During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
(USA) was referred to as the Union, also known colloquially as the North, after eleven Southern slave states (Kentucky and Missouri were claimed by the Confederacy but did not secede)
seceded
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics lea ...
to form the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
(CSA), was called the Confederacy, also known as the South. The United States, led by President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, was called the Union after its declared goal of preserving the United States as a constitutional union.
"Union" is used in the
U.S. Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
to refer to the founding formation of the people, and to the states in union. In the context of the Civil War, it is also often used as a synonym for "the northern states loyal to the United States government";
in this broader meaning, the Union included 20
free states and four southern
border slave states (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) though Missouri and Kentucky both had dual competing Confederate and Unionist governments with the
Confederate government of Kentucky
The Confederate government of Kentucky was a shadow government established for the Commonwealth of Kentucky by a self-constituted group of Confederate sympathizers during the American Civil War. The shadow government never replaced the electe ...
and the
Confederate government of Missouri
The Confederate government of Missouri was a continuation in exile of the government of pro-Confederate States of America, Confederate Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, Claiborne F. Jackson. It existed until General Edmund Kirby Smith, E. Kirby S ...
.
The
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
was a new formation comprising mostly state units, together with units from the regular
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
. Keeping the southern
border states in the Union was essential to its winning the war, and Lincoln reportedly said, "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky".
The
Northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
and
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
provided the industrial resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies and financing the war. The Northeast and Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, and training camps. Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most Northern states had
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
governors who energetically supported the war effort and suppressed anti-war subversion, particularly that that arose in 1863–64. The
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
strongly supported the war at the beginning in 1861, but by 1862, was split between the
War Democrats
War Democrats in American politics of the 1860s were members of the Democratic Party who supported the Union and rejected the policies of the Copperheads (or Peace Democrats). The War Democrats demanded a more aggressive policy toward the Con ...
and the anti-war element known as Peace Democrats, led by the extremist "
Copperheads". The Democrats made major electoral gains in 1862 in state elections, most notably in New York. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio. In 1864, the Republicans campaigned under the
National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket against Democratic candidate
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...
.
The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare ravaged the countryside. Prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers' wives, widows, and orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered in order to escape the draft and to take advantage of generous cash bounties on offer from states and localities. Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially in parts of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, with its massive
anti-draft riots of July 1863 and in some remote districts such as the
coal mining areas of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
.
Etymology
![Charleston Mercury Secession Broadside, 1860](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Charleston_Mercury_Secession_Broadside%2C_1860.jpg)
In the context of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the Union, or the United States, is sometimes referred to as "the North", both then and now, as opposed to the
Confederacy, which was often called "the South". The Union (the United States) never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacy's secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States. In foreign affairs, the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term "Union" occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The subsequent
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union..." ''Union'', for the United States of America, is then repeated in such clauses as the
Admission to the Union
Admission may refer to:
Arts and media
* "Admissions" (''CSI: NY''), an episode of ''CSI: NY''
* ''Admissions'' (film), a 2011 short film starring James Cromwell
* ''Admission'' (film), a 2013 comedy film
* ''Admission'', a 2019 album by Florida s ...
clause in Article IV, Section 3.
Even before the Civil War began the phrase "preserve the Union" was commonplace, and a "union of states" had been used to refer to the entire United States of America. Using the term "Union" to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the pre-existing political entity.
Confederates generally saw the Union as being opposed to slavery, occasionally referring to them as abolitionists, in reference to the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
as the "abolition fleet" and the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
as "abolition forces".
In 2015, historian Michael Landis called for an end to the use of the term "Union", writing "The employment of 'Union' instead of 'United States,' implicitly supports the Lost Cause, Confederate view of secession wherein the nation of the United States collapsed
..In reality, however, the United States never ceased to exist
..The dichotomy of 'Union v. Confederacy' lends credibility to the Confederate experiment and undermines the legitimacy of the United States as a political entity." In 2021, the
Army University
The Army University is a professional military education university system of the United States Army. It is the largest professional military education system in the world, with over 150,000 soldiers educated in more than 88 occupations across ...
Press noted that it was replacing usages of the word "Union" with "Federal Government" or "U.S. Government". The Army University Press stated this was "more historically accurate" as "the term 'Union' always referred to all the states together."
Size and strength
![Advantages](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Advantages.jpg)
Unlike the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area (the Northeast), and more advanced commercial, transportation and financial systems than the rural South. Additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of five to two at the start of the war.
Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources and population. Meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force. However, much of the Union strength had to be used to garrison former-Confederate areas, and to protect railroads and other vital points. The Union's great advantages in population and industry would prove to be vital long-term factors in its victory over the Confederacy, but it took the Union a long while to fully mobilize these resources.
Public opinion
The attack on
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island protecting Charleston, South Carolina from naval invasion. Its origin dates to the War of 1812 when the British invaded Washington by sea. It was still incomplete in 1861 when the Battl ...
rallied the North to the defense of American nationalism. Historian
Allan Nevins
Joseph Allan Nevins (May 20, 1890 – March 5, 1971) was an American historian and journalist, known for his extensive work on the history of the Civil War and his biographies of such figures as Grover Cleveland, Hamilton Fish, Henry Ford, and J ...
writes:
McClintock states:
Historian Michael Smith argues that as the war ground on year after year, the spirit of
American republicanism
The values, ideals and concept of republicanism have been discussed and celebrated throughout the history of the United States. As the United States has no formal hereditary ruling class, ''republicanism'' in this context does not refer to a ...
grew stronger and generated fears of corruption in high places. Voters became afraid of power being centralized in Washington, extravagant spending, and war profiteering. Democratic candidates emphasized these fears. The candidates added that rapid modernization was putting too much political power in the hands of Eastern financiers and industrialists. They warned that the abolition of slavery would bring a flood of freed blacks into the labor market of the North.
Republicans responded with charges of defeatism. They indicted Copperheads for criminal conspiracies to free Confederate
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
and played on the spirit of nationalism and the growing hatred of the slave owners, as the guilty party in the war.
President Lincoln
Historians have
overwhelmingly praised the "political genius" of Abraham Lincoln's performance as president. His first priority was military victory. This required that he master entirely new skills as a strategist and diplomat. He oversaw supplies, finances, manpower, the selection of generals, and the course of overall strategy. Working closely with state and local politicians, he rallied public opinion and (at
Gettysburg) articulated a national mission that has defined America ever since. Lincoln's charm and willingness to cooperate with political and personal enemies made Washington work much more smoothly than
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, the Confederate capital, and his wit smoothed many rough edges. Lincoln's cabinet proved much stronger and more efficient than Davis's, as Lincoln channeled personal rivalries into a competition for excellence rather than mutual destruction. With
William Seward
William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. A determined oppon ...
at
State
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
,
Salmon P. Chase
Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...
at the
Treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...
, and (from 1862)
Edwin Stanton
Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize t ...
at the
War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* Dep ...
, Lincoln had a powerful
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
of determined men. Except for monitoring major appointments and decisions, Lincoln gave them free rein to end the Confederate rebellion.
Congress
The Republican Congress passed many major laws that reshaped the nation's economy, financial system, tax system, land system, and higher education system. These included: the
Morrill tariff, the
Homestead Act
The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of th ...
, the
Pacific Railroad Act The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 were a series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" (the Pacific Railroad) in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of ...
, and the
National Banking Act
The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal banking acts that established a system of National bank#United States, national banks, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged development of ...
. Lincoln paid relatively little attention to this legislation as he focused on war issues but he worked smoothly with powerful Congressional leaders such as
Thaddeus Stevens
Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792August 11, 1868) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of sla ...
(on taxation and spending),
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
(on foreign affairs),
Lyman Trumbull
Lyman Trumbull (October 12, 1813 – June 25, 1896) was a lawyer, judge, and United States Senator from Illinois and the co-author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Born in Colchester, Connecticut, Trumbull esta ...
(on legal issues),
Justin Smith Morrill
Justin Smith Morrill (April 14, 1810December 28, 1898) was an American politician and entrepreneur who represented Vermont in the United States House of Representatives (1855–1867) and United States Senate (1867–1898). He is most widely remem ...
(on land grants and tariffs) and
William Pitt Fessenden
William Pitt Fessenden (October 16, 1806September 8, 1869) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. Fessenden was a Whig (later a Republican) and member of the Fessenden political family. He served in the United States House o ...
(on finances).
Military and reconstruction issues were another matter. Lincoln, as the leader of the moderate and conservative factions of the Republican Party, often crossed swords with the
Radical Republicans
The Radical Republicans (later also known as " Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reco ...
, led by Stevens and Sumner. Author, Bruce Tap, shows that Congress challenged Lincoln's role as commander-in-chief through the
Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War
The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War was a United States congressional committee started on December 9, 1861, and was dismissed in May 1865. The committee investigated the progress of the war against the Confederacy. Meetings were held ...
