Outbreak-of-War

=**Outbreak of War**=

The North had to be on the offensive, while the South had the advantage of waging a defensive war. The North had to invade the South and destroy the rebellion whereas the South had to hold off enemy assaults. The North had to sustain the will power to win the war, whereas the South just had to survive and continue to hold off assaults. The South had a large interior that stretched the Northern supply lines, which gave the South the advantage of fighting a defensive war on familiar land. On the other hand, the North had twice the population, 2/3 of the railroad mileage, and 90% of the manufacturing capacity to make weapons. After the firing at Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve 3 month enlistments to suppress the open rebellion. Postmaster General Montgomery Blair was authorized by Lincoln to offer Robert E. Lee to command the Union army (before Virginia seceded). Lee stated that he didn't approve of the President using the army to invade a state and felt that his loyalty was to Virginia and therefore turned down the offer.
 * Conditions and Aspects of the War:**

Military had three different divisions: infantry, cavalry, and the artillery. The infantry was the unit of foot soldiers with guns and packs who would march and fight. In battle, the infantry formed lines by ranks. The first rank would fire, and then the second. There would be a change in gun technology. Smoothbore barrel muskets were not accurate from a distance. Therefore, soldiers would fire and then conduct a bayonet charge. Rifles were much more accurate from a distance but took a long time to reload. French ordinance men developed the Minie ball, a bullet for rifles that could be reloaded quickly. However, officers were slow to change their tactics even though there was new technology. The cavalry was the army unit of soldiers on horseback, mostly used for spying, but were at times used in battles. The artillery consisted of the big guns and cannons. Light or field artillery was movable whereas the heavy artillery was in one place and was used to defend fortified positions. The Napoleon cannon was the most commonly used cannon in the Civil War. An artillery battery consisted of 4 to 6 cannons, with 8 men per cannon, with 4 to 6 horses to pull each cannon. A limber was used to pull the cannon. Caissons were lined up behind (up to a mile) with the ordinance. The 8 men included one to give orders, one to load, one to use the cannon rod, one to fire the cannon, two at the limber, and 2 to carry ordinance. Artillery ordinance used included the shot (round and solid cannon ball, used to knock down soldiers or smaller fortified positions), shell (explodes when it hits the target and was used on buildings or barriers), canister (turns the shell into a gun with pieces of metal, bullets, or other items shot out and was used at close range), and a chain shot (two shots chained together).

In terms of the chain of command, the basic unit of recruitment was the Regiment, which would be divided into 10 companies. The Regiment (when first formed) had 1000 men, commanded by a Colonel, and were numbered along with their state name (example: 20th Maine, 33rd Virginia). Regiments were also called Battalions. A Brigade consisted of 4 to 7 regiments, an artillery battery, unit of cavalry, and was led by a Brigadier General. The Union numbered their Brigades (1st Brigade) while the South used the commanding General's name (Armistead's Brigade). A Division consisted of 2 to 4 Brigades led by a Major General. The Union numbered their divisions (First Divsion, Third Division) while the South used the General's name (Hood's Division, Pickett's Division). The Corps consisted of 2 or 3 divisions, led by a Major General in the Union and a Lieutenant General in the South. The Union used Roman numerals (I Corps, V Corps) while the South listed it like First Army Corps or Second Army Corps. An Army (there was more than one army...different than today) consisted of all corps in the army's department. The biggest Union army would be the Army of the Potomac while the biggest army in the South was the Army of Northern Virginia, both of which didn't form until the war was well underway.

The North's capital was Washington D.C. and the South's capital was Richmond, VA roughly 100 miles apart. The Eastern Theater and Western Theater of the war was divided by the Appalachian Mountains.

President Lincoln's General-in-Chief, Winfield Scott, developed the Anaconda Plan, which would take a whole year to recruit and train the soldiers while tightening the blockade on the South to choke the South economically. After the year of training, the South would be broken into sections by using the navy. The plan was considered too slow and was not implemented.
 * The Opening Months:**

When the South took over Fort Sumter, Lincoln wanted to send supplies to Major Robert Anderson and the Federals inside the fort. Confederates fired on the resupply ships. General P.G.T. Beauregard would lead the forced surrender of the fort for the Confederacy.

In the western theater, General George B. McClellan led the Army of the Ohio and won early skirmished in Grafton and Phillippi and was able to retake Harper's Ferry before moving further south. The Union would gain control of the 41 counties in western Virginia, which would become a new state in 1863. Successes in the western theater forced the Union commander in the eastern theater to move toward Richmond.

