Nicolaas Dekker

Ms. Natalia
US History
7/12/2020
Civil War essay
In this essay I will be going through the American civil war. I will accomplish this by splitting the
essay into three parts due to the lengthy number of points to cover for the assignment. The three parts
are split to make three topics, war and strategy, cause and effect and other importance outside of
battles. These consist of questions. War and strategy consist of question 3,5,7 with 2 for strategy.
Cause and effect consist of questions 1 and 8. And lastly Importance outside the battles consists of
questions 4 and 6. First I will talk about the cause of the war then moving to the battles then moving
to the emancipation of a proclamation. At the end I will discuss battles later on in the war then move
to the Gettysburg address. Then end with the effects of the war on further development of the US and
the people. I will structure this essay with 4 body paragraphs with each paragraph starting with the
two questions that it associates with.
#1,2. Causes and events leading to the war and War strategies of the North and South; Many people
believe that the American civil wars causes can be traced all the way back to the writing of the
constitution, in which slaves were continued to be legal. But I believe that the cause of the civil war
was even further back. I believe that the first foreshadowing of the civil war was the separation of the
“south” and the “north” as early as the creation of the colonies. The north being industrial and the
south being agricultural and the north non-slaves and south pro-slaves. There was not once when a
civil war was not inevitable. But causes closer to the war were tensions created by the rise of the anti-
slavery movements in the 50s. These leads and paved the ways to separation such as the Missouri
compromise and the capture and return laws. Essentially all decisions made by the government was
on the vote of half and half south and north. This made even the decisions made by the government
split. And then the election of Abraham Lincoln caused the south to react to try and protect their
southern way of life.
This separation in terms of economy, population and terrain lead to the different ways of fighting
between the north and the south. From the beginning the north was a more industrial economy, this
meant that they made the most guns, cloths, ships, ammo and equipment. This meant that the north
was superior in terms of firepower and equipment. Furthermore, the north was larger and had a larger
population, giving them more manpower then the south. The south on the other hand had advantages
of their own. They controlled the Missouri which was a major trade route through America. They
were mainly agriculture, so they had no shortage of food or money. Therefore, getting more into the
strategy of the civil war a few points must be addressed. Firstly, the north formed the union and didn’t
want the south to leave, so their main objective of the war was to invade the south and take over, so
they were the offensive. This meant that they had to fight in unfamiliar lands and had to be far from
home. Whereas the south where on the defensive. This posed many advantages for the south, for
example, phycological the south where better off because they were fighting on their own lands trying
to protect it. This helped furthermore because the south knew the lands and also could set up defences
that could be grounded and strong. But in terms of leadership both armies had equally brilliant
generals.
#3,4. Early battles and their significance and Emancipation Proclamation and its importance; The
most significant battle that started the war as we know it was the attack of fort Sumpter by the
confederate army. This started the war but did not show the full extent to which the war would go, at
all. The battle of sumpter had no deaths except for a horse. At this Lincoln called upon 75 thousand
volunteers to fight for ninety days because that is how long people thought the war would last. One
person said that he would volunteer to clean all the blood of the war with his handkerchief. As union
ships form a blockade and union and confederate troops form boarder lines the tention rises. Then in
1861 two troop movements from either sidewalk right into each other at a small town of Manasses.
This battle of Bull Run was the starting point of the war that showed people what this war would
involve. This battle had the most casualties in the history of America at the time, and that record
would be shattered many times over throughout the civil war. The next important battle was the battle
of Antietam in late 1862. This battle shattered the body count record of 3 thousand to 22,717 military
casualties. But what made this an important battle was because it was won by the union. It was such a
victory that President Lincoln was confident enough to draft the Emancipation Proclamation. This
Proclamation said that African Americans when freed by the union army would be free forever, it also
said that African Americans could now be enlisted into the union army. This gave the union army
many more soldiers, but it also changed the peoples view of the war. The war was for the
conservation of the union for the north and was the conservation of freedom of culture for the south.
But the Emancipation Proclamation made it for a lot of people to end slavery. This would cause a lot
of problems for the north and its minority population later on.

#5,6 Major battles which were the turning points of the war and The Gettysburg address and its
importance on the course of war. The battle of Vicksburg that took place between 1862-1863 a 42-day
siege of Vicksburg. Vicksburg was a critical point on the Mississippi river that controlled the whole
river hence controlling the biggest trade rout in America at the time. At this battle the union won with
23,000 casualties on both sides. This victory by the union split the confederacy in half turning the war
into a 4-front war. And the union now controlled the trade on the Mississippi. The other major battle
in the civil war was the battle of Gettysburg, the battle of Gettysburg lasted 3 days and had 51
thousand casualties altogether. This was a turning point in the war for the union because although
General Lee was a great general and would be a problem for the union for another few years the
confederate army would never recover from the massive amount of loss of manpower. This was
defiantly the start of the end of the confederacy. After the battle of Gettysburg Lincoln went to the
town and set up the first military cemetery in America. But set up a cemetery is not the only thing he
did at Gettysburg. Lincoln also gave the Gettysburg address; this address was a short but very
important speech on the future of the civil war and even the future of the united states. What he
accentually did was he raised the moral stakes of the war, because if he didn’t do that after seeing the
lives lost as Gettysburg the people would just stop fighting or they would start to rebel. So, Lincoln
gave a short speech which underlined the reason for the war and how it was to secure the future of the
country and that the union had to keep on fighting so that all the lives lost here where not in vain. This
was important because it really brought America together and showed that everyone was American
and that to have unison was the best way for the USA to strive. But it mainly raised the moral
standings of the war which gave people more reason to keep on fighting.
#7,8 Late battles of the war and What effects had the war on the further development of the USA and
its people. After the battle of Vicksburg, no other important battles happen except for the last battle of
the civil war which was at Palmito Ranch, Texas on the twelfth of May 1865. This although being the
final battle of the civil war, was actually won by the confederates. The civil war effected the USA in
many ways. It brought about the Emancipation proclamation