Help!?! Civil War experts.?

Question

Identify or explain: Irvin McDowell, Winfield Scott, anaconda policy, J.E. Johnston, Thomas J. Jackson, George B. McClellan.

Locate: Manassas Junction, Fort Henery, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Hampton Roads.

List six key military engagements in 1861-1862 and tell the outcome and significance of each.

Expressing Problems Clearly. General Grant realized that the Civil War would be a war of exhaustion if the North were to win. Explain.



What was Lincoln’s chief reason for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation?

Describe the reaction to the emancipation proclamation in the South and the North.

What roles did blacks play in the war?

How did the North finance the war?

Recognizing Cause and Effect. What was the Civil War’s effect on westward migration?



And if you can answer these please do!

List some aspects of the Civil War that would seem strange to an observer who was familiar with old-fashioned warfare.

Identify two women who played prominent roles in the Civil war.

Answer 1

Well that's quite a list. I'll try to take a crack at it.
Irvin McDowell was Union field commander of the troops around Washington in 1861. He was commander of the troops who moved on, then "skedaddled" from Bull Run (Manassas Junction). Winfield Scott, commander of the U.S. Army in Mexico, Whig Presidential candidate in 1852, and our second Lieutenant General (3 stars), the first since Washington, was the commander of the Army in 1861 at the outbreak of the war. His Anaconda plan is pretty indistinguishable from the blockade attributed to George McClellan. The Anaconda was named for the South American snake, and was intended to encircle and strangle the south economically. It did a pretty good job of it. Joseph E. Johnston was the first commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, and held off the federals in the Peninsula until he was wounded and replaced by Lee. T.J. Jackson was at Bull Run, and commanded Virginia infantry. His men holding the line when it appeared to be a Confederate rout, is thought to be the turning point of the battle, and earned him the nickname Stonewall. Jackson was one of Lee's most aggressive commanders, and was killed by his own sentry while reconnoitering his lines at Chancellorsville at night.
George Brinton McClellan was the first commander of the Army of the Potomac, a unit he named, and a great organizer. The fact that Grant had an army rather than a rabble in 1864 was due to McClellan's organization in 1861 and 1862. However, McClellan seemed to have a problem with being too cautious, thinking his enemy's strength was greater than it was. Like it was at Anzio, this was a mistake. Not being aggressive at the right time can cause even greater losses later. Lincoln was very frustrated with this general, though I've seen no mention anywhere of this being attributed to McClellan having been President of the Illinois Central when Lincoln was their Chief Counsel.

Manassas is in Virginia, between Washington and Richmond, the reason it was of strategic importance. Forts Henry and Donelson were on the Tennessee river, which runs north from northern Alabama to Paducah, Kentucky, making these positions strategically important. Shiloh is the name of a church at Pittsburgh Landing, a landing on the Tennessee. It's located in northern Mississippi. Vicksburg sits on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in Mississippi. It was the last stronghold between Cairo and the Gulf of Mexico held by the Secesh. It was surrendered on July 4, 1863, the same day General Meade (this time) let Lee get back across the Potomac after Gettysburg. Hampton Roads is in Virginia waters, and was the site of the battle of ironclads between the Monitor (US) and Merrimack (CSA).
Grant had an insight into how people will fight when their homes are at stake. The war (of Northern Aggression, as it's still referred to in some southern areas) was an invasion of the south, and they weren't going to give up easily.

Fts. Henry, Donaldson, and Shiloh did two things, it secured the Tennessee river for the northern incursion into Mississippi and Alabama, and it got U.S. Grant relieved of command. He was reinstated later, of course, as the President said "I cannot spare this man, he fights!". Bull Run was an eyeopener for the north, as it showed this was to be no 90 day war. It also showed that the business of electing officers by companies was not going to work. George McClellan formed the Army of the Potomac as a result of this disaster, as mentioned above. The Peninsular campaign in 1862 nearly took Richmond, but it also demonstrated that McClellan was too cautious, and it replaced Joe Johnston with Robert E. Lee, General Scott's first choice for commander of Union forces. Antietam, the bloodiest battle ever fought by Americans, was a victory in two senses, one, it forced Lee to retreat back across the Potomac and it showed the spirit of Union troops. In the wheat field, a confederate commander said it looked as though confederate fire was mowing the Union advance like a knife, and it pushed them back 4 times, but they came back at the rebs 5. There's something more than just good officers at work there.
The Emancipation Proclamation was mainly to keep England and France from recognizing the CSA, it was very unpopular in the South, and nearly as unpopular in the North. Union soldiers deserted because they didn't want to fight to free slaves, they had not enlisted for that, but to preserve the Union. It didn't have the effect Lincoln feared, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware didn't secede.

