This Terrible War

by Fellman, Michael; Gordon, Lesley J.; Sutherland, Daniel E.

• ISBN13: 9780321052858
• ISBN10: 0321052854
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

Whether a novice or an expert on the Civil War, readers will findThis Terrible War to be a well-designed and fully developed book, and a powerful tool in learning about the Civil War and its foreground and aftermath. The book provides an analysis of the United States in the time leading up to the war--the slavery debate, the differences between North and South, the economic and social climate of the country--and moves into the war itself, presenting stories of both common soldiers and powerful military figures. The authors also trace the impact and eventual abolition of slavery, examining the role of African-Americans during the war. They conclude that the victory of the North resulted from superior resources and manpower, but also examine other contributing factors--providing a well-rounded, interesting and thorough analysis. The final section of the book describes the aftermath of the war, and the Epilogue examines how Americans have remembered the Civil War in later years. Ideal for anyone interested in the United States Civil War or US military history in general.

Author Biography

Daniel E. Sutherland is a Professor of History at the University of Arkansas.

Table of Contents

Prologue.
The Raid on Harper's Ferry.
Military Defeat; Political Victory.
Brown Welcomes Martyrdom.
Purification Ritual.
Political Reckoning.
Southern Reaction to Brown.
South Versus North.

1. Commonalties and Conflict: Slavery and the American Republic.
Commonalties.
The Market Revolution.
Perceptions of Sectionalism.
The Antebellum North.
The Antebellum South.
Slavery Divides the Nation.
Slavery in the North.
Southern Staple Agriculture.
The African Slave Trade.
The Middle Passage.
Slavery and the American Revolution.
Debates at the Constitutional Convention.
Quakers and Abolition.
The Second Great Awakening.
Reform Movements.
The Decline of Slavery in the North.
The Cotton Kingdom.
Slavery Expands Westward.
Southern Society.
Free Blacks in the South.
Slave Life.
Slave Rebellion.
The Abolition Movement.
Resistance to Abolition.
Abolitionists Divided.
Proslavery Defense.
The Missouri Compromise.
The Nullification Crisis.
Slavery in the Territories.

2. Political Collapse: 1848-1860.
War with Mexico and Manifest Destiny.
Slavery and Expansion.
Immaturity of Nation.
National Political Culture.
Sectional Tensions.
Election of 1848.
Compromise of 1850.
Nashville Convention.
Election of 1852 and Its Legacy.
Fugitive Slaves and the Slavery Debate.
Kansas-Nebraska Bill.
Causes of Political Upheaval.
Know Nothing Party.
Republican Party and Realignment.
Bleeding Kansas.
Foreign Policy.
Election of 1856.
Dred Scott.
LeCompton Controversy.
Panic of 1857.
Heightened Sectional Tensions.
Political Conventions of 1860.
Campaign and Election of 1860.

3. Southerners Secede and Amateurs Go to War.
Southern Response to Lincoln's Election.
The Deep South Secedes.
President Buchanan's Reaction to Secession.
Attempts at Compromise.
The Upper South Delays Secession.
Lincoln's First Inaugural Address.
Fort Sumter Crisis.
Lincoln's Response to Firing on Fort Sumter.
The Upper South Secedes.
The Border South Stays in the Union.
Southern Unionism.
Americans Unprepared for War.
The South's Perceived Martialism.
Regional Martialism Compared.
The North and South Prepare for War.
Civilians Become Soldiers.
The Volunteers.
Three Branches of Army.
Unit Identity.
Army Organization.
The Artillery.
The Cavalry.
Motivations to Enlist.
Anticipating Battle.
The “Anaconda Plan.”
Theaters of War.
Irwin McDowell.
Confederate Military Leaders.
Strategy.
The Battle of Bull Run.
Aftermath of Bull Run.
George McClellan.
Western Virginia Campaign.
The Battle of Ball's Bluff.
“All Quiet Along the Potomac.”
The Confederacy and Foreign Diplomacy.
The United States and Foreign Affairs.
The Confederate Navy.
New Naval Technology.
The USS Virginia.
Confederate Naval Troubles.
Raphael Semmes.
The Unites States Navy.
Gideon Welles.
The Union Navy Grows and Expands.
Problems Attracting Union Sailors.
Battle of Hatteras Inlet.
The Battle of Port Royal.
The Trent Affair.