. It was a joint committee of both houses that was dominated by the Radical Republicans, who took a hard line against the Confederacy. During the 37th and 38th Congresses, the committee investigated every aspect of Union military operations, with special attention to finding commanders culpable for military defeats. It assumed an inevitable Union victory. Failure was perceived to indicate evil motivations or personal failures. The committee distrusted graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point, since many of the academy's alumni were leaders of the enemy army. Members of the committee much preferred political generals with a satisfactory political record. Some of the committee suggested that West-Pointers who engaged in strategic maneuver were cowardly or even disloyal. It ended up endorsing incompetent but politically correct generals.
Opposition
![~abe2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/~abe2.jpg)
The opposition came from
Copperhead Democrats, who were strongest in the Midwest and wanted to allow Confederate secession. In the East, opposition to the war was strongest among Irish Catholics, but also included business interests connected to the South typified by
August Belmont
August Belmont Sr. (born August Schönberg; December 8, 1813November 24, 1890) was a German-American financier, diplomat, politician and party chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and also a horse-breeder and racehorse owner. He was ...
. The
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
was deeply split. In 1861 most Democrats supported the war. However, the party increasingly split down the middle between the moderates who supported the war effort, and the peace element, including Copperheads, who did not. It scored major gains in the 1862 elections, and elected the moderate
Horatio Seymour
Horatio Seymour (May 31, 1810February 12, 1886) was an American politician. He served as Governor of New York from 1853 to 1854 and from 1863 to 1864. He was the Democratic Party nominee for president in the 1868 United States presidential elec ...
as governor of New York.
They gained 28 seats in the House of Representatives but Republicans retained control of both the House and the Senate.
![Emancipation proclamation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Emancipation_Proclamation.jpg)
The 1862 election for the Indiana legislature was especially hard-fought. Though the Democrats gained control of the legislature, they were
unable to impede the war effort. Republican Governor
Oliver P. Morton
Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton (August 4, 1823 – November 1, 1877), commonly known as Oliver P. Morton, was a U.S. Republican Party politician from Indiana. He served as the 14th governor (the first native-born) of Indiana during the Amer ...
was able to maintain control of the state's contribution to the war effort despite the Democratic majority. Washington was especially helpful in 1864 in arranging furloughs to allow Hoosier soldiers to return home so they could vote in elections. Across the North in 1864, the great majority of soldiers voted Republican. Men who had been Democrats before the war often abstained or voted Republican.
As the federal draft laws tightened, there was serious unrest among Copperhead strongholds, such as the Irish in the Pennsylvania coal mining districts. The government needed the coal more than the draftees, so it ignored the largely non-violent draft dodging there. The violent
New York City draft riots
The New York City draft riots (July 13–16, 1863), sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of white working-cla ...
of 1863 were suppressed by the U.S. Army firing grape shot down cobblestone city streets.
The Democrats nominated
George McClellan
George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...
, a
War Democrat
War Democrats in American politics of the 1860s were members of the Democratic Party who supported the Union and rejected the policies of the Copperheads (or Peace Democrats). The War Democrats demanded a more aggressive policy toward the Con ...
for the 1864 presidential election but gave him an anti-war platform. In terms of Congress the opposition against the war was nearly powerless—as was the case in most states. In Indiana and Illinois pro-war governors circumvented anti-war legislatures elected in 1862. For 30 years after the war the Democrats carried the burden of having opposed the martyred Lincoln, who was viewed by many as the salvation of the Union and the destroyer of slavery.
Copperheads
The Copperheads were a large faction of northern Democrats who opposed the war, demanding an immediate peace settlement. They said they wanted to restore "the Union as it was" (that is, with the South and with slavery) but they realized that the Confederacy would never voluntarily rejoin the U.S.
The most prominent Copperhead was Ohio's
Clement L. Vallandigham
Clement Laird Vallandigham ( ; July 29, 1820 – June 17, 1871) was an American politician and leader of the Copperhead (politics), Copperhead faction of anti-war History of the United States Democratic Party, Democrats during the American Civil ...
, a Congressman and leader of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
in Ohio. He was defeated in an intense election for governor in 1863. Republican prosecutors in the Midwest accused some Copperhead activists of treason in a series of trials in 1864.
Copperheadism was a grassroots movement, strongest in the area just north of the Ohio River, as well as some urban ethnic
wards
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
. Some historians have argued that it represented a traditionalistic element alarmed at the rapid modernization of society sponsored by the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
. It looked back to
Jacksonian Democracy
Jacksonian democracy was a 19th-century political philosophy in the United States that expanded suffrage to most white men over the age of 21, and restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, And ...
for inspiration—with ideals that promoted an agrarian rather than industrialized concept of society. Weber (2006) argues that the Copperheads damaged the Union war effort by fighting the draft, encouraging desertion and forming conspiracies. However, other historians say the Copperheads were a legitimate opposition force unfairly treated by the government, adding that the draft was in disrepute and that the Republicans greatly exaggerated the conspiracies for partisan reasons. Copperheadism was a major issue in the 1864 presidential election—its strength waxed when Union armies were doing poorly and waned when they won great victories. After the fall of
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
in September 1864, military success seemed assured and Copperheadism collapsed.
Soldiers
Recruiting volunteers
![Georgetown 1861](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Georgetown_1861.jpg)
Enthusiastic young men clamored to join the Union army in 1861. They came with family support for reasons of patriotism and excitement. Washington decided to keep the small regular army intact; it had only 16,000 men and was needed to guard the frontier. Its officers could, however, join the temporary new volunteer army that was formed, with expectations that their experience would lead to rapid promotions. The problem with volunteering, however, was its serious lack of planning, leadership, and organization at the highest levels. Washington called on the states for troops, and every northern governor set about raising and equipping regiments, and sent the bills to the War Department. The men could elect the junior officers, while the governor appointed the senior officers, and Lincoln appointed the generals. Typically, politicians used their local organizations to raise troops and were in line (if healthy enough) to become colonel. The problem was that the War Department, under the disorganized leadership of
Simon Cameron
Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799June 26, 1889) was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Americ ...
, also authorized local and private groups to raise regiments. The result was widespread confusion and delay.
Pennsylvania, for example, had acute problems. When Washington called for 10 more regiments, enough men volunteered to form 30. However, they were scattered among 70 different new units, none of them a complete regiment. Not until Washington approved gubernatorial control of all new units was the problem resolved. Allan Nevins is particularly scathing of this in his analysis: "A President more exact, systematic and vigilant than Lincoln, a Secretary more alert and clearheaded than Cameron, would have prevented these difficulties."
By the end of 1861, 700,000 soldiers were drilling in Union camps. The first wave in spring was called up for only 90 days, then the soldiers went home or reenlisted. Later waves enlisted for three years.
The new recruits spent their time drilling in company and regiment formations. The combat in the first year, though strategically important, involved relatively small forces and few casualties. Sickness was a much more serious cause of hospitalization or death.
In the first few months, men wore low quality uniforms made of "shoddy" material, but by fall, sturdy wool uniforms—in blue—were standard. The nation's factories were converted to produce the rifles, cannons, wagons, tents, telegraph sets, and the myriad of other special items the army needed.
While business had been slow or depressed in spring 1861, because of war fears and Southern boycotts, by fall business was hiring again, offering young men jobs that were an alternative way to help win the war. Nonpartisanship was the rule in the first year, but by summer 1862, many Democrats had stopped supporting the war effort, and volunteering fell off sharply in their strongholds.
The calls for more and more soldiers continued, so states and localities responded by offering cash bonuses. By 1863, a draft law was in effect, but few men actually were drafted and served, since the law was designed to get them to volunteer or hire a substitute. Others hid away or left the country. With the
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...
taking effect in January 1863, localities could meet their draft quota by sponsoring regiments of ex-slaves organized in the South.
![4th United States Colored Infantry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/4th_United_States_Colored_Infantry.jpg)
Michigan was especially eager to send thousands of volunteers. A study of the cities of Grand Rapids and Niles shows an overwhelming surge of nationalism in 1861, whipping up enthusiasm for the war in all segments of society, and all political, religious, ethnic, and occupational groups. However, by 1862 the casualties were mounting, and the war was increasingly focused on freeing the slaves in addition to preserving the Union.
Copperhead Democrats called the war a failure, and it became an increasingly partisan Republican effort. Michigan voters remained evenly split between the parties in the presidential election of 1864.
Motivations of soldiers
Perman (2010) says historians are of two minds on why millions of men seemed so eager to fight, suffer, and die over four years:
The paperwork war
On the whole, the national, state, and local governments handled the avalanche of paperwork effectively. Skills developed in insurance and financial companies formed the basis of systematic forms, copies, summaries, and filing systems used to make sense of masses of human data. The leader in this effort,
John Shaw Billings
John Shaw Billings (April 12, 1838 – March 11, 1913) was an American librarian, building designer, and surgeon. However, he is best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army. His work with Andrew Carn ...