Blacks in the war had several roles to play. Frederick Douglass was apparently a real pest, trying to get the President to move toward emancipation and eventual enlistment of colored troops (npc I know, but until after WWI all regiments of African American soldiers were designated as "colored troops"), but he managed to get the job done, at least after Antietam, because Lincoln felt that such steps would be the last shriek on the road to defeat without a victory, even such a pyhrric one as Antietam was. There were black troops who served gallantly in the war. The attack on Fort Wagner, as seen in the film Glory, was an absolute disaster, but the men certainly aquitted themselves bravely.
By the end of the war Wendell Phillips had his remedy of "hot lead and cold steel, duly administered by 100,000 black doctors".

Paper money, bonds and taxes, that's how the Union financed the war. An income tax was instituted to help pay for it, bonds were sold to help finance it, and a lot of paper money was printed. If you find a picture of a $5 bill from 1863, you may find Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase's picture on it, not Lincoln's.

Westward migration, after the war, increased of course, but if someone wanted to keep a son, brother or husband out of the war, a good plan was to head west. Orion Clemens, newly appointed secretary to the Governor of Nevada, took his younger brother Sam with him to keep him out of the fighting. I think the younger brother became a writer of some kind ;). The only draft that you'd find in Wyoming was the one that felt like it was going through you when the wind blew. The Homestead Act was passed in 1862, and this set up the mechanism to stake out a claim on western lands, "prove" it (do improvements), and claim it as your own within a year.

Take a look at the link from wikipedia.

Answer 2

I agree that you do need to do your own homework, I managed to do it without the Internet, using real books.
This is the only thing I anm going to answer:
Lincoln signed the Proclamation because he understood that if he wanted continuing support for the war, he would have to bring morals into it. He used seccession as the primary reason then when enthusiasum was waning, he wrote and signed the document. There are stories that he stayed up all the night before hand wrestling with the issue.

Answer 3

Why does no one do their own friggin' homework anymore?! The Civil War, and machinations behind it, are an absolutely fascinating part of American history. In doing the research, you will learn so many things, and pick up on nuances that no one can explain here. Plus, with all the information you need, someone would have to write a book! And quite frankly, if I'm going to write a book, I'm going to get it published and make money, and not give it to someone who is either too lazy or stupid to do their own work!

Answer 4

Depends on what subject: The best one volume on the civil war is Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson Other good author's are Bruce Catton, Stephen Sears, Noah Andre Trudeau, There are hundreds of books on google books to look at.

Answer 5

No answer advice ---- break your question up, us history wonks will grovel for two points just to pontificate but defecating words takes time & effort and each one of your teeny tiny bits is an essay - - - example if you simply asked 'What Role did Blacks Perform During the American Civil War,' then it is worthwhile for me to answer. Others feel the same way. So please, homework ettiquette, a clear question per 'each' and since this forum is World Wide call it the American Civil War (1861-1865)..

Thanks

Peace

Answer 6

Heavy sigh. Is that homework assignment due already?

Answer 1: Read the assigned material - bet the answers are right there
Answer 2: Go to the library
Answer 3: Wikipedia
Answer 4: Get someone else to spoon feed you the answers.

You jumped right to answer 4.

Answer 7

OMG!

That would take a couple of days of typing just to start to explain to you.


I've just finished reading my 13th BOOK about a single battle in 1862 at Antietam creek outside Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17th. This was the single bloodiest day in American military history. 23,000 men fell dead, wounded and went missing on that day alone.

What you are asking for could fill several books to fully understand.




g-day!

Answer 8

I think you need to do your own research here. That's why your teachers set you this work. You'll find the answers in any number of books in your library. If that doesn't appeal, all the answers can be found on the 'net.

Your teacher is trying to teach you how to do research. That's a vital job-skill and a life-skill too. It's worth working at - on your own!

Answer 9

I love the history of the Civil War, and do a lot of research, but I won't answer your questions. You need to learn for yourself, just the act of doing the research is a learning experience. Later in life you'll know how to find things out by yourself, and won't have to rely on the Yahoo Q&As' to find things out for you.

Answer 10

Reviewing your past questions it is quite clear that you are using Yahoo/Answers to get someone else to do your school homework assignments. There is a category for that and so far you haven't used that category. This category is for history not homework.

What you have asked is for hours of work to provide reasonable answers. Many here would be willing to do that research and writing but for a price, not for free. School is to learn and getting someone else to do your studying is not learning. Do yourself a favor and do your own homework.