Chapter 23

In This Chapter

Running out of options: The South

Taking in “Lee’s Miserables”

Combining the forces of Grant and Sherman

Capturing the promise of victory

T he Confederacy was in a desperate situation in 1865. Only a few ports were open, and those were barely functioning because of the blockade. The Southern people were slowly starving. The armies in the field were barely subsisting. But as long as General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia existed, the Confederacy was still alive. Lee, trapped at Petersburg, Virginia, understood that little hope remained. “It is all a matter of time,” he wrote.

The Union sensed victory in 1865. Lincoln had been reelected, and the armies had been victorious everywhere. It seemed as though one more coordinated push would topple the Confederacy. Lee and his army could not be allowed to escape to carry on a war that would never end; the Army of Northern Virginia had to be eliminated. With Lincoln’s approval, Grant would cooperate with Sherman on a strategic plan to do just that.

The Strategic Situation in 1865

The strategic initiative in 1865 belonged solely to Grant. In February, Lee had become Grant’s counterpart, taking command of all military forces in the Confederacy. But the title was an empty one. The Confederate forces, such as they were, could only respond to the Union commander’s actions. Grant ordered General William T. Sherman presently in South Carolina after the March to the Sea to head his army northward to link up with Grant outside of Petersburg to destroy Lee. Meanwhile, General Sheridan with his army dispatched from Grant would clear General Early’s Confederates out of the valley. After doing so, Sheridan would rejoin the Army of the Potomac. By applying overwhelming mass against Lee, he would be isolated and trapped. Lee’s only hope was to unite all Confederate forces for a final defensive stand to save the Confederate nation. The Confederacy had only about 100 days to live.

Sherman on the move in South Carolina

Union General Sherman’s army enjoyed the role as occupiers of Savannah, Georgia and prepared to execute Grant’s grand strategic plan. The navy had not been idle. In January, it captured Fort Fisher, closing the last major Confederate port at Wilmington, North Carolina. Sherman, with 60,000, men now moved through South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union (and in the minds of many Union soldiers, the whole cause of the war). “I almost tremble for her fate,” Sherman wrote, “but feel that she deserves all that seems to be in store for her.” They treated her cruelly, burning and pillaging with extra gusto. Columbia, South Carolina was almost totally destroyed by a combination of Confederate confusion and Yankee carelessness and malice. Charleston and Fort Sumter fell to the Union in February to the navy as Sherman’s troops now in the vicinity had cut the rail line and made the city untenable. Without Fort Sumter to guard the channel into the city, the Union Navy could steam right up to the docks and unload troops.

By the time the avenging army had entered North Carolina, the Confederacy had gathered the remnants of several commands to resist the enemy’s progress. Lee convinced Confederate President Jefferson Davis to appoint Joseph E. Johnston again as commander of this force of about 20,000 men. It contained what was left of the Army of Tennessee, as well as the various garrisons from coastal cities, now abandoned. Confederate General Johnston, never really a fighter, was confronted with a problem — how to stop Sherman’s army without risking a general engagement that clearly would mean the destruction of his own army. Johnston had little time to think. Sherman was making progress through the Carolina lowland like no one ever had. Through swamps, flooded bottomland, or swollen rivers, Sherman’s army moved relentlessly. With discipline and organization, the army built bridges and corduroy roads over terrain thought impossible to cross in wintertime. Johnston simply could not react to his enemy’s speed of movement and fell back virtually powerless.

The Confederate strategy

Lee had devised a plan to try and keep the Confederacy alive. For the first time in the war, there would be coordinated efforts between Confederate armies. Lee ordered Johnston to delay Sherman while at the same time moving northward to Petersburg, Virginia. There the two armies would join up and, with their combined force, defeat Grant and Sherman in one final battle that would cause the Union to sue for peace. The plan depended on a number of things going the South’s way, as well as the cooperation of the Yankees. But those days were long gone — and nothing remained but hope.