, later developed a system of mechanically storing, sorting, and counting numerical information using
punch card
A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...
s. Nevertheless, old-fashioned methodology had to be recognized and overcome. An illustrative case study came in New Hampshire, where the critical post of state adjutant general was held in 1861–64 by elderly politician Anthony C. Colby (1792–1873) and his son Daniel E. Colby (1816–1891). They were patriotic, but were overwhelmed with the complexity of their duties. The state lost track of men who enlisted after 1861; it had no personnel records or information on volunteers, substitutes, or draftees, and there was no inventory of weaponry and supplies. Nathaniel Head (1828–1883) took over in 1864, obtained an adequate budget and office staff, and reconstructed the missing paperwork. As result, widows, orphans, and disabled veterans received the postwar payments they had earned.
Medical conditions
![After Battle of Savage's Station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/After_Battle_of_Savage%27s_Station.jpg)
More soldiers died of disease than from battle injuries, and even larger numbers were temporarily incapacitated by wounds, disease, and accidents. The Union responded by building army hospitals in every state.
The hygiene of the camps was poor, especially at the beginning of the war when men who had seldom been far from home were brought together for training with thousands of strangers. First came epidemics of the childhood diseases of
chicken pox
Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). The disease results in a characteristic skin rash that forms small, itchy blisters, which eventually scab ...
,
mumps
MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gener ...
,
whooping cough
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or ...
, and especially,
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
. Operations in the South meant a dangerous and new disease environment, bringing
diarrhea
Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...
,
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
,
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
, and
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
. There were no antibiotics, so the surgeons prescribed coffee, whiskey, and quinine. Harsh weather, bad water, inadequate shelter in winter quarters, poor policing of camps, and dirty camp hospitals took their toll. This was a common scenario in wars from time immemorial, and conditions faced by the Confederate army were even worse. What was different in the Union was the emergence of skilled, well-funded medical organizers who took proactive action, especially in the much enlarged United States Army Medical Department, and the
United States Sanitary Commission
The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the American Civil W ...
, a new private agency. Numerous other new agencies also targeted the medical and morale needs of soldiers, including the
United States Christian Commission The United States Christian Commission (USCC) was an organization that furnished supplies, medical services, and religious literature to Union troops during the American Civil War. It combined religious support with social services and recreational ...
, as well as smaller private agencies, such as the Women's Central Association of Relief for Sick and Wounded in the Army (WCAR), founded in 1861 by
Henry Whitney Bellows
Henry Whitney Bellows (June 11, 1814 – January 30, 1882) was an American clergyman, and the planner and president of the United States Sanitary Commission, the leading soldiers' aid society, during the American Civil War.
Under his leadershi ...
, a Unitarian minister, and the social reformer
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first gene ...
. Systematic funding appeals raised public consciousness as well as millions of dollars. Many thousands of volunteers worked in the hospitals and rest homes, most famously poet
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...
.
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
, a famous landscape architect, was the highly efficient executive director of the Sanitary Commission.
States could use their own tax money to support their troops, as Ohio did. Under the energetic leadership of Governor
David Tod
David Tod (February 21, 1805 – November 13, 1868) was an American politician and industrialist from the U.S. state of Ohio. As the 25th governor of Ohio, Tod gained recognition for his forceful and energetic leadership during the American Civil ...
, a
War Democrat
War Democrats in American politics of the 1860s were members of the Democratic Party who supported the Union and rejected the policies of the Copperheads (or Peace Democrats). The War Democrats demanded a more aggressive policy toward the Con ...
who won office on a coalition "Union Party" ticket with Republicans, Ohio acted vigorously. Following the unexpected carnage at the
battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...
in April 1862, Ohio sent three steamboats to the scene as floating hospitals equipped with doctors, nurses, and medical supplies. The state fleet expanded to 11 hospital ships, and the state set up 12 local offices in main transportation nodes, to help Ohio soldiers moving back and forth.
The Christian Commission comprised 6,000 volunteers who aided chaplains in many ways.
For example, its agents distributed Bibles, delivered sermons, helped with sending letters home, taught men to read and write, and set up camp libraries.
The Army learned many lessons and modernized its procedures, and medical science—especially surgery—made many advances. In the long run, the wartime experiences of the numerous Union commissions modernized public welfare, and set the stage for large—scale community philanthropy in America based on fund raising campaigns and private donations.
Additionally, women gained new public roles. For example,
Mary Livermore
Mary Livermore (born Mary Ashton Rice; December 19, 1820May 23, 1905) was an American journalist, abolitionist, and advocate of women's rights. Her printed volumes included: ''Thirty Years Too Late,'' first published in 1847 as a prize temperance ...
(1820–1905), the manager of the Chicago branch of the US Sanitary Commission, used her newfound organizational skills to mobilize support for
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
after the war. She argued that women needed more education and job opportunities to help them fulfill their role of serving others.
The Sanitary Commission collected enormous amounts of statistical data, and opened up the problems of storing information for fast access and mechanically searching for data patterns. The pioneer was
John Shaw Billings
John Shaw Billings (April 12, 1838 – March 11, 1913) was an American librarian, building designer, and surgeon. However, he is best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army. His work with Andrew Carn ...
(1838–1913). A senior surgeon in the war, Billings built two of the world's most important libraries,
Library of the Surgeon General's Office
The Library of the Surgeon General's Office, later called the Army Medical Library, was the institutional medical literature repository of the U.S. Army Surgeon General from 1836 to 1956 when it was transformed into the National Library of Medic ...
(now the
National Library of Medicine
The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library.
Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...
) and the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
; he also figured out how to mechanically analyze data by turning it into numbers and punching onto the computer punch card, later developed by his student
Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine
The tabulating machine was an electromechanical machine designed t ...
. Hollerith's company became
International Business Machines (IBM) in 1911.
Prisoners of war
Both sides operated prison camps; they handled about 400,000 captives, but many other prisoners were quickly released and never sent to camps. The Record and Pension Office in 1901 counted 211,000 Northerners who were captured. In 1861–63 most were immediately paroled; after the parole exchange system broke down in 1863, about 195,000 went to Confederate prison camps. Some tried to escape but few succeeded. By contrast 464,000 Confederates were captured (many in the final days) and 215,000 imprisoned. Over 30,000 Union and nearly 26,000 Confederate prisoners died in captivity. Just over 12% of the captives in Northern prisons died, compared to 15.5% for Southern prisons.
Draft riots
![New York Draft Riots - Harpers - clash](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/New_York_Draft_Riots_-_Harpers_-_clash.jpg)
Discontent with the 1863
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...
law led to riots in several cities and in rural areas as well. By far the most important were the
New York City draft riots
The New York City draft riots (July 13–16, 1863), sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of white working-cla ...
of July 13 to July 16, 1863. Irish Catholic and other workers fought police, militia and regular army units until the Army used artillery to sweep the streets. Initially focused on the draft, the protests quickly expanded into violent attacks on blacks in New York City, with many killed on the streets.
Small-scale riots broke out in ethnic German and Irish districts, and in areas along the Ohio River with many Copperheads.
Holmes County, Ohio
Holmes County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,223. Its county seat is Millersburg. The county was formed in 1824 from portions of Coshocton, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties and organize ...
was an isolated parochial area dominated by
Pennsylvania Dutch
The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...
and some recent German immigrants. It was a Democratic stronghold and few men dared speak out in favor of conscription. Local politicians denounced Lincoln and Congress as despotic, seeing the draft law as a violation of their local autonomy. In June 1863, small-scale disturbances broke out; they ended when the Army sent in armed units.
Economy
The Union economy grew and prospered during the war while fielding a very large army and navy. The Republicans in Washington had a Whiggish vision of an industrial nation, with great cities, efficient factories, productive farms, all national banks, all knit together by a modern railroad system, to be mobilized by the
United States Military Railroad
The U.S. Military Railroad (USMRR) was established by the United States Department of War, United States War Department as a separate agency to operate any rail lines seized by the government during the American Civil War. An Act of Congress of ...
. The South had resisted policies such as tariffs to promote industry and homestead laws to promote farming because slavery would not benefit. With the South gone and Northern Democrats weak, the Republicans enacted their legislation. At the same time they passed new taxes to pay for part of the war and issued large amounts of bonds to pay for most of the rest. Economic historians attribute the remainder of the cost of the war to inflation. Congress wrote an elaborate program of economic
modernization
Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, ...
that had the dual purpose of winning the war and permanently transforming the economy. For a list of the major industrialists see .
Financing the war
In 1860 the Treasury was a small operation that funded the small-scale operations of the government through land sales and customs based on a low tariff. Peacetime revenues were trivial in comparison with the cost of a full-scale war but the Treasury Department under Secretary
Salmon P. Chase
Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...
showed unusual ingenuity in financing the war without crippling the economy. Many new taxes were imposed and always with a patriotic theme comparing the financial sacrifice to the sacrifices of life and limb. The government paid for supplies in real money, which encouraged people to sell to the government regardless of their politics. By contrast the Confederacy gave paper promissory notes when it seized property, so that even loyal Confederates would hide their horses and mules rather than sell them for dubious paper. Overall the Northern financial system was highly successful in raising money and turning patriotism into profit, while the Confederate system impoverished its patriots.
The United States needed $3.1 billion to pay for the immense armies and fleets raised to fight the Civil War—over $400 million just in 1862 alone.
Apart from tariffs, the largest revenue by far came from
new excise taxes—a sort of
value added tax
A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...
