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Introduction to american civil wars essay
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Everyone thinks that war is terrible, but those who experience first hand know what it is truely like. Soldiers know how it feels to have someone’s blood on their hands; they know the feel of holding a gun. Let me tell you how it feels when you have to end the life of a person you don’t know. It feels like you have the weight of the world crashing down on your shoulders. I do not know why you are are reading this and if I will be dead when you do, but I want you to know that it is not a joke. Everything that I mention in this journal happened to me, a simple man from Vermont, named Robert Gray. This is what happened to me in the Civil War.
Before the war started, I led a simple life. I was a doctor, had a pregnant wife and two kids, and a good sized house. I got to see my brother
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“Benny” Gray a couple times a month. But that all changed when President Abraham Lincoln got elected. It was November, 1860 when my life changed forever. It was election time, and the tensions between the North and South were growing. The southern states wanted slavery since their economy was strongly based off of it, but the northern states were opposed to it. Being from a northern state myself, I thought that slavery was wrong. Therefore, when Lincoln was elected I was ecstatic. He could be the one to end slavery! The only problem was that the south didn’t want a northern president because they lost control of the government. This meant that we could end slavery, which was something that they didn’t want to happen. The southern economy is strongly based off of plantations and agriculture, which is where they use slaves the most. They want to control their own affairs, and to do that they think that they have to leave us. The first state that has left so far is South Carolina, who left on December 24th. I feared that more states would secede. After that month, more of the states did in fact secede the Union.
Seven states; Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, followed in the pursuit of South Carolina that January of 1861. The south was weary of our new Republican president, and whispers of war could be heard in any building. I thought that war was coming as well. It was obvious to most that the winds were changing. During the month of January, all that I remember thinking about was the safety of my family, especially my son, because I feared that he could be drafted if there was a war. I made the decision to volunteer if asked for the hopes that he would not have to fight. I could tell that I would have to volunteer because I knew there would be war. The South didn’t like us for being anti-slavery, but they were more fearful that they would lose their slaves as it would ruin their economy. Their economy was fragile; based on slaves who worked on plantations and did everything for them. They did not want to be powerless in the economy as they would be without slaves, so they seceded to have their own power under their President Jefferson Davis. All that could come of these events was war, and war did
come. My first battle was fought at Antietam Creek, Maryland on September 17, 1862. The war truly began for me at that battle. For some men and their families the battle began at Fort Sumter, but for me it began at the bloodiest battle. My general, George McClellan led us to battle, where there was gun shots and cannon fire. Blood was everywhere you turned. It’s sickening to think about really, that I and my comrades killed so many people. After that battle we found that Lee had lost 14000, nearly one third, of his men. We won, but it was by default and we had 12000 casualties. This small win helped with boosting the confidence of the Union, We had our first win, and that helped a lot with the battles to come. There were many battles following Antietam, but one that I will always remember is Gettysburg. It was a turning point in the war, because after the losses in battles like Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the Union was losing the confidence that we had previously gained. The battle was fought at Gettysburg, Maryland and it lasted from July 1st through July 4th. To me, this battle was different. In fairness I got there on the second day of battle, but when I did get there I could tell that what happened would shape the rest of the war. On July 2nd, I marched into the battle to fight under General George Meade. We were there to help a small part of the Union’s cavalry who had been fighting Confederate forces. I fought side by side with my comrades at Cemetery Hill, The fighting was intense, and we almost lost control of the hill to Confederate General Jubal Early’s division. It was a good thing that we kept control of it, as it was crucial to hold the hills if we wanted to win that battle. The next morning, July 3rd,we fought in the most important part of the battle. We fought on Culp’s Hill. Culp’s Hill was the most important hill in the battle of Gettysburg in my opinion. Culp’s Hill is where we faced a division led by George Pickett. I do not know or remember much about this man, but I assume that he was loyal to Lee and his cause because of what he did that fateful day. Pickett was ordered to lead his men in a charge on Culp’s Hill by General Lee. This was an old and not intelligent tactic, as it required the men to run into gun and cannon fire. A lot of men on the Confederates side died that day. This caused Lee to retreat, and us to win a battle. I can not speak for all of my comrades, but I know that I got new hope. While we gained a boost in confidence, the South’s confidence was greatly decreased. I heard that the South lost half of its men, so it makes sense to me that this battle is called the largest one fought on North American soil. In the final battles, we had a lot of confidence from this turning point. More successes followed the one we had at Gettysburg. Sherman’s March to Sea and The Siege of Vicksburg were just some of our victories. During that time, it seemed as though we would win the war, and win the war we did. For me, the war ended after General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia on April 9th, 1865. The two Generals met so Grant could accept Lee’s surrender. The terms allowed Lee and his confederate soldiers a lot of freedom. I thought that he was let off a little easy considering he committed treason, but I am just glad the war is over. Lee’s troops were allowed to find their own way home and keep their mounts and side arms. This is where my story ends. I am going to try to find my way home, even though I know not what awaits me. I will remember the sounds, smells, sights, and feel of fighting in battle. The honor of fighting for my beliefs will stay with me, but the horror of killing people will also remain in my thoughts. I can imagine that I will have nightmares, and I do not intend to discuss the things I have done with my children until I am on my death bed. Compared to others, my life may not seem important and it may not be remembered. I cannot tell the future and I do not know if this will be read, but I hope that it is. I hope that you, the reader, will remember the story of a humble doctor from Vermont turned who turned into a soldier.
