Civil War Questions

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1. What were the advantages and disadvantages of the North and the South at the beginning of the war?

2. How did the initial battles change the opinion of the war?

3. Take notes on Shiloh and Antietam demonstrated the bloody nature of Civil War Battles.

4. How did the war change the South and how did the draft cause tensions in the South?

5. What were the different proposals for emancipation?

1. In the North, companies of volunteers sprouted with the intentions to save the Union. Similarly, in the South masses of recruits confidently signed up for the Confederate forces thinking they could defeat the Northerners easily. However, both sides at the beginning of the war faced the same problem (disadvantage) – they had to organize and train these undisciplined troops. The Union had the advantage when it came to resources – they had enormous amounts of supplies and soldiers. The South gained half a million volunteers to serve the Confederate cause. The South also had the advantage, because they won the first battle easily, which heightened their spirits and views on them winning. The Union’s plan of attack served to their advantage because it would suffocate the Confederacy’s routes and resources. The Union Navy was able to establish blockades along the Confederate coastline. The South also had the advantage when it came to transporting their troops through the interior because they were able to concentrate troops at crucial points.

2. The loss at Bull Run for the northerners made them see that the war was not going to be easy for them. The initial battles made the South think they could win this “rebellion” in less than a year. However, the victories by the Union on the coasts off of South Carolina would foreshadow a change or revolution in slave society. Though the fight was difficult for the Union, the resources and influx of troops gave them the upper hand from the beginning.

3. The Battle of Shiloh and Antietam were representative of the bloody and gruesome side of the Civil War – many casualties and days of fighting. The Battle of Shiloh, occurring on April 6^th 1862, was an attack by the Confederates on the federal troops waiting for reinforcements near the Tennessee River. The Confederates attacked them the entire morning and inflicted much damage the rest of the day; however, towards the end of the battle, General Johnston was shot and then the Union turned the war around when reinforcements came that night and the Confederates were forced to withdraw. At the end, the Northern troops lost 13,000 that died, were captured or wounded out of 63,000.  The South suffered 11,000 out of 40,000. In the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day of the war, 5,000 men died and 18,000 were wounded; it occurred on September 17, 1862.

4.  The war altered much disruption in civilian life. Political style of governing also changed from a local and limited government to a centralized one. This transformation went against the objectives and guidelines of the South. The South did this switch to be able to create a unified front and force against the North – “joining together or dying separately.” The war also caused the government to instate a conscription, which many did not like after the first year because they only wanted to volunteer for a year so they could return for planting season. This also made many leave their homes without much notice. The government also mandated that farmers switch from cash crops to food crops to provide to the troops. Troops also stole food, wagons, and draft animals, which brought hardship and resentment to women who were managing farms without their husbands. With the war occupying and taking away men from households, wives and mothers had to perform the men’s work, which including raising crops and tending animals. Families without slaves led the women to have to cultivate the fields themselves. They also would have to take on the position of overseers if they did have slaves. Due to the borrowing and taxing by the Confederate government, inflation in the South was unbearable and uncontrollable – prices had shot up by 7000 percent. Exemption from conscription for those with more than 20 slaves infuriated everybody – “never did a law meet with more universal odium.”

5. Frederick Douglas advocated for the old Union to be destroyed and a new one made where slavery was destroyed through war and the Constitution secured human equality. Lincoln pitched the idea of allowing the states to consider emancipation for themselves – this was gradual emancipation. Others, a group of Republicans, wanted to go to war for emancipation, which was the strongest measure against slavery.

6. What was the purpose of the Confiscation Acts?

7. Discuss the realities of a soldier’s life?

8. How did the tide of battles begin to turn in 1863?

9. How did the Confederate unity begin to disintegrate?

10. How and why did Northerners protest the war?

11. How did the war finally end? What were the costs and effects of the war?

6. The purpose of the Confiscation Acts were to punish the Confederates; the act took away property that was seen to have “insurrection purposes.” Slaves used in hostile manners were taken away as contraband from the South. In July 1862, a second confiscation act was instated – it took away the property from those who supported the rebellion, or were even living in the South and paying taxes to the Confederates. These laws came from the concept that in order to stop this opposition by the South, drastic measures had to be taken by the government.

7. The life of soldiers was molded around physical hardship and separation from loved ones such as family. The sites for the troops were large camps where hygiene was not enforced. The water supplied to them was not safe and typhoid outbreaks were common. The Confederate troops were less supplied and prepared compared to the Union soldiers. Before the draft and registration to the armies of the two, few had seen such violence, so to see their comrades and fellow troops blasted and shot was devastating. In the Union Army, where slaves were freed and drafted into the war, racism was strong against them.

8. Though the Confederates had won the Battle of Chancellorsville, the following battles foreshadowed the victor of the war and turned the war (tide) around – the Union began winning major battle after battle. In the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederates lost nearly 30,000 soldiers. These results continued for the Confederates, the tide turning in favor of the Union. The South was too weak to prevail in attack, and the enthusiasm was declining rapidly.

9. After the aggression and disloyalty of the southern government to its people, the subjects felt disconnected and against their own government. The government forced on its people new taxes and obligated slaves to build fortifications. Confederate commanders also would burn stores of cotton that would be soon to be in contact with the Northern troops. They also did not like that the government was becoming a centralized one, when the South was a region of states’ rights and locality.

10. Northerners protested the war violently – military police officers were assaulted and attacked. The poor and labor class did not like that the elite and wealthy were exempted/ favored. The people started mobs and raids through neighborhoods to show the rage. This opposition to the war by the ordinary people was due to their mandated drafting into the Union army. However, much of the protest of the war in the North was political propaganda against Lincoln by the Democratic Party to regain power.

11. The Civil War ended with the surrender of Lee to Grant in Virginia on April 18, 1865. The loans and taxes for the Union totaled almost $3 billion and another $2.8 billion in interest on this war debt. The Confederacy also borrowed much money – $2 billion and a lot more in the destruction of property. Lands where battles took place in the South were destroyed and desolated. The Union’s troops had destroyed two-thirds of the South’s railroad systems. In total, the cost of the war was past $20 billion. The casualties in total for both sides was more than 1 million; around 360,000 soldiers died from the Union and another 280,000 were injured but survived. The Confederates lost an estimated 260,000 and about as many were injured. In total, approximately 620,000 died throughout the war. 

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