Essay On A Confederate Divided

Abraham Lincoln once stated “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln is a hero for the citizens of America because his determination and courage to ending slavery even if it meant war caused peace in this nation. Slavery was the vital cause of the American Civil War. The north and the south both had their differences on how to run the country. People in the North believed in unity and that slavery should not exist because “all men are created equally.” On the other hand, the South believed in continuing slavery. People tried to talk it out and come to a middle ground after both sides compromising, however that didn’t work and caused war. Ideological differences were a vital role to making the American Civil War an inevitable event.

When the American Civil War began in the spring of 1861, those flocking to enlistment stations in states both north and south chiefly defined their cause as one of preservation. From Maine to Minnesota, young men joined up to preserve the Union. From Virginia to Texas, their future foes on the battlefield enlisted to preserve a social order, a social order at its core built on the institution of slavery and racial superiority . Secession had not been framed by prominent Southerners like Robert Toombs as a defensive measure to retain the fruits of the revolution against King George, a fight against those who sought to “intrique insurrection with all its nameless horrors.” (Toombs Speech) On January 1, 1863, when Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect the war became a revolution. The Union, the soldiers in blue fought to preserve could no longer exist. On every mile of soil, they would return to the Stars and Stripes from that moment on, the fabric of society would be irrevocably changed. In May of 1865, with the abolition of slavery engrained into the Constitution with the passage of the 13th Amendment, the Confederate armies of Lee and Johnston disbanded, and Lincoln dead of an assassin’s bullet; this change was the only certainty the torn fabric of the newly reunited states was left to be resown. Andrew Johnson and Southern Democrats believed the revolution of 1863 had gone far enough. Radical Republicans and African-Americans sought instead to bring it to

In Nicholas Lemann’s story Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, it shows a theme of leadership through the main character of the story, and Adelbert Ames effectively demonstrates the required traits of a main character and a leader. The book focused on a lot of events that happened in the Reconstruction era. It tells about both the political characteristics and the social characteristics that are unraveled throughout the reformation of the South and giving the African Americans the right to vote along with other political freedoms. Throughout the story, Adelbert Ames successfully demonstrates the qualities of a great protagonist and a leader. Adelbert Ames shows the theme of leadership and how his change in his ambition and morality would make him a better leader in his life.

The romanticized version of the Civil War creates a picture of the North versus the South with the North imposing on the South. However, after reading “The Making of a Confederate” by William L. Barney, one can see that subdivisions existed before the war was declared. The documents analyzed by Barney primarily focus on the experiences of Walter Lenoir, a southern confederate and a member of the planter elite. His experiences tell a vivid story of a passionate and strongly opinioned participant of the Civil War as well as demonstrate a noticeably different view involving his reasoning when choosing a side. Between analyzing this fantastic piece of literature and other resourceful documents from “Voices of Freedom” by Eric Foner, one

Throughout the Civil War, there is a constant reference to states. The obvious answer is that this represented the composition of the armies at that time. It also demonstrates that each military unit carrying that state representation formed a shared identity among the soldiers. The Confederate and Union armies both suffered from failures of leadership. These failures put strain on the rank and file soldiers to which they turned to their state identity, to their fellow soldiers from the same state, to maintain the rationale for their personal sacrifice and remember why they were in the war at all.

William Thomas was 36 and the owner of a plantation in Virginia near Norfolk. He had a wife, two daughters, and a son who he intended to pass the plantation on to just as he father had to him. Following the events of Fort Sumter, he elected to join the Confederate army to defend against what he saw as the Union’s invasion.

Months prior to the battle, the Confederate Army dealt a blow to the Union Army at the battle of Chancellorsville was in May 1863. At the battle of Chancellorsville Major General Joseph Hooker, who commanded the Army of the Potomac, lay in defeat by a smaller force under the command of General Robert E. Lee. The Army of the Northern Virginia had sent the Union forces retreating inflicting over 15,000 casualties. In mid June 1863, General Lee moved his army across the Potomac River for the second invasion of the North. On June 28th, General George Meade took command of the Union forces. On June 29th, the newly appointed Commander ordered his army to pursue General Lee. They would later meet at Gettysburg.