—that was imposed on every sort of manufactured item. Second came much higher tariffs, through several
Morrill tariff laws. Third came the nation's first income tax; only the wealthy paid and it was repealed at war's end.
![Demand Legal comparison](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Demand_Legal_comparison.jpg)
Apart from taxes, the second major source of income was government bonds. For the first time bonds in small denominations were sold directly to the people, with publicity and patriotism as key factors, as designed by banker
Jay Cooke
Jay Cooke (August 10, 1821 – February 16, 1905) was an American financier who helped finance the Union war effort during the American Civil War and the postwar development of railroads in the northwestern United States. He is generally acknowle ...
. State banks lost their power to issue banknotes. Only national banks could do that and Chase made it easy to become a national bank; it involved buying and holding federal bonds and financiers rushed to open these banks. Chase numbered them, so that the first one in each city was the "First National Bank". Third, the government printed paper money called "
greenbacks". They led to endless controversy because they caused inflation.
The North's most important war measure was perhaps the creation of a system of national banks that provided a sound currency for the industrial expansion. Even more important, the hundreds of new banks that were allowed to open were required to purchase government bonds. Thereby the nation monetized the potential wealth represented by farms, urban buildings, factories, and businesses, and immediately turned that money over to the Treasury for war needs.
Tariffs
Secretary Chase, though a long-time free-trader, worked with Morrill to pass a second tariff bill in summer 1861, raising rates another 10 points in order to generate more revenues. These subsequent bills were primarily revenue driven to meet the war's needs, though they enjoyed the support of protectionists such as Carey, who again assisted Morrill in the bill's drafting. The
Morrill Tariff of 1861 was designed to raise revenue. The tariff act of 1862 served not only to raise revenue but also to encourage the establishment of factories free from British competition by taxing British imports. Furthermore, it protected American factory workers from low paid European workers, and as a major bonus attracted tens of thousands of those Europeans to immigrate to America for high wage factory and craftsman jobs.
Customs revenue from tariffs totaled $345 million from 1861 through 1865 or 43% of all federal tax revenue.
Land grants
The U.S. government owned vast amounts of good land (mostly from the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the Oregon Treaty with Britain in 1846). The challenge was to make the land useful to people and to provide the economic basis for the wealth that would pay off the war debt. Land grants went to railroad construction companies to open up the western plains and link up to California. Together with the free lands provided farmers by the Homestead Law the low-cost farm lands provided by the land grants sped up the expansion of commercial agriculture in the West.
The 1862 Homestead Act opened up the public domain lands for free. Land grants to the railroads meant they could sell tracts for family farms (80 to 200 acres) at low prices with extended credit. In addition the government sponsored fresh information, scientific methods and the latest techniques through the newly established
Department of Agriculture and the Morrill Land Grant College Act.
Agriculture
Agriculture was the largest single industry and it prospered during the war. Prices were high, pulled up by a strong demand from the army and from Britain (which depended on American wheat for a fourth of its food imports). The war acted as a catalyst that encouraged the rapid adoption of horse-drawn machinery and other implements. The rapid spread of recent inventions such as the reaper and mower made the work force efficient, even as hundreds of thousands of farmers were in the army. Many wives took their place and often consulted by mail on what to do; increasingly they relied on community and extended kin for advice and help.
The Union used hundreds of thousands of animals. The Army had plenty of cash to purchase them from farmers and breeders but especially in the early months the quality was mixed. Horses were needed for cavalry and artillery. Mules pulled the wagons. The supply held up, despite an unprecedented epidemic of
glanders
Glanders is a contagious zoonotic infectious disease that occurs primarily in horses, mules, and donkeys. It can be contracted by other animals, such as dogs, cats, pigs, goats, and humans. It is caused by infection with the bacterium ''Burkhol ...
, a fatal disease that baffled veterinarians. In the South, the Union army shot all the horses it did not need to keep them out of Confederate hands.
Cotton trade
The Treasury started buying cotton during the war, for shipment to Europe and northern mills. The sellers were Southern planters who needed the cash, regardless of their patriotism. The Northern buyers could make heavy profits, which annoyed soldiers like Ulysses Grant. He blamed Jewish traders and
expelled them from his lines in 1862 but Lincoln quickly overruled this show of anti-semitism. Critics said the cotton trade helped the South, prolonged the war and fostered corruption. Lincoln decided to continue the trade for fear that Britain might intervene if its textile manufacturers were denied raw material. Another goal was to foster latent Unionism in Southern border states. Northern textile manufacturers needed cotton to remain in business and to make uniforms, while cotton exports to Europe provided an important source of gold to finance the war.
Industrial and business leaders and military inventors
*
Matthias W. Baldwin
Matthias William Baldwin (December 10, 1795 – September 7, 1866) was an American inventor and machinery manufacturer, specializing in the production of steam locomotives. Baldwin's small machine shop, established in 1825, grew to become ...
*
Benjamin Bates IV
Benjamin Edward Bates IV (; July 12, 1808 – January 14, 1878) was an American rail industrialist, textile tycoon and philanthropist. He was the wealthiest person in Maine from 1850 to 1878, and is considered to have introduced both the Efficienc ...
*
John Jacob Bausch
John Jacob Bausch (born Johann Jakob Bausch; July 25, 1830 – February 14, 1926) was a German-American maker of optical instruments who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (with Henry Lomb). Over six decades he transformed his small, local optical shop into ...
*
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
*
Gardner Colby
Gardner Colby (1810–1879) was a prominent businessman and Christian philanthropist. He is the namesake of Colby College in Maine.
Early life
Colby was born in Bowdoinham, Maine in 1810 and spent part of his childhood in Waterville, Maine. His ...
*
Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of r ...
*
Jay Cooke
Jay Cooke (August 10, 1821 – February 16, 1905) was an American financier who helped finance the Union war effort during the American Civil War and the postwar development of railroads in the northwestern United States. He is generally acknowle ...
*
George Henry Corliss
George Henry Corliss (June 2, 1817 – February 21, 1888) was an American mechanical engineer and inventor, who developed the Corliss steam engine, which was a great improvement over any other stationary steam engine of its time. The Corliss ...
*
William Wesley Cornell
*
Erastus Corning
Erastus Corning (December 14, 1794 – April 9, 1872) was an American businessman and politician from Albany, New York. A Democrat, he was most notable for his service as mayor of Albany from 1834 to 1837, in the New York State Senate from 1842 ...
*
John Crerar (industrialist)
John Crerar (8 March 1827 – 19 October 1889) was a wealthy American industrialist and businessman from Chicago whose investments were primarily in the railroad industry. Although he had a successful business career he is most well known for his ...
*
Charles I. du Pont
*
James Buchanan Eads
Captain James Buchanan Eads (May 23, 1820 – March 8, 1887) was a world-renowned American civil engineer and inventor, holding more than 50 patents.
Eads' great Mississippi River Bridge at St. Louis was designated a National Historic Landmar ...
*
John Ericsson
John Ericsson (born Johan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American inventor. He was active in England and the United States.
Ericsson collaborated on the design of the railroad steam locomotive ''Novelty'', which com ...
*
William P. Halliday
William Parker Halliday (July 21, 1827 – September 22, 1899) was an American steamboat captain, banker, printer, hotel owner, vast landowner and businessman. Halliday began his professional career working on steamboats on the Mississipp ...
*
Benjamin Tyler Henry
Benjamin Tyler Henry (March 22, 1821 – June 8, 1898) was an American gunsmith and manufacturer. He was the inventor of the Henry rifle, the first reliable lever-action repeating rifle.
Henry was born in Claremont, New Hampshire in 1821. ...
*
Gouverneur Kemble
Gouverneur Kemble (January 25, 1786 – September 18, 1875) was a two-term United States Congressman, diplomat and industrialist. He helped found the West Point Foundry, a major producer of artillery during the American Civil War.
Early life and ...
*
Benjamin Knight
Benjamin Brayton Knight (1813–1898) was a New England industrialist and philanthropist, who was a partner with his brother Robert Knight in the B. B. & R. Knight Company and was one of the largest textile manufacturers in the world when he di ...
*
Robert Knight (industrialist)
*
Benedict Lapham
Benedict Lapham (June 26, 1816 – June 16, 1883) was a New England industrialist and philanthropist.
Biography
He was born in Burrillville, Rhode Island to a Yankee family on June 26, 1816. His parents were Phebe Arnold and Reverend Richard La ...
*
David Leavitt (banker)
David Leavitt (August 29, 1791 – December 30, 1879) was an early New York City banker and financier. As president of the American Exchange Bank of New York during the Financial Panic of 1837 he represented bondholders of the nascent Illinois and ...
*
John Lenthall (shipbuilder)
John Lenthall (16 September 1807 – 11 April 1882) was an important American shipbuilder and naval architect. He was responsible for the construction and repair of United States Navy ships during the American Civil War (1861–1865), as well as ...
*
Henry Lomb
Henry Lomb ( – ) was a German-American optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (with John Jacob Bausch) and led a group of businessmen to found The Mechanics Institute, the forerunner of Rochester Institute of Technology.
Biography
Lomb was bo ...
