Essay On The Civil War Blockade

A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include eleven states. The states that remained devoted to the US were known as the Union or the North. The number one question that is never completely understood about the Civil War is what caused the war. There were multiple events that led to the groundbreaking, bloody, and political war.

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.

This plan was never adopted mainly due to Winfield Scott’s lack of planning. His proposal for the blockade was not properly a strategy, despite the fact that it is often referred to by historians as one. It did not estimate the forces that would be needed to guard the 3000 or more miles of coastline in the seceded states.[5] Nor did it consider an allocation of resources, set out a time line, or even name points of particular concern. Due to this lack of planning, Lincoln was extremely skeptical of the plan’s possible success. It was because his doubt of the plan’s success that he chose to battle with the Confederacy in ground campaigns, rather than waiting for a slow strangulation of the Confederacy to occur.

At the beginning of the war the Union thought it would be an easy, quick war. The Union leaders at this time had no actual plan for the war. General Scott saw this and came up with the Anaconda plan. Scott considered the war a strategy game, and would attack and penetrate the enemy 's forces without destroying all of their troops; focusing mainly on victory. At the beginning of the war Scott, unlike others, thought that the war would be over in more than two years. The war ended in four years. The term Anaconda plan came from Northern press trying to explain Scotts plan. Many people thought that Scotts plan was too passive and difficult. The Union’s effort in the civil war increased greatly on April 19, 1861. At this point Abraham Lincoln created a naval blockade, a system of ships that stops all imports and exports, on the Confederate coastline. This blockade stretched from the Rio Grande to the Chesapeake Bay. At this time Lincoln’s argument was that the Confederacy had no right to secede. Creating this blockade allowed the National warships to attack privateers. Privateers are privately owned and run warships. These ships were used to take the Union’s trade ships. Getting rid of the privateers meant that the Union could transport goods easier. Scott 's anaconda plan needed the Union’s army and navy to surround the Confederacy. After encompassing the Confederacy the army and navy would tighten in, and effectively strangle the South. This contained two

The bloodiest war in American history, that’s what most people think when they hear Civil War. Not only was it the bloodiest war, it was a war for a change. This war started off as states’ rights but as the war progressed it soon became a fight to end slavery. The Civil War was indeed a pivotal point in our nation’s history due to African Americans earning the chance to fight the same people who once enslaved and tortured them. What led to African Americans involvement in the fight? How did African Americans impact the outcome of the Civil War?

The American Civil War, the most terrifying and horrific war fought in America. In the 1860 presidential election Republicans were led by Abraham Lincoln who did not support slavery at all. even though he had slaves, he did not like it and he opposed the expansion of slavery in the US territories. The problem was that the seven slave states with cotton-based economics needed their slaves to keep their economy up and running, so they formed the Confederacy. These first 7 states to secede had a 48.8% population of slaves. President James Buchanan and the Republicans rejected secession as illegal. The remaining 8 slave states rejected the call for secession. A peace conference was arranged but failed to find a compromise and both sides prepared for war. The South was very angry with the north because they felt as if they were taking away their state rights, The Southern Position that citizens of every states did have the right to take their property anywhere in the U.S. and not have it taken away. Specifically their slaves. But Northerners rejected this right because it would violate the right of a free state. This did not make the South happy, and for the North taking away their rights and trying to end slavery, the Confederate was formed and this is what started the deadly war.

Although the horrors of the American Civil War and Reconstruction within Indian Territory were fresh. Yet, the presence of Indian Territory changed drastically between 1865 and 1889, because of the “Second Trail of Tears”, the unrest of the Southern Plains tribes of western Indian Territory, and the impact of U.S. Polices on Indian Territory.

Historians have argued inconclusively for years over the prime reason for Confederate defeat in the Civil War. The book Why the North Won the Civil War outlines five of the most agreed upon causes of Southern defeat, each written by a highly esteemed American historian. The author of each essay does acknowledge and discuss the views of the other authors. However, each author also goes on to explain their botheration and disagreement with their opposition. The purpose of this essay is to summarize each of the five arguments presented by Richard N. Current, T. Harry Williams, Norman A. Graebner, David Herbert Donald, and David M. Potter. Each author gives his insight on one of the following five reasons:

The Civil War is the deadliest war in American History. Between 1861 and 1865, over 600,000 brave souls lost their lives at nearly 10,500 battles. By the end of the war, there were nearly 200,000 African-Americans that fought on the side of the North, with 80 percent recruited from slave states (Half Slave and Half Free, 240). Wars are fought over irreconcilable differences. There may not be one specific cause. Directly or indirectly, slavery was intertwined in many of these differences and the physical conflicts that arose between the North and South. The moral versus practical issue of slavery evoked the passion necessary to unify the people to persevere through the great hardships that were to come.

