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CHAPTER 7: THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTIONOUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORYThat this nationunder Godshall have anew birth of freedom.President Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863SECESSION AND CIVIL WARLincoln’s victory in the presidentialelection of November 1860made South Carolina’s secessionfrom the Union December 20 aforegone conclusion. The state hadlong been waiting for an event thatwould unite the South against theantislavery forces. By February 1,1861, five more Southern states hadseceded. On February 8, the sixstates signed a provisional constitutionfor the Confederate States ofAmerica. The remaining Southernstates as yet remained in the Union,although Texas had begun to moveon its secession.Less than a month later, March 4,1861, Abraham Lincoln was swornin as president of the United States.In his inaugural address, he declaredthe Confederacy “legally void.” Hisspeech closed with a plea for restorationof the bonds of union, but theSouth turned a deaf ear. On April12, Confederate guns opened fire onthe federal garrison at Fort Sumterin the Charleston, South Carolina,harbor. A war had begun in whichmore Americans would die than inany other conflict before or since.In the seven states that had seceded,the people responded positivelyto the Confederate actionand the leadership of ConfederatePresident Jefferson Davis. Bothsides now tensely awaited the actionof the slave states that thus far hadremained loyal. Virginia seceded onApril 17; Arkansas, Tennessee, andNorth Carolina followed quickly.No state left the Union withgreater reluctance than Virginia.Her statesmen had a leading part inthe winning of the Revolution andthe framing of the Constitution, andshe had provided the nation withfive presidents. With Virginia wentColonel Robert E. Lee, who declinedthe command of the Union Armyout of loyalty to his native state.Between the enlarged Confederacyand the free-soil North laythe border slave states of Delaware,Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri,which, despite some sympathy withthe South, would remain loyal tothe Union.Each side entered the war withhigh hopes for an early victory. Inmaterial resources the North enjoyeda decided advantage. Twenty-threestates with a population of 22 millionwere arrayed against 11 statesinhabited by nine million, includingslaves. The industrial superiority ofthe North exceeded even its preponderancein population, providing itwith abundant facilities for manufacturingarms and ammunition,clothing, and other supplies. It had agreatly superior railway network.The South nonetheless had certainadvantages. The most importantwas geography; the South wasfighting a defensive war on its ownterritory. It could establish its independencesimply by beating off theNorthern armies. The South alsohad a stronger military tradition,and possessed the more experiencedmilitary leaders.WESTERN ADVANCE,EASTERN STALEMATEThe first large battle of the war, atBull Run, Virginia (also known asFirst Manassas) near Washington,stripped away any illusions that victorywould be quick or easy. It alsoestablished a pattern, at least in theEastern United States, of bloodySouthern victories that never translatedinto a decisive military advantagefor the Confederacy.In contrast to its military failuresin the East, the Union was able to securebattlefield victories in the Westand slow strategic success at sea.Most of the Navy, at the war’s beginning,was in Union hands, but it wasscattered and weak. Secretary of theNavy Gideon Welles took promptmeasures to strengthen it. Lincolnthen proclaimed a blockade of theSouthern coasts. Although the effectof the blockade was negligibleat first, by 1863 it almost completelyprevented shipments of cotton toEurope and blocked the importationof sorely needed munitions,clothing, and medical supplies tothe South.A brilliant Union naval commander,David Farragut, conductedtwo remarkable operations. In April1862, he took a fleet into the mouthof the Mississippi River and forcedthe surrender of the largest city inthe South, New Orleans, Louisiana.In August 1864, with the cry, “Damnthe torpedoes! Full speed ahead,” heled a force past the fortified entranceof Mobile Bay, Alabama, captureda Confederate ironclad vessel, andsealed off the port.In the Mississippi Valley, theUnion forces won an almost uninterruptedseries of victories. Theybegan by breaking a long Confeder-142143