*
William Mason (locomotive builder)
William Mason (September 2, 1808 – May 21, 1883) was a master mechanical engineer and builder of textile machinery and railroad steam locomotives. He founded Mason Machine Works of Taunton, Massachusetts. His company was a significant supplier ...
*
William Metcalf (manufacturer)
William Metcalf (3 September 1838 – 5 December 1909) was an American steel manufacturer.
Metcalf was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Troy, New York, in 1858. In 1860–65, he had charge o ...
*
Samuel Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...
*
Asa Packer
Asa Packer (December 29, 1805May 17, 1879) was an American businessman who pioneered railroad construction, was active in Pennsylvania politics, and founded Lehigh University. He was a conservative and religious man who reflected the image of th ...
*
Robert Parker Parrott Robert Parker Parrott (October 5, 1804 – December 24, 1877) was an American soldier and inventor of military ordnance.
Born in Lee, New Hampshire, he was the son of John Fabyan Parrott. He graduated with honors from the United States Military ...
*
Daniel Pratt (industrialist)
Daniel Pratt (July 20, 1799 – May 13, 1873) was an American industrialist who pioneered ventures that opened the door for industry in the U.S. state of Alabama. Prattville in Autauga County, and Birmingham's Pratt City in Jefferson County ( ...
*
George Pullman
George Mortimer Pullman (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) was an American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the Pullman sleeping car and founded a company town, Pullman, for the workers who manufactured it. This ulti ...
*
Christian Sharps
Christian Sharps (January 2, 1810 – March 12, 1874) was the inventor of the Sharps rifle, the first commercially successful breech-loading rifle and the Sharps Four Barrel Pistol, and ‘’’Sharps Breech-Loading Pistol’’’.
Life, death ...
*
David Sinton
David Sinton (26 June 1808 – 31 August 1900) was an Irish-born American pig-iron industrialist, born in County Armagh, Ireland, who became one of the wealthiest people in America.
Early life
Sinton was the son of linen manufacturer John Sinton ...
*
Horace Smith (inventor)
Horace Smith (October 28, 1808 – January 15, 1893) was an American gunsmith, inventor, and businessman. He and his business partner Daniel B. Wesson formed two companies named "Smith & Wesson", the first of which was eventually reorganized into ...
*
Christopher Miner Spencer
Christopher Miner Spencer (June 20, 1833 – January 14, 1922) was an American inventor, from Manchester, Connecticut, who invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest models of lever-action rifle, a steam powered "horseless car ...
*
George Luther Stearns
George Luther Stearns (January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867) was an American industrialist and merchant in Medford, Massachusetts, as well as an abolitionist and a noted recruiter of black soldiers for the Union Army during the American Civil War ...
*
Henry J. Steere
*
Ezekiel A. Straw
Ezekiel Albert Straw (December 30, 1819 – October 23, 1882) was an American engineer, businessman, and politician from Manchester, New Hampshire. He was born in Salisbury, but moved with his family to Lowell, Massachusetts, where his father ...
*
John Edgar Thomson
John Edgar Thomson (February 10, 1808 – May 27, 1874) was an American civil engineer and industrialist. An entrepreneur best known for his leadership of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) from 1852 until his death in 1874, Thomson made it the lar ...
*
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
*
Ezra Warner (inventor)
Ezra J. Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut was an American inventor, who patented his design of a can opener in 1858. A crudely shaped bayonet and sickle combo, his design was widely accepted by the U.S. military during the period of the American Ci ...
*
Daniel B. Wesson
Daniel Baird Wesson (May 18, 1825 – August 4, 1906) was an American inventor and firearms designer. He helped develop several influential firearm designs over the course of his life; he and Horace Smith were the co-founders of two companies n ...
*
Rollin White
Rollin White (June 6, 1817 – March 22, 1892) was an American gunsmith who invented a single shot bored-through revolver cylinder that allowed paper cartridges to be loaded from the rear of a revolver's cylinder. Because the open breeches were ...
*
Amos Whitney
Amos Whitney (October 8, 1832 – August 5, 1920) was a mechanical engineer and inventor who co-founded the Pratt & Whitney company. He was a member of the prominent Whitney family.
He was born in Biddeford, Maine to Aaron and Rebecca (Pe ...
*
Oliver Winchester
Oliver Fisher Winchester (November 30, 1810 – December 11, 1880) was an American businessman and politician, best known as being the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.
Birth and marriage
He was the son of Samuel Winchester a ...
*
John F. Winslow
John Flack Winslow (November 10, 1810 – March 10, 1892) was an American businessman and iron manufacturer who was the fifth president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Life
He was born on November 10, 1810, in Bennington, Vermont, and w ...
*
George Worthington (businessman)
George Worthington (September 21, 1813 – November 9, 1871) was a 19th-century merchant and banker in Cleveland, Ohio, who founded the Geo. Worthington Company, a wholesale hardware and industrial distribution firm, in 1829 (until 1991 Clevel ...
Society
Religion
The Protestant religion was quite strong in the North in the 1860s. The
United States Christian Commission The United States Christian Commission (USCC) was an organization that furnished supplies, medical services, and religious literature to Union troops during the American Civil War. It combined religious support with social services and recreational ...
sent agents into the Army camps to provide psychological support as well as books, newspapers, food and clothing. Through prayer, sermons and welfare operations, the agents ministered to soldiers' spiritual as well as temporal needs as they sought to bring the men to a Christian way of life.
Most churches made an effort to support their soldiers in the field and especially their families back home. Much of the political rhetoric of the era had a distinct religious tone.
The Protestant clergy in America took a variety of positions. In general, the pietistic denominations such as the Methodists, Northern Baptists and Congregationalists strongly supported the war effort. Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans and conservative Presbyterians generally avoided any discussion of the war, so it would not bitterly divide their membership. The Quakers, while giving strong support to the abolitionist movement on a personal level, refused to take a denominational position. Some clergymen who supported the Confederacy were denounced as Copperheads, especially in the border regions.
Methodists
Many Northerners had only recently become religious (following the
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
) and religion was a powerful force in their lives. No denomination was more active in supporting the Union than the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
. Carwardine
[ argues that for many Methodists, the victory of Lincoln in 1860 heralded the arrival of the kingdom of God in America. They were moved into action by a vision of freedom for slaves, freedom from the persecutions of godly abolitionists, release from the Slave Power's evil grip on the American government and the promise of a new direction for the Union.] Methodists formed a major element of the popular support for the Radical Republicans
The Radical Republicans (later also known as " Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reco ...
with their hard line toward the white South. Dissident Methodists left the church. During Reconstruction the Methodists took the lead in helping form Methodist churches for Freedmen and moving into Southern cities even to the point of taking control, with Army help, of buildings that had belonged to the southern branch of the church.
The Methodist family magazine ''Ladies' Repository'' promoted Christian family activism. Its articles provided moral uplift to women and children. It portrayed the War as a great moral crusade against a decadent Southern civilization corrupted by slavery. It recommended activities that family members could perform in order to aid the Union cause.
Family
Historian Stephen M. Frank reports that what it meant to be a father varied with status and age. He says most men demonstrated dual commitments as providers and nurturers and believed that husband and wife had mutual obligations toward their children. The war privileged masculinity, dramatizing and exaggerating, father-son bonds. Especially at five critical stages in the soldier's career (enlistment, blooding, mustering out, wounding and death) letters from absent fathers articulated a distinctive set of 19th-century ideals of manliness.
Children
There were numerous children's magazines, such as ''Merry's Museum'', ''The Student and Schoolmate'', ''Our Young Folks'', ''The Little Pilgrim'', ''Forrester's Playmate'' and ''The Little Corporal''. They showed a Protestant religious tone and "promoted the principles of hard work, obedience, generosity, humility, and piety; trumpeted the benefits of family cohesion; and furnished mild adventure stories, innocent entertainment, and instruction". Their pages featured factual information and anecdotes about the war along with related quizzes, games, poems, songs, short oratorical pieces for "declamation", short stories and very short plays that children could stage. They promoted patriotism and the Union war aims, fostered kindly attitudes toward freed slaves, blackened the Confederates cause, encouraged readers to raise money for war-related humanitarian funds, and dealt with the death of family members. By 1866, the Milton Bradley Company was selling "The Myriopticon: A Historical Panorama of the Rebellion" that allowed children to stage a neighborhood show that would explain the war. It comprised colorful drawings that were turned on wheels and included pre-printed tickets, poster advertisements, and narration that could be read aloud at the show.
Caring for war orphans was an important function for local organizations as well as state and local government. A typical state was Iowa, where the private "Iowa Soldiers Orphans Home Association" operated with funding from the legislature and public donations. It set up orphanages in Davenport, Glenwood and Cedar Falls. The state government funded pensions for the widows and children of soldiers. Orphan schools like the Pennsylvania Soldiers' Orphan School, also spoke of the broader public welfare experiment that began as part of the aftermath of the Civil War. These orphan schools were created to provide housing, care, and education for orphans of Civil War soldiers. They became a matter of state pride, with orphans were paraded around at rallies to display the power of a patriotic schooling.