Just like the British during these last two wars, the North had the mastery of the oceans, so the South had to make up for its small Navy by sticking to similar tactics to the ones used against the British. During the Civil war, the South implemented guerre de course, three words that are being mentioned a lot, just like the Navies of the American Revolution and the War of 1812. The Confederate Navy did this pretty well during the war because “despite all the disadvantages under which the Confederate operated, it could challenge larger Union forces remarkable well up until late 1864,” (McPherson p363). The South received Foreign aid as well; secretly, the British suppled the South with ships such as the CSS

On the morning of march 8 1862 the confederate ironclad CSS. Virginia steamed out of its port at Norfolk Virginia and towards the union blockade. The goal of the Virginia’s commander Franklin Buchanan was to break the blockade of Norfolk Harbor which held one of the largest naval bases in the Americas. At about 2 pm she spotted the USS Cumberland. Buchanan ordered the ship to ram the Cumberland with its 1500 pound ram which lodged itself in the cumberlands bow completely shredding it’s hull. The cumberland began to sink rapidly with the virginia still logged in its bow. The Virginia managed to pull herself free but in the process the iron ram broke off and sank. Not knowing this the nearby USS congress a nearby frigate attempted to take the fight to shallow water but in the process ran herself aground. The now helpless congress came under fire from the virginia’s 9 inch guns which ripped the frigate apart. The congress then raised a white flag and the Virginias captain came above deck to accept but a musket ball from shore hit him in the arm. The now angry Captain Buchanan ordered the Virginia to fire anti crew shots at the now barely afloat Congress.

Economically the Union was very strong and greatly outweighed the South. President Lincoln, as the war had begun, quickly declared a blockade, as described earlier, against the main Confederate ports. This was supposed to be under an international treaty, that hadn’t been signed yet, which had created the controversial political issues for Lincoln. Fortunate enough for the Union, when war broke out the United States Navy was small like it’s army, and its ships were scattered around the oceans. Of the American ships that were in surrounding waters, ten were partially destroyed or destroyed to prevent them from going to the Confederates when Virginia seceded. If they did this would have taken the Norfolk naval base with it.

In the middle of the 19th century the United States was engaged in one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of the nation known as the American Civil War. The U.S. was at war with a first time enemy known as the Confederate States of America. The southern states had succeeded from the Union and with the battle of Fort Sumter, the war had begun. Both the Union and the Confederates had one goal in mind, respectively. For the North it was to defeat the rebellious states and bring them back into the Union and for the South it was to achieve recognition as an independent country from abroad. The war lasted four years and resulted in over one million casualties

By all estimation, the American Civil War was considered to be the bloodiest and most gruesome war in American history. There are more US casualties involved in the American Civil War than US casualties in World War I & II, Korean, and Vietnam War combined. Historians have discussed possible causes that led to the greatest separation among the American people. It is important to recognize the true causes behind this separation so that history does not repeat itself. It is important to recognize the true cause behind this separation so that history of a civil war does not repeat itself. It is best to examine and understand one fundamental cause so that appropriate measures can be taken to prevent another repeat of the past. Current research as well as old documents demonstrate that the conflict over the legality of African American slaves is the main cause to such separation. However, many tend to overlook the economic reason that benefited both the northern and southern states. While it is clear that the Southern states benefited more from slavery due to the vastness of uninhabited land, both southern and northern states benefited in one way or another. Therefore, it makes one wonder: To what extent economic motive between the southern and northern states spurred the American civil war? Although causes like slavery, greed, and fear factor into the causes of the American Civil War, the economic motive between the southern and northern states spurred

The Importance of the Blockade Runners in the Civil War Blockade runners enabled the Confederacy to survive for as long as it