Why the North won and the Effects of the War

The Northerners were enhanced by their greater technological aptitude, massive population, and generous resources. The Union also had the advantage of having great military leaders like Grant and Sherman. They were strong leaders who were not familiar with fear. Lincoln always had the nation’s best interest. He did his best in maintaining the nation together.He was a determinate president who made fateful steps to change the Nation’s future. The act of Lincoln’s enthusiasm of sustaining the northern spirits of thousands african americans in the north and south helped cripple the war to a resolution.

The south was poor in every ascot of the war. They had miserable conditions concerning their supplies and troops. Since their failure to create an alliance with Europe and the northern military superiority the South had a determined fate.

When the war was finally over, the Americans had lasting effects. More than 60,000 Americans were dead and more than thousands were injured. The Civil War was part of a modern warfare. Mathew Brady created an exhibition, “The Dead at Antietam” with many pictures of the harsh and crude reality of the war. The effects of the war are in the economy, society, government and politics.

The war created disunity in the american political life. Because of all the secessions the regions tangled with social, economic, and political life of the nation. The government had so many debates over states’ rights. The federal government reinforced the reality that Americans need to start seeing themselves as a united nation  not just as citizens. The fighting created a lot of economic greed, but then in 1865 northerern factories, banks, cities helped the United states arrive as a global economic power. The americans had to work extra hard to rebuild the south, it was a miserable and slow process. Atlanta and Richmond were in ruins. The south was striving to regain the economic footing after the war. Agriculture persisted to be the main economic help. The North blamed their slow recovery to Sherman’s destruction of the southerners valuables. Their landscape was chaos. The confederate soldier’s homes and farms were demolished. Their loss of the war had wrecked all their beliefs. The south mourned and felt they were being punished. Many southerners viewed the civil war as a noble cause. The had faith that the south would redeem. The african americans were hopeful and excited to venture a new life style  with control over their lives. When the reconstruction started the african americans were still treated wrongly but getting paid.

American’s lives are shifting drastically and this war has shaped them to more tolerant beings. I admire how they keep moving forward. Its sad to see how the South has to start from zero and work its way up. They are in such debt and even though they are a nation now they still have to suffer by themselves and rebuild their land again. I have faith in the south! They will rise above this.

How the North Won the Civil War. Youtube.com. Smithsonian Channel, 14 Oct. 2013.
Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfZZzBMN2aQ&gt;.

Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln’s Assassination

The Confederates were on their last leg, making one final attempt to take Petersburg. They failed! Lee ordered his army to leave Petersburg on April 2nd. This act left Richmond defenseless leading to is evacuation and being set ablaze. Lee wanted to join the Confederate forces in North Carolina so he set his men out to march leaving them vulnerable to constant harassment by the Union and a lack food. Ultimately, Lee and his starving men were trapped in Appomattox, Virginia. On April 9th, Lee officially surrendered to General Grant of the Union Army, but this did not formally end the war. The South still had 170,000 soldiers and it took approximately 2 more months for all posts to be surrendered to the Union. At that time, African Americans rejoiced at the news that the surrenders where complete!

What a sad day!!!!! President Lincoln was assassinated by a radical Confederate supporter named John Wilkes Booth. Booth went into Ford Theater while Lincoln was watching a play and shot Lincoln in the back of head and screamed “thus ever to tyrants! and the south is avenged.” Lincoln unfortunately passed away the next day from his mortal wound. Booth was a very wanted man…people wanted him dead or alive for what he did to poor old Lincoln. After a few days, the people’s wish came true and he was murdered while hiding in a barn in Virginia. What a lunatic he was!!! He had not only set up a plan to kill Lincoln but wanted the Vice President and the Secretary of State killed as well. Booth wanted to cause disorder, terror, confusion, and dismay the North. He intended to reassemble the South and pursue the war. How could Southerners see this madman, Booth, as a representation of freedom and a hero?!?!?

Once you think the worse is over… Life manages to surprises you. These Americans are just a blaspheme. They kill each other and then are praised. What ninny creatures!! Fools. This culture is doomed with fools! Lincoln will be missed, and because of this bonehead Booth, the nation will suffer… Now.. I do believe things happen for a reason, but, i will just have to stay patient. This is not my country. But! This is our world! We must stop killing each other and remember how we are all one. Oh mon dieu!

Staff, History.com. “Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination.” History.com. A+E
Networks, 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/
abraham-lincoln-assassination>.

