How did the American Civil War Actually Happen? (Part 2) - All Important Battles of 1861

Diplomacy has failed. The sword must now preserve our independence. Fort Sumter failed to be evacuated by the Confederate deadline. 6,000 Southerners now had Charleston Harbor surrounded. Cannon and mortar stared down the fort at 4.30 a.m. on April 12, 1861. A gunner at Fort Johnson set off a 10-inch mortar, sending the explosive into the early morning skies above Fort Sumter, the detonation lighting up the blue and telling all those around one thing. The Civil War had begun. As the men of Fort Sumter scurried to prepare, local citizens clambered to rooftops in hopes of watching the monumental battle occur. One by one, the Confederates began firing upon the Union-held fort until every available cannon and mortar across the harbor was bombarding Sumter. The scarcely-staffed Union garrison fired back as best they could with the little manpower and cartridges they had, but not much could be done. The Confederates were unrelenting. The attack would continue into the following day, at one point setting the roof of the fort ablaze, but alas, its defenders refused to come out still. So impressed by the stubborn valor of their foes, the Confederates even began to cheer for each shot fired from the fort, but this was far from enough to stop the South. In fact, the Confederates were becoming increasingly more aggressive. In the early afternoon of April 13, the flagpole holding up the Union flag of Fort Sumter was hit and broken. This moment of foreshadowing was followed by a chaotic period of diplomatic negotiations, which would finally find success. It was agreed that the Union troops would, after all, evacuate. Firing a salute to their makeshift, tattered flag, they were off, and the Confederates had won the first battle of the Civil War. As a result of the Battle of Fort Sumter, and the undeniable start of what would be a long and gruesome bloody domestic war, President of the Union, Abraham Lincoln, put out a call on April 15 for 75,000 militia volunteers to stop what he referred to as an illegitimate rebellion. This act would trigger the remaining Confederate states-to-be to officially leave the Union, and Lincoln would double down by calling for an additional 40,000 men to serve for a three-year span. Jefferson Davis, leader of the Confederate states, countered with a call for an additional 100,000 militia men of his own, proposing a 12-month service. At this point in time, neither side wanted the war to last long. In fact, some in the South had actually hoped that the attack on Fort Sumter would scare the Union into diplomacy instead of an armed conflict. The Confederates knew they were greatly outnumbered, and were smart enough to recognize the obstacles they'd need to overcome to beat the North. However, they weren't the only ones with concerning weaknesses. Over in the Union, many of Lincoln's cabinet and his own generals questioned his ability to lead the nation through a war, and yet, Lincoln's generals themselves were their own problem. Many had grown old or even unhealthy and nearly incapable altogether, leaving the President with some difficulty when it came to choosing who would lead his armies throughout the conflict. Nevertheless, armies needed to be led, and plans needed to be made. And as for what the North had in store for the South, one must only look at the Union's Anaconda Plan. Lieutenant General Winfield Scott was the man responsible for providing this strategy. While it was only partially used in technicality, by the end of the war, it seemed that Scott had rather precisely predicted the approach of his nation's tactics. It was his idea that the Union should focus on a strong defense of D.C., an unforgiving blockade of the South from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and a brutal land and sea attack along the Mississippi River to sever the Confederates in two. Named for its attempt to strangle the South into submission, the Anaconda Plan seemed doable, but the strategy on paper would be shelved early into the war due to political pressure Lincoln hoped to ease. By the end of May, nevertheless, the Union had already crossed the Potomac and took hold of Arlington Heights. This set off the start of intermittent skirmishes that would carry on throughout the war between each of the major battles, with the first of the latter on Virginian soil, coming in early June at the Battle of Big Bethel. The forces of the Confederates and the United States met at the village of Big Bethel on June 10, 1861. The North had hoped to create a buffer for themselves around Fort Monroe, one of the last Union strongholds in the area. This would ultimately fail, however, leading to another Confederate victory, and the unexpected direction that this war seemed