“See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket” (Korn, 1985, p. 17). This quotation from the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, demonstrates how vital the city of Vicksburg was to the survival of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The city, which is located on the Mississippi River on the western border of Mississippi, was under Confederate control for over two years of the war, when it was surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and his Union forces on July 4, 1863 after a successful siege. Many consider the Union takeover of Vicksburg, combined with the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, which concluded just one day before, as the turning point of the war in favor of the United States.

As the first major battle of the Civil War the First Battle of Bull Run was an end to the illusions of a quick war and instead was a first glimpse of into the long and bloody four-year struggle the Civil War would become. In this paper the battle and its many repercussions across the political, social and military spectrum of the Union and Confederacy will be explored.

"Don't kneel to me. You must kneel to God only, and thank him for the liberty you will enjoy hereafter" (Brinkley 414). President Abraham Lincoln spoke these words to a former slave that kneeled before him while walking the streets of the abandoned Confederate capitol of Richmond in 1865. Although there are several different questions of why the North won the Civil War, factors involving manpower, economy, military tactics and leadership, and presidential leadership, are all parts of a puzzle historians have tried to put together for years. I believe that these four factors should prove to be the most powerful reasons for the Union's destruction of the Confederate States of America. The presidential leadership of Lincoln will be

Three years after the attack on Fort Sumter, one of the most controversial battles of the American Civil War was fought in West Tennessee. The battle at Fort Pillow, located near the Mississippi River about 50 miles north of Memphis, was a bloody slaughter of a mixed Union garrison. The garrison was comprised of 557 men total, about half of those men were African American 's in the 6th U.S. Regiment Colored Heavy Artillery, and the 2nd Colored Light Artillery, commanded by Major Lionel F. Booth. The other half was made up of white soldiers from the 14th Tennessee Cavalry, a Federal regiment, lead by Major William F. Bradford.The fort became engulfed by Confederate personal resulting into a tactical stalemate. However, when giving chance to

The Civil war was one of the biggest turning points in United States history. The nation’s failure to compromise on the subject of slavery led to an outbreak of war. Battles such as Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Shiloh led to what we know of today as a free nation. Great technological advancements in weaponry led to mass casualties among both north and south, often making death inevitable. Those who bravely served and those who were forced to serve lived a life of fear, starvation, and commitment to battle. Brethren killed each other for the sake of southern slaves. Not only did the soldiers have it rough, but the civilian population suffered hardships as well. Lack of everyday goods made it nearly impossible just to carry on with life. This turning point, the American Civil War, tore apart and further solidified us to the point of where we are today.

On September 27th 1864, Union forces, under the command of Brigadier General Alexander Asboth raided the small town of Marianna, FL. The battle will be virtually unknown in the history of the Civil War, but its success marked the longest successful incursion of Union troops into Florida (Cox, 2014). This raid had two goals; the first was to rescue the reported Union prisoners and the second was to liberate and enlist any slaves that were found along the route (Calvin, 2014). The prisoners were not located, but more than 600 slaves were liberated along their route (Cox, 2014). The subsequent battle did not last long, with minimal losses on both sides, but led to the decline of the Confederate stronghold in Jackson County.

Thesis: Despite the Confederate momentum going into Antietam, the battle would be the overall turning point of the Civil War.

It was a group of radical Republicans and southern Democrats in 1865 that set the tone for one of the most infamous and earlier gridlock stories in Congress. After the assignation of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson became president and the dispute incurred over how to fix the country. The Civil War had left the country with insurmountable damage and Congress could not agree on how to rectify the situation. Northern Republicans wanted to open voting rights to former slaves, which is exactly what the southern Democrats did not want. These Republicans, wanting to get more votes, passed two voting right pieces of legislation, which Johnson vetoes. Thus begins not only gridlock in Congress, but also attempted impeachment of Andrew Jackson. Gridlock is brought about by valid and meaningful pieces of legislations that both major political parties cannot agree to instate and while Congress may not agree to pass it, most often it is the citizens that suffer. (Browning)