South Carolina seceded from the Union on December of 1860, General Robert Anderson and his troops were stationed out at Fort Moultrie. They did not think Fort Moultrie was safe enough so then he had a plan to move his troops to Fort Sumter. The Commander of the Union was Robert Anderson, and the Confederate commander was P.G.T. Beauregard. Anderson had moved his troops from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. Soon after coming to the fort Anderson realized he only had a couple week’s supply of food left. The confederate soldiers came and surrounded the fort and demanded Anderson had over the fort to them. Anderson was starting to run out of supplies for fighting and food. General Beauregard thought the Union would leave the South Carolina fort but Anderson refused. Beauregard threatened the Union to surrender but they would not, then the firing began. Anderson eventually realized there was no hope for them winning this battle, he then surrender the Southern for...
Though morale became very low toward the end of the war, Watkins recounts the passion the privates felt for both the war and for their beloved South. He believed that the Confederate Army were “…trying to protect their homes and families, their property, their constitution and their laws, that had been guaranteed to them as a heritage forever by their forefathers.” Though slavery was an issue, it was not the primary concern and was rarely mentioned in the memoir. However, Watkins did write that any man who owned twenty or more slaves back home was allowed to leave the army, and he notes the war “…was a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight”. The South and its inhabitants especially believed that they were fighting for the faith that each state was a separate sovereign government, as laid down by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Many southerners felt that the North was invading their country and doing despicable things all under the name of the “Union”, and that the war was a necessary last resort after all efforts to conciliate the North had already been made.
It is apparent that the topic of war is difficult to discuss among active duty soldiers and civilians. Often times, citizens are unable to understand the mental, physical, and physiological burden service members experience. In Phil Klay’s Ten Kliks South, the narrator struggles to cope with the idea that his artillery team has killed enemy forces. In the early stages of the story, the narrator is clearly confused. He understands that he did his part in firing off the artillery rounds, yet he cannot admit to killing the opposition. In order to suppress his guilt and uncertainty, our narrator searches for guidance and reassurance of his actions. He meets with an old gunnery sergeant and during their conversation, our narrator’s innocence
The Civil War was unlike any other war ever fought in America and had many effects on the home front for both the North and the South. It is stated to be the first ever total war, which is a war against not only the civilians but also the armies. The Civil War is also considered the first modern war fought by the U.S. troops. Lincoln asked volunteers to sign up for only three months. Many people thought the war wouldn’t last long. However, the war continued on for four years. The Union armies had around 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men and the Confederate army had approximately 750,000 to 1,250,000 men. The entire North and South society was affected by the war and desired for many social and economic assets. The Civil war brought new military techniques which caused the armaments to be more destructive. Ironclad ships and railroads were sufficiently used within the war. The north had a motive; they wanted to weaken the South’s longing to victory. The North tried to achieve this last motive by inflicting wholesale destruction upon the South (Janda, 1995). More than a hundred people seemed to be spies or secessionists in Maryland. In time, they were arrested due to not being faithful to the union and their state. Pro-secessionist newspapers were shut down, and telegrams and mail were censored (Perret, 2004).
During winter months, basic huts were constructed from wood when it was available. During the civil war, most of the soldiers fought only 75 percent of the time. When they were not fighting, their day usually started at 5:00 in the morning during the summer and spring, and 6:00 in the morning during the fall and winter. Soldiers would be awakened by fifes and drums, then the first sergeant would take a roll call, and all the men sat down to eat breakfast. During the day, soldiers would be engaged in sometimes as many as five 2-hour long drill sessions on weaponry or maneuvers.
One of the worst things about war is the severity of carnage that it bestows upon mankind. Men are killed by the millions in the worst ways imaginable. Bodies are blown apart, limbs are cracked and torn and flesh is melted away from the bone. Dying eyes watch as internal organs are spilled of empty cavities, naked torso are hung in trees and men are forced to run on stumps when their feet are blown off. Along with the horrific deaths that accompany war, the injuries often outnumber dead men. As Paul Baumer witnessed in the hospital, the injuries were terrifying and often led to death. His turmoil is expressed in the lines, “Day after day goes by with pain and fear, groans and death gurgles. Even the death room I no use anymore; it is too small.” The men who make it through the war take with them mental and physical scarification from their experiences.