to be going in. The incapacity of Lincoln's military leaders was showing already, and the Confederates had starkly the opposite when it came to their generals. In a unique win for the Union, however, the Wheeling Conventions around this time resulted in the northwestern counties of Virginia voting to break free from their current state and begin the process of forming the new state of West Virginia, which would ally with the North. With Momentums and their sails now, the Union decided it was time to begin the main objective. Take Richmond and end the war once and for all. As General Irvin McDowell began the march with his 35,000 men, the largest field army yet gathered on the continent, cheering civilians began to follow the troops with picnic baskets and unwavering excitement. They, the Northerners, believed that their men were marching into an assured victory that would collapse the Confederacy and rebuild their nation. What happened instead was the Battle of Bull Run. McDowell's troops were made up almost entirely of men who had responded to the call to arms by President Lincoln following the assault on Fort Sumter, meaning that they lacked experience or even understanding of what they were about to face. Nevertheless, McDowell was leading them to seize a crucial railroad junction at Manassas, just near the Bull Run stream that stood in their way. It was here that the Confederate forces sat waiting to defend, however, which all played into McDowell's plan. The goal was to use his three columns to confront the Confederate force in the front and right flank to eventually push them into abandoning the railroad junction. As the Union army was approaching, the Confederate Army of the Potomac, under the command of General Pierre G.T. Beauregard, requested aid from Richmond, a request that was intended to be answered with reinforcement by the Army of Shenandoah under General Joseph E. Johnston. Johnston, though, was being stalled by the Union force of 18,000 men under Major General Robert Patterson. Patterson was tasked with preventing the Army of Shenandoah from reaching Bull Run. Meanwhile, McDowell was getting closer and closer to Beauregard's defenses. As they inched near, McDowell sent roughly 5,000 of his men with Brigadier General Theodore Runyon to guard the rear, while another division under Brigadier General Daniel Tyler was dispatched to try and hit the Confederate right flank. This resulted in a small-scale clash between Daniel's force and the Confederates at Blackburn's Ford, where the Northerners were beaten back. Over with Patterson, the Union troops weren't doing much better either. Despite having sent a telegraph to D.C. saying, I have succeeded in accordance with the wishes of the General-in-Chief in keeping General Johnston's forces at Winchester, he hadn't. Instead, when Johnston had received word of Beauregard's situation, he utilized a cavalry screen to give Patterson the slip and leave Winchester. This was bad news for McDowell, who currently outnumbered the Confederate force he faced by more than 10,000. If Johnston could make it to Bull Run before the battle was over, which the Union General soon heard was quite the possibility in spite of Patterson's confidence otherwise, this would change drastically. Unfortunately for McDowell, the change did happen. The clash began on the morning of July 21st, 1861. McDowell sent two divisions from Centerville towards Sudley Springs in hopes of ambushing the Confederate left flank. At the same time, another division was sent as a distraction to the Stone Bridge, intending to deceive the Southerners. This plan seemed doable in theory, but in reality, inexperienced men and poor execution meant the Union soldiers were fumbling the ball. Colonel Nathan Evans of the Confederates defending the bridge was able to determine that the attack on his force was only a distraction and swiftly reacted, racing with the main fragment of his troops to Matthews Hill to meet up with the real Union attack. While he was unable to stop McDowell due to his inferior numbers, Evans successfully stalled the Northerners while reinforcements came his way. Although these reinforcements would soon collapse under Union pressure, the Confederate defense was failing. And its men were on the run. There stands Jackson like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians, General Bernard B shouted to his beaten down and nearly deserting men. As Johnston and Beauregard arrived at Henry House Hill, the Union troops had hesitated and were reorganizing their advance, giving the Southerners time to do the same. After an hour, the battle was back on, and the tide began to notably change. Confederate forces were able to capture Union artillery guns, and the Northern offensive was falling apart. The rebel yell rang out as the Union