Fort Sumter Essay

The Civil War that took place in the United States from 1861 to 1865 could have easily swung either way at several points during the conflict. There is however several reasons that the North would emerge victorious from this bloody war that pit brother against brother. Some of the main contributing factors are superior industrial capabilities, more efficient logistical support, greater naval power, and a largely lopsided population in favor of the Union. Also one of the advantages the Union had was that of an experienced government, an advantage that very well might have been one of the greatest contributing factors to their success. There are many reasons factors that lead to the North's victory, and each of these elements in and

By 1864 the Union troops were closing in on the Confederacy. Major ports and cities had been taken over. North Carolina and the port at Wilmington were becoming major targets for the Union army and in November, 1864 a plan was put into place to move Union troops for the first assault on Fort Fisher. In a letter written by Richard Delafield, general and chief engineer for the U.S. Army, Delafield discusses the plan for the destruction and the capture of Fort Fisher and Fort Caswell. Fort Caswell was located on Oak Island, south of Fort Fisher, but also protecting the entrance to the Cape Fear River. Delafield’s letter details the strategy for the destruction of Fort Fisher:

In order to look into the lives of the U.S. citizens during the Civil War I decided to look into the first week from April 12, 1861 to April 18, 1861 of the New York Times. I looked into this week of articles to see how the New York Times covered the outbreak of the war and the people’s response to it. Some of the main war events covered were: call for Union to relinquish command of Fort Sumter and first shots of the war, reaction to the surrender of Fort Sumter, Lincoln’s Proclamation to add seventy-five thousand volunteers to the war efforts, possible attacks on Fort Pickens, and the Confederate reaction to Lincoln’s Proclamation. During this week, the north was obviously nervous and scared yet felt they would win as well as confused as to why the war was happening at all.

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

During the American Civil War, leadership within the Union’s army was constantly an issue. Within the Union, various generals were found at times to be at odds with the political leaders in Washington. This was especially evident in the relationship between General George McClellan and President Lincoln. This tension was the result of McClellan’s approach to waging war. By examining the differing approaches to waging war of U.S. Grant and George B. McClellan one can gain a better appreciation for the decision making that was necessary by leaders like Lincoln, in selecting military

Fort Monroe, Virginia, has been a major post of the U.S. Army for over 166 years. Fort Monroe is the largest stone fortication in the United States, moated and covering sixty-three acres and cost nearly two million dollars. It was the crown jewel of America’s defense and was built at a great expense following the British invasion during the War of 1812 and named after President James Monroe. Fort Monroe was a vital piece in America’s defense and history.

Often, when one feels as though they have a better chance at succeeding than their opponent, the odds will flip, and that person will find that what they thought would be an easy win takes much more of an effort. In the American Civil War, the North went into battle with this mindset, later realizing that in order to keep the Union alive, they would have to put forth much more exertion than initially suspected. The Civil War began as a result of president Abraham Lincoln’s election, which then led to eleven Southern states seceding from the Union. Many Southern states were unsettled by Republican Lincoln’s plans for the future, fearing that they would lose the major institution that they depended so heavily on: slavery. The Confederates, feeling quite disgruntled with their unfavorable situation, fired first at Fort Sumter, North Carolina on April 12, 1861. The North was certain that this war would easily and quickly lead them to victory, due to their advantages in population, transportation, and industrial goods. Many Americans, both today and during the time the Civil War was commencing, also suspected that the Union had an easy path to victory; that their success was inevitable. But, the South, to much surprise, had many factors on their side to decrease the North’s chances of winning, as well as proving that their defeat was not always meant to be.

The election of Lincoln and his actions during the Fort Sumter crisis were a large reason for the outbreak of Civil War. Historian’s views on the causes of war has changed greatly over the years. In the 20th Century, James Randall stressed that Lincoln took extreme caution over the question of emancipation and the Lincoln had deliberately engineered the war. Avery Craven agrees with this as he argues that Lincoln deliberately engineered the war, but he felt that he did this during the Fort Sumter crisis. However, post-war views are very different. David Potter absolved Lincoln of engineering the war as he argues that, up to the very last minute, Lincoln wanted peace.

Fort Sumter was named after General Thomas Sumter, a Revolutionary War hero. Fort Sumter was built following the War of 1812, as one of the fortifications on the southern U.S. coast to protect its’ harbors. Construction began in 1829, and the structure was still being completed in 1861, when the civil war began. Seventy thousands tons of granite were brought in from New England in order to build a sand bar to the entrance of the Charleston Harbor. The fort was a five-sided brick structure, one hundred seventy to one hundred ninety feet long, with walls five feet thick, standing fifty feet over the low tide mark. It was originally designated to hold six hundred fifty men and one hundred thirty-five guns; unfortunately the fort was never filled to this capacity.

Northern troops were positioned at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, when the Southern states succeed from the Union. As a result, Lincoln faced the most difficult decision of his life. The troops there needed food and supplies, or they would die. If Lincoln sent armed reinforcements to the Fort, the South would assume it was an act of aggression and fire upon the union soldiers. Lincoln’s actions would either start a war between family and friends or recognize the South’s secession as legitimate and separate America into two different countries. His decision would decide the fate of the men in the fort and the country.

The Civil War of 1861 – 1865 remains one of the most tragic pages in the American history. It claimed about 700,000 lives and nearly destroyed the unity of the nation (American Civil War). Naturally, such a massive clash could not have burst out inadvertently. Decades of differences between the North and South had led to a full-scale military clash. Two events cannot be overlooked when analyzing the roots of the conflict: the Dred Scott case and Southern secession.

Fort Sumter was a very important conflict in the civil war and without it they may have not gone to war without it. It was a federal fort located in SC and since it was union the Confederacy wanted full control of it . Lincoln knew there was going to be a war but he wanted the south to make the first fire. Their willingness to fight for their sovereignty.

The Battle of Fredericksburg was one of the largest and deadliest battles of the Civil War with about 18,000 casualties in total

The camp was built by slave labor on 16 acres, later expanded to 26 acres, and was formally called “Camp Sumter” by the Confederacy. Andersonville was designed to imprison up to 10,000 “overflow” prisoners from elsewhere, but its inmate population climbed to 3 times that amount leave to about 33,000 prisoners by the end of the summer of 1864. Furthermore, its physical design was fatally flawed to begin with. In addition to the absence of any system for waste disposal within the camp, a creek flowing through the camp delivered upstream waste from the military camp where Andersonville guards were stationed. By the end of the war, 13,000 Andersonville prisoners (30 percent of the camp’s population) had died from a variety of diseases such as

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”1 These words, spoken by Abraham Lincoln, foreshadowed the war that became the bloodiest in all of the United State's history. The Civil War was a brutal conflict between the North and South; brother against brother. With slavery as the root cause, Southern states had seceded from the Union and were fighting for their independence. They became the Confederate States of America (CSA) and were a force to be reckoned with. The Union, however, put up a fierce struggle to preserve the country. If the Civil War was to be a war of attrition, the North had the upper hand because of its large population, industrialization, raw materials, railroad mileage, and navy. But if the war was short lived, the