Civil-War_Ch6_Homework-2

=**Civil War Chapter 6 Homework #2**=

**Civilians Do Their Part in the War**
It is in the nature of modern warfare that civilians become involved, whether they want to or not. Wilmer McLean, a farmer at Bull Run, became part of the Civil War when the first battle of the war was fought on his land. He had enough of that and moved his family to Appomattox. Others like him saw armies moving past their farms and through their towns and hoped no one would stop long enough to have a battle or loot a house. Many came out to cheer their troops and brought buckets of cool water fresh from the well. Volunteers were going to play a big part in the war.

Some acted as spies. Rose Greenhow was acquainted with many government officials and used her sources to help P.G.T. Beauregard at Bull Run. Belle Boyd became the most famous Confederate spy, sending information and medicine to help Jackson's army. Keeping a watchful eye on Confederates was the Pinkerton Detective Agency's assignment during the war. Elizabeth Van Lew and her former slave, Mary Bowser, provided useful information for Grant from their home in Richmond. Many who were never known kept leaders informed on the movement of enemy armies.

The role of the battlefield nurse had been made noble by Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, but the Civil War also produced "angels of the battlefield." Lincoln gave Dorothea Dix the title of "Superintendent of the U.S. Army Nurses," and even though she had faults in her methods of doing her job, she was successful in enlisting public support. She asked the public for canned goods and night shirts, and more were given than the army needed. Clara Barton, later famous as head of the American Red Cross, served as a battlefield nurse during the war and wore the title of "Superintendent of Nurses for the Army of the James." "Mother" Mary Bickerdyke became a hero to many wounded enlisted men and did much to improve the quality of their care. Dr. Mary Walker became an assistant surgeon for the army, and even though she was a civilian, she was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Voluntary organizations organized to meet special needs. The U.S. Sanitary Commission raised money through "Sanitary Fairs" for a program to supply food, clothing, bandages, and medicine for the troops. The YMCA and Protestant ministers formed the Christian Commission to provide nursing care, blankets, and medicine to wounded soldiers. The Catholic Sisters of Charity supplied nurses to army hospitals. Many individuals, churches, and communities helped traveling soldiers with a place to stop, rest, and talk. Untold hours of work by women wrapping bandages and preparing jelly or meals for the troops helped provide some reminder of home to men far away from loved ones.

The unsung heroes were those women and children who plowed the land, milked the cows, and repaired fences, so that fathers, husbands, and sons could go into the army and serve their nation with a clear conscience.

__Questions__: 1. What spy helped Beauregard at Bull Run? 2. What spy helped Jackson? 3. Name two Union spied in Richmond. 4. Which detective agency was hired to keep an eye on Confederate agents? 5. Who was U.S. Superintendent of Nurses? 6. Which Civil War nurse became head of the American Red Cross? 7. Who was the first woman to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor? 8. What group used fairs to raise funds? 9. What group was formed by Protestant ministers and the YMCA? 10. What did the Sisters of Charity provide?

**The Union High Command: Grant in Charge**
By 1864, many Union generals important in the beginning of the war were gone; they had failed to win battles and now were either out of the army or left in less important roles. Irvin McDowell, who lost at Bull Run, now led the Army of the Pacific. George McClellan went home after Antietam to wait for new orders; he never received them. John Pope, loser at Second Bull Run, was sent to work out problems with the Sioux Indians. Ambrose Burnside, defeated at Fredericksburg, was now working under Grant. Joseph Hooker, loser at Chancellorsville, served in battles like Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Lookout Mountain. No matter how well he did, Hooker never received the credit from Grant that was given to Sherman.

