Page 48 - NS-2 Textbook

THE CIVIL WAR 41

Party nominated Abraham Lincohl. Lincoln "vas con- on fire by hot shot and the magazines threatened, so
vinced that the Constitution prohibited the Federal gov- most of the powder had to be wet down or thrown into
enunent from taking any action to abolish slavery ,,,here the harbor. On the fomteenth, Anderson hauled down
it already existed, but he objected to any further spread of the flag. The fort was evacuated and the troops carried
slavery to any new states on moral grolmds. In response mvay by a small Union naval force that had been stand-
to his nomination, South Carolina inlmediately an- ing by off the harbor entrance.
nounced that it would secede from the Union if Lincoln On 15 April President Lincoln called for 75,000 vol-
were elected. lmteers for three months to suppress the rebellion. News
TIle Democrats had hvo candidates in the election- of this, plus the fall of Fort Sumtel; brought Arkansas,
one from the North, the other from the South-and the Tennessee, North Carolina, at1d Virginia into the Confed-
remnants of the Whig party nominated a third. As a re- eracy, but the western counties of Virginia left that state
sult, Lincoln won the election with just 40 percent of the and came back into the Union as West Virginia.
popular vote, even though he got only a smattering of
votes from the South and no Southern electoral votes. On RESOURCES AND PREPARATIONS
20 December South Carolina carried out its threat to se-
cede from the Union, based on the idea that the election The United States Army had only about 16,000 regulars
results did not represent the will of the Southern people. in uniform when the Civil War began. It was composed
In early January 1861 the Union steamer 5101' of tile West mostly of volunteer state militiamen. Of the 31 million
attempted to enter the harbor of Charleston, South Car- Americans, howevel~ 22 million lived in the North, -while
olina, to resupply Union troops at Fort Smnter. The ship only 9 million, including 3.5 million slaves, lived in the
was fired on, and she retreated out of range. South. The North's greater population would prove de-
Six other Southern states soon followed South Car- cisive. Before the war ended, the North had over 2.5 lnil-
olina's lead. In Febmaty the Confederate States of America lion men in uniform, including some 200,000 African
,vas fanned, "v\lith Jefferson Davis as its first president. The Americans. The Confederates put about 1 million men in
Confederacy at this point consisted of South Carolina, Mis- uniform.
sissippi, Florida, Alabatna, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. In heavy industl:)1 the North was overwhelmingly
A great shuffling of personal loyalties now began superior to the South. The South had little industry ex-
within the officer corps of the U.s. Army and Navy. They cept some textile manufachrring. The South had no
had to choose between the flag they were sworn to pro- foundries or n1etal works to make heavy glIDS, and few
teet and their home ties to the Southern states. For many, skilled ,vorkers. TI1e transportation system ,vas inade-
the home ties proved to be strongest. They resigned their quate, especially the railroads, which were barely able to
commissions and headed south to serve the Confederacy. handle peacetime needs. The North had an efficient rail
Among many others were Robert E. Lee, who had been systelll that 'vas in full operation.
recognized as the Army's most promising officel; and There were no major shipyards in the deep South,
Matthew Fontaine Maury, the Navy's first oceanogra- and few merchant seamen. Even though the Union Navy
pher. Union feeling was much stronger in the Navy en- was not prepared for the war, it was able to build and
listed rates, however. Most of the experienced career grow. The Confederacy had no navy at all when the war
petty officers, boatswain's Inates, gunners, quarternlas- began. It tried to build naval ships and armored g>m-
tel's, and leading sean1en stayed with the Union. boats called ironclads for harbor defense, and fought
Southern militias quickly took over many federal valiantly, but it could never match Northern sea pmver.
forts and bases throughout the South, leaving only four Despite its agriculhrral economy, the South was not
remaining in Union hands: Fort Pickens at Pensacola, self-sufficient in food. Much of the plantation land was
Fort Taylor at Key West, Fort Jefferson on the Tortugas, used to grow cotton and tobacco, of value only if it could
and the forts in Charleston Harbor. Due to their remote reach a market. Large areas of the South were dependent
positions and strength, the first three were beyond in1- on the in1portation of foodstuffs from other areas, partic-
mediate danger. The Civil War was to start, hmvevel~ at ularly Texas and Arkansas. When the Mississippi River
Fort Sl1l1ter in Charleston. fell lmder Union Navy control in 1863, food from the
The South Carolinians set up batteries facing the fort West was cut off. l11;s, along with the Union naval block-
and on 1 April notified Confederate president Davis that ade of Southern ports, had the Confederacy on the verge
aU ,vas in readiness. On the eleventh, General Pierre of starvation by the tin1e the war ended.
Gustave Beauregard demanded that Fort Sumter smren- In the face of these odds, one could rightfully ques-
del'. Major Robert Anderson, USA, garrison commandel; tion why the South would ever -want to fight a war. There
refused. At dawn on 12 April, Beauregard fired the first -were many answers to such a question, some of them
shot of the American Civil War. Fort Sumter returned the based on emotions and wishful thinking, but they were
fire. The next day the adminish'ation buildings were set persuasive enough to cause 111any Southerners to hope