Johnston takes a stand

Johnston’s army at this time almost had as many generals as privates. Among the generals were Braxton Bragg and William Hardee. The fact that very few troops were left to command in the Confederacy indicated the state of the Southern army. It was an army in name only; the units had never worked together before. Nevertheless, Johnston believed Sherman had given him a chance to strike a blow. Sherman’s army was moving in two large columns separated by several miles. It was headed for Goldsboro, North Carolina anticipating a linkup with two corps that had been landed on the coast and were moving inland. One was Schofield’s corps, which Sherman had detached to shadow Hood’s ill-fated northern movement into Tennessee. This linkup would give Sherman nearly 100,000 men. If Johnston had any chance at all to prevent this linkup, he had to do something now. Johnston deployed his army to hit the one wing of Sherman’s army as it marched to Goldsboro and defeat it before the other wing could come to its aid.

Johnston’s trap worked. As the Union troops attempted to clear the Goldsboro road of Confederate cavalry and infantry, they were struck on the flank by a heavy attack. For most of the day, the outnumbered Confederates were able to keep the enemy off balance. But by the end of the day, numbers did tell, and the Confederate attacks lost steam in the face of strong and determined resistance. Now whenever attacked, the Northern troops began digging in immediately. As the Southern troops broke one line, they found themselves facing entrenched troops with artillery. Bragg, true to his habits since Shiloh, ordered a frontal attack. The results were predictable and tragically uncalled for. By the end of the day, Johnston’s men had fallen back to their original line. Meanwhile, Sherman was bringing the other wing of the army to the fight. Johnston had now dug in and was waiting for a Union attack. Sherman decided to wait and have the two corps join him so that he would have overwhelming combat power. Even while he waited, there was some heavy fighting on the Confederate left flank, as Johnston tried to prevent the Yankees from cutting off his line of retreat. After Johnston understood what Sherman intended to do, he had no choice but to retreat. The battle had cost him 2,600 casualties. Sherman, despite his advantage, took it easy after the battle. He had been hit rather hard, losing about 1,500 men, and decided to rest and refit at Goldsboro as he had planned before moving on.

The results in Carolina

Johnston had failed to prevent the link up of Union forces at Goldsboro and had only given Sherman’s massive army a bloody nose. There was nothing he could do to stop the enemy now. Sherman could deal with Johnston at his leisure. Still, Johnston had for once in his career stayed on a battlefield to fight rather than retreat. Even when faced with overwhelming odds, Johnston stayed, daring the Yankees to come on. But Sherman had learned his lesson at Kennesaw Mountain, just north of Atlanta. He was not about to spend lives needlessly. Johnston, for his part, showed his skill in pulling out from his defenses and escaping unscathed and technically able to fight again. As long as Johnston’s army was in the field, Sherman could march all over the Confederacy and back for years, but still not win the war until it was eliminated.

Lee’s Fateful Dilemma: Petersburg

Lee’s army had spent a summer and a winter in the trenches around Petersburg. It was not static duty. Lee was constantly shifting forces to meet threats directed at Richmond all the way to the other side of Petersburg to protect the Southside railroad, the last vital connection to the rest of the Confederacy. His 55,000 men were worn down from lack of food, disease, combat casualties, and worst of all, desertions. Lee lost 3,000 men in five weeks from desertions alone in the winter of 1864–1865. Everyday the army was steadily shrinking. His appeals to the Confederate Congress for food and supplies for his men went unheeded.

Meanwhile, Grant’s well-fed and -equipped troops, 120,000 strong, were stretching their trenchlines in a wider and wider arc, forcing the Confederates to extend along with them. By March, the lines were over 50 miles long. This thinned Lee’s undermanned lines to an inevitable breaking point. There were simply not enough infantrymen to cover the trenchline sufficiently to present an adequate defense. All it would take would be one solid thrust at the right point, and the entire defensive line would collapse. Lee would have to abandon Petersburg and with it Richmond, the Confederate capital. See Figure 23-1.

