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Slavery during the war
At the beginning of the war some Union commanders thought they were supposed to
return escaped slaves to their masters. By 1862, when it became clear that this
would be a long war, the question of what to do about slavery became more
general. The Southern economy and military effort depended on slave labor. It
began to seem unreasonable to protect slavery while blockading Southern commerce
and destroying Southern production. As one Congressman put it, the slaves
"…cannot be neutral. As laborers, if not as soldiers, they will be allies of the
rebels, or of the Union." The same Congressman—and his fellow Radical
Republicans—put pressure on Lincoln to rapidly emancipate the slaves, whereas
moderate Republicans came to accept gradual, compensated emancipation and
colonization. Copperheads, the border states and War Democrats opposed
emancipation, although the border states and War Democrats eventually accepted
it as part of total war needed to save the Union.
In 1861, Lincoln expressed the fear that premature attempts at emancipation
would mean the loss of the border states, and that "to lose Kentucky is nearly
the same as to lose the whole game." At first, Lincoln reversed attempts at
emancipation by Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Generals John C. Fremont (in
Missouri) and David Hunter (in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida) in order to
keep the loyalty of the border states and the War Democrats.
Lincoln mentioned his Emancipation Proclamation to members of his cabinet on
July 21, 1862. Secretary of State William H. Seward told Lincoln to wait for a
victory before issuing the proclamation, as to do otherwise would seem like "our
last shriek on the retreat". In September 1862 the Battle of Antietam provided
this opportunity, and the subsequent War Governors' Conference added support for
the proclamation. Lincoln had already published a letter encouraging the border
states especially to accept emancipation as necessary to save the Union. Lincoln
later said that slavery was "somehow the cause of the war". Lincoln issued his
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, and said that a
final proclamation would be issued if his gradual plan based on compensated
emancipation and voluntary colonization was rejected. Only the District of
Columbia accepted Lincoln's gradual plan, and Lincoln issued his final
Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. In his letter to Hodges, Lincoln
explained his belief that "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong … And yet I
have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted
right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling ... I claim not to have
controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."
Since the Emancipation Proclamation was based on the President's war powers, it
only included territory held by Confederates at the time. However, the
Proclamation became a symbol of the Union's growing commitment to add
emancipation to the Union's definition of liberty. Lincoln also played a leading
role in getting Congress to vote for the Thirteenth Amendment, which made
emancipation universal and permanent.
Enslaved African Americans did not wait for Lincoln's action before escaping and
seeking freedom behind Union lines. From early years of the war, hundreds of
thousands of African Americans escaped to Union lines, especially in occupied
areas like Norfolk and the Hampton Roads region in 1862, Tennessee from 1862 on,
the line of Sherman's march, etc. So many African Americans fled to Union lines
that commanders created camps and schools for them, where both adults and
children learned to read and write. The American Missionary Association entered
the war effort by sending teachers south to such contraband camps, for instance
establishing schools in Norfolk and on nearby plantations. In addition, nearly
200,000 African-American men served with distinction as soldiers and sailors
with Union troops. Most of those were escaped slaves.
Confederates enslaved captured black Union soldiers, and black soldiers
especially were shot when trying to surrender at the Fort Pillow Massacre. This
led to a breakdown of the prisoner exchange program, and the growth of prison
camps such as Andersonville prison in Georgia where almost 13,000 Union
prisoners of war died of starvation and disease.
In spite of the South's shortage of manpower, until 1865, most Southern leaders
opposed arming slaves as soldiers. They used them as laborers to support the war
effort. As Howell Cobb said, "If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory
of slavery is wrong." Confederate generals Patrick Cleburne and Robert E. Lee
argued in favor of arming blacks late in the war, and Jefferson Davis was
eventually persuaded to support plans for arming slaves to avoid military
defeat. The Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox before this plan could be
implemented.
A few Confederates discussed arming slaves since the early stages of the war,
and some free blacks had even offered to fight for the South. In 1862 Georgian
Congressman Warren Akin supported the enrolling of slaves with the promise of
emancipation, as did the Alabama legislature. Support for doing so also grew in
other Southern states. A few all black Confederate militia units, most notably
the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, were formed in Louisiana at the start of the
war, but were disbanded in 1862. In early March, 1865, Virginia endorsed a bill
to enlist black soldiers, and on March 13 the Confederate Congress did the same.
