At 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery in Charleston, S.C., opened fire on Fort Sumter, which was held by the United States Army. The bombardment set off a savage four-year war between two great geographic sections of the United States. One section was the North 23 Northern and Western states that supported the federal government. The other section was the South 11 Southern states that had seceded (withdrawn) from the Union and formed an independent government called the Confederate States of America. The struggle between these two combatants is the American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States or the War of the Rebellion. The war aims of both sides were simple. At the beginning the North fought only to preserve the Union. The South fought to win recognition as an independent nation. After 1862 the long-troublesome slavery problem became an additional issue of vast importance. A Northern victory would mean ultimate freedom for slaves; a Southern victory would insure the protection of slavery in all Confederate states.

The Basic Issue of States' Rights

The Civil War came as a climax to a long series of quarrels between the North and South over the interpretation of the United States Constitution. In general, the North favored a loose interpretation that would grant the federal government expanded powers. The South wanted to reserve all undefined powers to the individual states (see States' Rights). This difference of opinion sprang primarily from economic considerations. The North, as well as the West, wanted internal improvements sponsored by the federal government roads, railroads, and canals. The South, however, had little desire for these projects. Another source of conflict was the opening of public lands in the West. The distribution of such lands in small lots speeded the development of this section; but it was opposed in the South because it aided the free farmer rather than the slaveholding plantation owner. A similar quarrel developed over the tariff. A high tariff protected the Northern manufacturer. The South wanted a low tariff in order to trade its cotton for cheap foreign goods. One issue, however, overshadowed all others the right of the federal government to prohibit slavery in the Western territories. Such legislation would severely limit the number of slave states in the Union. At the same time the number of free states would keep multiplying. Many Southerners feared that a government increasingly dominated by free states might eventually endanger existing slaveholdings. Thus the South strongly opposed all efforts to block the expansion of slavery. If the federal government did succeed in exercising this power many Southern political leaders threatened secession as a means of protecting states' rights.

The Slavery System in the South

The doctrine of states' rights might not have assumed such great importance had it not been related to the more basic issue of black slave labor. After black indentured servants were first brought to Jamestown, Va., in 1619, slavery gradually spread to all the colonies. It flourished most, however, in the Southern colonies, where slaves could be used profitably as field hands in the cultivation of tobacco, rice, and indigo. When the American Revolution broke out, three fourths of the black population lived south of the Mason and Dixon's Line. After the war, slavery became more and more unpopular. By 1804 seven of the northernmost states had abolished slavery, and emancipation (the freeing of slaves) was common even in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Just as slavery seemed to be dying out it was revived by an agricultural rebirth in the South. A new demand for cotton and the introduction of improved machinery such as the cotton gin transformed the Southern states into the greatest cotton-growing region in the world (see Cotton). Cotton production jumped from 178,000 bales in 1810 to 3,841,000 bales in 1860. To achieve this tremendous increase required a whole army of new workers, chiefly black slaves. Within 50 years the number of slaves rose from about 1,190,000 to almost 4,000,000.

Abolitionists and Their Work

At the same time that slavery became highly profitable in the South, a wave of democratic reform swept the North and West. There were demands for political equality and social and economic advances. The goals were free public education, rights for women, better wages and working conditions for laborers, and humane treatment for criminals and the insane. This crusading ardor soon led to an all-out attack on the slavery system in the South, coupled with a strong opposition to its spread into new territories. It charged that such an institution nullified the greatest human right that of being a free person. Reformers now called for the complete abolition of slavery. The first abolitionist to gain national attention was William Lloyd Garrison of Boston, in 1831 (see Garrison). Within a few years abolitionist newspapers, orators, and societies sprang up throughout the North. Some of the abolitionists even denounced the federal Constitution because it legalized and condoned slavery. Such a radical was Wendell Phillips, one of New England's ablest orators. In 1836 he gave up his law practice because his conscience would not allow him to take the oath to support the Constitution. About the same time, James G. Birney of Ohio, a former slaveholder in Kentucky, began gathering all antislavery forces into one political unit, the Liberty party. Under this label he ran for president in 1840 and again in 1844. Other notable abolitionists were Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and black editor; John Greenleaf Whittier, the Quaker poet; Theodore Parker, a Unitarian preacher from Boston, Mass.; and James Russell Lowell, who denounced slavery in prose and verse (see Douglass; Lowell family, "Lowell, James Russell"; Whittier). Despite their noisy campaign the abolitionists remained a small minority. They were generally condemned by their neighbors and were often the victims of ruthless persecution. Some antislavery printing offices were mobbed and burned. One abolitionist editor, Elijah Lovejoy of Alton, Ill., was murdered. White abolitionists, especially, had no firsthand knowledge of slavery, and their criticisms were often wide of the mark. Southerners who might have doubted the wisdom of slavery now began to defend it with great earnestness. They said it was not a necessary evil but a righteous and benevolent institution. They compared it with the "wage-slave" system of the North and claimed that the slaves were better cared for than the free factory workers. Southern preachers proclaimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible. Differences over the slavery issue prompted some Southern churches to break away from the parent group and form sectional denominations. In the House of Representatives Southerners fought back in 1836 by requiring all antislavery petitions to be tabled without reading or discussion. John Quincy Adams, the ex-president and now a member of the House, finally won repeal of the rule in 1844 (see Adams, John Quincy).

