The American Civil
War Begins
A short presentation about the beginning
of the American Civil War
By Morar Florin
Presidential election of 1860
In 1860, Stephan Douglas and Abraham
Lincoln ran against each other again, this
time for president.
Lincoln had become well known from their
debates about slavery.
This time, Lincoln won, becoming the 16th
president.
Southern States secede
Lincoln received no support in the South because they
believed he wanted to end slavery. Since there were so
many more people in the North, he won the election
anyway.
As soon as Lincoln won the election, the South started to
secede. This means the South split from the Union. They no
longer wanted to be part of the United States.
Supporters of secession based their arguments on the idea of
states’ rights. They said they had voluntarily joined the
union, so they could leave when they wanted.
Confederate States of America
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina
became the first state to secede.
They were followed by Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,
and Texas.
The eleven states that had seceded
formed the Confederate States of
America.
They named Jefferson Davis as
president.
They wrote a new Constitution which
made slavery legal.
Civil War
A civil war is a war between people of the
same country.
There have been many civil wars, but one of
the worst happened in America.
The American Civil War was fought to keep
the South from leaving the Union.
Slavery was the major issue that separated
the North from the South.
The Civil War began at Fort Sumter.
Fort Sumter was in the South, and the
Union had a hard time defending the fort.
There were 23 states in the Union (North)
at the beginning of the war.
There were 11 states in the Confederacy
(South) at the beginning of the war.
North’s Advantages
The North had some many
advantages. They had many
more people and also had more
factories, which could be used
to make weapons
The Union also had many more
miles of railroad tracks.
South’s Advantages
The South’s main advantage was that they were fighting at
home.
This would mean that they would be closer to their supplies.
They also would fight harder because they were protecting
their homes.
The Confederacy also had superior generals and better trained
soldiers. Famous Confederacy generals that must be reminded
are: General Lee (Robert E. Lee) and Stonewall Jackson
(Thomas Jonathan Jackson)
The South was also being supplied by England at the
beginning of the war. England wanted to keep trading for the
South’s cotton.
Stonewall Jackson
Military historians consider Jackson to be one of the most gifted tactical commanders in
U.S. history. His Valley Campaign and his envelopment of the Union Army right wing at
Chancellorsville are studied worldwide even today as examples of innovative and bold
leadership. He excelled as well in other battles; the First Battle of Bull Run (First
Manassas) where he received his famous nickname "Stonewall", Second Bull Run
(Second Manassas), Antietam, and Fredericksburg. Jackson was not universally successful
as a commander, however, as displayed by his weak and confused efforts during the Seven
Days Battles around Richmond in 1862.
Robert Edward Lee
When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to
follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the Union to stay intact and
despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of a
Union Army. During the Civil War, Lee originally served as a senior military
adviser to President Jefferson Davis. He soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and
battlefield commander, winning numerous battles against larger Union armies.
His abilities as a tactician have been praised by many military historians
The First Battle of Bull Run
One of the first battles of the war was the Battle of Bull Run.
The North realized after this battle that the war would not be easy and would not be over soon.
Bull Run was the largest and bloodiest battle in American history up to that point. 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. Among the Union dead was Col. James Cameron, brother of
President Lincoln's first Secretary of War, Simon Cameron. Among the Confederate casualties was
Col. Francis S. Bartow, who was the first Confederate brigade commander to be killed in the Civil
War. General Bee was mortally wounded and died the following day
New Weapons
Many new weapons were used during the Civil
War.
One of these weapons was an ironclad ship. An
ironclad ship was a ship with iron plates on it to
protect it from cannon fire.
Other new weapons
Deadlier cannons and
bullets
More accurate rifles
Battle of Antietam
First time the Confederacy invaded Northern
territory was the Battle of Antietam.
It was bloodiest battle day in United States
history. 23,000 men lost their lives that day.
The Union army stopped the Confederate army.
This “victory” by the Union gave President
Lincoln the chance to announce the abolition of
slavery in the South.
Emancipation
Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive
order issued to the executive agencies of the
United States by President Abraham Lincoln on
January 1 1863.
It was based on the president's constitutional
authority as commander in chief of the armed
forces; it was not a law passed by Congress. It
proclaimed all slaves in Confederate territory to
be forever free; that is, it ordered the Army to
treat as free men the slaves in ten states that were
still in rebellion, thus applying to 3.1 million of
the 4 million slaves in the U.S. The Proclamation
immediately resulted in the freeing of 50,000
slaves. It also allowed blacks to serve in the
Union army and navy.
South ignored the Emancipation Proclamation,
but it did change the Confederacy’s focus of the
war: fully to the issue of slavery.
Women in the Civil 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.
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was
one of the bloodiest battles of the
war.
90,000 Union soldiers fought
75,000 Confederate soldiers.
More than 50,000 men were
killed or wounded in the battle.
The Union won the battle.
The Battle of Gettysburg was the
turning point of the war. The
Confederacy would never invade Union
territory again.
Gettysburg Address
After the Battle of Gettysburg, President
Lincoln went to the battlefield to dedicate a
cemetery in honor of all those who had
died.
Lincoln spoke for two minutes, but his
speech became very famous.
It is called the Gettysburg Address.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation,
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. Now
we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on
a great battle-field of that war. We have come to
dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting
place for those who here gave their lives that that
nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can
not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled
here, have consecrated it, far above our poor
power to add or detract. The world will little note,
nor long remember what we say here, but it can
never forget what they did here. It is for us the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who fought here have
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be
here dedicated to the great task remaining before
us—that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they
gave the last full measure of devotion—that 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.