Breaking out: Lee makes his move

The handwriting was on the wall. If Lee didn’t do something soon, the Union army would simply outdig and outman his few defenders. Sheridan had driven Early’s little force out of the valley in March. Lee knew Grant would be calling Sheridan back to combine forces against him; Sherman was driving northward. Soon Lee would be trapped by overwhelming Union strength. Lee decided to break out of the stalemate and either regain the initiative to link up with Johnston in North Carolina, or buy time for a withdrawal. His plan was to capture Fort Stedman, the closest fort to the Confederate lines, in a dawn assault. With the fort under their control, the Confederate army could break into the lightly defended rear of the Union army and possibly escape. The attack began with Confederate troops going to the fort under the pretense of deserting (common occurrence at this stage of the game). The false deserters took out the guards and the follow-on assault succeeded in capturing the fort and about a half a mile of trenches. Before Lee could exploit his opportunity, however, Union reinforcements closed the gap and drove the attackers back to their own lines. Lee lost 5,000 men, most of them captured. Union losses amounted to 2,000. To Grant, these were negligible losses. In fact, no one in the Union army recognized this as a major attack and Lee’s last attempt at offensive action. Lee’s losses were devastating, leading directly to the final disaster at Petersburg.

Five Forks

Five Forks was the major road intersection that led to the last rail line open to the Confederates at Petersburg. Whoever controlled this intersection controlled the railroad. Both Lee and Grant sent forces in that direction — Lee sent George Pickett (of Pickett’s Charge fame) and his nephew Fitzhugh Lee with the cavalry; Grant sent the aggressive Phil Sheridan with his cavalry and an army corps. Although outnumbered and given strict orders from Lee to control this intersection at all costs, Pickett placed his troops poorly, and then he and Fitzhugh Lee went away to attend a shad bake (fish fry). Sheridan did not wait. His cavalry and infantry force ploughed into the Confederate defenses. At the shad bake, Pickett dismissed reports that his brigades were being wiped out. Only when Sheridan’s cavalry troopers appeared on the scene, taking prisoners, did Pickett return to his command — or what was left of it. The Confederates ran headlong for safety, leaving the last rail line to the Yankees, and leaving Pickett without a command. He had lost 5,000 out of the 19,000 men he had in the field. See Figure 23-2.

Falling in flames: Richmond

Lee and Grant issued different sets of orders after the battle of Five Forks. Both knew the siege of Petersburg was over. Lee informed Jefferson Davis that he could no longer protect the capital of Richmond and that he was withdrawing his army west toward Amelia, about 36 miles from Richmond. Grant ordered a general assault against the Confederate line.

Grant’s attack was overwhelming. Many parts of the Confederate line were not even manned, so desperate was Lee for troops. Many units were captured in the trenches, while other units crossed the Appomattox River in fragmented groups headed for Amelia. On April 2, Richmond was abandoned; Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet boarded a train and moved to Danville, Virginia, which served as the last government center of the Confederacy. There, Davis issued a proclamation calling for continued resistance by the entire Southern population. As the government departed, the Confederates set fires to destroy military equipment left in the capital city. Soon the blaze raged out of control, destroying large parts of Richmond. Mobs roamed the fire-lit streets that night looting and rampaging, while thousands of refugees fled the city. The following day Union troops marched into the smoldering former Confederate capital. President Lincoln himself arrived soon after for a tour of the city and sat in Jefferson Davis’s office chair at the Confederate White House while a strange kind of smile crossed his face.

The Last Retreat

Lee attempted to gather his scattered army together at Amelia Court House. He had ordered trainloads of food to be sent there. The troops had not eaten for several days, and they were marching hard and fast on muddy roads that brought them to the point of physical exhaustion. Nevertheless, Lee’s subordinate commanders had skillfully conducted the retreat under enemy pressure. At Amelia, Lee had about 30,000 men. Grant sent Sheridan south to block any possible Confederate movement in that direction to prevent a link up with Johnston. Lee had no choice but to continue generally west, hoping to be able to turn the corner before the Union pursuers could and move into North Carolina to meet Johnston.