Expansion of Slavery

More and more Northerners became convinced that slavery should not be allowed to spread to new territories. At the same time Southerners were becoming equally determined to create new slave states. For 40 years this issue created an ever-widening breach between the South and the rest of the nation. The slave states had long been a separate section economically. Now they began to regard themselves as a separate social and political unit as well. The first clear evidence of political sectionalism came in 1819 when Missouri asked to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. After months of wrangling Congress finally passed the Missouri Compromise. (See also Clay, Henry; Missouri Compromise.) This measure preserved an uneasy peace for almost a generation. Then in 1848 the acquisition of a great block of territory from Mexico seemed to open new opportunities for the spread of slavery (see Mexican War). For a time the North and South were on the verge of war, but finally both parties agreed to accept the Compromise of 1850 (see Compromise of 1850). The most disputed provision in the agreement was a law requiring the return of fugitive slaves. Many antislavery people openly flouted this law. They set up underground railroads with stations where runaway slaves might hide, receive food, and be directed to the next stop on the way to Canada and freedom (see Underground Railroad). Some Northern states passed personal liberty laws, in an effort to prevent enforcement of this fugitive slave act. In 1854 President Pierce requested three American ministers in Europe to meet at Ostend, Belgium, to study the problem of uprisings in Cuba. On October 9 the Ostend Manifesto was issued by the three ministers James Buchanan, John Y. Mason, and Pierre Soule. This document urged that Spain should sell Cuba to the United States and if this plan failed, then the island should be taken by force. President Pierce's administration rejected this crude attempt to add new slave territory to the Union. The differences of opinion over slavery became sharper when Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois persuaded Congress to repeal the Missouri Compromise in 1854 (see Douglas, Stephen). His new measure, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, led to the first armed conflict between North and South the fighting for control of Kansas (see Kansas-Nebraska Act). Three years later the tension between the two regions was heightened by the Dred Scott Decision, which held that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in federal territories (see Dred Scott Decision). In the North and West many people now began to accept the fact that slavery was morally wrong and that a start should be made toward its extinction. The moderate point of view was best expressed by a tall, gaunt lawyer from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln (see Lincoln-Douglas Debates). Extremists such as John Brown wanted direct action. In 1859 Brown led a futile raid on Harpers Ferry, planning to start a black insurrection in the South (see Brown). Meanwhile, a new political party, the Republican, had been formed in 1854 to combat the extension of slavery (see Political Parties). This party gained strength so rapidly that Southern leaders threatened to secede from the Union if the "Black Republicans" came to power. When the new party did win the elections of 1860 and Lincoln was chosen president, the Southern states, led by South Carolina (Dec. 20, 1860) carried out their threat. By February 1861, six other states of the lower South Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had seceded. (See also Confederate States of America.)

Efforts to Save the Union

Many efforts were made to preserve the Union and to prevent bloodshed. The outgoing president, James Buchanan, was devoted to the Union but he believed that the Constitution forbade his taking any action against the South. For several weeks Lincoln also followed a wait-and-see course. Congress sought a solution. A Senate committee, headed by John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, prepared an amendment to the Constitution. It provided that the Missouri Compromise line would be extended to the Pacific Ocean and that Congress would be prohibited from interfering with slavery in territories below this line of 36 30'. It also provided that the federal government would pay for slaves who escaped to the North. The proposal died, however, when President-elect Lincoln refused his support because it left open the way for the expansion of slavery. Another effort for peace was made by the Virginia legislature, which called a conference of the states at Washington, D.C. on February 4. Seven slave and 14 free states sent representatives. The conference recommended various concessions to the South. Congress ignored these suggestions, however, and instead passed an amendment to the Constitution offered by Senator Douglas. This provided that Congress should never interfere with slavery in the states. It was not ratified by the necessary number of states and was forgotten when the fighting began.

