Civil War Dbq Outline

“The Union strategy to win the war did not emerge all at once. By 1863, however, the Northern military plan consisted of five major goals” (The Independence Hall Association, n.d.):
1. “Fully blockade all Southern coasts. This strategy, known as the Anaconda Plan, would eliminate the possibility of Confederate help from abroad” (The Independence Hall Association, n.d.).
2. “Control the Mississippi River. The river was the South's major inland waterway. Also, Northern control of the rivers would separate Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas from the other Confederate states” (The Independence Hall Association, n.d.).
3. “Capture Richmond. Without its capital, the Confederacy's command lines would be disrupted” (The Independence Hall Association, n.d.).
4.

“Shatter Southern civilian morale by capturing and destroying Atlanta, Savannah, and the heart of Southern secession, South Carolina” (The Independence Hall Association, n.d.).
5. “Use the numerical advantage of Northern troops to engage the enemy everywhere to break the spirits of the Confederate Army” (The Independence Hall Association, n.d.).
With Lincoln’s reelection in 1864, he looked secure a formal demise to American slavery (Schultz, 2011). And thus, he sought to ensure the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment through his influences in Congress, which was passed on January 31, 1865 (Schultz, 2011). The amendment received enough support from Union states to be ratified by the end of that year, which made it an official part of the Constitution and ended slavery in America (Schultz,

2011).

By this time, the war was seemingly one sided. The Union Army had bestowed a brutal punishment upon the Confederacy. And now, General Sherman was about to wage his famous “March to the Sea” (Schultz, 2011). Stretching from Atlanta to the Atlantic, this movement was designed to encircle General Lee’s army in Virginia, and to show southern people that the Confederate government could not protect them (Schultz, 2011). It was during this time that it was shown how much the war strategy had changed (Schultz, 2011). Initially, this was to be a limited war, with intentions of only fighting soldiers and preserving private property (Schultz, 2011). By now, this was a total war and union soldiers burned fields, destroyed vital infrastructure, and killed and consumed all encountered livestock; as well as destroying things such as railroads, bridges, cotton gins, and anything else that could be used to support the Confederacy’s war efforts (Schultz, 2011). All of which took a toll on the Confederacy’s economy and helped to erode southern people’s will to fight (Schultz, 2011).
Moving north, through South and North Carolina, Sherman’s army was headed to join forces with Grant in Virginia as an effort to encircle Lee’s army and put an end to the war (Schultz, 2011). Grant’s army persistently attacked the Army of Northern Virginia knowing that Lee’s surrender would bring an end to the war (Schultz, 2011). Lee finally capitulated on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the Civil War (Schultz, 2011).
References

Schultz, K. M. (2011). Contact and Settlement, 1492 - 1660. In HIST2: Volume 1. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

The Independence Hall Association. (n.d.). Northern Plans to End the War

[ushistory.org]. Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/us/33h.asp