The Emancipation Proclamation greatly reduced the Confederacy's hope of getting
aid from Britain or France. Lincoln's moderate approach succeeded in getting
border states, War Democrats and emancipated slaves fighting on the same side
for the Union. The Union-controlled border states (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland,
Delaware and West Virginia) were not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation.
All abolished slavery on their own, except Kentucky and Delaware. The great
majority of the 4 million slaves were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, as
Union armies moved South. The 13th amendment, ratified December 6, 1865, finally
freed the remaining slaves in Kentucky, Delaware, and New Jersey, that numbered
225,000 for Kentucky, 1,800 in Delaware, and 18 in New Jersey as of 1860.
Threat of international intervention
Entry into the war by Britain and France on behalf of the Confederacy would have
greatly increased the South's chances of winning independence from the Union.
The Union, under Lincoln and Secretary of State William Henry Seward worked to
block this, and threatened war if any country officially recognized the
existence of the Confederate States of America (none ever did). In 1861,
Southerners voluntarily embargoed cotton shipments, hoping to start an economic
depression in Europe that would force Britain to enter the war in order to get
cotton. Cotton diplomacy proved a failure as Europe had a surplus of cotton,
while the 1860–62 crop failures in Europe made the North's grain exports of
critical importance. It was said that "King Corn was more powerful than King
Cotton", as US grain went from a quarter of the British import trade to almost
half.
When the UK did face a cotton shortage, it was temporary, being replaced by
increased cultivation in Egypt and India. Meanwhile, the war created employment
for arms makers, iron workers, and British ships to transport weapons.
Charles Francis Adams proved particularly adept as minister to Britain for the
Union, and Britain was reluctant to boldly challenge the Union's blockade. The
Confederacy purchased several warships from commercial ship builders in Britain.
The most famous, the CSS Alabama, did considerable damage and led to serious
postwar disputes. However, public opinion against slavery created a political
liability for European politicians, especially in Britain. War loomed in late
1861 between the U.S. and Britain over the Trent Affair, involving the Union
boarding of a British mail steamer to seize two Confederate diplomats. However,
London and Washington were able to smooth over the problem after Lincoln
released the two.
In 1862, the British considered mediation—though even such an offer would have
risked war with the U.S. Lord Palmerston reportedly read Uncle Tom’s Cabin three
times when deciding on this. The Union victory in the Battle of Antietam caused
them to delay this decision. The Emancipation Proclamation further reinforced
the political liability of supporting the Confederacy. Despite sympathy for the
Confederacy, France's own seizure of Mexico ultimately deterred them from war
with the Union. Confederate offers late in the war to end slavery in return for
diplomatic recognition were not seriously considered by London or Paris.
Aftermath
Since the war's end, it has been arguable whether the South could have really
won the war. A significant number of scholars believe that the Union held an
insurmountable advantage over the Confederacy in terms of industrial strength
and population. Confederate actions, they argue, could only delay defeat. This
view is part of the Lost Cause historiography of the war. Southern historian
Shelby Foote expressed this view succinctly in Ken Burns's television series on
the Civil War: "I think that the North fought that war with one hand behind its
back.… If there had been more Southern victories, and a lot more, the North
simply would have brought that other hand out from behind its back. I don't
think the South ever had a chance to win that War." The Confederacy sought to
win independence by out-lasting Lincoln. However, after Atlanta fell and Lincoln
defeated McClellan in the election of 1864, the hope for a political victory for
the South ended. At that point, Lincoln had succeeded in getting the support of
the border states, War Democrats, emancipated slaves and Britain and France. By
defeating the Democrats and McClellan, he also defeated the Copperheads and
their peace platform. Lincoln had also found military leaders like Grant and
Sherman who would press the Union's numerical advantage in battle over the
Confederate Armies. Generals who did not shy from bloodshed won the war, and
from the end of 1864 onward there was no hope for the South.
On the other hand, James McPherson has argued that the North’s advantage in
population and resources made Northern victory possible, but not inevitable. The
American War of Independence and the Vietnam War are examples of wars won by the
side with fewer numbers. Confederates did not need to invade and hold enemy
territory in order to win, but only needed to fight a defensive war to convince
the North that the cost of winning was too high. The North needed to conquer and
hold vast stretches of enemy territory and defeat Confederate armies in order to
win.
