English 11b 1860s

Noe Ruiz

November 4, 2016

English 11B

1860’s

The 1860s was a time when people like Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee as well as Andrew Johnson and among others became famous for what they did during this decade in American history. A civil war would soon break out from within the country in April 12, 1861, which lasted four years. The American Civil War was considered the bloodiest four years in American territory. Rifles, repeaters, telegraph, iron-clad warships, submarines, balloons, railroads, and The Emancipation Proclamation were created as a means to help during the war. The Battle of Fort Sumter, the battle of Antietam, the Battle of Gettysburg, as well as other battles, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the reconstruction following the civil war, and the formation of the Ku Klux Klan were events that took place during the 1860s in American history.

The American Civil War was one of the events that happened in American history during the 1860s. The war between the Northern states and the Southern states happened after Abraham Lincoln took office in March 1861 as the United States 16th president. The States that rebelled called themselves the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy’s army was commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Robert E. Lee served as a military officer in the U.S. Army before the war. At the outbreak of the American Civil War on April 20, 1861, he resigned his command of military officer of the U.S. Army and became the general of the Confederates Army. The first state that seceded from the Union was South Carolina, right after it seceded, it attacked Fort Sumter. Right after the battle at Fort Sumter, four other States-Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas and North Carolina joined the Confederacy. Soon after more southern state decided to secede from the U.S. and join the Confederate States. Only the border states would remain loyal to the Union during the war. Many other battles followed right after the Battle of Fort Sumter, like the battle of Antietam, and The Battle of Gettysburg. The battle of Antietam was the bloodiest single day in American history, which ended in a Union victory. Abraham Lincoln used the occasion of the Union victory at Antietam to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, in which it freed all the slaves in the side of the confederates after January 1, 1863. Soon after 186,000 African soldiers would join the Union Army to help in the war against the Confederates. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863, and was considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. After the war had ended with the defeat of the Confederacy, both sides suffered a numbered 23,000 casualties from the Union and 28,000 from the Confederacy, which was more than a third of Lee’s army. Abraham Lincoln would then give the Gettysburg Address to help memorize those who died fighting in The Battle of Gettysburg. After many battles after battles the American Civil War would come to an end in April 9, 1865 when Robert E. Lee decided to surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Before the war came to an end, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth who was a confederate sympathizer and actor while attending Laura Keene’s acclaimed performance in Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater on April 14, thus becoming the first president in America to be assassinated. After the Civil War was over Abraham Lincoln’s successor to become the next president, Andrew Johnson announced his plans for reconstruction in the South, which he called Presidential Reconstruction. His plan was more took a more moderate approach at restoring the South to the Union, in which he would end up clashing with Radical Republicans. His plan of reconstruction was that all land that was given to freed slaves by the Army or the Freedmen’s Bureau, would be returned to its prewar owners, southern states were given free rein to rebuilt themselves if they swore loyalty to the Union, payed off war debt. He would then become the first President to be impeached by congress in 1868. Soon after the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) was founded in December 24, 1865, Pulaski, TN. The KKK was an organization was established by ex-confederate soldiers to try and bring back white supremacy in the South.

During the war inventions like rifles, repeaters, telegraph, iron-clad warships, submarines, balloons, and railroads were being used during the war. Before the American Civil War, soldiers would typically use muskets that could only hold one bullet at a time and had a range of about 250 yards, but were only effective at 80 yards of range. During the American Civil War, soldiers used rifles, since they had a better range than muskets did, with range of 1,000 yards, and were even more accurate. Like the muskets, rifles could only hold one bullet at a time which made it dangerous and inefficient. In 1863 there was another option called the repeating rifle, which could allow a soldier to fire more than one bullet before needing to reload. The most famous of these new guns was the Spencer Carbine, which could fire seven shots in 30 seconds. These new type of guns were only available to the Northern troops since the Southern factories didn’t know how to make them and didn’t have the equipment to make them. The telegraph was used by Abraham Lincoln to communicate with his officers on the battlefield. The telegraph at the White House allowed him to give orders to his men, monitor the battlefield, and lead real-time strategy meetings. Balloons were used by Union spies by floating above the Confederate encampments as well as battle line and would send reconnaissance information back to their commanders by telegraph and to the sea. Iron-clad warships were being used by both the Union and the Confederate, which were steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates. Since the Navy remained loyal to the Union, the Confederacy had to get the ironclad by acquiring modern armored ships. Submarines were used by the Confederate sailors to try and take out the Union’s iron-clad warships from under water. Railroads were used by the Union to transport troops and supplies from one place to another. The Union had the advantage with the railroads since they had most of the nation’s track and locomotive factories.