The War Begins at Fort Sumter

When Lincoln became president he took care to avoid all threats of force, but he promised to protect "the property and places" in the South belonging to the federal government. One of those places was Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Disregarding Lincoln's vow, Charleston land batteries opened fire on the fort on April 12, 1861. The small federal garrison surrendered the next day. The Civil War had begun. Until the bombardment of Fort Sumter many people in the North and South had been determined to prevent war. Some Northerners had argued to "let the erring sisters go in peace." Many Southerners had opposed secession, and in some of the rebelling states the decision to leave the Union was made only after a close popular vote. The attack on Fort Sumter, however, ended all hope of peace. Lincoln at once called upon the loyal states to furnish 75,000 state militia, and Confederate President Davis asked for 100,000 volunteers from the Southern states. Both sections were eager for battle. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas now joined the Confederacy. The four border states Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri stayed with the North. In Virginia some of the western counties broke away from the Old Dominion and set up a separate government that later joined the Union as West Virginia.

Comparison of Rival Forces

In the division of the nation's resources, the North fared far better than the South. Only 11 states left the Union, and 23 (24 with West Virginia) remained loyal. The population of the loyal states was about 23,000,000; that of the seceding states, less than 10,000,000, of whom more than a third were slaves. The wealth of the North was estimated at more than twice that of the South (excluding slave property). The North had every type of industry, including about 90 percent of the total manufacturing of the entire nation and most of its mineral resources. The South was chiefly agricultural, with a heavy dependence upon cotton production. The North had more than twice as many miles of railroads as the South. It also possessed the means of maintaining effective railroad operation, whereas the South did not. This was highly important because the Civil War was the first great conflict in which railroads furnished the chief means of transportation. On the seas the North retained most of the United States Navy and most of the privately owned merchant vessels. The two main assets of the South were: (1) its armies fought on interior lines, thus lessening transportation and communication problems; and (2) it had expert military leaders, notably in the East. In the beginning both sides tried to raise troops only on a volunteer basis, but they soon found it necessary to adopt a military draft. The South resorted to conscription in 1862 and the North the following year. Both sides also had great difficulty in equipping their troops. It was many months before Northern factories were producing enough goods for the Union armies. The South, with few industrial resources, had to import much of its equipment from Europe, running it through the naval blockade imposed by Union vessels throughout the war.

The First Year of War

During 1861 both sides hastened to create field armies. The first major battle came on July 21, 1861, when overconfident Union forces under Gen. Irvin McDowell were routed at Bull Run by Confederates under Gens. Joseph E. Johnston and Pierre Beauregard. It showed that the war could not be fought without well-trained soldiers. It also indicated that the conflict would probably last a long time. Throughout the remainder of 1861 the fighting was concentrated in the border states. Federal successes under Gen. George B. McClellan in what is now West Virginia helped keep that territory in the Union (see McClellan). Missouri remained loyal due chiefly to the efforts of Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, Gen. John C. Fremont, and the Blair family (see Fremont). In Kentucky, Governor Beriah Magoffin attempted to keep that state neutral but without success. Union troops occupied most of Kentucky throughout the war, though a rump convention passed an ordinance of secession late in 1862. By the end of 1861 two major battlefronts had developed. One was in the East where Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania suffered the bulk of the fighting. The other front was in the West, at first along the Mississippi River.

The War in the East, 1862

On the Eastern front each side tried to capture the opposing capital. General McClellan, the first Union commander here, was a great drillmaster but a timid warrior. He was repeatedly outmaneuvered by the Confederate commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee, who proved to be one of the greatest military leaders of all time (see Lee, Robert E.). In the spring of 1862 McClellan brought his Army of the Potomac by water as far as Fortress Monroe, Va. He planned to take Richmond by moving up the narrow peninsula between the York and James rivers. McDowell's troops, held at Fredericksburg in defense of Washington, were to be kept in reserve. The campaign got off to a slow start. The Army of the Potomac was delayed a month besieging weakly held Yorktown and was halted again at the battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines) on May 31 and June 1. When McClellan was almost ready to attack Richmond, McDowell was ordered away to the Shenandoah Valley. In the Shenandoah Valley, Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson had routed Northern troops in a lightning advance on Harpers Ferry. From this point his "foot cavalry" seemed to threaten Washington itself (see Jackson, Stonewall). Jackson then slipped away and hurried his men by train to Richmond. Here Lee had sent Gen. Jeb Stuart on a cavalry raid that brilliantly encircled McClellan's forces (see Stuart, Jeb). Lee then took the offensive. He drove McClellan back in the Seven Days battles, ending at Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. Alarmed by Union failures, President Lincoln placed Gen. Henry W. Halleck in command of all Federal armies. Halleck ordered McClellan to abandon his Peninsular Campaign and to unite with the Union forces in northern Virginia, then led by Gen. John Pope. Before Pope could be reinforced, Jackson's corps and Lee's other corps under Gen. James Longstreet routed the Federals in the second battle of Bull Run from August 28 to 30. Lee now crossed the Potomac to invade Maryland. He wanted to transfer the fighting to Northern soil and at the same time to influence the coming Congressional elections against Lincoln. To protect his rear Lee sent Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry. Meanwhile, McClellan, who had succeeded Pope, accidentally obtained a copy of Lee's general orders. He advanced to meet Lee along Antietam Creek at Sharpsburg. While McClellan hesitated for a whole day, Jackson with three divisions made a forced march up from Harpers Ferry. When the Union troops finally did attack on September 17, they met most of Lee's reunited forces. Late that afternoon Gen. A. P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry just in time to prevent a possible decisive Union victory.