But before any further plans could be made, the troops needed to be fed. At Amelia Court House the supply trains were there all right, but they were stuffed with everything from harnesses to ammunition — but not a scrap of food. Lee lost a day waiting for food that never did arrive, and then resumed the retreat westward on April 6.

As Sheridan’s cavalry shadowed the Confederate army’s movement from the south, the Army of the Potomac was hot on the enemy’s trail. The armies now marched day and night, one seeking to elude its pursuers, the other seeking to make up time. The constant walking took a toll on Lee’s men, and gaps began to appear in the line of march. Sheridan’s cavalry took advantage, cutting off nearly half of Lee’s army along with its supply wagons at Sayler’s Creek. Union infantry pursuing the Confederate army caught up from behind and finished the job. General Ewell was captured, along with about a third of Lee’s army. At Farmville, just west of Sayler’s Creek, the Confederate troops received their first food in nearly a week. Lee hoped to press on to Lynchburg, then swing south to meet Johnston; but the Yankees were giving them no breathing space. Sheridan sensed victory. In a telegram to Grant he reported, “If the thing is pressed, I think Lee will surrender.” Lincoln received a copy of the message, and passed simple instructions to his General-in-Chief: “Let the thing be pressed!”

Grant proposes surrender

Shortly after Lee’s army had left Farmville, Grant arrived and watched what seemed like a nearly endless column of men pass by. He sat down and wrote a message to Lee, telling him he no longer wished to spill any more blood and asked that he surrender his army. Lee was not done yet; he was headed for Appomattox Court House with the hope that there was still a chance to keep the army in the field, and with it, the existence of the Southern Confederacy.

By the time Lee’s battered army reached Appomattox, Sheridan’s cavalry along with powerful infantry divisions were waiting, blocking the main road to Lynchburg and the last route southward. Lee ordered the Confederate infantry to sweep away what appeared to be a small cavalry detachment. As they advanced, the Union battle line appeared. Thousands upon thousands of infantrymen stood waiting. The Confederate troops withdrew into a defensive position. They were not strong enough to open the road, and the rest of Grant’s army was closing fast behind them. Lee had run out of all options, except for the one that he hated the most. Flags of truce appeared, and Lee sent a message to Grant asking for surrender terms.

The meeting at Appomattox

On April 9, 1865, in the little village of Appomattox Court House, Lee (resplendent in his dress uniform and sword) met with Grant (wearing a muddy private’s blouse with general stars sewn on it) in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean. Lee feared the worst from Grant, though Longstreet, who had known Grant before the war, believed that Grant’s surrender terms would be neither harsh nor vindictive. Indeed the terms were neither. Grant proposed that Lee’s army lay down their arms and military supplies. Officers could keep their side arms (swords) and their horses. This stipulation prevented Lee from having to surrender the sword he was carrying to Grant. The man who became known in 1862 as “Unconditional Surrender” Grant now saw no need to drive his enemy any further down by demanding Lee’s dress sword. After the soldiers had been paroled, they were to be assured that the Federal government would not molest them as long as they returned to peaceful pursuits. Lee asked Grant to allow soldiers who claimed horses as their own to retain possession of them. Grant, knowing how important these animals would be for spring plowing, generously agreed. Grant also ordered that 25,000 army food rations be distributed to the Confederate army. As Lee returned to his own men, Grant ordered that gunfire in celebration of the surrender be stopped. “The Rebels are our countrymen again,” he told them. There was indeed a remarkable sense of camaraderie and generosity displayed by all ranks in the days that followed.

