Civil War Synopsis

– And Reconstruction Thereafter Essay, Research Paper

email: rodneyf@hotmail.comCivil War Synopsis – And Reconstruction ThereafterThroughout this report I am going to explain the Civil War briefly and also summarize Reconstruction. The Civil War topics will include Northern advantages, Southern advantages, Northern strategy, Southern strategy. The first battle, the turning points in the Civil War, and the last battle. I will also discuss the President of the United States and the President of the Confederate States of America. Finally, I will discuss Lincoln s second inaugural address and his main point in the address. Throughout the Reconstruction section I am going to be discussing when the Reconstruction began, Lincoln s plan, the Johnson plan, the Radical Republican Plan, the impeachment of A. Johnson, why he was impeached, and the result of his impeachment. The Civil War is very interesting to me and the most fascinating details in the Civil War are the strategies and the advantages each of the sides had. The North seems to have many more advantages than the South. The Union had key advantages that would help it throughout the entire war. Some of these advantages were material advantages, population, manufacturing, agriculture, natural resources, finances, transports and facilities. The more of these advantages that the Union had makes me feel that they were the ones with the overall power. They had the money, people, food, supplies, and transportation. I mean what else could they have asked for. (maybe military expertise.)Some of the Southern advantages included expertise in military leadership, exports, fighting on their homeland, the Confederacy was fighting a defensive war, and if it only lasted a short time then the South would most likely prevail. The expertise leadership in the military was a major point in this war. Many people feel that this is one of the reasons that the war lasted the time it did. The South tried using cotton as a bribe for other countries to join in the war. If the North wanted to win this war they were going to have to stop the exportation of cotton. The Southerners were fighting on home field. This was another aspect that extremely aided the Confederacy. This would make the war cheaper for the South and make it so they would not need to have as many supplies as the North. The Confederacy was fighting a defensive war that entitled them to the fact that they could hide behind entrenchment s and bunkers while the attacking North would be having to hide in other non-militarized shelters. The strategy of the North was to isolate the South from the rest of the world, strangling the Southern economy. Following this they planned to capture the capitol of the Confederacy that happened to be Richmond. And finally, split the Confederacy into two separate divisions by controlling the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers and work inward to meet with the armies moving south from Virginia. The North called this plan their Anaconda Plan . They called it this because of its snake like characteristics (slowly choking its victim to death). The Southern strategy required less planning than the North, they expected the War to not last a long period of time. They were fighting a war behind entrenchment s and fortifications, they would mount the casualty list so the North would pity the South, and they would starve Great Britain of cotton. They were fighting a war behind entrenchment s so the South only had to sit down and wait, while the North had to hunt them down and take over their forts. They would also mount the casualty list so that the North would read how extreme the deaths were and hopefully pity them and call the war over. They also would not ship any cotton to the country of Great Britain so they would suffer in hopes that they would come to the rescue of the Confederacy. The first battle of the Civil War was an important battle. It was the first time that the United States had ever engaged in war on itself. The first discord was the Battle of Bull Run. At first the Union seemed to be winning the battle. With the great leadership of General Stonewall Jackson the South claimed this as a victory. The Confederacy might have been able to win the war if they would have marched right into Washington following this battle. They did not and after this battle both sides realized that this war was going to last longer than anyone had expected. Some key battles in the Civil War were siege of Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and the surrender at Appomatax Courthouse. The Battle of Gettysburg began on July first. For the first three days the Confederacy seemed to be winning the waging battle. On July the third, General Robert E. Lee ordered a direct attack on the Union s strongest, biggest, and most powerful group. This charge is known as Picketts charge. It was named for a fallen leader. Just like the leader it was named after, it was killed. The Union had defeated one of the largest military powers in the South, and the South would never be able to make an army the size of the one they had just destroyed. The siege of Vicksburg is important to the North because when they had won that battle it had thrown the Anaconda Plan into effect. They had split the Confederacy into two separate divisions. These two battles were terrible blows to the South during the final battles of the War. Lee s men had been retreating from Grant s men for several days now and they were camped out at the Appom