The Civil War - the reasons, the process, the generals, the battles the consequences. The Emancipation Proclamation. The role of A. Lincoln. The Gettysburg address

Токарева с. 64

THE

CIVIL WAR

On March 4, 1861. Abraham Lincoln took the oath

ofoffi ce as President ofthe United States. Less than a

momh had passed since rhc fo rmatio n ofthe

Confederacy. In his inaugural address as President.

Lincoln appealed to the southe rn states to stay in the

Un ion. He promised that he would no t inte rfere with

slavery in any ofthcm. UU! he wa rned that he would

not allow them to break up the Uni ted Stares by

seceding. Quoting from his oa th o f office, he rold

them: " You have no oa th registered in Heaven (Q

dest ro y the government, while I have a most solemn

one (0 'prese rve. protect and defend' it. "

The southern sta res took no notice ofLincoln's

appeal. On Apri112 Confede rate guns opened fire Oil

Port Sumter. a fortres s in th e harbor ofChatlcston,

Sou th Carolina, that was occupied by United Slates

troops. T hese shots marked the beginning of t he

Amer ican Civil War.

Lincoln called fo r 75.lKXI men to tig ht to save the

Union. Jefferson Davis. the newly elected President

ofthe Confed erate Slates, ma de J similar appeal to r

men to fight for the Confederacy. Vol unteers rushed

forward in thousands on both sides.

Some peo ple fou nd it difficu lt and painful to decide

which side to support. The decis ion so metimes split

families. The SO li o f the commander o f the

Confede rat e navy was killed figh ting in a Un ion

ship. Two bro the rs became gene rals - hut on

opposite sides. And three ofPresident Lincoln's own

brothers-in -law died figh ting for the Confede racy.

From the firs t months ofthe wa r Union wa rshi ps

bloc kaded the ports ofthe South. T hey did this to

prevent the Confede racy from selling its cotton

ab road and from obtaiumg foreign supplies.

In both men and material resources the North was

much stronger than tilt' South. It had a population of

twenty- two mi llion peo ple. Th e South had only milt'

million people and 3. 5 mill ion ofthem were slave s.

T he North grt'w more food crops than the South.

It also had more than five times the manufactu ring

capacity, inc luding most o f the co unt ry's weapon

factories. So the North not only had more fight ing

men than the South, it could also keep them bett er

suppli ed wi th weapons, clothing, food and

eve ry thin g else they needed.

llowever, the Nort h f.1ct,d one great difficu lty. The

onl y way it could wi n the war was to invade the

South and occupy its land. T he South had no such

problem. It did not need to conquer the North to win

independence. All it had to do WJS to hold om unt il

the people of till' North gtt'Wtired offighting. Most

southern ers bel ieved th at the Confederacy cou ld do

th is. It began the war wi th a number ofadvantages.

Man y ofthe best officer s in the pre-war army of the

United States were southerners. Now they returned

[ 0 the Confederacy to orga nize its armies. Most o f

the recruit s led by these officers had gro wn up on

farm s and we re ex pert rider s and mark sm en. Most

Import ant of all, the fact that almost all the war's

fighting wok place In the South meant (hat

Confederate soldiers were defending th eir own

homes. This oft en made them fight with mo re spirit

than the Umon soldiers.

Southern er s denied that they were fighting mainly to

preserve slavery. Most were p OOT farmers who

owned no sian's anYWJY. The South was fighting for

irs independence from the No rth. they said. just as

their grandfathers had foug ht fo r indepen dence from

Britain almost a cemury earlier.

The wa r was fought in two main areas >- in Vir ginia

and the other east coas t stares ofthe Confederacy,

and in the Mississippi valley.

In Virgi nia [he Unio n arrrucs suffered one defeat after

ano the r III [he fi rst year o f the war. Agam and again

they tr ied [0 c.apmn' Richmond. the Confederate

capital. Each rim e they were thrown back with heavy

losses. The Confederate fo rces in Virg inia had two

grear advantages. The firs t was that man y river s CUt

across the roads leading south to Richmond and so

made the city easier to defend. Th e second was their

leaders. Two Confederate gene rals in particular,

Robert E. LI..'l' and Thomas}. (,'S tonew.all") j.ackson,

showed much mo re skill than the gene rals leading [he

Umon ar IllY.a[ this rime. Jackson got his nickn ame

"Stonewall" because he stoo d firm against adv ancing

Union rroops. A fellow officer, enco uraging Ius

soldiers shou ted out, " Look, there is Jackson,

standing like a stone wall!"