troops were one by one pushed off of Henry House Hill. By 4pm, the Confederates had won. After losing their position, the Northerners began what would at first be an organized retreat. Within the hour, however, any form of organization had gone out the window. The Southerners followed the fleeing enemy, and turned the respectable defeat for the Union into an undeniable rout. Though some of the Northern troops would arrive home to Washington by the next day, their campaign had been crushed. The weight of such a catastrophic and embarrassing loss was violently damaging for President Lincoln's reputation. But there was even more going against him by now. As the fighting got into full swing, the Union President's wartime decisions began to appear tyrannical to some. A crackdown on dissension wasn't entirely unpredictable, but would prove to be an infringement on the First Amendment rights of many Americans nevertheless. Mail, telegraphs, and the press became regularly censored and at times even silenced. Meanwhile, anyone openly showing support for the Confederates was at risk of being arrested. Even a Democratic Congressman, Clement L. Valendigum, was arrested in his home state for speaking out against the war, while the office of the nonconformist Sunday Chronicle was destroyed by government officials. All of this made many start to think about ideas such as impeachment, but as Lincoln built up his defenses around DC, both metaphorically and physically, opposition was left in the dark. Meanwhile, pressure from abolitionist activists was increasing. Thus far, Lincoln's main concern was the restoration of the Union, but many freed slaves turned activists were cranking up the heat on the President with the goal of pushing him to make the war about abolition and emancipation, not just winning back the Confederates. Honest Abe, however, wasn't yet ready to change the focus of the war and instead signed off on the Congress-passed Confiscation Act of 1861. This act gave the federal government the authority to seize property from anyone deemed to be participating in the rebellion, property including, but not limited to, slaves. These fugitive slaves would be classed as contraband and were often then utilized to work as laborers on Union infrastructure. Far from making the war about emancipation. Four days after Congress passed the first Confiscation Act, the battle was back on. Brigadier General Nathaniel Leon was about to come face-to-face with Brigadier General Ben McCulloch and Major General Sterling Price of the Confederacy in Springfield, Missouri, for what would be known as the Battle of Wilson's Creek. This would be the first major clash of the Civil War west of the Mississippi and one of the fewer times that the Union forces were actually outnumbered. In an almost amusingly ironic twist, it turned out that both sides, as of August 9th, were planning to ambush one another, both of these plans specifically hinging on the element of surprise, with neither knowing what the other was intending. General Leon of the Union's tactic was to send 1,200 men under Colonel Franz Sigel wide around the Confederate right to the south, while the remaining force involved would swing north and hit the southerner's left. The latter, however, actually had a similar plan, but a stroke of luck and rain caused General McCulloch to abandon his plans. This left the element of surprise fully in the hands of the northerners. The marching of the Union broke the silence of the morning calm on August 10th. Leon's plan, unlike McCulloch's, was still on, and it had begun now. The Confederate forces were utterly dumbfounded by the ambush. They had failed to anticipate a surprise offensive from the Union troops, and this allowed the latter's advance to play out at a swift pace. Leon and his men were able to advance all the way to what would soon be known as Bloody Hill, before being stalled by the Pulaski-Arkansas Battery's defense attack. While the Pulaski Battery kept the northerners from advancing further, General Price and his men regrouped and headed for the hill, where a gruesome battle would subsequently break out for nearly six hours. The Union had begun the clash with a clear strategic advantage, but as the warfare on Bloody Hill carried on, the tide began to shift in favor of the Confederates. McCulloch was eventually pitted against Seagal at Sharp Farm, where the northerners' thus-far triumphant flanking maneuver was crushed by the counterattack from the southerners so badly that Seagal and his troops abruptly retreated. Meanwhile, Leon's luck was fading even more drastically. Himself already weakened by wounds he'd obtained in the prior hours of ruthless battle, Leon was eventually struck down by the south, requiring a hasty transfer of command to Major Samuel Sturgis. The northerner's