The man chosen by the Constitution as commander in chief was Lincoln. No other president faced the problems he did in raising and supplying an army anywhere near the size of the Union army. No president had ever dealt with such complex military strategy questions. A president needs good help in such times. his first secretary of war, Simon Cameron, never got a handle on his job, but his second man, Edwin Stanton, brought some order to it. The quartermaster general, Montgomery Meigs, did an excellent job of supplying the troops with clothing, shoes, and food. No army had ever eaten as well. Many mistakes were made at first, but Lincoln learned quickly. In this, he had help from General Henry Halleck, whose main talent was explaining military problems and strategies to civilians.

When Ulysses Grant was named general in chief, it was a title well deserved. However, his friend Sherman warned him against the political instrigue around Washington and advised that he set up headquarters elsewhere. The eastern soldiers were prepared to hate him, but Grant was so unassuming that he changed many of their minds. One officer saw only three emotions in him: "deep thought, extreme determination, and great simplicity and calmness." Critics were also there, pointing out his reputation for drinking, his poor grammar, and his inability to march in step.

Like Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman had been unsuccessful in civilian life, but war had changed him. When it began, he wanted to play it by the old rules: no stealing, robbery, or pillage. By 1864, he wrote Halleck: "We are not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people, and must make old adn young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war." With the war nearly won, the "better angel of his nature" returned, and he became more benevolent.

Other generals in the Federal army provided a wide variety of skills and personalities. If one preferred the colorful, George Custer was the man. Last in his class at West Point in 1861, he was a major general, U.S. Volunteers, in 1865. Benjamin Butler was controversial but protected from being punished for his mistakes because he was a Democrat, and Lincoln needed support for the war from the opposition party. Serving in this army was a future road to the presidency. In addition to Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison were generals. William McKinley was a major.

__Question__: 1. What did McDowell and Pope have in common in 1864? 2. What two former commanders were now working for Grant? 3. What is the job of quartermaster general? 4. Who had the job of explaining military tactics to Lincoln? 5. What good characteristics were noted about Grant? 6. What did Grant's critics object to? 7. What was Halleck's chief contribution? 8. In the early days of the war, what was Sherman's attitude toward involving civilians? 9. Who was the most colorful Federal general? 10. How many generals went on to become president after the war?

**The Lincoln Cabinet: Internal Civil War**
If you had asked the average Republican in early 1860 who was the most important member of the party, the answer you would have most likely heard was William Seward or Salmon Chase, not Lincoln. Only six years old, the Republican Party had brought together an odd collection of members: Whigs, unhappy Democrats, Free Soilers, and reformers interested in many different causes. No one person could claim that he invented the Republican Party. Many leaders were old rivals and political enemies.

William Seward took the secretary of state job because he thought it would make him the real power in government. A former governor and senator, he often made statements that caused problems for himself later. Strongly anti-slavery, he said in 1850 there was a "higher law than the Constitution" and talked about an "irrepressible conflict" in an 1858 speech. He made Lincoln wonder about his new secretary of state when he suggested the U.S. make war on France and Spain and "wrap the world in flames." After a mild rebuke by Lincoln, he quieted down and and did an effective job.

The secretary of the treasury was Salmon Chase, who as Ohio's attorney general had defended many fugitive slaves. He had gone on to become governor and senator. Like Seward, he thought he should have been the Republican presidential candidate and made no secret of his opinion that he was smarter than Lincoln. Self-righteous and without humor, he and Lincoln were much different in approach to issues and people.

Edwin Stanton became secretary of war in 1862. Stanton was a Democrat, had backed Breckinridge in 1860, and had criticized Lincoln; yet Lincoln chose him for his cabinet. Stanton was very efficient and soon had the War Department operating smoothly. He was not easy to like, however.

Washington is a city that thrives on rumors, and during the Civil War there were more than usual. A common one was that Lincoln was under Seward's thumb - that Seward was the "evil genius" in the administration. Lincoln and Seward knew better, but Chase believed it and talked with his Radical Republican friends about it. After the disaster at Fredericksburg, criticism of Lincoln was common, and rumors spread that the cabinet - and maybe even Lincoln - were going to resign.