The North's t\l rly defeats in Virg inia discouraged its

supporters. T he flood ofvolunteers for the army

began to dry up. Recruitment W;IS not helped by

letters home like th is one, From;1 lieutenan t in the

Union arlllY III IM62:

"T he butcher y ofthe boys, the suffe rlllp;s o f the

unpa id soldiers, wit hout rent s, poo r rations. a sing le

blanker each, with no bed but the hard damp

ground -it is these things that kill nu-.'

Fortunately for the Nor th, Union forces in [he

Mississippi valley had mo re SIKH.'SS. III April 1861. a

naval offic er named I>a vid Farragut sailed Union

ships into the mouth o trhc river and capture d New

Orleans, the largest city in the Ccnfcdcrncy. At the

same time other Union forces were fighting their

way down the Mississippi from till" north.

By spring 1863, the Union armies were closing: ill on

all importan t Confederate strongho ld on the

Mississippi called Vicksburg, 0 11 J uly 4, afier mu ch

blood y fighting and a siege lasting six weeks,

Vicksbur g sur rende red to a Union army led by

General Ulysses S. Gram. Its fall was a heavy blow to

the South. Union forces now controlled the whole

length o f the Mississipp i. They had split the

Confederacy in two. It became impossible for

western Confederate sta res like Texas to send any

mo re men and supplies to the east.

lim by 1863 many no rtherners were [ired ofthe war.

They were sickened by its hea vy cost III lives and

money. General Lee. the Confederate commander,

believed that if his ar my co uld win a decis ive victory

on no rthern soil, popular op inion there might force

the Union government [0 make pe.ace.

In th e last week o fJu ne 186..1. Lee marched his army

north into Pennsylvania. At a sl11311 [Own named

Ccnysbur g a Union arllly blocked his w.ay. The

battl e which followed was the biggest [hat has ever

been fought in the United States. In three days of

fierce fighting more [hall 5O,()(N) men were killed or

wou nded. On the fou rth day Lee broke olTthe battl e

and led his men back into [he South. The

Confederate army had suffered a dcrcar from which ir

would neve r reco ver.

By I R64 the Confede racy was mnlllng out of almost

everytiling-men. eqUlpmenr, food. money. As fall

colored th e trees ofth e eas tern woods. the Union

armies moved in to end the war. In N ovember 18f:,4,

a Union army led by Gene ral William T. Sherman

began to march through the Confede rate state of

Ge orgia. Its soldiers dest royed everything III thei r

path. T hey tore up railroad tracks. burned crops an d

'build ings. drove o ff cattle. O n Decem bc r 22 they

occupi ed the city o f Savannah. T he Confed eracy was

split again, thi s time from cast to west. Aftet

capt utl ng Savann ah, Sherman tu rn ed no rth. He

matched thro ugh th e Carolinas. burn ing and

destroyin g aga in as he made to r Richmond.

The Confederate capi tal was alrea dy in dan ger from

anothe r Union army led by Gene ral Grant. By

Ma rch 1865. Grant had almost en circled th e city and

on April 2 Lee was fo rced to aba ndon it to save his

army from being tra pped. He ma rched south, ho ping

to fig ht on from a strong position III the mountains.

But Gr ant followed d ose be hind and othe r U nion

sol diers blocked Lee's way forwa rd. Lee was

trapped. O n Apr il 9. 1865, he met Grant in a bou se in

a tiny village called Appomattox an d surren dered his

army.

Gram treated the defeated Confederat e so ldiers

ge nerousl y. After they had given up th eir weapoll s

and promised never agam to fight agalllst the Uni ted

States, he allowed them to go home. He told them

they could keep th eir horses " to help with the sprmg

ploughing." As Lee rode away. Grant stoo d in the

doorway chewing a piece of tobacco an d to ld his

men: " The wa r is over. T he reb els arc our

co un tr ymen again.

T he Civil War gave fin al answers to two quest ions

that had divided the Uni ted States ever since it

became an independent na tion. It pm an en d to

slaver y. In lR65 thi s was abo lished ev erywhere ill the

United States by the 13th Amendmen t to the

Constitu tion. And it decided finally th at the United

States was one nation. whose part s co uld not be

separated.

Bur the war le ft bitter memories. T he United Sta tes

fought other wa rs late r. bu t all were o utsi de its own

boundaries. The Ci vil War caused te rrible

destr uction at hor ne. All over the So uth cities an d

(;Irms lay in ruins. And more Americans died in this

war th an III any othe r, before or since. By the time

Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. the dead

on both Sides totaled 635.000.

Дата добавления: 2015-04-24