Also important were Lincoln's eloquence in rationalizing the national purpose
and his skill in keeping the border states committed to the Union cause.
Although Lincoln's approach to emancipation was slow, the Emancipation
Proclamation was an effective use of the President's war powers.
Comparison of Union and CSA Union CSA
Total population 22,000,000 (71%) 9,000,000 (29%)
Free population 22,000,000 5,500,000
1860 Border state slaves 432,586 NA
1860 Southern slaves NA 3,500,000
Soldiers 2,200,000 (67%) 1,064,000 (33%)
Railroad miles 21,788 (71%) 8,838 (29%)
Manufactured items 90% 10%
Firearm production 97% 3%
Bales of cotton in 1860 Negligible 4,500,000
Bales of cotton in 1864 Negligible 300,000
Pre-war U.S. exports 30% 70%
The more industrialized economy of the North aided in the production of arms,
munitions and supplies, as well as finances, and transportation. The table shows
the relative advantage of the Union over the Confederate States of America (CSA)
at the start of the war. The advantages widened rapidly during the war, as the
Northern economy grew, and Confederate territory shrank and its economy
weakened. The Union population was 22 million and the South 9 million in 1861;
the Southern population included more than 3.5 million slaves and about 5.5
million whites, thus leaving the South's white population outnumbered by a ratio
of more than four to one compared with that of the North. The disparity grew as
the Union controlled more and more southern territory with garrisons, and cut
off the trans-Mississippi part of the Confederacy. The Union at the start
controlled over 80% of the shipyards, steamships, river boats, and the Navy. It
augmented these by a massive shipbuilding program. This enabled the Union to
control the river systems and to blockade the entire southern coastline.
Excellent railroad links between Union cities allowed for the quick and cheap
movement of troops and supplies. Transportation was much slower and more
difficult in the South which was unable to augment its much smaller rail system,
repair damage, or even perform routine maintenance. The failure of Davis to
maintain positive and productive relationships with state governors (especially
governor Joseph E. Brown of Georgia and governor Zebulon Vance of North
Carolina) damaged his ability to draw on regional resources. The Confederacy's
"King Cotton" misperception of the world economy led to bad diplomacy, such as
the refusal to ship cotton before the blockade started. The Emancipation
Proclamation enabled African-Americans, both free blacks and escaped slaves, to
join the Union Army. About 190,000 volunteered, further enhancing the numerical
advantage the Union armies enjoyed over the Confederates, who did not dare
emulate the equivalent manpower source for fear of fundamentally undermining the
legitimacy of slavery. Emancipated slaves fought in several key battles in the
last two years of the war. European immigrants joined the Union Army in large
numbers too. 23.4% of all Union soldiers were German-Americans; about 216,000
were born in Germany.
Reconstruction
Northern leaders agreed that victory would require more than the end of
fighting. It had to encompass the two war goals: Secession had to be totally
repudiated, and all forms of slavery had to be eliminated. They disagreed
sharply on the criteria for these goals. They also disagreed on the degree of
federal control that should be imposed on the South, and the process by which
Southern states should be reintegrated into the Union.
Reconstruction, which began early in the war and ended in 1877, involved a
complex and rapidly changing series of federal and state policies. The long-term
result came in the three "Civil War" amendments to the Constitution: the
Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery; the Fourteenth Amendment, which
extended federal legal protections equally to citizens regardless of race; and
the Fifteenth Amendment, which abolished racial restrictions on voting.
Reconstruction ended in the different states at different times, the last three
by the Compromise of 1877.
Results
All slaves in the Confederacy were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, which
stipulated that slaves in Confederate-held areas, but not in border states or in
Washington, D.C., were free. Slaves in the border states and Union-controlled
parts of the South were freed by state action or by the Thirteenth Amendment,
although slavery effectively ended in the U.S. in the spring of 1865. The full
restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known
as Reconstruction. The war produced about 970,000 casualties (3% of the
population), including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease. The
war accounted for more casualties than all other U.S. wars combined. The causes
of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are
subjects of lingering controversy today. About 4 million black slaves were freed
in 1865. Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died
in the war, including 6% in the North and an extraordinary 18% in the South.
