Civil War Essay

As a colonel, Davis gained fame and great respect from his men. After Captain W.P Rodgers refused stay in Saltillo as Davis commanded, he had a talk with him instead of demoting or court martialing the young captain.6 Davis also paid a farmer for the corn his men had taken from the farmer’s land stating: “Private rights must and should be respected”. 7

If it was refused he was to force its evacuation. (www.us-civilwar.com/sumter.htm) Anderson received a letter from Gen. Beauregard telling him to evacuate the fort or he will force them out. Anderson refused even though that the lack of supplies would force him to evacuate. He replied to Beauregard that unless he received instructions or supplies from Washington by noon April 15 he would evacuate. (The atlas of the Civil War)

Lincoln inaugural appealed the secessionists in the Southern. Lincoln made promises in defending the rights of the state and also protecting the slaves in states where slavery existed. He clearly put across that, he will defend the Union and the Constitution. In his speech, he pleaded in finding a common ground. His speech appeared conciliatory to the Northerners, however, to the southern people, the speech was reportedly, like the declaration of the start of a war. The next morning after his inauguration, the garrison at Fort Sumter was reported to be forced to surrender unless there was a resupply. The Government of Confederate claimed the fort, and looked for reinforcements as an action of war. Surrendering the fort would have only strengthened the cause of

After this incident Lincoln declared that all of the remaining states in the Union should send their troops to recapture the forts that the Southerners had taken. Most Northerners thought their troops were supreme and they thought that a quick and brutal victory would stop the rebellion. Because of this Lincoln only called for volunteers for 90 days. This made four more states secede, one of them was the conceited state Virgina, and

The April 12 paper included information on the confederates asking Major Anderson to surrender Fort Sumter and strategies for the defense of the fort. In the Times article “The Forts in Charleston Harbor” there is a sense that the union forces have positioned themselves well and the confederates have waited too long allowing the opportunity for reinforcements to arrive if needed at Fort Sumter. This feeling can be seen in the final sentence where it reads: “But be the motive what it may, there is little doubt that they have lost the golden opportunity, and that the Stars and Stripes will continue to wave over the old fort, unless puerile negotiations should allow the Confederate force to prepare

The bloodiest war in American history, led by Abraham Lincoln for the north, and Jefferson Davis for the south, both presidents, but two different sides. Both garner for peace, yet one is willing to start a war, while the other is willing to accept it. This essay will compare and contrast the political, economical, and social outlooks on Lincoln’s and Davis’ Inaugural addresses throughout the civil war between the North and South. Slavery, laws, and state rights drove the South to start a war, and Lincoln received the war with open arms. Both sides wanted peace, but their means of achieving it and their leaders’ choices and beliefs differed greatly while still holding similarities.

Although James McPherson presents Lincoln as having numerous qualities that defined him as a brilliant leader, he wastes no time in revealing what he believes to be Lincoln’s greatest strength. In his Introduction, McPherson states regarding Lincoln’s political leadership: “In a civil war whose origins lay in a political conflict over the future of slavery and a political decision by certain states to secede, policy could never be separated from national strategy…. And neither policy nor national strategy could be separated from military strategy” (McPherson, p.6). Lincoln could not approach the war from a purely martial standpoint—instead, he needed to focus on the issues that caused it. For the catalyst of the war was also the tool for its solution; a war started by differing ideologies could only be resolved through the military application of ideology. This non-objective approach to the waging of the war almost resembles the inspired approach McPherson brings to his examination of Lincoln himself.

2 weeks after Davis was chosen by the Confederate Convention in Montgomery, Alabama to be the new provisional President of the Confederacy. After he was inaugurated his first act was to send a peace commission to Washington DC to prevent armed conflict. Lincoln refused to send his emissaries and decided to send armed ships to Charleston, SC.

Davis had been forced into South Carolina with General Johnston’s surrender to General Sherman. Many of Davis’s advisors grew frustrated. He was treating his evacuation like an adventure picnic, never traveling far from Yorktown, South Carolina. Davis seemed not to understand the danger he was in. “[T]wo days after… [leaving Charlotte we] reached Yorkville, South Carolina, treading slowly and not at all like men escaping from the country.” (Swanson 243) Davis had reason to panic, now that John Wilkes Booth had been found and murdered, he was the most wanted man in the country. All union and slave eyes would be on the lookout for the president of the confederacy, eager for revenge. In addition to those searching out of want of revenge and justice, hoards of greedy opportunists believing a rumor that Davis was traveling with millions in gold joined the hunt. This rumor was not entirely baseless. Davis’s traveling caravan included the contents of a portion of the Confederate treasury and the contents of the vaults of the Richmond banks. Davis did not see these funds as his own and refused to use any of

In late June 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia passed through western Maryland and invaded Pennsylvania. General Lee believed that by invading the North, he could draw the Union Army of the Potomac away from their defenses and force them to come after him. He also assumed the people of the North would be so demoralized if the Union were to lose another major battle, especially if it was fought on Northern soil, that President Abraham Lincoln would be forced to negotiate a settlement of the Civil War. On 01 July 1863, then Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, and his 20th Maine received word to begin movement to

General Grant greatly exercised the principle of accepting prudent risk as the Union Commander of Cold Harbor. An example is every time he was gave an order he always acknowledge the advancement of where General Lee’s Army could defeat his Army. He also accepted the loss of his troop and remain intact and push forward. Grant estimated his casualties at 20,000. He said Lee's army was "very shaky," and that it entrenched at every opportunity in order to protect itself. He closed with a flourish, soon to be splashed across the front pages of Northern newspapers in large headlines: "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.”4 Going into fight General Grant knew would be challenging going against Lee and the Confederates and

On February 18, 1861, the provisional Congress of the Confederate States made him provisional president. He was elected to the office by popular vote the same year for a 6-year term and was inaugurated in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, on February 22, 1862. Davis failed to raise sufficient money to fight the American Civil War and could not obtain recognition and help for the Confederacy from foreign governments. He was in constant conflict with extreme exponents of the doctrine of states' rights, and his attempts to have high military officers appointed by the president were opposed by the governors of the states. The judges of state courts constantly interfered in military matters through judicial decisions. Davis was nevertheless responsible for the raising of the formidable Confederate armies, the notable appointment of General Robert E. Lee as commander of the Army of Virginia, and the encouragement of industrial enterprise throughout the South. His zeal, energy, and faith in the cause of the South were a source of much of the tenacity with which the Confederacy fought the Civil War. Even in 1865 Davis still hoped the South would be able to

He knew that the Federal forces (union) held more than a modest advantage in terms of men and supplies. This in mind, Grant directed Sherman to turn around now and start heading back toward Virginia. He started making preparations to provide assistance to Sherman on the journey. General John M.

In 1861, the American Civil War commenced after many years of tension building between the Northern and Southern states. The main reason of the tension was said to be the debate of slavery between the North and South, and although some documents support this claim, it is false. The war had been brewing since 1607, before slavery was even introduced to the colonies that would become the United States of America. The debate of slavery did play a major part in the civil war; however it did so in supporting the true cause of the civil war. The main cause of the American Civil War was not the debate of slavery, but rather Europe’s role in the American economy.

On the night of March 28, Lincoln read aloud a letter that he had received from General Scott, which stated Scott’s belief that both Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens should be surrendered. Montgomery Blair, the only member of the cabinet who supported the reinforcement of Fort Sumter, then said, “Mr. President, you can now