As the Civil War began, the Union Navy used a to cut off supplies to the Confederacy.

On July 21, 1861, the two armies met near Manassas, Virginia, along Bull Run Creek, only thirty miles from Washington, DC. Meanwhile, Lincoln and military leaders in the North hoped a quick blow to the South, especially if they could capture the Confederacy’s new capital of Richmond, Virginia, would end the rebellion before it went any further. Northerners hoped that most Southerners would not actually fire on the American flag. Some questioned how committed Southerners really were to their cause. Many believed that a single, heroic battle would decide the contest. Men rushed to enlist, and the Confederacy turned away tens of thousands who hoped to defend the new nation. This official pronouncement confirmed the beginning of the Civil War. The Confederacy responded to the blockade by declaring that a state of war existed with the United States. Also in April, Lincoln put in place a naval blockade of the South, a move that gave tacit recognition of the Confederacy while providing a legal excuse for the British and the French to trade with Southerners. The response from state militias was overwhelming, and the number of Northern troops exceeded the requisition. His goal was a ninety-day campaign to put down the Southern rebellion. Soon the carnage and slaughter would awaken them to the horrors of war.Īfter the fall of Fort Sumter on April 15, 1861, Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers from state militias to join federal forces.

In 1861, Americans in both the North and South romanticized war as noble and positive. Militarily, however, the North and South were more equally matched than Lincoln had realized, and it soon became clear that the war effort would be neither brief nor painless. Both sides thought it would be over quickly. The continuation of slavery was a central issue in the war, of course, although abolitionism and western expansion also played roles, and Northerners and Southerners alike flocked eagerly to the conflict. The Confederacy, which by the summer of 1861 consisted of eleven states, fought for its independence from the United States. The North fought to restore the Union, which Lincoln declared could never be broken. In 1861, enthusiasm for war ran high on both sides. Explain the strategic importance of the Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Shiloh.Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederacy and the Union.By the end of this section, you will be able to:

As the Civil War began, the Union Navy used a to cut off supplies to the Confederacy.