For generations students have been taught an over-simplified version of the civil war and even now I am just coming to a full understanding of the truth. The civil war was a terrible rift in our nation, fought between the northern states (known as the union) and the southern states (the Confederate States of America). The people’s opinions were so divided over the issues of the civil war that, in some families, brother was pit against brother. Eventually, the south succumbed to the north and surrendered on April 9th, 1865 but not before the war had caused 618,000 deaths, more than any other war in U.S. history.(1) In truth, many believe this horrible war was fought purely over the issue of slavery. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am not denying that slavery was a major cause and issue of the civil war, but social and economic differences as well as states’ rights were just as important issues and I will be discussing all three.
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor when the Confederate army attacked Union soldier and ended on May 9, 1865 with a Union Victory. There are many events, laws, and people that provoked the Civil War. The two most important causes are slavery and the expansion of the United States causing an unbalance of free and slave states. This essay examines major events that initiated the war starting from the Compromise of 1820 to the election of 1860 and proves how the Civil War was inevitable.
Lasting from 1861 to 1865, the Civil War is considered the bloodiest war in American history. However, the Civil War had seemingly been a long time coming. There were many events that took place within the fifteen years leading up to the Civil War that foreshadowed the eventual secession of seven “cotton states” from the Union. The end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, and the outcome of the Presidential Election of 1860 all helped contribute to southern secession and the start of the Civil War; they each caused conditions that either strengthened the abolitionist cause, strengthened the pro-slavery cause, or strengthened both causes respectively; although the conditions made many Southerners want to leave the United States, the Northerners were adamant on going to war to preserve the Union.
The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, or simply the Civil War in the United States, was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865, after seven Southern slave states declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America . The states that remained in the Union were known as the "Union" or the "North". The war had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, especially the extension of slavery into the western territories. Foreign powers did not intervene. After four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring national unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began.
... Those states, seven total, respond by separating from the nation and creating the Confederate States of America. The Confederates then became the one that “make” the war. President Lincoln was not the sole motivation for the war. The long and continuous conflicting views on slavery between the North and South grouped with the political power struggles over the new western territories was only further fueled with their economical and social differences. To state that the Civil War was avoidable would be just be a plain lie. The war meant to take place and it did.
Life has been rough here in the camp, while I may not be on the front lines with General Sherman, I am still an active member in the Civil War. The dog tents aren’t so bad once you get used to them. Once a week they come back to the camp and recruit more of us to go to the front lines and fight. Today is the day they come and I hope I get recruited. The confederates need to be stopped, slavery is wrong. I’m waiting to see if my name gets called. When my name doesn’t get called my heart sinks. Then I hear it.
...ed have been defeated and the Government itself has been destructive of them by the action of the nonslaveholding states,”- declared South Carolina, feeling discontent about the government “encouraging and assisting thousands of slaves to leave their homes.” (A Declaration of the Causes Which Induced the Secession of South Carolina, South Carolina, December 24, 1860) Lincoln responded to this action that no state has a right to leave the Union: “In doing this there needs to be bloodshed and violence; and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the national authority.” (Abraham Lincoln, The US History, Chapter 17, p.338, 1977) But the southern answer was war!
However, when the civil war broke out she was forced to leave everything behind and make a dangerous trek with my father and brother, all desperately seeking asylum. Before the civil war, Somalia was a hotspot for tourist attraction. It was a coastal town, famous for it's ancient and modern architectural design. It had beautiful white sandy beaches and clear blue oceans that fused with the color of the sky. My mother’s shop was located in an open market alongside of 20 other venues. It was always bustling with people trying to buy the freshest food because refrigerators were mainly used for keeping ice. Constant honks of cars, everyone pushing and shoving one another, and customers yelling at merchants, bargaining for a lower price, are all too common when going to the market. The call to prayer silences all of that. Merchants leave their stores unprotected and head to the mosque. There was a strong level of trust in Somalia that's been robbed when the civil war
The war has been okay for now. Right now we are stationed near a fort along the mid-section of the Mississippi river. We have just captured Fort Henry and we foraged for food for a good while after that. Our one dogrobber was killed in battle, so now we have lost the only man in our squadron who knew how to cook decent meals. If only he had some horse sense then he would have survived in battle. You don’t need to worry about me cause I learned many tactics from General Ulysses S. Grant himself, without him we would have been easy prey for those johnnies. After my contract is over I hope to come back home to lots of home-cooked meals. The vittles here are revolting, yet I still am tough as a knot. Everybody else here seems to be struggling like