The curious story of Wilmer McLean

Wilmer McLean was an outspoken supporter of Southern independence. When the war began, McLean was living in a home near Manassas, Virginia, which just happened to be the site of the first major battle of the war. McLean’s house became General Beauregard’s headquarters. The house was damaged by artillery fire and occupied by Confederate troops after the battle, which ruined the house and property. McLean, a businessman who speculated (perhaps at times not altogether legally) in scarce commodities needed by the Confederate army, began looking for a quiet, out-of-the-way place where there would be no possibility of fighting. He purchased a home at Appomattox Court House. Just a few years later, however, the two armies again met near his home. Thus, in some ways, it can be said that the war began and ended at Wilmer McLean’s house. Unfortunately, his house did not escape destruction a second time. Immediately after the surrender, it was nearly wrecked by Union souvenir hunters, who simply took or handed the protesting McLean money as they carted off his possessions.

Symbolic Formalities: The Last Act

April 12 was the day of the formal surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant, wishing to avoid the limelight, was on his way to Washington. Lee remained in his tent behind the lines. This was in a way altogether fitting that the final act between these two armies would be carried out by the subordinate commanders and enlisted men: Those who had truly sustained their causes and knew intimately what the war had cost. The last great drama of the war was carried out by two of her best combat officers, Joshua Chamberlain of the Union army, and General John B. Gordon of the Confederate army.

Gordon led the ragged but proud Confederate vanguard up the road to the formal surrender site to stack their arms and battle flags, marching silently between two solid lines of Union infantry. General Chamberlain, deeply moved by the sight, gave the order for the Union troops to come to stiff attention and present their weapons in a marching salute. As Gordon recalled, it was “a token of respect from Americans to Americans.” Gordon responded to the salute in a fitting act of Southern chivalry. He gracefully wheeled his horse toward Chamberlain, and as the horse dropped his head as if to bow, Gordon smartly saluted, bringing the point of his sword to his toe. He then passed orders that his own troops perform the marching salute in tribute to their former foes. All in all, about 27,000 men signed paroles and were released. Although Confederate soldiers were authorized free use of military transportation to reach home, thousands of men simply took to the roads headed for Texas, or Alabama, or Georgia, or North Carolina, or Mississippi — to go home.

Lee meets Meade

In the days following Lee’s surrender, George Meade, the commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, crossed the lines to visit General Lee, whom he had known in the old army. The two exchanged pleasantries, and Lee noted the passage of time by making reference to the gray hair that now appeared on his beard since they had seen each other. Meade conceded that it was not the passage of years that had made him gray, “but General Lee himself.”

Closing Events: The War Ends, a President Dies

Lee’s surrender, for all intents and purposes, ended the war. But many other stories remain to tell of the last days of the Civil War. Just after the fall of Richmond, Sherman began his march northward against Johnston; his plan was to use three columns to trap the Confederate army now north of Raleigh, North Carolina. By the 13th of April, Johnston heard of Lee’s surrender. He offered to meet Sherman to discuss terms. A meeting was arranged for the 17th of April.

But the war claimed one more victim, which changed the entire political landscape. Abraham Lincoln died at the hands of John Wilkes Booth, a Pro-Southern assassin, in Washington on the morning of April 15. Sherman kept the news of Lincoln’s death a secret to prevent his troops from taking revenge on the Southern populace or the Confederate army. For a man who had unhesitatingly laid the hard hand of war upon the people of the South, Sherman was eager to prevent any more destruction.

At the negotiations, Sherman revealed the secret to Johnston. Johnston turned pale and broke into a sweat, fearing the worst for the South. It was in this atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that Sherman and Johnston (along with the Confederate Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge, acting not as a Confederate cabinet officer, but as a Confederate military officer because he still held the rank of General) negotiated a broad settlement that crossed over the line of purely military matters to political matters as well. In the document, all Confederate forces throughout the South were to surrender voluntarily. Sherman allowed the current state and Confederate governments to continue to operate, allowed Southerners to keep their property (which included slaves) and right to vote, and allowed for the settlement of war debts. This agreement was far different from the instrument of surrender Lee and Grant signed. Sherman and Johnson were delving into political issues that went right to the heart of the causes of the war. In effect, Sherman allowed the Confederacy and slavery to exist and operate as a sovereign nation to settle war debts. The agreement gave the Confederacy what it had fought the war to accomplish, only the Confederate army wouldn’t exist. Don’t think that clever negotiators were duping Sherman. Instead, he was trying to act in good faith and end the war without recriminations just as Grant did. He was approaching these goals in a different manner than Grant.

