WAR AIMS AND STRATEGIES

From the beginning of the war, the Southern defense of the slave system was unrelenting. This position greatly undermined the possibility of the Confederacy receiving aid from the French and the English, Economically, European support of the Confederacy would have made sense; Europeans nations were dependent on cotton cultivated in the American South. However, both France and England firmly opposed slavery and had outlawed it in their countries decades earlier. The South also overestimated the British need for Southern cotton; Britain soon proved that it could get cotton elsewhere.

Both sides began recruiting armies in the spring and early summer of 1861, Lincoln was able to summon support in the Northern states not from speeches on slavery but from the simple claim that the actions of the South was an attack on the very principles of the republican form of government. Both sides predicted early victory. The capital of the Confederacy was moved to Richmond, Virginia, after Virginia joined the Confederacy; cries of “On to Richmond!” filled the Northern newspapers. For political reasons, Lincoln pushed for an early attack against the South (Winfield Scott presented an alternative proposal, stating that the best policy for the North would be to blockade all Southern ports and starve the South into submission). A Union army advanced on Richmond, On July 21, 1861, at the First Battle of Bull Run, Union forces retreated in chaos back toward Washington. After this battle Northern political leaders and generals conceded that victory in this war would not be as easy as they initially thought it might be.

The Effects of Bull Run

The Battle of Bull Run showed both sides that new tactics would be necessary for victory. The plan proposed by Winfield Scott, now referred to as the Anaconda Plan, was reviewed more carefully by Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had the United States Navy blockade Southern ports; as the war wore on, this became increasingly important. Industrial goods that the South had imported from the industrial North in earlier years now could not be gotten from Europe either. Also, later in the war Confederate states could not export cotton to Europe for very badly needed currency. Another part of the Anaconda Flan called for Northern naval forces to control the Mississippi River. The Union made major headway with this part of the plan in April of 1862 when a Union naval force captured New Orleans.

The Confederacy also made a major foreign trading mistake in early 1862. Cotton-producing states were convinced not to export cotton to England and France. Confederate leaders thought that textile factory owners in those countries would be so affected by this that they would pressure their governments to help the Confederacy and get their cotton back. Instead, Europeans turned elsewhere for cotton (especially India). As stated previously, when the South wanted to export cotton later in the war, they couldn’t because of the naval blockade. It also became obvious that the organization of the South into a confederacy during a period of wartime was a disadvantage; individual state governments had the constitutional right to block critical tax programs and requisitions. The decision of the Confederacy to print paper money with no secure hacking also would prove to be detrimental.

The Union Triumphant in the West

The Confederacy won several more battles in 1862, including the Second Battle of Bull Run. General George McClellan was named commander of the Union army and began formulating a plan to attack the Confederacy from the west. In February 1862, forces commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, in Tennessee. Forces on both sides realized the importance of these victories. Grant continued to conquer Southern territory from this position. On April 6, 1862, the incredibly bloody but inconclusive Battle of Shiloh was fought. Up until this point it was the bloodiest battle ever fought in America. McClellan began to develop the reputation as a commander who was afraid to enter his troops into battle, even though the situation warranted it.

The Confederacy attempted to use technology to defeat the Northern naval blockade. In March of 1862 they presented their very first ironclad ship, the Merrimack. Shortly after the Union displayed the first Union ironclad, the Monitor. The two ironclads met once in battle, with neither ship able to do much to damage to the other.