new leader wasn't incompetent, but victory for him by now seemed impossible. With scarcely any ammunition left before the clocks even struck noon, the Union was in a full retreat back to Springfield. A few weeks after the Battle of Wilson's Creek, the Union would finally get a win, but this time by sea. The Confederates for some time now had been authorizing privateering along the Carolina Coast, which predictably triggered a military response from the Union. This reaction, however, was poorly anticipated by the southerners at two forts in particular, Fort Clark and Fort Hatteras. This resulted in both partially constructed forts falling into Union hands after a naval bombardment forced the troops manning Fort Clark to flee for Fort Hatteras, which itself would soon surrender. It was a much-needed victory for the North, but it was followed by an even worse defeat. The Confederates were about to take Lexington. General Price and his 15,000 men reached Lexington, Missouri on September 11th, 1861. Small-scale battle began the next day as the Union forces attempted to stop the Confederate advance, but Price was better prepared and surely determined. It wouldn't take long for the southerners to pin their opponent down in the college housing the Union fortifications. Although the remaining northerners couldn't be beat out or into surrender by the Confederates, a two-hour artillery battle and delayed supplies caused Price to hold off continuing the offensive temporarily. It is unnecessary to kill off the boys here. Patience will give us what we want, he explained. Less than a week later, on September 18th, however, it seemed that Price was satisfied with the patience shown thus far. Despite strong Union artillery, the Confederates advanced at long last, bottling up the defenders once more. One, two, three, four, nine hours of cannon fire ensued. Meanwhile, the southerners were additionally in the process of capturing the nearby Anderson House, which was in use as a Union hospital for wounded soldiers. This stunning potential war crime, at least in the eyes of the Union, prompted the northerners to storm and retake the house, but control would then fall back to the Confederates more permanently. Two days later, the city as a whole fell into southern hands. The following month would see yet another embarrassing defeat for the Union, as distrust of the President and his abilities were on the rise. After some poorly executed reconnaissance across the Potomac River over in Virginia, a decision was made to launch another Union attack, this time under the command of Abraham Lincoln's dear friend, Colonel Edward Baker. This foray would be an utter disaster due to horrendous planning and execution. Baker himself would be slain, and his men, all positioned precariously at the edge of Ball's Bluff, essentially cornered by the Confederates, either fled or killed too, or leapt to their deaths off the bluff. Many of those who did escape furthermore drowned trying to cross the icy river. The generals who had been involved in the campaign, General Charles Stone and even General George McClellan were heavily scrutinized, and Stone would eventually be blamed and charged with treason as a result. McClellan, however, was distant enough from the disaster itself, and would eventually be promoted to General-in-Chief of all Union armies, despite deep mistrust between himself and the President. Distrust was building between DC and its overseas counterparts now as well. Particularly, the bonds between the Union and Great Britain seemed to be dwindling, and on November 8th, it would appear nearly non-existent. Britain thus far was acting a bit sympathetic to the South, largely because they missed the crucial cotton exports from the now-Confederate states. As a result, communication between the two entities led President Jefferson Davis to dispatch two envoys over to the British mail ship, the Trent, to try and garner official support and recognition of the Confederacy. Unbeknownst to Washington, on November 8th, 1861, the month after the envoys joined the British on their ship, US Captain Wilkes intercepted the Trent. The captain then had his lieutenant board the ship to search it, at which point the Confederate envoys were detained, and the Brits told that they could leave on their own. This triggered a hailstorm from Britain, which deems the acts of Captain Wilkes to have been both a violation of British neutrality as well as a blatant violation of the law. Eventually, under the demand of Great Britain and unwillingness to go to war with their former overlords, DC agreed to release the prisoners and toiled to resolve the situation diplomatically. While this would work for the time being, it was only the start of British influence on what the Union was willing to do to win the war.