All the northern states had free public school systems before the war but not the border states. West Virginia set up its system in 1863. Over bitter opposition it established an almost-equal education for black children, most of whom were ex-slaves. Thousands of black refugees poured into St. Louis, where the Freedmen's Relief Society, the Ladies Union Aid Society, the Western Sanitary Commission, and the American Missionary Association
The American Missionary Association (AMA) was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on in Albany, New York. The main purpose of the organization was abolition of slavery, education of African Americans, promotion of racial equality, and ...
(AMA) set up schools for their children.
Unionists in Southern and Border states
People loyal to the U.S. federal government and opposed to secession living in the border states (where slavery was legal) and states under Confederate control, were termed Unionists. Confederates sometimes styled them "Homemade Yankees". However, Southern Unionists were not necessarily northern sympathizers and many of them, although opposing secession, supported the Confederacy once it was formed. East Tennessee
East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...
never supported the Confederacy fully, and Unionists there became powerful state leaders, including governors Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
and William G. Brownlow. Likewise, large pockets of eastern Kentucky were Unionist and helped keep the state from seceding. Western Virginia, with few slaves and slave owners, along with a growing industrial base at the time, was so strongly Unionist that it broke away and formed the new state of West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
in 1863.
Nearly 100,000 Unionists from the South served in the Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
during the Civil War and Unionist regiments were raised from every Confederate state except for South Carolina. Among such units was the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment, which served as William Sherman's personal escort on his march to the sea. Southern Unionists were extensively used as anti-guerrilla paramilitary forces. During the Reconstruction era
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
(1865–1877), many Southern Unionists became "Scalawags
In United States history, the term scalawag (sometimes spelled scallawag or scallywag) referred to white Southerners who supported Reconstruction policies and efforts after the conclusion of the American Civil War.
As with the term ''carpetba ...
", a derogatory term for white Southern supporters of the Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
.
Guerrilla warfare
Besides organized military conflict, the border states were beset by guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
. In states bitterly divided, neighbors frequently used the excuse of war to settle personal grudges and took up arms against neighbors.
Missouri
Missouri was the scene of over 1,000 engagements between Union and Confederate forces, and uncounted numbers of guerrilla attacks and raids by informal pro-Confederate bands. Western Missouri was the scene of brutal guerrilla warfare during the Civil War. Roving insurgent bands such as Quantrill's Raiders
Quantrill's Raiders were the best-known of the pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas (also known as "bushwhackers") who fought in the American Civil War. Their leader was William Quantrill and they included Jesse James and his brother Frank.
Ea ...
and the men of Bloody Bill Anderson
William T. Anderson (c. 1840October 26, 1864), known by the nickname "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was a soldier who was one of the deadliest and most notorious Confederate guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War. Anderson led a band of volu ...
terrorized the countryside, striking both military installations and civilian settlements. Because of the widespread attacks and the protection offered by Confederate sympathizers, Federal leaders issued General Order No. 11 in 1863, and evacuated areas of Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties. They forced the residents out to reduce support for the guerrillas. Union cavalry could sweep through and track down Confederate guerrillas, who no longer had places to hide and people and infrastructure to support them. On short notice, the army forced almost 20,000 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, to leave their homes. Many never returned and the affected counties were economically devastated for years after the end of the war. Families passed along stories of their bitter experiences down through several generations—future U.S. President Harry Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
's grandparents were caught up in the raids, and he would tell of how they were kept in concentration camps.
Some marauding units became organized criminal gangs after the war. In 1882, the bank robber and ex-Confederate guerrilla Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the " Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained stro ...
was killed in Saint Joseph, Missouri
St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which inclu ...
. Vigilante groups appeared in remote areas where law enforcement was weak, to deal with the lawlessness left over from the guerrilla warfare phase. For example, the Bald Knobbers
The Bald Knobbers were a group of vigilantes in the Ozark region of southwest Missouri from 1885 to 1889. They are commonly depicted wearing black horned hoods with white outlines of faces painted on them, a distinction that evolved during the r ...
were the term for several law-and-order vigilante groups in the Ozarks
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...
. In some cases, they too turned to illegal gang activity.
Kentucky
In response to the growing problem of locally organized guerrilla campaigns throughout 1863 and 1864, in June 1864, Maj. Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge was given command over the state of Kentucky. This began an extended period of military control that would last through early 1865, beginning with martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
authorized by President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
. To pacify Kentucky, Burbridge rigorously suppressed disloyalty and used economic pressure as coercion. His guerrilla policy, which included public execution of four guerrillas for the death of each unarmed Union citizen, caused the most controversy. After a falling out with Governor Thomas E. Bramlette
Thomas Elliott Bramlette (January 3, 1817 – January 12, 1875) was the 23rd Governor of Kentucky. He was elected in 1863 and guided the state through the latter part of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction. At the outbreak of t ...
, Burbridge was dismissed in February 1865. Confederates remembered him as the "Butcher of Kentucky".
Union states
* Washington, D.C
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
List of Wikipedia articles on Union states and major cities:
* California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
* Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
* Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
*
* Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
* Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
** Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
* Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
* Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
* Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
†*
** Lexington
** Louisville
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
...
* Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
* Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
*
** Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
*
* Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
* Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
* Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
†*
** St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
* Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
* New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
* New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
* New York in the American Civil War, New York
** New York City in the American Civil War, New York City
* Ohio in the American Civil War, Ohio
** Cincinnati in the American Civil War, Cincinnati
** Cleveland in the American Civil War, Cleveland
* Oregon in the American Civil War, Oregon
* Pennsylvania in the American Civil War, Pennsylvania
** Harrisburg in the American Civil War, Harrisburg
** Philadelphia in the American Civil War, Philadelphia
** Pittsburgh in the American Civil War, Pittsburgh
* Rhode Island in the American Civil War, Rhode Island
* Vermont in the American Civil War, Vermont
* Virginia in the American Civil War, Virginia†*
* West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
*
* Wisconsin in the American Civil War, Wisconsin
* Border states (American Civil War), Border states with slavery in 1861
†Had two state governments, one Unionist one Confederate, both claiming to be the legitimate government of their state. Kentucky's and Missouri's Confederate governments never had significant control after 1862, though the Confederacy controlled more than half of Kentucky and the southern portion of Missouri early in the war.
West Virginia separated from Virginia and became part of the Union during the war, on June 20, 1863. Nevada also joined the Union during the war, becoming a state on October 31, 1864.
Union territories
The Union-controlled territories in April 1861 were:
* Colorado Territory
* Dakota Territory
* Indian Territory (disputed with the Confederacy)
* Nebraska Territory
* Nevada Territory (became a state in 1864)
* New Mexico Territory
** Arizona Territory (split off in 1863)
* Utah Territory
* Washington Territory
** Idaho Territory (split off in 1863)
*** Montana Territory (split off in 1864)
The Indian Territory saw its own civil war, as the major tribes held slaves and endorsed the Confederacy.[John Spencer and Adam Hook, ''The American Civil War in Indian Territory'' (2006)]
See also
* American Civil War prison camps
* Perpetual Union
* Central Confederacy
Notes
Bibliography
Surveys
* Cashin, Joan E. ed. ''The War Was You and Me: Civilians in the American Civil War'' (2001),
* Fellman, Michael et al. ''This Terrible War: The Civil War and its Aftermath'' (2nd ed. 2007), 544 page university textbook
*
* Ford, Lacy K., ed. ''A Companion to the Civil War and Reconstruction.'' (2005). 518 pp. 23 essays by scholar
excerpt and text search
* J. Matthew Gallman, Gallman, J. Matthew. ''The North Fights the Civil War: The Home Front'' (1994), survey
* Gallman, J. Matthew. ''Northerners at War: Reflections on the Civil War Home Front'' (2010), essays on specialized issues
* Heidler, David and Jeanne Heidler, eds, ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History'' (2002) 2740pp
* James M. McPherson, McPherson, James M. ''Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era'' (1988), 900 page survey; Pulitzer prize
* Allan Nevins, Nevins, Allan. ''Ordeal of the Union, War for the Union'', an 8-volume set (1947–1971). the most detailed political, economic and military narrative; by Pulitzer Prize winner; vol 1–4 cover 1848–61; vol 5. The Improvised War, 1861–1862; 6. War Becomes Revolution, 1862–1863; 7. The Organized War, 1863–1864; 8. The Organized War to Victory, 1864–1865
* Resch, John P. ''et al.'', ''Americans at War: Society, Culture and the Homefront vol 2: 1816–1900'' (2005)
Politics
* Bogue, Allan G. ''The Congressman's Civil War'' (1989)
* Carman, Harry J. and Reinhard H. Luthin. ''Lincoln and the Patronage'' (1943), details on each state
* Donald, David Herbert. ''Lincoln'' (1999) the best biography
excerpt and text search
* Engle, Stephen D. ''Gathering to Save a Nation: Lincoln and the Union's War Governors'' (u of North Carolina Press, 2016). 725 pp.