4. Discovering the Scope of War: 1861-62.
Western Military Strategy.
Missouri and Its Neighbors.
War in Kentucky.
Forts Henry and Donelson.
War in the Far West.
Battle of Pea Ridge.
Roles of Native Americans.
Shiloh Campaign.
Confederate Conscription.
Union High Command.
Peninsula Campaign.
New Union Strategy.
Second Bull Run Campaign.
Antietam Campaign.
Kentucky Campaign.
Military Summary for 1862.
Economics of War.
Industry and Railroads.

5. Reckoning with Slavery, Reckoning with Freedom.
Republican Ambivalence Toward Blacks.
Lincoln's Views of Slavery.
Flight to Freedom.
Haphazard Union Policy.
Abolitionist Union Officials.
1862: Union War Aims Deepen.
Congressional Emancipation Measures.
Lincoln and Gradual Emancipation.
The Second Confiscation Act.
The Emancipation Proclamation.
Welcoming the Emancipation Proclamation in the North.
The Effects of the Proclamation.
Black Enlistment.
Effect of Proclamation Abroad.
The Limits of Emancipation.
Black Refugees.
Union Abuses of Freedmen.
Black Protests over Union Abuses.
The Wandering Life of Refugees.
Experiments on Abandoned Lands.
The Carolina Sea Islands Experiment.
Another Experiment: Davis Bend.
Labor Reforms in Louisiana.
Land Redistribution Schemes.
The Freedmen's Bureau.
Disintegration of Slavery in the Union States.
African-Americans in the Union Army.
White Officers and Black Men.
Grudging Acceptance of Black Troops.
Official Union Discrimination.
Sherman's Policies.
Lincoln's Policies.
Blacks in Combat.
Prisoners of War.
Massacre at Fort Pillow.
Re-Enslavement of Captured Black Soldiers.
Prisoner Exchanges Collapse.
Black Triumph After All.
Black Veterans' Claims to Freedom.

6. Attack and Die: November 1862-January 1863.
Ambrose Burnside Takes Command.
Fredericksburg Campaign.
The Battle of Stone's River.
William S. Rosecrans.
War's Destruction.
Soldier Motivation.
Civilians and War.
Southern Homefront.
Soldiers and the Homefront.
Women and War.
Soldier Life.
Soldier Illness and Disease.
Soldiers' Diet.
Confederate Shortages.
Uniforms.
Soldier Equipment.
Weapons.
Tactics.

7. The Other War.
Guerrilla Warfare.
Union and Confederate Responses.
Tougher Union Policies.
Dissent in the North.
Davis and Lincoln Compared.
Dissent in the South.
Confederate Nationalism.
Civilian Refugees.
Westward Emigration.
Wartime Roles of Women.

8. 1863: An Inconclusive Year.
Confederate Morale.
Joseph Hooker Takes Command.
Chancellorsville Campaign.
Gettysburg Campaign.
Vicksburg Campaign.
Foreign Diplomacy.
Confederate Home Front.
Union Home Front and Conscription.
Chickamauga Campaign.
Chattanooga Campaign.
Gettysburg Address.
Coping with Death.
Role of Religion.
Desertion.

9. 1864-65: A War of Exhaustion.
Grant Comes to Washington.
Grand Strategy.
A War of Exhaustion.
The Red River Campaign.
The Union Bogs Down.
The Wilderness Campaign.
From Battle to Campaign.
Spottsylvania Court House.
The Unwieldy Civil War Armies.
Combat Refusal.
The Slaughter at Cold Harbor.
On to the Siege at Petersburgh.
Defeatism in the North.
Confederate Political Problems.
Sherman Takes Atlanta.
Sherman's Psychological War Against the South.
Sherman's March to the Sea.
Hood and Thomas in Tennessee.
The Battle of Nashville.
Confederate Morale in 1864.
Lee's Army Crumbles.
Confederate Homefront Morale Plunges.
The Distress of Confederate Women.
The Election of 1864.
Confederate Desertion Increases.
Peace Feelers: The Hampton Roads Conference.
Confederate Experiments with Black Troops.
Lee Vetoes Guerrilla Warfare.
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.
The Collapse of the Confederacy.
The Fall of Richmond.
Surrender at Appomatox.
The Birth of the Lost Cause.
Johnston's Surrender.
Lincoln's Assassination.
Lincoln and Reconstruction.
Final Confederate Surrenders.
The Flight and Capture of Jefferson Davis.
The Union Army Disbands.

