Civil War Notes

Civil War Notes

By Madison Nef

In the time that was lodged in between the war and the secession, the US and the Confederacy both “fought” for the support (and control over) the eight remaining slave states in the Union. While the president at the time (James Buchanan) wanted to appease everyone, INCLUDING the slaveholders through many different deals and empty compromises, Republicans grounded themselves and would not change their outlook. They wanted a complete ban on slavery.

Buchanan didn’t see the secession for what it was, and intended to continue enforcing laws; stating so. He suggested that a correction be made in the constitution in its laws that would protect slavery and abolish the ‘personal liberty’ laws of the North. Said laws were very important to the North, as they were the northern states’ response and rebellion to slavery. Buchanan even went as far as to suggest trying to take over Cuba and use it as a slave state in its own right.

If you think Buchanan’s offer was generous, just wait until you hear this. Often regarded as one of the most famous compromises regarding territorial rights in history, Senator John Crittenden from Kentucky sided with the South (in case you’ve forgotten; the slaveholders). He went as far as to fight for slave-holding rights to be legal in all territories below 36-30 degrees. Republicans fought viciously to keep this bill from passing and won twice, and since both sides were so disagreeable; the thought of a compromise was pushed aside.

Lincoln had been treading very lightly around this issue even before his election. He was silent as he succeeded Buchanan in 1861; believing that the south would work itself out and that Unionists would deal with the problem and whip the south into shape. The way he had things set up for himself, any fighting would be automatically dropped on the head of the Confederates and he wouldn’t have to deal with it. He believed that the Fed government would run and govern the entire country; including the south… stating that he “would not use force, but would enforce the laws”.

But let’s get to the point of what my lecture was about, shall we? This lecture’s center point was the story of Fort Sumter; which was located in the Charleston Harbor. Now, this fort was the source of the crisis that sprung forth, mainly for where it stood. Those in the North saw it as US property since it was the US that installed it, and wanted it claimed as their own. On the other hand; Confederates complained that is was on South Carolina soil and was therefore rightfully the South’s.

Lincoln made a poor decision to restock the fort in April of 1861, when this debate was not yet settled… and it drew forth an extremely aggressive response from Davis and his government. Davis’ troops shot at and captured the fort quite easily, which led Lincoln to call in over 75,000 volunteers to give their lives over and fight this surprising rebellion. This nightmarish chain reaction led to Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee joining the Confederate side.

Let’s do a recap… since this is what essentially led up to the start of the war.

It all began when Lincoln thought it would be a WONDERFUL idea to re-equip the fort with an un-armed vessel. Buchanan had attempted to do this during his presidency, but had failed. Since then, Fort Sumter had become a beacon for both the Union AND the Confederacy.

On March 5^th of 1861, Lincoln made a SERIOUSLY bad decision. The commanding officer at Sumter had sent Lincoln a message letting him know that he was running out of provisions. When Lincoln decided to restock the fort, he went against the advice- and general opinion- of many of the people who advised him, including William Seward and General Winfield Scott. Despite this, Lincoln still believed that the northerners wanted to hold onto the fort (which wasn’t entirely wrong).

Upon finding this out, Davis’ government replied with a bombardment and attacking the fort viciously. While it may have seemed that Davis had the upper hand in all of this, all is not as it seemed… Davis had faced a choice of many bad decisions to begin with. He didn’t particularly want to be viewed as the bad guy in any of the commotion taking place, so he tried to ask the fort to surrender. However; this failed and the popular opinion of the Confederacy was to sack and overtake the fort… and on April 15, Davis could no longer withhold the army and they rampaged the fort for over 36 hours.

News of this rebellion spread like wildfire during that time, sparking many different (and clashing) opinions in both the north and south. Finally, Lincoln called in 75,000 volunteers to end the rebellion.

It was because of this call that the upper south withdrew from the Union. After everything that had gone on, 4 of the upper states (all are mentioned above) decided that they would rather secede and join the Confederacy than force their own people to go out and fight against a cause they seemed to support. The public opinion about the secession had been rather garbled in these states to begin with, but the call for help from Lincoln was enough to turn all against him.

The secession of these states made it considerably harder to reunite the Union… now, 11 states had sided with the Confederacy and the future seemed rather bleak.  The four states that left the Union were now supplying MANY more soldiers- good soldiers- to the Confederacy, and it also contained most of the important industrial and agricultural resources. To signify the importance of Virginia, the capital of these states was moved from Montgomery to Richmond VA- where over 40% of the South’s manufacturing took place.

As this lecture came to a close, I couldn’t help but wonder what would come next. This chapter in history really captured my attention… but the rest is for next time.

~Maddie