*
* Gary W. Gallagher, Gallagher, Gary W. ''The Union War'' (2011), emphasizes that the North fought primarily for nationalism and preservation of the Union
* Goodwin, Doris Kearns. ''Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln'' (2005
excerpts and text search
on Lincoln's cabinet
* Green, Michael S. ''Freedom, Union, and Power: Lincoln and His Party during the Civil War.'' (2004). 400 pp.
* Harris, William C. ''Lincoln and the Union Governors'' (Southern Illinois University Press, 2013) 162 pp.
* Hesseltine, William B. ''Lincoln and the War Governors'' (1948)
* Kleppner, Paul. ''The Third Electoral System, 1853–1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Culture'' (1979), statistical study of voting patterns.
* Lawson, Melinda. ''Patriot Fires: Forging a New American Nationalism in the Civil War North'' (University Press of Kansas, 2002).
* Luthin, Reinhard H. ''The first Lincoln campaign'' (1944) on election of 1860
* Neely, Mark. ''The Divided Union: Party Conflict in the Civil War North'' (2002)
* Paludan, Philip S. ''The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln'' (1994), thorough treatment of Lincoln's administration
* Rawley, James A. ''The Politics of Union: Northern Politics during the Civil War'' (1974).
* Richardson, Heather Cox. ''The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War'' (1997
online edition
* Silbey, Joel. ''A Respectable Minority: The Democratic Party in the Civil War Era'' (1977).
* Smith, Adam I. P. ''No Party Now: Politics in the Civil War North'' (Oxford University Press, 2006)
* Smith, Michael Thomas. ''The Enemy Within: Fears of Corruption in the Civil War North'' (2011
online review
* Weber, Jennifer L. ''Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln's Opponents in the North'' (2006
excerpt and text search
Constitutional and legal
* Hyman, Harold. ''A More Perfect Union: The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on the Constitution'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 1973)
* Neely, Jr., Mark E. ''The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties'' (Oxford University Press, 1991); won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for History.
* Neely, Jr., Mark E. ''Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation: Constitutional Conflict in the American Civil War'' (University of North Carolina Press, 2011); covers the U.S. and the Confederate constitutions and their role in the conflict.
*
Economic
* Brandes, Stuart. ''Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America'' (1997), pp. 67–88; a scholarly history of the munitions industry; concludes profits were not excessive
* Clark, Jr., John E. ''Railroads in the Civil War: The Impact of Management on Victory and Defeat'' (2004)
* Cotterill, R. S. "The Louisville and Nashville Railroad 1861–1865", ''American Historical Review'' (1924) 29#4 pp. 700–71
in JSTOR
* Fite, Emerson David. ''Social and industrial conditions in the North during the Civil War'' (1910
online edition
old but still quite useful
* Hammond, Bray. "The North's Empty Purse, 1861–1862", ''American Historical Review'', October 1961, Vol. 67 Issue 1, pp. 1–1
in JSTOR
* Hill, Joseph A. "The Civil War Income Tax", ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'' Vol. 8, No.4 (July 1894), pp. 416–45
in JSTOR
appendix in JSTOR
* Lowenstein , Roger. ''Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War'' (2022); major scholarly survey
* Merk, Frederick. ''Economic history of Wisconsin during the Civil War decade'' (1916
online edition
* Smith, Michael Thomas. ''The Enemy Within: Fears of Corruption in the Civil War North'' (2011) details on Treasury Department, government contracting, and the cotton trade
* Weber, Thomas. ''The northern railroads in the Civil War, 1861–1865'' (1999)
* Wilson, Mark R. ''The Business of Civil War: Military Mobilization and the State, 1861–1865.'' (2006). 306 pp
excerpt and text search
* Ziparo, Jessica. ''This grand experiment: When women entered the federal workforce in Civil War–Era Washington, DC'' (UNC Press Books, 2017).
* Zonderman, David A. "White Workers and the American Civil War." ''Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History'' (2021).
Intellectual and cultural
* Aaron, Daniel. ''The Unwritten War: American Writers and the Civil War'' (2nd ed. 1987)
* Brownlee, Peter John et al., eds. ''Home Front: Daily Life in the Civil War North'' (2013
online review
* Foote, Lorien and Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai. ''So Conceived and So Dedicated: Intellectual Life in the Civil War Era North'' (2015)
* Gallman, J. Matthew. ''Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the Union Home Front'' (2015) how civilians defined their roles
online review
* Fredrickson, George M. ''The Inner Civil War: Northern Intellectuals and the Crisis of the Union'' (1993)
* Stevenson, Louise A. ''The Victorian Homefront: American Thought and Culture, 1860–1880'' (1991)
* Wilson, Edmund. ''Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War'' (1962)
Medical
* Adams, George Worthington. ''Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War'' (1996), 253pp
excerpt and text search
* Clarke, Frances M. ''War Stories: Suffering and Sacrifice in the Civil War North'' (University of Chicago Press, 2012)
* Grant, S.-M. "'Mortal in this season': Union Surgeons and the Narrative of Medical Modernisation in the American Civil War.
''Social History of Medicine'' (2014)
* Maxwell, William Quentin. ''Lincoln's Fifth Wheel: The Political History of the U.S. Sanitary Commission'' (1956
online edition
* Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R. ''The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine'' (2012
excerpt and text search
Race
* McPherson, James M. ''Marching Toward Freedom: The Negro's Civil War'' (1982); first edition was ''The Negro's Civil War: How American Negroes Felt and Acted During the War for the Union'' (1965),
* Quarles, Benjamin. ''The Negro in the Civil War'' (1953), standard histor
excerpt and text search
* Voegeli, V. Jacque. ''Free But Not Equal: The Midwest and the Negro during the Civil War'' (1967).
Religion and ethnicity
* Brodrecht, Grant R. "Our Country: Northern Evangelicals and the Union during the Civil War Era." (2018). 288pp.
* Burton, William L. ''Melting Pot Soldiers: The Union Ethnic Regiments'' (1998)
* Kamphoefner, Walter D. "German-Americans and Civil War Politics: A Reconsideration of the Ethnocultural Thesis." ''Civil War History'' 37 (1991): 232–246.
* Kleppner, Paul. ''The Third Electoral System, 1853–1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Culture'' (1979).
* Miller, Randall M., Harry S. Stout and Charles Reagan Wilson, eds. ''Religion and the American Civil War'' (1998
online edition
* Miller, Robert J. ''Both Prayed to the Same God: Religion and Faith in the American Civil War.'' (2007). 260pp
* Moorhead, James. ''American Apocalypse: Yankee Protestants and the Civil War, 1860–1869'' (1978).
* Noll, Mark A. ''The Civil War as a Theological Crisis.'' (2006). 199 pp.
* Stout, Harry S. ''Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War.'' (2006). 544 pp.
Social and demographic history
* Brownlee, Peter John, et al. ''Home Front: Daily Life in the Civil War North'' (University of Chicago Press, 2013) 193 pp. heavily illustrated.
* Morehouse, Maggi M. and Zoe Trodd, eds. ''Civil War America: A Social and Cultural History with Primary Sources'' (2013), 29 short essays by scholar
excerpt
* Raus, Edmund J. ''Banners South: Northern Community at War'' (2011), about Cortland, New York
* Vinovskis, Maris A., ed. ''Toward a Social History of the American Civil War: Exploratory Essays'' (1991), new social history; quantitative studies
* Vinovskis, Maris A., ed. "Have Social Historians Lost the Civil War? Some Preliminary Demographic Speculations", ''Journal of American History'' Vol. 76, No.1 (June 1989), pp. 34–5
in JSTOR
* Veit, Helen Zoe, ed. ''Food in the Civil War Era: The North'' (Michigan State University Press, 2014)
Soldiers
* Geary James W. ''We Need Men: The Union Draft in the Civil War'' (1991).
* Geary James W. "Civil War Conscription in the North: A Historiographical Review." ''Civil War History'' 32 (September 1986): 208–228.
* Hams, Emily J. "Sons and Soldiers: Deerfield, Massachusetts, and the Civil War", ''Civil War History'' 30 (June 1984): 157–71
* Hess, Earl J. "The 12th Missouri Infantry: A Socio-Military Profile of a Union Regiment", ''Missouri Historical Review'' 76 (October 1981): 53–77.
* Cimbala, Paul A. and Randall M. Miller, eds. ''Union Soldiers and the Northern Home Front: Wartime Experiences, Postwar Adjustments''. (2002)
* Costa, Dora L., and Matthew E. Kahn. "Cowards and heroes: Group loyalty in the American Civil War." ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'' 118.2 (2003): 519–548. Statistical study based on sample of 32,000 Union soldiers
online
*
* McPherson, James. ''For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War'' (1998), based on letters and diaries
* Miller, William J. ''Training of an Army: Camp Curtin and the North's Civil War'' (1990)
* Mitchell; Reid. ''The Vacant Chair. The Northern Soldier Leaves Home'' (1993).