Sherman’s March and the 13th Amendment

William Tecumseh Sherman was the General of the Union. He was the man responsible for the implementation of the total war military strategy. Total war called on Northerners to be brutal and destructive, going through towns and destroying anything of value. This strategy was catastrophic for Atlanta and the strategy worked. It lowered Southern morale, made it very difficult for the Confederacy to do its best in the war, and made a quicker end to the war more likely.  In 1864, Sherman the Brute, as he was called by the Southerners, sent 60,000 troops from Tennessee to capture the port of Savannah in Georgia. On their march, they set out to loot and destroy anything with value. Sherman’s army did barbarous things including destroying buildings, homes, and railroad tracks. Ultimately they burned down the city of Atlanta before making their way to Savannah and capturing it in late December.

I feel that this total war strategy is very immoral and barbaric and there is no way that the North’s actions are justified. I am disappointed in Lincoln’s approval to proceed with this strategy while he is supposedly defending the Unites States by destroying parts of it. When the war is over which is happening, Lincoln will win and he will have to rebuild what his army has dismantled which makes more debt and less time to move forward and rebuild the Nation.

13th Amendment: In 1865, the U.S. Congress proposed a 13th amendment to the Constitution which called for the abolishment of slavery. This amendment was supported by Lincoln and a majority of the North while the South and the Confederate Peace Delegation could not envision a future without slavery. The meeting did not go as well as planned, but Lincoln was hopeful of an eventual victory. Lincoln’s main focus was to bring the Confederacy back into the Union. Many of the Northerners wanted to punish the Southerners brutally. Lincoln wanted to solve things differently. His main goal was to unite the North and the South putting behind them their differences and working towards a peaceful and united nation.

I am very proud of Lincoln’s decision, even though many of his supporters think that the South should be punished, he takes a more logical approach  and does not want to justify his actions with malice. Its seems that the war is over and Americans are finally coming to their senses that its not that bad to live here after all.

Sherman’s March

“Civil War for Kids: Sherman’s March to the Sea.” Ducksters. Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI), Feb. 2015. Thursday. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.ducksters.com/history/shermans_march_to_the_sea.php&gt;.

Battle of Gettysburg

The battle of Gettysburg and Vicksburg murdered the confederacy’s course in the civil war.

The battle of Vicksburg’s main focal point was to gain control over the Mississippi river and dividing the South in Half, with the Anaconda plan. The confederates maintained control over the Port Hudson, Louisiana, and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Abraham Lincoln announced that if they won over Vicksburg the war would be theirs to win. The Union General Grant implemented with all his might to achieve the task of gaining Vicksburg. But, the troubles were the defensive Confederates who shoot anyone who goes near the western edge. Grant created a military tactic to keep Vicksburg under siege. The defenders of Vicksburg were weakening because of the lack of supplies, they were hopeless, and finally they surrendered. Port Hudson also surrendered to the Union. The Confederacy split in two.

The battle of Gettysburg lasted three days. General Robert E. Lee invaded the North, specifically in a town called Gettysburg, to steal shoes for the Confederate’s uniform. July 1, some of the General John Buford’s military soldiers saw the confederates, so they started calling for reinforcements. The battle’s first day was successful for the confederates, they pushed the union into a higher ground to the south. The next day General Lee prepared his soldiers to divide themselves up in two so they could attack the northern part of General Meade defenses during General Longstreet aggression the southern end of the Cemetery Ridge. The union soldiers observed how there was a vulnerable position on Little Round Top. The Confederate’s raced to meet  the union soldiers, and a Maine unit of Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain who’s army was being attacked by the confederates. Soon the confederate’s ammunitions were finished and left them to surrender. The Union was still at its best. The next sunrise, day three General Lee aimed to destroy the center of the union;s line. The confederate soldiers used a cannon to break up the union defenses. The Union slaughtered the confederate soldiers with a riffle and a cannon fire. General Lee flied the invasion and took his hurt army to Virginia. The south swore they would never fight in Union soil again.

Casualties: Confederacy: 28,000 wounded/missing. Union: 23,000 wounded/missing.

“150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.” Korsgaardscommentary. Sean CW
Korsgaard, 3 July 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.korsgaardscommentary.com/2013/07/
150th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-gettysburg.html>.

The Confederate’s are full of expectations and confidence. I admire the enthusiasm but they are hurting more soldiers than necessary. I am beginning to pity the south more than ever. The South’s biggest advantage was how this war is supposedly to be fought in their soil. If they fight in an unknown territory they will get massacred because they don’t have more soldiers or ammunitions that the North! I sometimes get so frustrated with the South’s reasoning. Robert E. Lee can’t rely on just his gut, he has to be logical.

Women in the War

Women and the War: The female roles were beginning to have a public life with new opportunities. The civil war practically forced women to participate in the responsibilities that the men assume. If women refused to help out they would have severe punishments. Women new jobs were based on farm work, plantations, family businesses, and introduced themselves to professions that were antecedent for men only.

Many women risked a their lives by working as spies or going incognito as men and marched into battle. After a while it was normal to see women doing the cooking and laundry in the camps to join their men.