From Antietam to Gettysburg

The Union victory at Antietam, slight though it was, gave President Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This decreed the freedom of all slaves in territory still in rebellion on Jan. 1, 1863 (see Emancipation Proclamation). The president took this momentous step to introduce a new moral aim in the war and to prevent foreign intervention. Then Lincoln began a long search for a general to cope with the brilliant Lee. McClellan was relieved. He was replaced by Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who led the Army of the Potomac to a disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg, Va., on Dec. 13, 1862. Lincoln's next choice, Gen. Fighting Joe Hooker, fared little better in the battle at Chancellorsville from May 1 to 4, 1863, though Jackson's death here was a blow to the Confederate cause. Lee again invaded the North, advancing into Pennsylvania. At Gettysburg from July 1 to 3, 1863, Lee suffered his first stinging defeat, but the North failed to follow up the advantage. The hesitant Union leader was Gen. George G. Meade, who had relieved Hooker just before the battle. (See also Gettysburg, Battle of; Hancock, Winfield Scott; Meade.)

Campaigns in the West, 1862 to 1864

Throughout the war the Federal forces were more successful in the West. In February 1862 Gen. Ulysses S. Grant advanced into Tennessee (see Grant). He captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, with the aid of Como. A. H. Foote and his gunboats, then crossed to the Cumberland to take Fort Donelson. After a desperate battle at Shiloh on April 6 and 7, 1862, he cut the Confederate railway communications with the East at Corinth, Miss. In this bitter engagement the able Southern general, Albert S. Johnson, was mortally wounded. While Shiloh was being fought, General Pope's men and Foote's gunboats seized Island Number 10, an important Confederate fort on the Mississippi River. A few weeks later Como. David G. Farragut ran his fleet past the batteries at the mouth of the Mississippi River, paving the way for the occupation of New Orleans by Union forces on May 1, 1862 (see Farragut). It was not until more than a year later, however, that the Mississippi was completely open. On July 4, 1863, as Lee was retreating from his defeat at Gettysburg, Vicksburg fell to General Grant after a desperate siege that divided the Confederacy. Five days later Port Hudson, the last Confederate river fort, surrendered. To the East, Confederate Gen. John H. Morgan led a raiding party into Kentucky in July 1862. The following summer he swept into Indiana and Ohio before his force was defeated and captured. Other raiders under Gen. Nathan B. Forrest destroyed Federal stores and lines of communication in Tennessee. The Southern Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg invaded Kentucky in September 1862 but was turned back by Gen. D.C. Buell's Union army at Perryville on October 8. Bragg withdrew to central Tennessee, pursued by the Union army now commanded by Gen. W.S. Rosecrans. At Murfreesboro (Stones River) he was defeated again, December 31-January 2, and retreated to Chattanooga. Six months later Bragg gave up Chattanooga without a struggle. He was then reinforced by Longstreet's corps from Virginia. At Chickamauga, Ga., Sept. 19-20, 1863, the combined Confederate forces lashed back at the Union troops. The battle might have been a major Federal disaster but for the firm stand taken by Gen. George H. Thomas and his men (see Thomas, George Henry). Thomas now replaced Rosecrans, and Grant was brought from Vicksburg to take supreme command of the Union forces in the West. In fighting around Chattanooga, November 23-25, the main Confederate army in the West was driven from Tennessee. Under Gen. Joseph Johnston and later Gen. J. B. Hood the Confederates retreated toward Atlanta. In direct command of the Union drive was Gen. William T. Sherman (see Sherman).

Civil War Cont.