* Rorabaugh, William J. "Who Fought for the North in the Civil War? Concord, Massachusetts, Enlistments", ''Journal of American History'' 73 (December 1986): 695–70
in JSTOR
* Roseboom, Eugene H. ''The Civil War Era, 1850–1873'' (1944), Ohio
* Scott, Sean A. "'Earth Has No Sorrow That Heaven Cannot Cure': Northern Civilian Perspectives on Death and Eternity during the Civil War", ''Journal of Social History'' (2008) 41:843–866
* Wiley, Bell I. ''The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union'' (1952)
State and local
* ''Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia...1863'' (1864), detailed coverage of events in all countries
online
for online copies see Annual Cyclopaedia. Each year 1861 to 1902 includes several pages on each U.S. state.
* Tucker, Spencer, ed. ''American Civil War: A State-by-State Encyclopedia'' (2 vol 2015) 1019p
excerpt
* Aley, Ginette et al. eds. ''Union Heartland: The Midwestern Home Front during the Civil War'' (2013)
* Bak, Richard. ''A Distant Thunder: Michigan in the Civil War.'' (2004). 239 pp.
* Baker, Jean H. ''The Politics of Continuity: Maryland Political Parties from 1858 to 1870'' (1973)
* Baum, Dale. ''The Civil War Party System: The Case of Massachusetts, 1848–1876'' (1984)
* Bradley, Erwin S. ''The Triumph of Militant Republicanism: A Study of Pennsylvania and Presidential Politics, 1860–1872'' (1964)
* Castel, Albert. ''A Frontier State at War: Kansas, 1861–1865'' (1958)
* Cole, Arthur Charles. ''The Era of the Civil War 1848–1870'' (1919) on Illinois
* Coulter, E. Merton. ''The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky'' (1926),
* Current, Richard N. ''The History of Wisconsin: The Civil War Era, 1848–1873'' (1976).
* Dee, Christine, ed. ''Ohio's war: the Civil War in documents'' (2006), primary source
excerpt and text search
* Dilla, Harriette M. ''Politics of Michigan, 1865–1878'' (Columbia University Press, 1912
online at Google books
* Gallman, Matthew J. ''Mastering Wartime: A Social History of Philadelphia During the Civil War.'' (1990)
* Hall, Susan G. ''Appalachian Ohio and the Civil War, 1862–1863'' (2008)
* Holzer, Harold. ''State of the Union: New York and the Civil War'' (2002) Essays by scholars
* Hubbard, Mark. ''Illinois's War: The Civil War in Documents'' (2012
excerpt and text search
* Karamanski, Theodore J. ''Rally 'Round the Flag: Chicago and the Civil War'' (1993).
* Leech, Margaret. ''Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865'' (1941), Pulitzer Prize
* Miller, Richard F. ed. ''States at War, Volume 1: A Reference Guide for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont in the Civil War'' (2013
excerpt
** Miller, Richard F. ed. ''States at War, Volume 2: A Reference Guide for New York in the Civil War'' (2014
excerpt
* Nation, Richard F. and Stephen E. Towne. ''Indiana's War: The Civil War in Documents'' (2009), primary source
excerpt and text search
* Niven, John. ''Connecticut for the Union: The Role of the State in the Civil War'' (Yale University Press, 1965)
* O'Connor, Thomas H. ''Civil War Boston'' (1999)
* Parrish, William E. ''A History of Missouri, Volume III: 1860 to 1875'' (1973) ()
* Pierce, Bessie. ''A History of Chicago, Volume II: From Town to City 1848–1871'' (1940)
*
* Ponce, Pearl T. ''Kansas's War: The Civil War in Documents'' (2011
excerpt and text search
* Raus, Edmund J. ''Banners South: Northern Community at War'' (2011) about Cortland, New York
* Roseboom, Eugene. ''The Civil War Era, 1850–1873,'' History of Ohio, vol.4 (1944
online
Detailed scholarly history
* Siddali, Silvana R. ''Missouri's War: The Civil War in Documents'' (2009), primary source
excerpt and text search
* Stampp, Kenneth M. ''Indiana Politics during the Civil War'' (1949)
* Taylor, Paul. ''"Old Slow Town": Detroit during the Civil War'' (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2013). x, 248 pp.
* Thornbrough, Emma Lou. ''Indiana in the Civil War Era, 1850–1880'' (1965)
* Ware, Edith E. ''Political Opinion in Massachusetts during the Civil War and Reconstruction'', (1916)
full text online
Women and family
* "Bonnet Brigades at Fifty: Reflections on Mary Elizabeth Massey and Gender in Civil War History", ''Civil War History'' (2015) 61#4 pp. 400–444.
* Anderson, J. L. "The Vacant Chair on the Farm: Soldier Husbands, Farm Wives, and the Iowa Home Front, 1861–1865", ''Annals of Iowa'' (2007) 66: 241–265
* Attie, Jeanie. ''Patriotic Toil: Northern Women and the American Civil War'' (1998). 294 pp.
* Bahde, Thomas. "'I never wood git tired of wrighting to you.'" ''Journal of Illinois History'' (2009). 12:129–155
* Cashin, Joan E. "American Women and the American Civil War" ''Journal of Military History'' (2017) 81#1 pp. 199–204.
* Giesberg, Judith. ''Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on the Northern Home Front'' (2009
excerpt and text search
* Giesberg, Judith Ann. "From Harvest Field to Battlefield: Rural Pennsylvania Women and the U.S. Civil War", ''Pennsylvania History'' (2005). 72: 159–191
* Harper, Judith E. ''Women during the Civil War: An Encyclopedia.'' (2004). 472 pp.
* McDevitt, Theresa. ''Women and the American Civil War: an annotated bibliography'' (Praeger, 2003).
* Marten, James. ''Children for the Union: The War Spirit on the Northern Home Front.'' Ivan R. Dee, 2004. 209 pp.
* Massey, Mary. ''Bonnet Brigades: American Women and the Civil War'' (1966), overview North and South; reissued as ''Women in the Civil War'' (1994)
** "Bonnet Brigades at Fifty: Reflections on Mary Elizabeth Massey and Gender in Civil War History", ''Civil War History'' (2015) 61#4 pp. 400–444.
** Giesberg, Judith. "Mary Elizabeth Massey and the Civil War Centennial." ''Civil War History'' 61.4 (2015): 400–406
online
* Rodgers, Thomas E. "Hoosier Women and the Civil War Home Front", ''Indiana Magazine of History'' 97#2 (2001), pp. 105–12
in JSTOR
* Silber, Nina. ''Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War.'' (Harvard UP, 2005). 332 pp.
* Venet, Wendy Hamand. ''A Strong-Minded Woman: The Life of Mary Livermore.'' (U. of Massachusetts Press, 2005). 322 pp.
Primary sources
''American Annual Cyclopaedia for 1861'' (N.Y.: Appleton's, 1864)
an extensive collection of reports on each state, Congress, military activities and many other topics; annual issues from 1861 to 1901
''Appletons' annual cyclopedia and register of important events: Embracing political, military, and ecclesiastical affairs; public documents; biography, statistics, commerce, finance, literature, science, agriculture, and mechanical industry, Volume 3 1863'' (1864)
thorough coverage of the events of 1863
* Angle, Paul M. and Earl Schenck Miers, eds. ''Tragic Years, 1860–1865: A Documentary History of the American Civil War—Vol. 1'' 196
online edition
* Carter, Susan B., ed. ''The Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition'' (5 vols), 2006; online at many universities
* Commager, Henry Steele, ed. ''The Blue and the Gray. The Story of the Civil War as Told by Participants.'' (1950), excerpts from primary sources
* Dee, Christine, ed. ''Ohio's War: The Civil War in Documents.'' (2007). 244 pp.
* Freidel Frank, ed. ''Union Pamphlets of the Civil War, 1861–1865'' (2 vol. 1967)
* Hesseltine, William B., ed. ''The Tragic Conflict: The Civil War and Reconstruction'' (1962), excerpts from primary source
online edition
* Marten, James, ed. ''Civil War America: Voices from the Home Front.'' (2003). 346 pp.
* Risley, Ford, ed. ''The Civil War: Primary Documents on Events from 1860 to 1865.'' (2004). 320 pp.
* Siddali, Silvana R. ''Missouri's War: The Civil War in Documents'' (2009), 256p
excerpt and text search
* Sizer, Lyde Cullen and Jim Cullen, ed. ''The Civil War Era: An Anthology of Sources.'' (2005). 434 pp.
* Smith, Charles Winston and Charles Judah, eds. ''Life in the North during the Civil War: A Source History'' (1966)
* Voss-Hubbard, Mark, ed. ''Illinois's War: The Civil War in Documents'' (2013
online review
"The Peoples Contest: A Civil War era digital archiving project", access to primary sources from Pennsylvania, especially newspapers and other resources
External links
Civil War Soldiers
, texts
"Home Front: Daily Life in the Civil War North" visual exhibit at the
"Financial Measures", by Nicolay and Hay (1889)
"Lincoln Reelected", by Nicolay and Hay (1889)
"First Plans for Emancipation", by Nicolay and Hay (1889)
"Emancipation Announced", by Nicolay and Hay (1889)
{{Authority control
American Civil War industrialists
Politics of the American Civil War
Social history of the American Civil War
Social history of the United States
History of the Midwestern United States
History of the Northeastern United States
Unionism
Union (American Civil War),