Seward turned in his resignation, in order to relieve pressure on Lincoln, but no one else knew that. A group of senators came to see Lincoln and blamed Seward for being lukewarm in the conduct of the war. The president said little, but invited the senators to return the next day. When they came, they found all the cabinet except Seward present, and Lincoln told them the cabinet was always consulted, but he made all the decisions. Then Lincoln asked the cabinet to confirm what he had said. Chase made a brief statement agreeing with the president. The next day, Chase offered to resign. Lincoln then turned down both resignations, and the cabinet was not changed. One thing had been accomplished: Chase and Seward had both learned a valuable lesson in politics from Lincoln.

__Questions__: 1. What pre-war experience did Seward have in government? 2. What position did he hold during the Civil War? 3. How had he gotten himself into controversy before? 4. What important offices had Chase held? 5. Why was Chase hard to get along with? 6. According to rumors, which one dominated Lincoln? 7. What party did Stanton belong to? 8. What battle caused great criticism of Lincoln's cabinet? 9. What accusation did the senators make against Seward? 10. Why did Lincoln arrange the second meeting with the senators?

**The Election of 1864: Lincoln vs. McClellan**
The Constitution requires that the presidential election be held every four years, but in most countries, a civil war would justify to an unpopular leader that circumstances require that he call off the election. No one in either party suggested that the election be delayed.

Lincoln was far from confident as the Republican convention approached in 1864. Too many battles had been lost: Bull Run, Seven Days, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and among them, hard fought victories at Antietam, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg. Brighter days might be ahead, but would voters forget disasters of the past?

Critics seemed almost everywhere. Senator Ben Wade bluntly told Lincoln "You are the father of every military blunder that has been made during the war. This government is on the road to Hell." Others preferred to criticize him behind his back. Senator Samuel Pomeroy of Kansas issued the Pomeroy Circular, which was to be a "strictly private" letter urging that Lincoln be dropped from the ticket and Chase replace him. Chase was embarrassed and offered to resign (again), but Lincoln refused (again). Another group wanted General John C. Fremont, but so many Democrats were in that movement that no important Republican supported Fremont.

Meeting in Baltimore, the Republicans (who now called themselves the National Union Party) chose Lincoln for a second term, with Democrat Andrew Johnson for vice president. Lincoln said that the party had decided it was best not to "swap horses while crossing the river." Horace Greeley was among those who believed the party was doomed with Lincoln as the candidate, and he and others supported Fremont's Radical Democracy ticket. Fremont's group folded later and supported Lincoln.

The Democratic convention was held in Chicago, and its delegates were split between supporters and opponents of the war. The platform adopted called for both continuing the war and for peace. The candidate chosen was George B. McClellan, the twice-removed general. McClellan tried to separate himself from the Peace Democrats, but Republicans would not let the Democratic platform die as an issue.

Lincoln needed help to win, and his generals cooperated. Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley was so successful that James Garfield called it "a speech...more powerful and valuable to the Union cause than all the stumpers in the Republic." General Custer captured enemy battle flags in Washington. But even more useful were the 10,000 soldiers sent home by Sheridan to vote in the presidential election. Of soldiers who cast absentee votes, 3 out of 4 voted for Lincoln. Sherman's taking of Atlanta helped to seal the deal for Lincoln.

In electoral votes, Lincoln won 212-12. McClellan carried only three states. The the House of Representatives, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 145-40, and in the Senate, the margin was 41-10. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865) was directed at healing the wounds left by the war, "to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

__Questions__: 1. Name two Senate critics of Lincoln. 2. Who did Pomeroy favor as the presidential candidate? 3. What former presidential candidate also received some support? 4. What policies did the Democratic platform call for in 1864? 5. Who was the Democratic candidate in 1864? 6. In what two ways did Sheridan help Lincoln? 7. How did Sherman help Lincoln? 8. How many more electoral votes did Lincoln have than McClellan? 9. Which party controlled the House and Senate after the election? 10. What was the central theme of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address?

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