10. Mixed Messages from the Victors: Northern Politics and Southern Reconstruction: 1863-1868.
The Aftermath of War.
Post-War Trials.
Northern Bitterness.
Lincoln and Reconstruction.
Lincoln's “Ten Percent Plan.”
Radical Ideas of Reconstruction.
Lincoln's Late Thoughts on Reconstruction.
Andrew Johnson.
Johnson's Reconstruction Plan.
Ex-Confederates' Defiance.
Congressional Reconstruction Begins.
Thaddeus Stevens and Radical Reconstruction.
Congress vs. the President.
The Fourteenth Amendment.
Election of 1866.
Radical Reconstruction.
Impeachment.
Johnson's Last Days.
President U.S. Grant.
Fifteenth Amendment.

11. White and Black Reconstruction in the South: 1865-72.
Conditions for White Southerners.
Expectations of Black Southerners.
Role of Federal Government.
Building Black Communities.
Labor and Race Relations.
Republican Party in the South.
Political Role of Blacks.
Problems of Southern Republicans.
The Gilded Age.
Collapse of Southern Republicanism.
Sectional Economic Differences.
Sharecroppers and Tenant Farmers.
Southern Railroads.
Southern Democrats Return to Power.

12. Destroying Reconstruction.
The Rituals of White Supremacy.
Fear of Black Independence.
Lynching.
The Softer Side of Paternalism.
The Convict Lease System.
Political Violence.
The KKK.
Bourbon Politics.
Divisions in the North.
Northern Ambivalence on Enforcing Reconstruction.
Northern Democrats.
Northern Democrats Oppose Reconstruction.
The 1868 Presidential Campaign.
Republican Faltering on Reconstruction.
Northern Business Expansion.
The Republicans as the Business Party.
Scandals in the Grant Administration.
The Liberal Republicans.
The 1872 Campaign.
The Depression of 1873.
The Supreme Court Undercuts Reconstruction.
Redeemer Tide Rising.
The Election of 1876.
The “Compromise” of 1876.
Hayes End's Reconstruction.
Redeemers in Power.
Continued Southern Poverty.
Legalized Segregation.
Lynching.
The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells.
Systemic Racial Discrimination.
Northern Acquiescence to White Supremacism.
The Supreme Court Accepts Segregation.
The Troubling Legacy of Reconstruction.

Epilogue: Remembering and Forgetting the Civil War.
1913 Commemoration of Gettysburg.
War becomes Myth.
The Lost Cause.
Union Veterans.
Northern Version of War.
Political Purposes.
Women's Efforts.
Monument Building.
Forgetting.
War's Lasting Legacy.

Primary Documents.
The Compromise of 1850.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, May 30, 1854.
Stephen A. Douglas: Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.
Dred Scot v. Stanford.
Abraham Lincoln's A “House Divided” Speech.
John Brown's Last Speech.
The Politics Platforms of 1860.
South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession and Declaration of Causes of Secession.
Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address.
Jefferson Davis' Inaugural Address.
Speech by Confederate Vice President, Alexander H. Stephens.
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America.
General Benjamin F. Butler and General John C. Fremont on Slaves.
The Emancipation Proclamation.
The Gettysburg Address.
The Republican and Democratic Electoral Platforms of 1864, and George B. McClellan's Acceptance Letter.
William T. Sherman on the Inner Meaning of War.
The Farewell Messages of Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.
The Wade-Davis Bill; Lincoln's Response; and the Wade-Davis Manifesto.
Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.
Andrew Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation.
Black Code of Mississippi.
The Constitution of the United States: The Reconstruction Amendments.
Plessy v. Ferguson.