The politicians react

When the panicked politicians in post-assassination Washington, who were seeing conspirators around every corner and seeking scapegoats for the tragedy, received this message from Sherman, they went into fits. Although Andrew Johnson had been sworn in as the new president, the secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton, was the de facto head of the government. Sherman was publicly censured and humiliated. He was told to negotiate Johnston’s surrender based on the terms Grant had given to Lee — and nothing else. On April 26, Johnston and Sherman signed the revised agreement, and Johnston’s pitiful remnants of the Army of Tennessee, not more than 25,000 men, disbanded.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis is captured

Union cavalrymen captured Jefferson Davis and his ever-shrinking entourage near Irwinville, Georgia. Surprised at the campsite, Davis attempted to escape by running into a swamp. In the confusion, he grabbed his wife’s shawl to serve as a cloak. A soldier put a bead on him and was ready to shoot, while Davis, ever the warrior, believed the soldier would miss and he could still make his escape. But his wife, Varina, threw herself on Davis to save him from certain death. As a final humiliation, the Yankees, seeing the shawl, claimed that he was wearing women’s clothing as a disguise. Davis ended up in prison while the Federal government pondered his fate. The other members of the Confederate government became fugitives, some even escaping to foreign countries to avoid Davis’s fate.

The last surrenders

News traveled slowly, and many Confederate units, especially cavalry, continued to fight. General Richard Taylor surrendered the last active forces east of the Mississippi on May 4, including Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry, defiant to the last. Nevertheless, Forrest set the example by agreeing to return home and resume a life of peace. “You have been good soldiers,” he told the cavalrymen, “you can be good citizens.” On May 26, General Kirby Smith surrendered all Confederate forces west of the Mississippi. This ended all organized Southern military resistance to Federal authorities.

Victory and Uncertainty: The Reunited States

Lincoln was dead, and his desire for political reunification without animosity died with him. While the North mourned and the South stood benumbed and expectant, the Radical Republicans and abolitionists stood triumphant. Without Lincoln acting as a brake on their agenda, many of them now spoke darkly of ensuring traitors got their just desserts and that the slave owners who caused the war would burn forever in hell for their sins on the Day of Judgment. An ill political wind that would soon become a storm was beginning to blow.

The last parade

Both Meade and Union General Sherman would have their day. Marching from Appomattox and Raleigh, the two armies arrived in Washington, more than 220,000 strong, ready to march for a final time down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington in a Grand Review for President Johnson and General-in-Chief Grant. Each army had its day. The Army of the Potomac went first. It looked sharp, polished, and smart, in keeping with its heritage as a well-drilled and well-kept army. Its performance was all that it was expected to be. Sherman’s army — actually two armies — the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Cumberland, had been in the field since Chattanooga, and they looked it. Uniforms, weapons, and appearance were not up to parade ground standards. Yet when they marched, they displayed for the spectators the sublime meaning of victory perhaps more than their sister army did. They were rough and sinewy and marched with a bit of a swagger, having come here from almost half a continent away. Even the camp followers who had also become part of the army were in the parade — hundreds of freed Blacks, men, women, children, and whole families in a motley caravan of wagons and live animals. After joining Sherman’s march, they had never left the army. Now they were part of the victory as well. For over six hours the 110,000 men marched past the reviewing stand and into history.

“Strike the tent”

As the nation returned to an uneasy peace bought by an ocean of blood, the former soldiers from both the North and the South found themselves in a country completely different from the one they had known. Everything had changed, and they themselves had changed most of all. A new politics was born in the aftermath of war, and as old institutions died as a result of the war, new ones would take their place. In place of a republic composed of states that held most of the power, the Federal government now held power at the expense of the states. Income taxes, the draft, a national currency, federal courts, and constitutional amendments were reflections of this new power. In 1865, the nation stood on the threshold of a transformation that would directly affect Americans for generations. Even today, Americans struggle with the war’s meaning and how it continues to affect the lives of people in the United States.

