1864 began the two indecisive battles of the Wilderness in Virginia (see Wilderness, Battle of), and of Spotsylvania. On 3 June 1864 the enemies met at Cold Harbor, and here in less than an hour over 12,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded. Grant had lost 60,000 men in his campaign; and the Confederates 40,000; but he knew that the South could not replace its losses in manpower, whereas the North could.

In the early autumn months Philip Sheridan won victories over the Confederates at Winchester and Cedar Creek and then laid waste the entire Shenandoah Valley. While Grant was fighting in the Wilderness Sherman began his march from Chattanooga. On 2 September 1864 he entered Atlanta. In the meantime, in August, Admiral Farragut had won his famous victory of Mobile Bay, which had been the harbour for the Confederate blockade runners, a victory that destroyed the Confederate fleet.

In November, after strong opposition in his own party, Lincoln was renominated for president by the Republicans, and Andrew Johnson, a war Democrat from Tennessee, was nominated for vice‐president. Gen McClellan was nominated by the Democrats. Lincoln was easily re‐elected.

Less than two weeks after the election Sherman set out on his famous march to the sea from Atlanta. The army of 62,000 men accomplished the 480‐km / 300‐mi journey, leaving destruction in its wake, and on 21 December Sherman entered Savannah unopposed. George H Thomas won the Battle of Nashville in December 1864 (see Nashville, Battle of) and thus drove the last of the Confederates out of Tennessee.

1865: the conclusion of the war
In January 1865 Wilmington, North Carolina, was taken by joint naval and military action, and the last remaining port of the Confederacy was closed. Sherman began his march back from the sea. Columbia was burned down, and Charleston was deserted by the Confederates. On 2 April the Union forces attacked Petersburg and captured it. At length, on 3 April 1865, the Union armies entered Richmond.

Lee was completely surrounded. At Appomattox Court House on 9 April he surrendered. Johnston surrendered his army to Sherman on 26 April, and by the end of May all the rest of the organized forces in the far South had also laid down their arms.

The aftermath of war
In this costly civil war over 620,000 lives had been lost, while tens of thousands of soldiers returned with health permanently impaired. The public debt of the Union had risen to nearly $3,000 million. What it cost the Confederacy has never been definitely estimated. Despite all this, the North was stronger than ever; but the South was ruined.

The victory of the Union did not bring real reconciliation between the sections. Reconstruction was only finally achieved at tremendous social and political cost, and many of the problems, especially racial, that plagued 20th‐century America stemmed from the post‐Civil War period.

On 14 April 1865 Lincoln was assassinated. He had been ready to accord the rebel states generous treatment; but his views did not meet with the approval of the Radical Republicans in Congress. Lincoln had been succeeded by his vice‐president, Andrew Johnson, who maintained Lincoln's attitude towards the South. On 29 May 1865 he issued a pardon proclamation to the entire South. Under him, too, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, forbidding slavery in the USA, was adopted.

The Reconstruction period
But Johnson had not reckoned with Congress, which met on 4 December 1865 and at once passed a bill for the appointment of a committee whose function was to inquire into the question of the Southern states. In March they passed, over Johnson's veto, a bill giving blacks full rights as citizens, and this was afterwards embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Johnson's failure to work with moderate Republicans in guaranteeing basic rights and protection for the freed slave caused a Radical Republican triumph in the elections of 1866, and opened the way for the military enforcement of Reconstruction.

The Southern states, except Tennessee, were divided into five military districts. Civilian rule and full state rights were to be restored after the creation of constitutions based upon universal male suffrage and after ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. By 1868 all but three states were readmitted under these conditions, and Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia finally reentered in 1870. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in March 1870, aimed to guarantee black male suffrage in the South.

Radical Reconstruction, however, was short‐lived. One by one the Southern states were ‘redeemed’ by conservative political groups, and the Republican Party ceased to exist as a viable entity in the South. Corruption and incompetence had certainly been a part of Radical Reconstruction, but its defeat marked the end of attempts to elevate the freed slaves. Southern whites moved swiftly to disenfranchise freed slaves, who were increasingly subjected to violence by such organizations as the Ku Klux Klan. The lack of an independent economic base, moreover, meant that blacks would not advance significantly in the decades after the war. In 1877 the last of the Federal troops were removed from the South, ending the era of Reconstruction.

For black American history see slavery and civil‐rights movement.