Civil War - MSN Encarta

Article Outline

Introduction; Causes of the Civil War; The Fight Over Slavery; Civil War Begins; Civil War, 1861; Civil War, 1862; Civil War, 1863; Civil War, 1864; Civil War, 1865; The War Ends; Assessment of the Civil War

Naval Warfare

At the beginning of the war the Union blockade of Southern ports was not effective, because the North lacked ships to make it so. Blockade-runners, mainly British, made fortunes by landing cargoes of munitions and scarce goods at Southern ports. The Union, however, soon converted all kinds of seagoing craft to armed blockaders and began tightening the net. Armed forces closed a number of important ports. One federal expedition took Roanoke Island, North Carolina, on February 8, 1862. Another occupied New Bern, North Carolina, on March 14. A third expedition captured Beaufort, South Carolina, on April 11. Fort Pulaski, which guarded the approach to Savannah, Georgia, was taken by the Federals on the same day. At the end of 1862 the blockade was well on the way to strangling Southern commerce. In 1860, $191 million of cotton was exported, but the 1862 cotton exports amounted to only $4 million. In addition, the South had difficulty importing goods such as ammunition, shoes, and salt.

Although the Confederacy had no navy, it still found ways to cripple Northern commerce. In spite of its lack of shipyards, it managed to equip a number of ships for service at sea. It also ordered the construction or purchase of other ships in England. Over the protests of the Union government, three English-built ships, the Florida, the Alabama, and the Shenandoah, were delivered to Confederate naval officers and given the task of destroying the U.S. merchant fleet. These three raiders alone inflicted damage estimated at $16.6 million on Union shipping. The loss, while serious, was trivial in comparison to the effect of the Union blockade on the Southern economy.

VII

Civil War, 1863

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Overview

The year opened poorly for the Northern military. In the West, their efforts to capture Vicksburg during the winter and spring were continually frustrated. In the East, the Union forces were defeated at Chancellorsville in early May. The North rebounded in June and July with a trio of successes: the Tullahoma campaign, which cleared major Confederate forces from Tennessee; the capture of Vicksburg, which together with the fall of Port Hudson, Louisiana, gave the North control of the Mississippi River; and the Battle of Gettysburg, where Lee’s last movement across the Potomac River ended in bloody repulse. Another success at Chattanooga in late November closed a most auspicous year of campaigning for the North. The Union also adopted a national conscription act in 1863, prompting wide opposition and considerable violence. The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, and soon thereafter the North began recruiting black soldiers on a large scale. Shortages of food and material goods became quite severe in the Confederacy, which experienced bread riots at several locations.

Beginning of the Vicksburg Campaign

In December 1862 Grant began to gather troops for a campaign directed at opening the Mississippi River to the Union and dividing the Confederacy in two. The key to the Confederate defenses was Vicksburg, the heavily fortified Mississippi city that commanded the river from its high bluffs. Grant first planned to march south from Memphis, Tennessee, while another army under William Tecumseh Sherman proceeded by water to Chickasaw Bluffs, just north of Vicksburg. Grant’s advance was stopped on December 20, when Confederate General Earl Van Dorn cut in behind him and destroyed Grant’s supply base at Holly Springs, Mississippi. Sherman’s advance continued, but a week later he was repulsed with heavy losses at the Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs. His report was short but accurate: “I reached Vicksburg at the time appointed, landed, assaulted, and failed.”

Chancellorsville

At the same time that the western army was poised on the banks of the Mississippi, the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia were locked in battle. Hooker had spent three months strengthening the Army of the Potomac, restoring discipline, and building up supplies. When the warm winds of spring dried the roads, he had 134,000 well-equipped men ready for duty. In late April, leaving part of his army outside Fredericksburg, he moved 70,000 troops across the Rappahannock as a first step in a drive on Richmond. Lee, learning that Hooker had divided his force, also left part of his army in Fredericksburg. He sent another part under Stonewall Jackson against Hooker’s right wing. On May 2, 1863, Jackson hit with such force that Hooker’s whole line was driven back. The next day, Lee attacked Hooker’s center with the remainder of the army. Hooker had reserves waiting to be called in, but he had been stunned by a shell that had struck headquarters and was unable to give the necessary orders. His line gave way. On May 5 Hooker retreated north of the Rappahannock. The Army of the Potomac had again failed to reach Richmond.

Union casualties at the Battle of Chancellorsville were 17,300 against 12,750 Confederate casualties. However, the Union percentage lost was much lower, and Lee and his army suffered grievously because of the death of Stonewall Jackson, Lee’s ablest subordinate.

Fall of Vicksburg

In the west Grant turned to new land and water tactics in cooperation with the Union river fleet commanded by Admiral David D. Porter. From January through March 1863, four attempts were made to bypass Vicksburg by cutting canals or changing the course of rivers. All failed.

In April Grant put his final plan into operation. He would march his army down the west side of the Mississippi to a point below Vicksburg. Porter’s gunboats and barges would run past the Confederate artillery on the river, thus supplying the army and furnishing transports for ferrying the men to the east side of the river. The army would then march into Mississippi behind Vicksburg. It would either defeat the Confederates in open battle or drive them into the river stronghold, where they would be forced to surrender sooner or later. On the night of April 16, 1863, Porter ran through the fire from the shore batteries and lost only 1 of his 12 boats. A few nights later, 6 transports and 13 barges tried the same feat, and 5 transports and 6 barges came through. In spite of the losses, Grant had enough supplies and shipping to proceed with his plan.

Along the Mississippi, Grant moved out from his base on May 7 with 44,000 men. His first objective was Jackson, Mississippi, the capital of the state, held by 6000 Confederates. In a battle on May 12, the Confederates were defeated and withdrew northward.

Having disposed of the only force that could threaten his rear, Grant turned west. At Champion’s Hill, halfway between Jackson and Vicksburg, two of his corps commanders, James B. McPherson and McClernand, attacked John C. Pemberton, the commander of the Confederate Army defending Vicksburg. The battle, fought on May 16, was the most severe of the campaign. The Union troops were victorious, and Pemberton retreated. On the next day he made a stand at the Big Black River, was again defeated, and withdrew his army to prepared positions in Vicksburg. After two assaults in which he lost heavily, Grant decided that Vicksburg would have to be starved out. The siege lasted almost six weeks, until July 4, 1863, when Pemberton surrendered.

The Campaign of Vicksburg was of utmost importance to the cause of the Union. It took a Confederate army from the field (the captured Confederates were paroled) and freed Grant’s army for other operations. It cut the Confederacy in two and opened a highway for trade between the Middle West and the outside world. In Lincoln’s picturesque phrase, “the Father of Waters” would henceforth flow “unvexed to the sea.”