Winners and Losers: The Debate Lives On

Wars are won and lost for thousands of reasons. Civil wars, because of the bitterness and cruelty they entail, often result in long debates about why one side defeated the other. No one is ever satisfied with the answers, because they hinge on so many variables. Nevertheless, several important reasons can be identified that serve as departure points for further debate and argument.

Why the North won

You can argue about this forever. There are many reasons why the North won, but several will suffice to answer the question:

The North’s superior resources made the outcome inevitable. Given all the resources the North possessed — financial, economic, manpower — it would seem inevitable that after all these resources were harnessed, the South could not win the war.

The North had a coherent strategy (The Anaconda Plan). From the very beginning of the war, the Union strategy was sound — blockade the South while controlling the Mississippi and drive on the Confederate capital of Richmond. Although it took four years to organize, it was the strategy that won the war.

Lincoln and Grant collaborated well. After Lincoln found a General capable of carrying out the Union’s determined strategy, Lincoln and Grant worked closely together to ensure that the military objectives of the war corresponded with the political objectives of the war. In fact, Lincoln held a meeting with Grant and Sherman just a few weeks prior to the end of the war to outline their final strategy, including post-war plans. Knowing the President’s intentions allowed Grant and Sherman to use the military means necessary to achieve them.

The moral power of fighting for human freedom empowered the North. Lincoln changed the entire nature of the conflict by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Without it, the war had no true goal. By proclaiming that the war was now one for human freedom, the North gained a moral power that prevented European intervention on behalf of the Confederacy and doomed the South’s cause.

Sherman’s revenge

Sherman had not forgotten or forgiven Stanton for his public attack on Sherman for his negotiations with Johnston (see “The politicians react” earlier in this chapter). Stanton had accused him of everything from treason to presidential ambitions. Now, as his army triumphantly marched through the capital, Sherman shook hands with everyone on the reviewing stand — all except Edwin M. Stanton. As Stanton stood with his hand out, Sherman glared at him for several seconds, refusing, before passing by.

Why the South lost

We can argue about this one forever, too. There are many explanations, most of which do not tell the whole story, but these seem to be the most obvious ones:

The South ran out of time. As long as the South could keep the North at bay, either through military stalemate or a collapse of Northern national willpower, it could win the war, regardless of the North’s superior resources. It was very close, but the North stayed the course.

States’ rights prevented unification of the South. The very issue that created the Confederacy helped to destroy it. Individual state governors fought bitterly with Jefferson Davis to prevent him from consolidating power to fight the war. They withheld troops and supplies while the Confederate Congress spent its time arguing over the prerogatives of the states instead of prosecuting a war of national survival.

Jefferson Davis and his Generals failed to work together. Davis wanted to be a General, not president. He never gave up trying to be a General in the area of strategy and selection of Generals to lead his armies. Davis loved to interfere in issues of strategy, giving directions to his Generals without ever giving them the means to accomplish his objectives. He made terrible choices for Senior Commanders, often selecting men based on personal preference rather than qualifications. He stubbornly supported his favorites, even at the expense of overall benefits for the Confederacy.

The South failed to gain the recognition of the European nations. King Cotton diplomacy was meant to be a dagger pointed at the economic heart of Europe. Instead, it was a knife laid against the South’s own throat. By purposely withholding cotton from European markets in the crucial first two years of the war, the South ruined its chances to win European support. Additionally, the South never clearly articulated its cause to Europe. Its clumsy defense of slavery and key military defeats at the wrong time doomed all hopes of diplomatic recognition.

One more explanation for the Southern defeat came from a Confederate veteran: “We just wore ourselves out whippin’ Yankees!”