General Irvin McDowell commander the Union's Army of Northeastern Virginia and attacked the South at Manassas Junction along Bull Run Creek in the first major battle of the war, which was the First Battle of Bull Run (also called First Manassas). His plans were imaginative, but complex for his inexperienced soldiers. General P.G.T. Beauregard's Army of the Potomac was able to hold off the Union until the South's Army of the Shenandoah under General Joseph E. Johnston arrived. The Union pushed to the top of Henry Farm and were pushing the rebels until General Thomas Jackson, commander of a brigade in the Army of the Shenandoah, was holding his ground. Confederate General Barnard Bee was getting pushed back when General Jackson told him to "give the enemy the bayonet." Bee rallied his men by pointing to Jackson and saying "there stands Jackson like a stone wall." The Confederates went on to win the battle. Confederate victory ended the Union idea of a quick war with a volunteer army. Confederates scored another victory in another attack at Leesburg. Lincoln replaced McDowell with General McClellan, to lead the Army of Potomac to protect D.C.

In the western theater, General Ulysses S. Grant was in command of the Army of the Ohio (McClellan moved to eastern theater) and attacked forts that controlled the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. Confederal General Albert Sydney Johnston commanded the Army of Mississippi to defend lines from the Mississippi River to Kentucky and the Allegheny Mountains. Johnston attacked Grant in the Battle of Shiloh (also called Pittsburg Landing). Grant was stopped but not pushed back and the Union controlled Kentucky and parts of Tennessee. Union General Don Carlos Buell was given much of the immediate credit for victory and many in the North called for Grant's removal, but Lincoln said "I can't spare this man; he fights."
 * The First Major Phase (1861-2):**

In the eastern theater, General George B. McClellan wanted to transfer his army down the Potomac River to attack Fort Monroe and attack Richmond from the southeast with an attack on Harper's Ferry. Lincoln was concerned about the safety of D.C. and ordered some of McClellan's regiments to stay back to defend. McClellan's attack was known as the Peninsular Campaign. One of the famous battles in this campaign including naval fighting between the two iron-clad ships; the Monitor (Union) and Virginia (Confederate - was the Merrimack, a Union ship, that had sunk and was brought back by the South). The battle between the two was a stalemate. The Union got within 9 miles of Richmond and General Joseph Johnston was severely wounded. He would be replaced by General Robert E. Lee, who was able to stop McClellan and the Union had to withdraw. McClellan had been General-in-Chief also (after Winfield Scott retired) but after the campaign, Lincoln replaced him with Henry Hallack. McCellen stayed in command of the Army of the Potomac. Part of McClellan's army withdraw by water while others marched northward. Stonewall Jackson along with General James Longstreet attacked the Union as they were marching on Warrington Turnpike at Manassas Junction in the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas). Union General John Pope was unaware of the enemy being close and was defeated. In the western theater, Albert Sydney Johnston was able to retake Tennessee. The North had gone from attacking and conquering to being in retreat.

The first crucial point of the war came in September of 1862 in the Battle of Antietam (also called Sharpsburg). General Lee wanted to invade the north to raise an uprising and get European aid and recognition. His plan involved an attack on Frederick, MD then going north, an attack under Jackson at Harper's Ferry and then go into Maryland, and the rest of the army under Longstreet would converge. His plan went against a West Point rule that said not to divide forced when having fewer numbers than the enemy. Lee's plans were captured by the Union and given to McClellan, who moved too slow and cautiously to take advantage, which upset Lincoln. Knowing his plans were compromised, Lee cancelled the invasion of the North and settled around Antietam Creek. Lee was pushed back and McClellan claimed victory. Lincoln was upset that McClellan was slow to move when he could have destroyed the Confederate forces and relieved him of his command in November of 1862. As a result of Union victory, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in the states that were in rebellion effective January 1, 1863. If Lee had won, the South could have gotten foreign recognition

The Confederacy was concerned with getting recognition as an independent nation so they could trade and possibly get aid. The Union was trying to convince other nations that what was going on was an internal rebellion rather than a problem of an international matter. After the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, foreign nations would be less likely to support a nation with slavery, since the Emanication Proclamation turned the war into a war to end slavery and not just a war to preserve the Union. Lincoln was unable to issue the Emanicpation Proclamation until victory in a major battle, which took place at Antietam. There was a recognition crisis, mostly with Britain since other nations in Europe looked to see what the British did before acting. Charles Francis Adams was the Union ambassador to England and found out about a British shipyard had been allowing southerners to take ships from the shipyard and use them as blockade runners (would ram through Union ships blocking the Southern coastline. Adams was upset stating that private citizens cannot finance or help finance a war. The Confederacy tried to use King Cotton diplomacy to gain foreign recognition thinking that Europe desperately needed cotton. However, foreign nations used substitutes for cotton. Furthermore, the Union gave captured cotton to England. The British strongly considered recognition. However, Union victory at Antietam influenced the British into a non-recognition policy (although some in Britain still pushed for recognition including Arthur Fremantle, a colonel in Her Majesty's Coldstream Guards, who visited the Confederacy and even after Gettysburg predicted a certain Southern victory). After the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, support for the South would look like support for slavery. Russia was the only nation that completely supported the Union from the start.
 * Diplomacy:**

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