Women had to organize more than one thousand soldiers aid societies, get the rolled bandages for the hospitals, and raise money for the injured. Since men were gone, the women were the heads of the household. For the first time they were worked as school teachers. When the casualties of wounded soldiers arose to a scary number, women were permitted to work in the military hospitals.

Women’s military role in the civil war was as a nurse. Clara Barton, 1861,  she traveled with the Union’s army ambulances and aided the sick and wounded of the South and North. Abraham Lincoln gave official permission to women to supervise hospitals and the sanitation in the military installations. Women had a lasting effect on the civil war because they created a systematic program of federal responsibility for the public health.

Heppner, Caroline, and Evie Unsworth. “Women in the War.” Women’s Involvement in 
the American Revolution. N.p., 2012. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
<http://83729452.weebly.com/womens-future-involvement-in-war.html&gt;.

I believe women were underestimated. They have been overlooked and categorized as the weaker sex. They are very brave and capable of doing so much more than sitting in a parlor dressed everyday like if they were going to a ball. America is now revolutionizing. I see so much improvement. My wife, Yurilyn would enjoy seeing the beginning of something new and beautifully growing to be bigger and bigger by the day. Women will raise and be powerful! I enjoy seeing this progress in the United States Of America.

54 massachusetts regiment

The 54 Massachusetts regiment was one of the first black system enlisted in the North. John A. Andrew, an abolitionist governor of Massachusetts promoted the development of the all black 54th Massachusetts Regiment.  He believed they had leadership and great spirits. 180,00 African Americans stepped forward to fight for the Union’s military.

1863: African Americans encountered a lot of prejudice. They had degrading jobs in the field, as in cooking, cleaning, digging latrines, and having the most dangerous battle positions. 70,000 were massacred.

While some Southerners abandoned their plantations for safe reasons the slaves were in charge and they had to administrate the farms. Some of the slaves in the south served secretly as spies or scouts, and were also producing food for the Union.

Occasionally unchained slaves formed their own military units. They began to mold their civilian lives. Many slaves insisted on getting a pay for all the work. If they didn’t they would run away from their owners and go to The north or West. Lincoln had a lot of promised freedom.

I heard was how black soldiers were paid 3$ more than the white soldiers. But it took three years for equal pay. Things are starting to change… I feel hopeful and anxious. Why can’t time pass quicker! These days are so gloomy but thrilling. I see progress, but not enough. I have faith in Lincoln’s ideas.

Antill, Marwan. “The 54th Massachusetts Regiment.” Youtube.com. N.p., 24 Feb.
2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=XALey2P5UHo>.

Facing the war as a soldier

Life of a Soldier: Adventure… Danger… Pride…. Hardships…. The soldiers of the civil war were inside a new world. The common recruited  soldiers were from the same town. It was normal for them to be homesick or bored. To feel less dull they organized songs, played tricks, made funny speeches, wrote letters, and attended religious revivals. It was extremely difficult for the soldiers because some fought with their brothers on different sides. The “enemy” was not really treated as one, they recognized each other and greeted.

I have heard of the dreadful new technology that is popular for the civil war. France made better weapons and now these powerful guns create vast damage. The treatment for wounds is amputation of limbs. Disease and malnutrition wiped out the soldiers. The poor manners of sanitation and drinking water created an epidemic. Diseases killed more than these wicked weapons. One in every soldier killed in battle, two died of diseases.

When a soldier was captured during a battle, they were kept in a prison camp. African American soldiers were killed immediately.The most scandalous camp was the open-pen prison camp, 33,000 union prisoners were huddled into their jail. More than 12,000 white union soldier prisoners died of starvation and illnesses.

“The Common Civil War Soldier.” Civil War Trust. Ed. Jim Campi et al. N.p., n.d.
Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://www.civilwar.org/education/teachers/
lesson-plans/the-common-civil-war-soldier-lesson-plan/
using-a-civil-war-living.html>.

The north and the south’s home front

Troubles on the northern and southern home front:

This war brought so many hardships to the Union and the Confederacy.

The war experienced deep and lasting modifications that introduced the North into the modern world.The largest funds for war came from the sale of government bonds: it meant that for the purchased price the people would receive a document written to pay the holder a greater amount of money at a scheduled date. Billions of dollars worth of bonds to banks and civilians were sold by the Union. If you bought bonds you were considered a patriot. The congress created a paper money called “greenbacks,” This was the first time the United State had a universal currency. Extensive changes of using the public areas in the west happened. So the Homestead Act made that western area available at an inexpensive price to farm on it.

