Final Stages: Major Battles of 1863: Vicksburg and Gettysburg
1863 is a pivotal year in determining the outcome of the war between the states. Three significant battles prove to be turning points in the conflict. The first takes place at Vicksburg along the Mississippi River; the second in Pennsylvania where L...
Battle Cry: Politics of Emancipation, The
In 1862 President Lincoln's Cabinet urges him to wait for victory in the war with the Confederacy before issuing Emancipation Proclamation. Lee invades Maryland, hoping that victories in the Eastern Theater will convince Europe to support the Confed...
Battle Cry: North and South Seek Support from Foreign Governments
The military initiative in the Civil War lies mainly with the North. Its task is to defeat the Confederacy; the South needs only to avoid defeat. Diplomatically the situation is reversed. The South must enlist the recognition and support of foreign ...
Battle Cry: Need for Manpower, The
As the conflict continues, the North and the South sustain severe losses of military personnel. The Confederates had already instituted a draft in the spring of 1862, but now it becomes necessary for the Union to take similar steps. Certain categori...
Battle Cry: People at War
Military history is about the experience of people at war, not just armies or generals. There are few aspects of society that are not affected. Women, for example, become heads of households, a difficult position particularly on Southern plantations...
Battle Cry: Civil War Spills into Western Territories
States and territories in the American West, embedded in controversy leading up to the Civil War, are removed from the major fighting. Both North and South seek access to California gold, but when Confederate soldiers march out of Texas into New Mex...
What Price Freedom: Republicans Legislate Harsher Approach to Reconstruction
Republicans in Congress legislate a more radical version of reconstruction through a series of Reconstruction Acts they pass over Johnson's veto. It is clear that they don't want treasons Southerners in Congress within months of the war's end. They ...
What Price Freedom: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, The
Just a few days into his second term in office, Lincoln's life comes to an abrupt end. On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife are attending a play at Ford's Theater when actor John Wilkes Booth slips into the presidential box and shoot...
What Price Freedom: Confusion and Devastation Marks End of Civil War
In 1865, as it becomes clear that the war is drawing to a close, no one in Washington knows quite what to do. Abraham Lincoln cannot negotiate a treaty with a government he insists has no right to exist, but neither can he simply readmit Southern st...
What Price Freedom: President Johnson impeached by Congress
President Johnson is no longer a serious obstacle to the passage of radical legislation, but he still is the person responsible for administering Reconstruction programs. The Radicals have little confidence in his motivation to do so and begin impea...