ch.22: The Gettysburg Address

A primarily focus of this chapter is the Gettysburg Address. Do most kids still have to learn the speech word-for-word when they are young? If not, they should. I think everyone should read and understand the Gettysburg Address and think about what Lincoln was trying to say—about the war, the county, and the Constitution. You can peruse the speech on page 586 of Team of Rivals or go here to read it.

Lincoln was also beginning to cobble together a Reconstruction plan. It is clear from reading this chapter that this task was going to cause some serious political difficulties. Most historians agree, however, that had Lincoln lived, he might have been able to bring all the sides together to agree on some Reconstruction fundamentals.

Unfortunately, Andrew Johnson could not do this.  

ch.21: The Summer of '63

As Doris Kearns writes at the start of this chapter, “the summer of 1863 marked a critical transformation in the Union war effort.” Many things were taking place that would alter the course of the war. Let’s go over a few of them.

1. Lincoln decided to organize and deploy black troops. One can only imagine the impact this had in the South. Not so much in military terms, but just seeing black soldiers must have horrified the rebels. It was slavery and the race issue that caused the war. Now they have to fight against former slaves and freed blacks. The nation was indeed changing and the Southerners had to know that their day was past.

2. Things were going well in Tennessee for Union forces. Lincoln had always considered Tennessee an important military sector. It looked like that area, and its critical rivers, would soon be in Union hands.

3. The important battle of Gettysburg took place in early July of 1863. If you watched the Ken Burns Civil War series on PBS you probably know something about this 3-day battle (if not, watch the entire series, it is wonderful!). This was probably the turning-point for the Union forces. After suffering several defeats in early 1863, the men in blue turned back General Lee at Gettysburg. Lee suffered tremendous losses in his ill-fated Pickett’s charge on the last day of the battle. The high-tide of the Confederacy had been reached.

4. Ulysses S. Grant secured Vicksburg on July 4—the same day as the Union victory at Gettysburg. This key city on the Mississippi River further hemmed in rebel forces.


So Lincoln was hopeful that the war would end soon. But unfortunately, that would still take some time. Even though the Union armies now had the upper hand, many tough battles were still to come.         

ch.20: War Aims

When I teach my American Civil War class, there comes a time when we discuss military strategy. In Team of Rivals, you are now readings about battles and generals; as well as military wins and losses. So it seems a good time for you to consider what each side was attempting to achieve in this Civil War.

Take a look at the questions in the following scenario. Think about all of them from the perspective of both the Union and Confederate sides. Ponder these questions as you finish the book  Post your comments and/or talk to your friends about your answers. I think you will understand the Civil War much better after thinking about and examining these questions. And there are no right or wrong answers!         


You are a special group of high-level military and civilian strategists. Your group has been asked by the president (Lincoln/Davis) to devise an overall strategy for the war. The president is trying to decide on a comprehensive plan on how to fight and win the impending civil conflict. He also needs policy recommendations on a number of other specific issues. Some issues that he wants you to discuss include:

• Where to fight the war: what geographical areas should you focus upon and why?

• How to fight the war: offensive, defensive, or some other strategic plan?

• How long to fight.

• Overall war aims: what exactly does your side wish to achieve? (really think about this one)

• Will you draft soldiers or depend on volunteers? If you do institute a draft, how will it be done?

• Slavery? What will your policies be regarding slavery?

• Finances and taxes: how will you fund the war?

• Foreign diplomacy: what strategies will be used in dealing with the European powers? 

Your distinguished group should devise a preliminary list of recommendations and be able to discuss them with the class.   

ch.19: The Weapons of War

Throughout the Civil War, Americans read almost daily, in newspapers and letters, stories of terrible death and bloodshed. At Antietam, for example, the two sides suffered more than 23,000 casualties. Soldiers well understood that the mounting slaughter on the battlefields was due to new and powerful weapons, matched against outmoded ways of fighting.

New Weapons: The war created a demand for more powerful, more efficient weapons, and American inventors supplied them. Breech-loading rifles, rifled cannons shooting 200-300 pound shells, exploding canisters of shrapnel, and ironclad ships dealt death on both sides. Most battlefield casualties, however, were inflicted on and by infantrymen—about 85% of the soldiers—shooting it out in fire fights at 100 to 500 yards distance, firing volley after volley of musket shot into the entrenched or charging ranks of the enemy.

At the beginning of the Civil War, soldiers on both sides used smooth-bore muzzle-loading muskets accurate to only about 100 yards. These weapons had to be loaded by ramming powder and ball down the muzzle of the musket. By 1863, however, a new grooved or rifled musket was becoming the standard weapon, North and South: muzzle-loading Springfield and British-made Enfield rifles. Either variety could hit a man at 300 to 500 yards. The grooving of the weapons; barrels and the use of the so-called "Minie Ball," a bullet that expanded into the rifled grooves, increased the fire power—and decreased the life expectancy—of the Civil War soldier.

Slaughter: These new rifled muskets, along with the massive amounts of weapons available, made traditional ways of fighting a sure means of producing slaughter on the battlefield. By the time the generals learned to modify their combat tactics to meet the destructive power of the new technology—to fight their men in skirmishes by advancing them in groups and individually or to entrench them against deadly cannoneering—tens of thousands of soldiers had been wounded or killed. Infantry soldiers shot on the battlefield almost certainly died if hit in the head or chest. The minie ball shattered bones, tore apart arteries and tendons, and mangled intestines beyond repair. Wounds in arms or legs, which required immediate treatment if not amputation, frequently occurred when soldiers stood upright in order to ram their shots and power down the barrels of their weapons.

Death in the Hospitals: Those soldiers wounded but not killed in battle might still succumb to their deadliest enemy: the sickness and diseases associated with camp hospitals. Surgeons amputated limbs unaware that their filthy, blood-spattered hands and unsterilized cutting tools brought on infections more lethal than bullets. Indeed, more Civil War soldiers died from diseases contracted in poorly sanitized camps (malaria, typhoid, dysentery) and from infected wounds than from all the weaponry on the battlefield.One of 65 men in the Union army was killed in action; one in 56 died of wounds; one in 13 died of disease; one in 10 was wounded; one in 15 was captured. That men continued to fight against such odds is profound testament to their courage and will to win.