Coal and iron production, the merchant ships, the traffic on the rail roads, and the erie canal reached their finest levels. They were ahead of the game. Union manufactures’s companies doubled and tripled their allowance. Northerners spoiled themselves with silk clothing, jewelry, and carriages. These luxuries vanished due to inflation. Companies made record profits, and salaries rose only half as fast as prices. The need of paying for the supplies of the military was a difficult test. The income tax and tariffs increased to help the northerners industrial companies raise the cost of imported goods. A new law passed, called the draft or the conscription. It stated that everyone from ages 25-45 were obligated to serve for the military. The rich could pay 300$ for replacement, this caused resentment and led to riots. In violet revolts many angry men damaged factories for war supplies and attacked the african americans. It angers me to read all this racism towards people who are at peace and have nothing to do with it! Ugh, what ignorants! A group of people in a political party called themselves “peace democrats” and were in opposition to President Lincoln’s way of managing the war and ordered an end to the battles. When Lincoln heard of these rebels he suspended the constitutional right of habeas corpus. He passed the law to protect people from being held in jail without having been charge with a specific crime. The military was given the power by the president to arrest people who were disloyal to the Union.

The Southerners suffered physical and social that chased them for decades. Most of the South’s money was infused in land and more than three million slaves. The work of three million slaves was based on bringing forth the market crops like tobacco, sugar, and cotton. The worth of these crops fell and Jefferson was only left with a little source of money to administrate the confederacy military efforts. A lot of plagues, shortages of everything. The soldiers needed warm clothes. Getting the appropriate clothing was difficult for the south because of the northern blockade, so Davis encouraged to the soldiers to seize the Union’s supplies, including shoes, boots, food, weapons, and medicine. The south couldn’t import anything from abroad because the blockade was 80% effective, the south was compelled to survive on their factories and farms. The British helped the south by providing shipyards to build blockade runners. The confederate’s money wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on because they printed to many bills. The food was getting more expensive by the month and many food riots occurred in Mobile, Atlanta, and Richmond. Inflation in the south had their prices risen by 9000%. Everything in the south was very tense. The unity of the southerners was weakened because their president, Jefferson Davis, was a stubborn man. Many states refused sending soldiers outside from their borders. Southerners were angry and lost their faith in Jefferson. They called for his wrongdoings. The Confederacy faced so many hardships and lacked hopes that there were rumors of Georgia seceding from the confederacy.

TerraAmericanArt. “Home Front: Daily Life in the Civil War North.”
Youtube.com. N.p., 31 July 2014. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HaWVXumg5w&gt;.

Battle of Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation

The Confederacy needs help…particularly from the British and the French!! With their help, the Confederacy will be able to preserve their southern culture (i.e. keep slavery in the South). Robert E. Lee thought he had the ultimate plan to achieve his goals of preserving the South but he was careless and left his military strategy fall into the hands of the North.

With the South’s plans in their hands, the North was able to attack the South. And so started the Battle of Antietam!! The North attacked in three phases. More than 23,000 soldiers were dead or wounded by battles end. The Battle of Antietam will be know as the bloodiest single day of the Civil War. Surprisingly the North suffered more casualties than the South, yet they came out the winners. This made it difficult for Abraham Lincoln to avoid the slavery issue any longer. He took this opportunity to make the war about ending slavery…and he did!!! On September 22, 1862, Lincoln officially announced the Emancipation Proclamation. It started out as a military decree stating that all slaves were free except for those residing in the border states. This is a huge turning point in the war! Many African Americans in the North are joining the fight alongside the Union Army in order to someday get their freedom.

A lot of progress has been made in the Union states. Abraham Lincoln has left me in good spirits. I feel that they are close to freeing the slaves. I am so sorry to witness so many hardships and deaths. This must be the toughest years for America. What a country….. I wish them luck, for all I know, they need it!

BOOK USED: “Antietam, Battle of ” Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social and Military History. N.p.:  Print. Ed. David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2000. Print.

Image used : History.com Staff. “Battle of Antietam.” Cartoon. History.com. A+E Networks,
2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/
american-civil-war/battle-of-antietam>.

Battle of Bull Run

21 July 1861.

The battle of Bull Run was conceived in Virginia. Two armies met at a creek near Manses, Virginia: called Bull Run. When the battle started the union had 30,000 troops, and they gained the upper hand. The Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson sent the Union troops running back to Washington. The south created a nick name for their hero Stonewall Jackson because he would not yield to the union army. Lincoln made arrangements and changed the leader McDowell to General George B. McClellan, he also called for more soldiers. This battle shocked the people who wished for the war to end soon. The people were not ready for the carnage modern warfare.

From the moment my neighbors cried that they thought the northerners would have had an easy victory. I pity the soldiers who have the illusion of getting of the war “by christmas.” Everyone involved the war is believing fake promises granted by the government, they only want more troops.

Image used: “Battle of Bull Run” [“America’s Wars”]. History Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb.
2015. <http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/
showthread.php?t=104157&page=8>. NationbyNation.com

BOOK USED:  “Bull Run, First Battle of.” Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Ed. David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2000. Print.